Angel and the Assassin: Be Brave

didn‟t look at him. He couldn‟t take his eyes off his mum. “They were
    going to kill me. Daddy rescued me.” He looked up at him for validation. The pain in
    his eyes tore at Kael‟s insides.
    The woman patted Angel‟s shoulder as though he were someone she had just
    met and felt a passing sympathy for. “You‟re safe now; that‟s all that matters. I had
    no idea what Sven was up to.” The edge to her voice made Angel look nervous. “It
    could just as easily have been me as you that got kidnapped.”
    “I know that, Mom. I‟m sorry. I would much rather it was me than you.”
    Kael wanted to kill her. She was an expert at making herself the victim.
    Maybe that was what appealed to straight men: a woman who needed rescuing.
    Angel stood there apologizing to the woman for reminding her that he nearly lost
    his life barely six months ago.
    At last Angel noticed the rings. “Mom, are you married?”
    St. Germaine placed his arm around her shoulders in a brief hug. “We married
    last month.”
    “How come you didn‟t invite us?” Angel glanced at Kael.
    “Give him this; we have to go,” St. Germaine said in French and passed his
    wife a small gold and cream colored gift bag he had been holding.
    “I was very busy; things have been hectic,” she said with a shrug. “Anyway,
    look. I brought you a belated Christmas present.”
    Angel took the bag but made no attempt to look inside. He was getting upset.
    “Is this my belated birthday present too?” The image of the single birthday card
    from the family maid sitting on Angel‟s desk the day Kael had met him came back.
    “For Christ‟s sake, Angel, I was running for my life last September.” Very
    discreetly St. Germaine squeezed her hand, and she lowered her voice. “Do you
    think I was happy about leaving you? I had no choice.”
    “I‟m sorry,” he said quickly, taking a step toward her but not daring to touch
    her.
    You bitch, manipulating your son until he apologizes for your neglect.
    “Open your present,” she ordered.
    While Angel focused on extracting a box from the gift bag, Madame St.
    Germaine looked at her husband and spoke in halting, heavily accented French.

    Angel and the Assassin: Be Brave

    39

    “My son has good taste in men. I wasn‟t expecting a man like him when Angel e-
    mailed that he was living with a schoolteacher.”
    “He‟s not a schoolteacher. I don‟t know what he is, but he‟s not a teacher. The
    boy may think he is,” her husband replied, keeping his voice low and smiling when
    he caught Kael‟s eye. “He looks extremely intelligent and rather dangerous.”
    “And I speak your language perfectly, Monsieur,” Kael said in French. He
    looked at Samantha St. Germaine. “Your accent, Madame, is appalling.”
    Her blush was apparent even through her makeup, and from the look in her
    eyes, he had angered her. Her husband offered him a slight bow of acknowledgment.
    “And yours is perfect, Monsieur. You speak as well as a Frenchman.” He smiled
    again. “Better than most.”
    Kael continued in French, knowing Angel would not be able to follow easily.
    “Are you planning to stay in his life? Because you have hurt him enough already.”
    Her face twisted into an ugly sneer, and she gave up butchering the French
    language and spoke in hushed English. “Don‟t get in my face. Who do you think
    looked after him for eighteen years?”
    “Not you. A lot of foster parents and maids from what I heard.”
    “I did my best. I was on my own with him. You think that‟s easy? I can tell just
    by looking at you, you come from some rich family. I bet you went to a fancy school
    with your perfect English and French. You don‟t know what it‟s like struggling just
    to pay bills.”
    Kael leaned in close, knowing that any minute Angel would start listening.
    “You couldn‟t be more wrong, Madame St. Germaine. I had a single mother just like
    you. The difference is my mum worked her arse off to give me the best life she could.
    She didn‟t abandon me.”
    Gregoire St. Germaine stepped between them as politely as he could. “Is his
    college expensive, Mr. Saunders?”
    “Yes. It‟s an excellent school, and Angel is extremely intelligent and very
    creative.”
    “I am happy to pay for it.”
    Kael leaned into the man‟s face until he was no more than two inches away. “If
    you are happy to pay for his college, why wouldn‟t you pay his fucking ransom? Or
    did your bitch of a wife tell you not to