Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 133321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 667(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 667(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Grayson feels this topic in the air as well. I see it in his eyes and sense it in his mood, so much so that when Eric and Davis arrive and he stands up to let them in, he stops by my chair, tilts my head back and says, “I won’t make the same mistakes again. You have my word.” He kisses me and heads toward the door, and I know he’s talking about pulling me off that case.
He wants me to come back to work with him, but right now we’re about to find out more about the threat against Grayson. We’re about to find out how hard we all have to fight. My mind goes back to that interview at the DA’s office and the words of one of the men talking about Grayson: I love taking down a rich fucker who thinks his shit doesn’t stink. I’m going to get about ten promotions for burying that rich, fake do-gooder.
I want Eric and Davis to walk in the door and tell us that this problem is over and that I can just leave Ri behind, but I know deep in my gut they won’t.
Chapter twenty-five
Mia
I’m still behind the island when Eric and Davis, two men I know well, enter the connected living room area. Both good looking, confident, in jeans and T-shirts, which on Davis feels weird, awkward almost, but Eric is another story. Eric is an ex-Navy SEAL with a Harvard background, a brilliant financial mind, and a sleeve of tattoos down one arm. He’s someone who manages to feel comfortable in every moment, while Davis prefers the edge of discomfort.
Grayson is on their heels and he immediately crosses to stand beside me, the action an assumption that the other two men will join us on the opposite side. Instead, they halt in the living area, a good distance away from us, too far for a real conversation. “We need to see you alone,” Davis announces, speaking to Grayson and obviously shutting me out.
“Mia is with me,” Grayson says. “That means she’s with us.”
“And yet she was with Ri,” Davis replies, and like anyone close to Grayson, he actually has the courage to look at me when he makes that statement. “How do we know she’s not being inserted now to weaken you?”
“I’m on Team Mia, for the record,” Eric quickly adds.
“My job is to protect you, Grayson,” Davis argues. “And beyond my job, you’re a friend. I don’t want you fucked any more than you already are.”
“What does that mean?” I ask quickly. “Fucked how?”
“Yes,” Grayson says. “What does that mean?”
“I really must insist that I speak to you alone,” Davis says.
My temper snaps. “I didn’t sleep with Ri, Davis,” I state. “I was never with Ri. He gave me a job with a sign-on bonus at a time when my father was in debt to a bunch of very bad people. I wasn’t going to ask Grayson for money. What kind of bitch would I be to use him for money? I couldn’t do that to him or us, and when Ri tried to force a personal relationship, I started looking for a job, which is why I was at the DA’s office. And in case you don’t remember, Davis, I saw a naked woman pressed against the man I love, my fiancé. I wasn’t in a good place emotionally, I was dying inside, but I still loved him. I didn’t, I wouldn’t, I haven’t ever tried to hurt him.” I press my hands to the counter. “Questions?”
Davis stares at me for several intense moments and then eyes Grayson, who says, “Can we get down to business now?”
Davis shifts his attention back to me. “You always did have a way of getting to the point. Welcome back, Mia.”
Eric joins us at the island, pressing his hands on the tile. “Mia,” he greets, standing directly across from me.
I slide the cookies toward him. “Leslie made them.”
“Oatmeal raisin?” he asks hopefully.
“Yes,” I say, looking at Davis. “None for you.”
“Fuck, Mia,” he says. “Have a heart, will you?”
I laugh. “No. You’re a bastard. No cookie for you.”
“You know I’m just protecting him,” he says.
“Which,” I say, “is the only reason I forgive you.”
“What did you find out?” Grayson asks. “Is there a collaboration with the DA to take me down?”
“Yes,” Davis says. “There is, and it’s already six feet deep with layers of evidence.”
An explosion of fear for Grayson rocks me, but he’s calm, cool, his tone even as he asks, “Evidence of what?”
“Money laundering, racketeering, bribing judges, the list goes on and on,” Davis states. “This is an elaborate set-up that might have taken years of work.”
“Which brings me to Mia,” Eric says.
“Me?” I ask, stiffening while Grayson’s hand settles on my back, a silent show of support.