“I’m so sorry,” she waved her hand in front of her face. “I don’t know why I’m so fucking emotional right now.”
I pulled her into my arms, and she pressed her face into my chest. My hands smoothed over the back of her head. “As long as they’re happy tears, love.”
My mobile phone rang, and Mia pulled away, sucking in a long breath. “I’ll be okay,” she laughed, “you should get that. It could be Dex.”
Mia was right, and I walked over to the fireplace and grabbed my phone from the ledge to look at the screen. My heart flipped inside my chest.Dex. I answered.
“I need you to come by the house tonight,” he stated. “We have to go over a few things.”
Mia’s watery eyes watched mine for a reaction.
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
The call disconnected, and I pocketed the mobile and walked up to her, clutching her face in my hands. “I have to go.”
“I know.”
“What’s the emergency number here, love?”
She rolled her eyes. “9-9-9, not9-1-1.”
Nodding, I forced a grin. Leaving Mia had always been my biggest repeated mistake. One I’d been making over and over again for months now, but I’d always come back to her. “Wait up for me.”
“I always do.”
It hadn’t been the call I’d been anticipating, but I also didn’t want to drive across town to see him tonight—especially with the chance of him knowing Mia was involved with Leigh’s arrest. My knee bounced under the steering wheel, tensions rising as I pulled in front of the chain-linked gate against the curb. No music played from the house, which only meant one thing. Tonight meant business.
I blew hot air into my hands and rubbed my palms together, my feet moving forward up the path toward the door. Upon entering, Dex, Smith, Adrian, and another guy I’d seen with Dex stood in the kitchen, huddled in a circle while Mum sat over the torn couch in the living room. “Baby, O,” Dex called, waving me over to the group of blokes. I passed Mum, and her apprehensive gaze never left mine, causing my palms to sweat. Dex stepped to the side, making room for me. “I have to ask you something, mate. Do you know where Leigh is?”
He’d always been straight to the point.
My eyes darted around the circle, looking for an indication on which answer I should give. The three other men stared back at me, eyes utterly blank of all emotion, aside from Adrian. He seemed clueless and out of the loop. “No, haven’t heard from her,” I lied.
Dex’s hand slapped the back of my neck before he squeezed. “That’s lie number one,” he pointed out and faced the other men. “Leave us.”
After looking back and forth between each other, the men dispersed out the back door. Mum rose from the couch, but Dex lifted his palm toward her, gesturing for her to sit.
Then he turned to face me. “Our virgin’s gone,” Dex continued. “Hadn’t answered or shown up for a fucking week. Do you know how hard it is to find a willing participant who’s a fucking virgin? Leigh was perfect. And imagine my surprise when I found who had her arrested.”
Dex knew, and my heart jumped into the pit of my stomach. “Mia had nothing to do with this,” I growled.
“Mia just became your biggest problem,” he said slowly. “Your wife took every chance of you walking out of Ghost’s office alive.”
My lip twitched, and I crossed my arms over my chest. “What are you talking about?”
“I had a meeting with the BOG leader, and we made a deal. It turns out Leigh was worth more than I’d anticipated. So, a pretty virgin with a tight fanny up for grabs in exchange for a raid by BOGs men. Once we got word of the time and place, they’d be your distraction to get you out of there. Now, we don’t have anything to exchange. Leigh was your one-way ticket, and now you’re on your own. There’s no time to find another Leigh.”
If Leigh was worth as much as he’d said, he wouldn’t have exchanged her for my life. The BOG raid was so nothing fell back on Dex. Another step ahead. The only person Dex looked out for was himself. He was nothing more than a little fish in a vast ocean with the appetite of a shark.
A shark who had planned to kill me all along, but only after he’d used me to do his bidding. He’d said it. I was disposable. And I’d made a promise to Mia.
I’d promised she would never lose me.
“Fuck you,” I whispered, my eyes darting over the counter as the puzzle became clearer. Slowly, I lifted my chin until our eyes met. First the news from James about Dex’s plans with Adrian, now this? My voice increased, the rage spilling into every word, “It was never over, was it?” My clenched fist pounded over the counter. “You think I’d give up my life to build your empire?”
There was humor in Dex’s narrowed eyes. “You fed me an opportunity, and I took it. You’re killing Ghost, and if you make it out alive, you can leave. You have my word.”
A dry chuckle stumbled from my lips. “Yeah? And what am I going to do with that? Throw it at you?”
