Stone Angel Read Online Free PDF

hear.” He moved to the long steel
table where each instrument was placed just so, and picked up and
examined the chisel. Looking up quickly, he caught her staring in
horror at the sharp, metal edge he caressed so lovingly. “You do
understand me, right?”
    She nodded again.
    “ Good. Because here’s where you come in.
You are going to infiltrate the very heart of the Chosen Ones, take
care of Irving, and earn their trust. You’ll report back to me
everything you hear and see, especially information about Irving’s
whereabouts. If I can capture him, Osgood will reward me
handsomely.”
    Amanda thought if this horrible man had had a
mustache, he would twirl it … and that thought proved to her how
far gone she was in hysterics.
    “ Do this, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll see
about giving you back your sister. Do we have a deal?” The Sculptor
looked triumphant, secure in the knowledge that Amanda’s love for
Sophia wouldn’t allow her to refuse.
    And it was true. Amanda didn’t have a
choice.
    She thought bitterly of Liam and her childish
plan to proclaim her love to him.
    He hadn’t even cared for her. He’d been
biding his time, playing his part until it was time for the Others
to take Sophia.
    She had trusted the wrong man. Loved the
wrong man. And now she would pay for it by betraying the good guys,
the Chosen Ones.
    But to get Sophia back, she would fight the
devil himself.
    So once last time, she had nodded.
    “ Excellent!” The Sculptor put down the
chisel, arranged it precisely on the table, then clapped his hands,
bringing Eric from the hallway outside the studio. “Make the call,”
the Sculptor said.
    Eric had untied her roughly, loosening the
cloth gag that made her jaw ache.
    He had escorted her by gunpoint back to her
and Sophia’s little apartment to pack up a few belongings: clothes,
two pairs of sensible shoes, and her nursing bag. Without a second
glance, she left behind the Christmas tree with all of its lovingly
wrapped gifts under it, the bloody smudge on the wall where Liam
had fallen, and all her hopes and dreams of the future.
    She didn’t bother to ask where Liam was; he
was probably getting some sort of medal for treachery, and some
claps on the back from the Others for drawing her into his web of
lies.
    Eric briefed her in the car as he drove. The
Others had pulled strings to get her promptly hired at the hospital
as Irving's private nurse. When the doctor advised that Irving
needed someone to continue his at home care, he would recommend
Amanda.
    “ What if the doctor doesn’t do that?” she
asked.
    “ The doctor will do as he is
told.”
    “ What if Irving doesn’t like me?”
    “ It would be sensible of you to make sure
he does.”
    “ Right.”
    She was not to tell anyone of her sister’s
situation. She was to make friends with the Chosen Ones if it would
benefit the Others and give them more detailed information.
    Eric stopped the car a block from the
hospital. He turned to her, caressed a lock of her blond hair and
smiled. “Break any of these rules and your sister will be
killed.”
    “ Don’t worry about me. I’ll do whatever
I’m told.” She got out, leaned into the back seat to get her
bag…
    Then Eric let the ax fall. “Oh, and every
Sunday without fail, you’re to report to … Liam Gallagher.”
    She jerked her head up and stared into his
nasty, smirking face.
    At that moment, Amanda realized she had been
cherishing the faintest hope that Liam had been duped, too. That
when he came to their door, he had truly been trying to save
them.
    What a fool she had been.
    But a fool no longer.
    “ It doesn’t matter who I report to. And don’t you worry — I
will tell Liam Gallagher everything I can find out about the Chosen
Ones. Why wouldn’t I? I don’t care about them. I only care about
freeing Sophia .”
    That was true … until she met the Chosen
Ones. Until she got to know them. Until she realized how much they
cared for Irving, how hard they