Free Angel Manor (Lucifer Falls Book 1) by Chantal Noordeloos

their lives. He showed me a portfolio of some of his projects. Rudy vouches for him, and you know what Rudy is like.”
    She nodded slowly, doubt gripping her stomach.
    “Don’t pull that face. Let’s be honest; even with the sales from the antiques, we would have never had the money to do up the whole hotel and get it running. We probably would have had to rent out rooms when only one of the wings was ready and fix up the rest along the way. This way, we can do the whole project at once. We have to pay for the materials, the room and board. I figure we let the kids stay here, and at the end they all get a little ‘internship money’, which is really no more than a bonus. Do you know how much cash that will save us?”
    “But these kids…” Her fingers twirled around the purple sheets of her bed. “You said they were problem kids?”
    “Minor stuff. Nothing too serious. Vandalism, petty theft, stuff like that. Come on, everyone deserves a second chance, Freya. I expected you to understand that.” He pushed her shoulders with a jovial smile, but Freya saw an intensity in his eyes. “They’ll be supervised.”
    “By Logan and that other guy, erm… Philips?”
    “Yes, and another guy. There are a few professional builders who help out. And Logan has some connections for electricians and other tradesmen. He said he’d get us discounts from them too.”
    “It sounds almost too good to be true.” Freya forced a smile and leaned against Oliver. The sweet musk of his Calvin Klein aftershave hung around him like a protective blanket, and she inhaled the familiar scent.
    “Who said that we can’t ever get lucky?”
    “Who indeed.”
    “Plus… Captain Awesome will get to live with us for the better part of a year.” He turned his head to look at her. “Do you think you can handle that?”
    She punched him on the leg. He retaliated by pulling her onto the bed and tickling her. Freya screamed with laughter and fought to defend herself. After several minutes, they both fell onto their backs and looked at the ceiling.
    “When can they start?”
    “Next week sometime.”
    She exhaled, blowing a wayward lock of hair from her face. There were several minutes of silence between them, and Freya listened to the birds chirp outside her window. She thought about Angel Manor, and how the house had already transformed in her mind. It wasn’t frightening at all. The only thing that had made the house frightening was her weird aunt and her creepy cousins, but they’d all died, and they’d left her the house. Angel Manor was hers now.
    “This is really happening isn’t it?”
    “It is. We’re making it happen.”
    “Yes,” she said with a deep sigh. “Yes we are.”
    ***
    Logan turned to look at the house one last time. He had to admit that it was a gorgeous building, and it would be the biggest job the ‘Second Chance project’ would have had to date. Yet there was something about the house that bothered him, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
    John stood next to him and followed his gaze. “This’ll be a perfect project to do with some of the more difficult lads, like Terrence Jones and Roger Mace.”
    Logan rubbed his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “It would be, wouldn’t it?” He inhaled deeply. It was away from bars, or any other goddamned place, so he wouldn’t have to be afraid of them running amok. And yet, when he looked at Angel Manor and the row of creepy angels leading to it, something nagged at him. “It’s going to be a long project, this one.”
    John frowned. “Yeah, but it looks like a good one though. This house is amazing. The only thing I worry about with the lads are those two young ladies in there.”
    “We’ll have to keep an eye out for that, yes. It’s a good thing they’re in a completely different wing of the house from where we’ll be working. That little blonde looks like she might be some trouble.” Logan raised his eyebrows and mussed his hair with