“I hope you sleep well at night.” Gabe stepped back away from Dom. “I hope you are happy with the life you’re living, dragging innocent people like Chas into your fights.”
Gabe had hit me where it hurt most. He hit me in my conscience. I know that Luc wanted to keep it a secret. He wanted to let it play out whatever way fate or God decided but that didn’t sit well with me, and Gabe’s word had made the guilt weigh down on me again. I didn’t want there to be any more casualties that necessary.
“Look closer to home,” I spoke the words to his retreating back.
“Fuck you, Mia,” Gabe told me viciously, not bothering to look back. “My family isn’t trying to kill me.”
“Look closer to home,” I repeated. It was childish but I felt like if I didn’t tell him the name, if I made him figure it out on his own that I somehow kept my word to Luc.
Gabe looked back as he opened the door to the store. The crease in his brow straightened out as the pieces fell into place. He didn’t say another word as he turned around, three men following out behind him.
Dom turned around to face me and I collapsed against him, letting out a shaky breath and feeling my eyes sting with tears.
“We need to get you home. Now,” Dom muttered against my hair, hugging me close. “And Luc’s going to need to know about this.”
Chapter Fourteen
Lucas
“Take him around to Dante’s. Tell him I’ll call when I’m done here,” I instructed Dom, handing Link over in his carry cot.
“Take it easy on her,” Dom said, letting the professionalism slip. He’d always care for Mia deeper than what his employment required. It’d been my mistake not to assign him the job properly in the first place and stop a friendship from flourishing. He was caught between his love for her and his duty and that was partially the reason we’d landed in this position. Dom had been bent to Mia’s will, allowing her to visit Chas and starting the domino effect that led to Gabe seeing her this afternoon. “It’s been a rough couple of weeks.”
“Don’t tell me how to run my relationship.”
Dom’s lips pressed together, holding back any retort he had. “See you in the morning,” he said, leaving the doorstep with Link in tow.
The moment they disappeared from view, I slammed the door shut. As I turned around, I caught Mia in the hallway, looking like a deer in headlights. She was swamped in one of my sweatshirts, sweatpants and hair coiled up on the crown of her head. She was fresh-faced and looked exhausted, but I couldn’t push past all the rage that ricocheted through my system.
Dom and Michael had both explained the full story when I arrived home promptly after the phone call. Mia had been in the shower as they recounted the trip and when she emerged, she didn’t argue when I dismissed everyone and told her Link would be going to Dante’s. She’d barely been able to look me in the eye.
“I’m going to grab a book,” she said, hightailing it back down the hall towards the study. I heard her mutter something along the lines of an early night, but she wasn’t getting away that easily. Following her down the hall, I caught the door to the study before it shut, and she whirled around to face me.
“I suggest you tell me what you’ve been getting up to,” I said, advancing on her. “And remember the rules.” No lies. I expected her to be honest with me and we had faltered on that in the past. I wouldn’t tolerate it anymore. Mia swallowed hard as I stopped in front of her. “Dom already told me what happened today.”
It was like a switch that got flipped in her. I’d seen it a dozen times before. No matter how tired or how scared she was, when Mia was cornered something made her fight back. She’d all but run to the study for cover, she knew what was coming and tried to avoid it, but I was here giving her no choice, and so she’d take me on with everything she had.
“Gabe came by the store when we were out shopping today,” Mia said, drawing herself to full height. Without the heels, she only came up to my chest rather than my chin.
It made me twitch to know that Gabe had seen Mia clad in a wedding dress. Even though it wasn’t the one she would wear on the day, the spark of jealousy burnt wildly in my chest. “Continue,” I said through gritted teeth.
“He wanted to warn me to stay away from Chas.”
“And why would he do that?”
There were small tells in the way Mia moved that told me she wasn’t as far gone as the rest of us, that she still got nervous in these situations. Her eyes flicked away from my face, past my shoulder to the door, and back again.
“Because,” she said, “I stopped by to visit her.”
“After I told you to stay away from that family?” I took another step towards her and instinctively Mia stepped backwards. She bumped against the bookshelf and I caged her in with my arms. No escape. I would hear everything she had to say. Mia’s personal private confessional conducted by me.
“Yes,” she admitted. Mia would drive me to an early grave with the trouble she welcomed.
“What else?”
“Nothing else.”
“Don’t lie to me,” I told her.
