Leaving the closet and then the bedroom, she found Damian between their children, feeding them.
"What do you think?" she asked, getting his attention and giving him a little twirl. "You don't think it's too much?"
"You look stunning."
"I'm going to go and put everything else away so it doesn't cram your sitting room."
"That's fine. Kids are eating, which makes a change."
She chuckled, and made her way toward the sitting room, gathering boxes. She repeated the same thing. Taking the boxes to her closet, putting the clothes on the rail, and then dumping the boxes to one side. Three trips it took her, and she also put the boxers that she had ordered for him on his bed.
Entering the dining room, she saw that Damian had finished feeding Reese, so placing a towel over her shoulder, she picked him up, and began to burp him, rubbing his back.
Martha was a little older and didn't need burping.
"My mother is doing a large lunch on Sunday, and she would love it if we go."
"I like Charlotte."
"I think she likes you, and that's a good thing. My mother can be a bit of minx, or is it tiger, protecting her cubs."
While Damian had been gone she had done some searching online about the Denton family, and it had only given her more questions. From what she had learned, they were a crime family, but that had never been proven. She didn't know what to think, and as she was reading through some of the media that was attached to their name, she'd been alarmed. The moment she saw Damian, all of those worries had been pushed to one side. He wasn't a monster. She couldn't believe it, and yet he'd known Ivan.
"What's wrong?" Damian asked, drawing her attention toward him.
"Sorry?"
"You're looking all troubled. Is there anything I can do to help you?" he asked.
She smiled. "It's nothing. Not really." She stared at him and rubbed Reese's back. "Well, I kind of did a little snooping on the net about you, and I guess I have a lot of questions."
Damian smiled. "I take it some articles are not too kind about us. I told you that I'm in similar work to Ivan. I'm not like him, and neither is my family. We look after our own, and you'll be protected here. You won't have to sell your body, or an organ. I just want you to take care of Martha."
She nodded her head. "It's just so surreal."
"I know. It's a lot to take in so I won't be telling you all about everything. You don't need to hear that stuff." He smiled, and she found his dimples to be the cutest thing. Quickly averting her gaze, she stared out of the window, rubbing Reese's back as she did.
"How did you come to know Ivan?" he asked.
She blew out a breath. "He came to the neighborhood when I was just a teenager in school. It's hard to know exactly what went on to be honest. One moment the neighborhood was fine. We didn't have a lot of job opportunities, but we got along. Then Ivan turned up with his crew, and the drugs started flowing. I never took them as I'd seen what they were like on my mother. I knew I wouldn't be an addict. Then one day it was like Ivan saw me and decided that he wanted me. I was on a date with another man. We'd been dating for about a year, and I think I loved him. I don't know. Two weeks after that date, they found his body floating in the river. His dick had been cut off." The past few years violence had been something she had been accustomed to. "Ivan would come around, and he'd flirt, and make my skin crawl, and it was a nightmare. Then I was at a party. I don't know why I went. I was feeling miserable. I'd lost my job, only now I know he'd paid for them to fire me. I was drinking, and somehow I got lost. Ivan was there, and I couldn't get away."
"You've been very brave," Damian said.
"I've not been brave. I had nowhere else to turn to. No money, no prospects. I couldn't go to anyone because Ivan owns the whole damn town." She turned to look at him. "Then of course I thought I would hate my baby, but the moment the nurse placed him in my arms, I knew that I loved him. That he was mine." Tears filled her eyes and fell down her cheeks. "How is that for crazy?"
Damian got to his feet, and moved toward her. He cupped her cheeks, and she didn't flinch away from his touch. "You're a fighter, Mia. You've done everything you had to do to protect yourself."
"I vowed that I would never ask him for help. I went to him anyway."
"You had no choice, and ta-da, you found me." He pressed a kiss to her head, and she relished the comfort that he was offering her. "You're a strong woman, Mia Banks. Never forget that, and don't ever let anyone else tell you different. You're a fighter through and through."
Her stomach twisted, and her heart fluttered at his kind words. For so long she had been fighting where everyone, even Mary, had told her it couldn't be that bad to belong to Ivan. She saw past the ease of having a small king like that who wanted her. The moment he had his fill, he'd toss her aside, and she wasn't about to succumb to the bastard.
Even though her mother had been hard and at times vacant, she had always told Mia to fend for herself, to rely on herself. She'd begged her not to give in to the temptation of drugs, to be a good girl. That was exactly what she had done.
She'd been good.
Chapter Six
Sunday came around quickly, and Damian liked how easy it had been falling into living with Mia. She was such a laidback woman, so calm, so caring. He'd woken up in the mornings to find her already sitting at the table, feeding their kids, with a breakfast keeping warm for him.
He'd not eaten so well ever. His mother had always cooked for him, or he'd put together a sandwich, or eaten out.
Mia sat beside him in the car and kept checking into the back to make sure they're kids were doing all right. They looked so beautiful, and he smiled at Martha.
"Will all your family be here?" she asked.
"Yes, and my brand new extended family."
"Are you going to cause a fight? Have a gun pushed against your head?"
"Nope. That's for diners only."
She giggled. "You're weird."
"Yeah, well it takes one to know one."
"Really, you're calling me weird?" she asked.
"Hell yeah, you don't want to be anything normal. Normal people suck. Stay weird like me."
She laughed, and he loved that sound coming from her. It was so light, and every time she did, he found himself smiling along with her.
"I've got to give Gabriel a chance. I'm not a total asshole, but it's hard. Everything has changed." He had been thinking about what his brother had said. To the outside world they were a united force, and the moment you started to show a weak link, someone would try to take away from you. He didn't want that to happen, so he had no choice other to put his differences aside, and to accept Gabriel as his brother.
"I'm proud of you. He's only an asshole now, and not a total fucking one."
Damian threw his head back and laughed. There were a lot of times over the past few days that he'd said some pretty colorful things about Gabriel. Mia had always listened to him without saying a word. He enjoyed talking to her, and sometimes she'd share her own personal problems with him, which he liked a lot.
When it came to Mia, he was completely infatuated by her. She was so beautiful, and there were many times throughout the night that he would sneak into her room. He found watching over her calmed him. There was always a risk that he'd get caught because of one of the kids whimpering. He'd never been someone who could sleep for long periods of time.
They arrived at his parents to find his two brothers, Jacob and Gabriel, outside. It was hard to think of Gabriel as his brother, but Damian was going to try. He'd make the effort, especially as he'd taken the time to look at the Denton situation, and he'd also seen a slight decline in the respect that he was given. He didn't like it, not one bit.
Climbing out of the car, Jacob came to help with Martha as Mia grabbed Reese.
"If you head in, I'll be with you in a minute."
"Okay. Try to be nice," she said, smiling at him.
He saluted her, and felt like a fucking idiot.
"You really are smitten," Gabriel said.
"You've head of that legacy thing? The pesky little curse all of us men are supposed to have."
"Maddox mentioned it, yes."
"You don't call him Dad?" Damian asked.
"He's not really my dad. He's told me to call him that, but it doesn't feel right." Gabriel tilted his head, staring at him. "What's it like? This pesky little curse?"