“He wasn’t going to kill me. Probably,” I assured her the best I could. I was still trying to figure out if there was truth in that sentence.
Mia lifted her head and looked at me. “Don’t joke.”
“Sorry.” I gave her another squeeze before stepping back. “Mia…” I floundered for the words, but she gave me a knowing look, sadness filled her eyes.
“I understand,” Mia told me, sounding braver than she looked. “He’s your brother. He needs you.”
“He does,” I agreed. “Mia, when you left, it caused some problems. You walked away, jilted him, knowing about the family business. It brought Luc’s judgement into question. He’s had to make a point to people that he belongs where he is.”
Mia dropped her head into her hands and let out a breath. “I never thought that me leaving would cause such a problem,” she muttered.
“You know I love you. You’re my sister,” I said as she looked at me again. “But if I choose you over Luc then he’s an open target. It weakens his position, and despite the fact that he’s a complete asshole at the moment, I can’t let that happen to him.”
“You don’t have to explain, D. I’d never want you to pick me over Luc.”
I bit back on the comment that Luc didn’t deserve Mia. Even after the vitriol he’d just spilled at her, she was understanding of the fact that our life was a treacherous political minefield.
“I’ll get out of your hair as soon as I can.”
“What?”
“I guess, it would be best to go back to my original plan, D. There’s no way I can stay here.”
“I did not put my ass on the line for you to walk away after one bad meeting.” That was an understatement. Bad didn’t cover it. Disastrous was more on point. “This isn’t a Hallmark movie, Mia. You were never going to run into his arms and have a happy ending.”
She narrowed her eyes at me and said, “What am I meant to do? I can’t stay with you and I’m a target if anyone else finds out I’ve reappeared.”
For a few moments, the silence settled between us as I tried to figure out the best course of action. I couldn’t have her walk away, but she would be a sitting duck if I left her alone. And then it hit me. The best way to keep Mia safe was to place her in the thick of it all. “I’m going to need you to trust me.”
Chapter Thirteen
Mia
It would have been easier for me to call Carmen and see if I could salvage my previous plans, but Dante was intent on not letting me walk away again. He paced the room, speaking hurriedly down the phone. Once he was done, I grabbed my bag, ready to be shuttled to my next safehouse. Gabriel wouldn’t have been my first thought, but he remained the only viable option. If I stayed with Tori, Luc would take issue thanks to her relationship with Dante, and so her twin brother would be my savior for the time being.
Hugging Dante goodbye, I couldn’t help but feel like it would be a while before I was able to see him again and be so openly friendly. Luc had forced his hand and that meant D and I would return to being strangers until we figured out a way to get through to Luc.
Luc’s words still echoed through my head, louder than any of the other thoughts that occupied the space. He had every right to call me the biggest mistake he’d made. So much chaos had ensued from the moment I’d stepped foot into his life, and I had ruined his standing in the family without even realizing. The sting of the words had settled into a dull ache that pulsed in my chest and was amplified any time I felt our child move. I hadn’t even had the chance to tell him about the pregnancy. There was no doubt in my mind what his reaction would be now.
A gentle hand on my back startled me from my thoughts. Gabe was looking at me curiously and I gave him a weak smile. “Come through to the kitchen,” he said eventually. “I’ll make you some coffee.”
“I’m not meant to be drinking coffee,” I responded, gesturing to my small baby bump.
“Of course not.” His eyes flicked to my bump and there was something unsettling about his gaze. Gabe had always been a people watcher, observing movements and listening to conversation in such a way that at times you forgot he was even there. When he loosened up, the way I’d seen him when we first met, you became comfortable, but underneath it all something more sinister lurked, and he made no attempt to hide it within the walls of his home.
“Water,” I said, bringing his attention back to my face. “Water would be good.” My appetite had been curbed by the events of the day.
Gabe led me through to the kitchen without another word, our footsteps echoing in the empty hallways. When I used to spend time with the Moretti twins, it had been in Vittoria’s home. Gabe’s was bare in comparison. It exhibited no personality and made me cautious of my movements, like I was in a museum where everything had a place and I’d be in trouble for disturbing it.
I hovered by the island at the center of the kitchen while Gabe pulled a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water. “Thank you,” I said. Gabe handed me the glass from across the island and I took it from him, the cool exterior welcome in the heat of my palm. “For agreeing to this.”
“What kind of friend would I be if I saw you turned away from your home again?” He did not have the same warmth and fire that his twin had. Gabe was trouble in a different sense. You never knew if what he said was what he meant, and there had been occasions where he reminded me so much of Xavier, in the way he spoke and moved, that I couldn’t help but be wary of him. He hadn’t exactly seemed thrilled to see me show up again, but I was grateful that he had enough investment in our friendship that he took me in.
“Mia, I have a proposition for you,” he said.
My stomach churned at the words. I was already up to my neck in trouble that I hadn’t gone looking for but somehow seemed to be wading into more with every breath I took. “Okay,” I replied quietly, my throat running dry. “What is the proposition?”
He took measured paces around the marbled workspace, the sound of his footsteps mimicking the thump of my heart. “Luc made a mistake trying to keep you separated from all of this,” Gabe explained. “If you chose to be a part of all this then you shouldn’t have been kept on the outskirts. It didn’t benefit anyone.”
