An Archangel's Promise Read Online Free Page A

up.”
    Taking the offered drink, Gabriella forced herself to relax.
Nolan was right, not that she felt it wise to share that information. Her
brother would run with it for months. Scanning the crowd, she smiled when she
saw everyone enjoying themselves. She had been working herself up for nothing.
All the guests had a place to sit and a meal to eat. Who cared if the wine
wasn’t a preferred year, as long as no one needed an EpiPen.
    People started to gather in the center of the ballroom, the
soft sway of the music encouraging them to grab a partner. Seeing the couples
dancing and enjoying themselves tugged at her heart. She wished she had someone
to share moments like this with, someone to hold her, to dance and laugh with,
but it just wasn’t possible. Ten years after the disappearance of the only
person she had ever loved, and Gabriella still couldn’t bring herself to move
on.
    Maybe that was her problem tonight. She was so frazzled
because today marked the tenth anniversary of the day she’d arrived at Hunter’s
home to find the police instead. This date was always a challenge for her, but
this year seemed to be worse than all the rest. Her dreams of him were no
longer simply at night, they were in the day now too. Just the other day she
could have sworn she saw him standing across the street from her at the
markets, staring at her. That in general wasn’t unusual, there had been plenty
of times after Hunter disappeared when someone had reminded her of him. As it always happened though, the closer she had
gotten, the more the person paled in comparison to the boy she’d lost. What concerned her more lately was that her mind was so twisted that it had
decided to age him. The visions of him were now of a man in his late twenties,
instead of the boy she remembered.
    Gabriella knew it wasn’t healthy, but no amount of therapy
seemed to help. Her only saving grace was that while her personal life might be
non-existent, her professional life excelled.
    Smiling as people greeted her, she moved closer to the dance
floor when something on the other side of the room caught her eye. The vision
before her made her gasp, shocking her enough to drop her glass. Looking down
at the mess she had made, she quickly glanced up, desperate to know if what she
had seen was real.
    Disappointment welled inside of her when she saw an empty
space.
    “Gabriella. Are you all right? What happened?” Nolan rushed
to her side, placing a hand on her arm. “You’re as white as a ghost. What’s
wrong?”
    She blinked rapidly, her eyes focusing on the empty space.
“I-I thought, I…”
    “What?”
    There was no way she was finishing that sentence. Her
brother already worried about her enough, and if he knew she was seeing things,
then he’d be insufferable. “Nothing, Nolan. It doesn’t matter. Let’s clean up this
mess I made, and hopefully by the end of the night, everyone will have forgotten
about the little scene I just made.”
    Nolan shot her a skeptical look, nodding reluctantly. “All right.”
    As the party continued the lights dimmed and the music got
louder. Gabriella decided to leave, heading for the lift that would take her
down to her apartment on the eighty-third floor. Waiting for the lift, she
impatiently tapped her foot, glancing around the room one last time.
    Happy that things were running smoothly, she turned to
leave, hearing the ping of the arriving cart. Her movements halted when
she caught something out of the peripheral of her eye. Drawing in a deep
breath, her eyes widened and focused on someone who couldn’t be there.
    It was official. She had gone crazy.
    “Hey, you’re leaving already?” Nolan asked as he came to
stand beside her.
    Blinking rapidly, Gabriella began to tremble when the vision
didn’t disappear.
    “Gabriella? Hey, what’s wrong?”
    She could hear him calling her name, could tell she was
scaring him, but was unable to do anything except raise her hand and point to
the figure on the