The van pulled up two blocks from the bar Steven had insisted on meeting at. The place was probably swarming with Marcelo’s men. But it didn’t matter. Mia would get him to talk. Once you got men like him going, they couldn’t help themselves.
She paused in front of the door and smoothed the front of her dress. The black fabric hugged her body and showed off all her curves. She hoped it would be enough. The door opened and two men in suits walked out. Mia slipped in as it swung shut. Showtime.
The place was one of those upscale joints her father loved. All wood paneling and masculinity, just like his office. Dim lighting and ever-present wait staff ready to make men of semi-importance feel ten feet tall.
Mia spotted the ADA in a booth at the back. The burgundy leather seat hugged the wall and as Mia stepped closer, she counted three heads turn in her direction. She was right. He’d brought company.
She slid into the booth. “Thank you for meeting me, Steven.”
He took a long, slow sip of his scotch before answering. “I should be handing you over to Marcelo. The man would love to make an example out of you.”
“Why aren’t you?”
“I want to know what you’re after first.”
Mia swallowed. Here goes nothing. “I’ve had a change of heart. Damien’s…” She reached up to touch the bruise purpling below her eye. The FBI had some good makeup artists, but Steven didn’t know that. “He’s not the man I thought he was.”
“So you’re what? Here to beg forgiveness?”
She looked up at him with wide eyes she hoped said innocence. “I’m here for a job.”
The ADA laughed. “What would you need with a job? You’ve got all your father’s money.”
“That’s the thing. There wasn’t any.”
“Excuse me?”
“Everything is gone. My father spent it all.”
“On what?”
“The house, cars, women.” Mia let her lower lip tremble. “There isn’t even enough left for my tuition next year. All that I’ve worked for…Without a job I can’t hope to finish law school.”
Steven leaned back in the booth. “No job at the DA’s office will cover your tuition, you know that.”
Here we go. “I’m not here for a job in the office, Steven. I want something more…lucrative.”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
Damn him. She picked up her napkin and twisted it around in her hands. “Damien told me how much money one of Marcelo’s girls could bring in and you seem so well connected. I just thought…maybe you could help me find something not too terrible that I could do.”
Steven slid closer. His dark eyes sparkled in the bar’s light. “Are you asking me to be your pimp?”
“You are close to Marcelo, right?”
“Of course I am. It doesn’t get closer.” He reached out and touched her arm. She tried not to jump. “But what makes you think I’m interested in helping you?”
She batted her lashes. “If you help me, I can still work with you on the Innocence Project. I’ll help you get the people you want out of prison. Once I get my law degree, I can come work in the DA’s office.”
His fingers lingered on her shoulder blade. “What happened to your sense of justice?”
“I’m desperate.” She reached up and put her hand on his chest. “Please, Steven. I need you to help me.”
Mia saw the doubt in his eyes. Shit. She reached for her clutch and pulled out Melanie’s locket. “Here, I stole this for you before I ran away from Damien. I thought you might want it.”
The ADA plucked the locket from her fingers and opened it. He stared at the faded picture of the woman he murdered and a smile played on his lips. “You know, women are all the same. You get them in a bind and they’ll offer you anything to get out of it.”
He snapped it shut. “You’re just like her. When I was standing there with the drugs in my hand, she was begging me for them, clawing at me with her broken fingernails like a starving dog.”
“Why didn’t you help her?”
“Because she was going to ruin everything! Your father was in so deep with Marcelo he would have brought the whole office down. I couldn’t risk my career because your old man was sloppy. I needed to take her out and make sure she wouldn’t talk. Otherwise, I’d never become District Attorney.”
“So you gave her enough drugs to overdose?”
“I gave her exactly what she asked for. A hit of heroin. She didn’t know it was laced with fentanyl.”
That has to be enough. Mia forced her eyes back up. Steven was evil. Pure evil and greed. Sweat trickled down her back, and she counted to ten, but the door didn’t open.