Lace and Bullets(41)
It made her skin crawl, but she had no other choice. “I want to set up a meet. I hand you Damien Rogers and you give him a deal. He knows all about the Marcelo cartel. He can give you names, dates, witness testimony. You take what he can give you and he gets immunity. No jail time.”
Steven whistled. “You know I can’t promise immunity. I’m only interim District Attorney.”
“Already? Wasn’t being ADA enough?”
“Technically, I’m both at the moment.”
Mia swallowed the nasty comment screaming to get out. Thank God she’d turned him down all those years ago. “If you won’t help me, I’m sure the fed—”
“No.” He cut her off before she could say another word. “You want him safe, right?”
“That’s all I want.”
“Then agree to jail time. He serves a few years in protective custody, the trials and plea deals happen, he’ll be out. A free man.”
Mia rubbed at her swollen eyes. Could she send Damien to jail?
“It will mean he stays alive, Mia. Otherwise, I can’t promise that.”
He would never forgive her. One look at the cops and her face and Damien would know she set him up. Her gut twisted at the thought.
“There has to be another way.”
“It’s the only way. He’s a thug for the cartel, you know that. He’s probably run drugs and roughed people up. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a murderer.”
Mia didn’t volunteer.
“I can’t give a killer immunity. I’ve got an election to run.”
Of course. The election. “My father hasn’t been dead a month and you’re already focused on the election?”
“I’m sorry about your father, but life goes on.”
“So does your career, apparently.”
“Do we have a deal, or not?”
Mia glanced up at her reflection in the mirror. Damien would have to forgive her. Once he found out about the baby…he would understand. She closed her eyes. “Yes.”
“Excellent. I’ll set it up. You’ll be in touch?”
“Yes.”
The phone went dead and part of Mia’s heart died with it. She’d just betrayed the only man who made her smile even when the whole world was falling down around them.
The only man she’d ever loved.
Her phone buzzed in her hand and she glanced at the screen.
South entrance. 5 minutes.
She blinked back a fresh wave of tears. He might be a hitman for a cartel, but deep down, Damien was a good man. A dependable man.
He wouldn’t throw everything away because she went behind his back. She knew he hadn’t said it, but she saw the way he looked at her when he didn’t think she was watching. The way he stroked her bare skin early in the morning. The way he said her name when he came deep inside her.
She touched her stomach and forced a swallow. The father of her baby needed her to protect him and she would do whatever it took. Even sending him to prison.
Mia shoved the phone in her purse and unlocked the door. He might hate her for what she was going to do, but he would live to be a father.
18
DAMIEN
No matter how hard he gripped the wheel, it wasn’t tight enough. Visions of the District Attorney—Mia’s father—covered in his own blood, filled his mind. The man got off too easy.
He picked at a scratch on his knuckle. The plates he’d lifted from another car in the parking lot had been sharper than usual. He wiped the blood on his jeans. It would heal. Unlike his sister.
He closed his eyes and tried to bring back Melanie’s face. All he could see was her dead body. He tried to think of a happy memory. A time when they weren’t hungry or scared or too fucked up to do much of anything.
It wasn’t easy.
Damien checked the time. Mia was late. The longer they hung around, the bigger the risk. He needed to get them somewhere quiet and safe. A place he could tell her about her father.
She wouldn’t understand.
The passenger door opened and a woman wearing sunglasses and a floppy hat leaned down to get in.
“You’ve got the wrong car, lady.”
The woman fell into the seat and pulled the hat off. “No, I don’t.”
Damien frowned. “Mia?” She seemed distant. Strange. “Is everything okay?”
She nodded and looked out the window. The sunglasses hid her eyes and he couldn’t tell what was going on.
Shit. He’d never been good at reading women. “Those sunglasses are cute.” He winced as the words came out. Cute? Was that the best he could do?
Mia didn’t even acknowledge him. Great. How was he supposed to break the news of her father if he couldn’t even compliment her when she needed it?