“He looks more like you every day, Luc.”
I swelled with pride at Lydia’s words. “Just don’t say that in front of Mia.”
“Say what in front of, Mia?” She appeared at my elbow, making me jump. Dante might have had a point about fitting her with a bell.
“We were just saying how much Lincoln has taken after Luc,” Mom told her, and I groaned internally. The one sure fire way of tipping Mia into a mood was to remind her that her genetics hadn’t won out against my own. Nine months of growing him and Link had repaid her by starting to take after me.
She took Link into her arms again and immediately I caught the row of crescent marks down her forearm. “What the hell happened?”
“Nothing,” she shot back quickly.
“Mia.”
“Not now,” she hissed before walking away, holding Link tight against her, marks hidden by the way she angled her arm.
“Excuse me,” I said, leaving Lydia, Mom and a few of the others. As I broke away from the circle, Dom walked toward me. I caught his arm and marched us toward the wall. “What happened?” I asked him. He was a safer bet than Mia. She wasn’t willing to discuss it here and I wouldn’t be forgiven if I caused a scene. “She’s got marks down her arm. I sent you with her because I thought I could trust you.”
Dom looked pale. “She had a run in with Amber.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Amber was here. I was trying to get rid of her before she saw Mia but that didn’t happen,” he explained.
“Where is she?”
“She’s left. We were going to step in, but Mia told us not to.”
“You don’t answer to Mia. You answer to me,” I reminded him. “The next time you listen to her and whatever ridiculous request she has, you’ll be looking for another job.”
“Amber didn’t need any more ammunition. She’d have had a field day if we’d stepped in when Mia told us not to. We’d have done something if it went any further,” Dom tried to reason.
“I don’t want to hear it, Dom. Get out of my sight.”
He muttered something under his breath as he left. I spent the rest of the morning and into the afternoon watching Mia and Link like a hawk. She had slipped back into her jacket and relaxed back into the setting somewhat, but seemed more reluctant to let go of our boy than she had been originally. It was late into the afternoon, later than we’d expected, when the last of the guests left us.
“Thank you so much,” Mia said to the venue owner who had stopped in to check everything had gone to plan. “We’ll be sure to use you again.”
Franco and Dante helped us to carry everything to the car and Mia buckled Link into his seat before climbing in herself. We were only five minutes into the journey before she said, “Say whatever you want to say, Lucas.”
“You have Franco for a reason, Mia.” My temper matched hers. “And a reminder that Dom works for me.”
“He works for us,” she interjected.
“No! He works for me when it comes to looking after you. You don’t get to tell him to step back and shirk his duties. Look what happened!” Her hand covered the space where the crescent marks would be under her jacket. “What did Amber say to you?” I asked. My question was met with silence. “Mia, I’m not in the habit of asking twice.”
“I think she might have killed my Dad.” That sentence caused a vacuum in the car. Of all the things I expected her to say that wasn’t it.
“What?” I asked her eventually. “Xavier was behind your Dad’s murder.”
“I’m not so sure. She made it sound like she had something to do with it.”
“She’ll have been wanting to get a rise out of you.”
“You’re sure of that?” Mia asked.
The honest answer was no. Amber wasn’t part of the family, but I knew she could be ruthless. I’d known her long enough to know how she ticked, observed how she worked, but in all that time I’d never known her to be fatal. That didn’t mean she wasn’t capable of it.
“She threatened me and Link,” Mia admitted quietly.
