It ended all too soon.
He motioned toward the building. “Time to go.”
21
MIA
Ever since the phone call, Damien had been acting strange. He had tried to brush it off, but whatever the man said had rattled him.
Now they were walking hand-in-hand into a warehouse just like the one he’d saved her from all those nights ago. Damien pulled the door open and as Mia walked inside, the hair on her neck stood on end. Something wasn’t right.
Damien gripped her hand tighter.
Her eyes wouldn’t adjust to the dim light. She squinted. Her heart beat faster.
She squeezed Damien’s hand.
“Well, well. If it isn’t little miss goody-two-shoes. Tell me, how’d you end up with a bottom-feeder like him? Going slumming?”
She rubbed her eyes and the room finally came into focus. Oh, no. All of the fears she’d shoved down rose to the surface like scum on a pond. “What are you doing here?”
The Assistant District Attorney leaned on a metal support beam like he’d been to abandoned warehouses a million times. “I always come to the important collars. Helps with the prosecution.”
Mia’s throat closed and she gasped for air. Prosecution? She looked at the two cops standing beside him and shook her head. “Damien’s here to make a deal, not be arrested.” She wanted to say, like we talked about, but she couldn’t. She hadn’t been able to tell Damien.
He didn’t know the ADA was only there because of her.
“Don’t play the dumb, innocent card with me, Mia. I know that good girl routine is just an act. Beneath your daddy’s money and your mother’s good looks, you’re nothing but a two-bit whore.”
“Don’t you dare call her a whore.” Damien’s voice turned dark. Gritty.
Mia clasped her free hand around the one already wrapped around Damien’s. She willed her strength into him. Hers and the baby’s.
“Oh, isn’t that sweet? Showing some moral support before we take him down.” The ADA pushed off the beam and stepped toward them. When she’d met him all those years ago, he’d been cocky. A bit arrogant. But he knew when to quit.
Not anymore. The sneer on his face said he’d tasted too much power to ever back down. He came too close and Mia took a step back. Damien’s hand was the only thing keeping her within the man’s reach.
“Don’t you dare touch her.” As soon as the words left Damien’s mouth, one of the cops raised a gun.
The pistol pointed straight at Damien’s chest and Mia threw up her hand in alarm. “No! Put that down! He’s here to make a deal!”
“That’s right. I spoke with Detective Richard Johnson. This was supposed to be me and the cops. No lawyers.”
The ADA shrugged. “What can I say? News travels fast.” He turned to Mia and a pile of concrete wedged in her throat. “Thanks to your pretty little girlfriend, we were able to make it to the party on time. Isn’t that right, Mia?”
Oh, God. It was all going sideways. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Her fingers trembled in Damien’s hand. When she made that call, she had been scared for her life, her future, what would happen if Marcelo got his hands on her. Now she was terrified she had made a huge mistake. One that would cost Damien everything, even being a father.
She turned to him. “It’s not what you think.”
Doubt crept into his eyes. He narrowed them as he looked at her. “What is he talking about?” The question hung in the air between them and Mia didn’t know how to answer.
“Normally I don’t get in the middle of domestic spats but…”
“Shut up, Steven.” Mia squeezed Damien’s hand. God, he was so handsome. Stormy gray eyes, hard-set jaw. If only she could rewind and make different choices. She would run with him forever.
But it was too late for all of that.
She exhaled. “Remember when we went to the mall?”
He nodded.
“I wandered by a police substation and our mug shots were on the board out front. We were wanted, Damien. They were looking for us. I thought…If I could get you to come in…If you could make a deal…Then it might all be over. Marcelo would go to jail, the cartel would get broken up.”
Damien jerked his hand out of hers. “So you called the DA’s office? You were the snitch?”
Mia shook her head. “No! I am not a snitch!” She pointed at the ADA. “He said he’d make a deal. I’ve got his text right here.” She fished her phone out of her pocket. “If you talk, you can get probation. No jail time. All I had to do was set up the meet.”
Damien took a step back. “You know he’s a liar, Mia. How could you? How could you rat me out?”