CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Grayson

I charge at Ri in the hopes that he’ll turn his gun on me, but he doesn’t. He holds steady and I stop in front of Mia, not about to block Blake’s shot if he so chooses to shoot the bastard before I do. Right about now, he probably wants to shoot me for taking one of his guns, but I don’t give a damn. The minute I heard Mia went down the stairs and Ri decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator, I wasn’t waiting for her to end up dead.

“I’ll kill you, Ri,” I promise. Mia’s hand goes to my waist as if she just needs to touch me. I want to comfort her. I want to pull her into my arms, but I don’t dare look away from Ri.

His eyes narrow on mine and I have a really fucking bad feeling he’s about to pull the trigger, just to spite me, just to finally hurt me. “I love you, Grayson,” Mia whispers, because yes, she feels his readiness too, but that’s not the right thing for him to hear right now.

Fuck it, I’m going to kill him. My finger twitches on the trigger but a shot rings out before I shoot. Ri jolts backward and blood splatters all over my face and Mia’s. I grab Mia and pull her to me. “What happened?” she asks. “What happened?!”

“Easy, baby,” I say, looking over her shoulder at Ri lying across the floor, with a bullet between his eyes and blood pooling around him, thick and wide.

Blake appears by my side and takes my gun, “Thank me later. He was going to shoot and I wasn’t letting you answer for that. Get her out of here.” He kneels beside Ri and checks for a pulse as Adam charges in the door, “Get me an ambulance and the police,” Blake shouts at him.

I cup Mia’s face and tilt her eyes to mine. “You’re okay?”

“He’s dead, right?”

“No pulse!” Blake shouts before I can answer. “Hurry the fuck up, Adam!”

“I called. They’re on the way.” Adam eyes me. “Get her out of here.” He opens the door as I scoop up Mia and carry her past Adam, into the garage, and then to the van where I set her on the edge of the interior.

Sirens sound in the distance and Kara runs to our side. “Is she okay?” she asks and then to Mia. “Are you okay?”

“I’m alive,” Mia says, burying her head in my stomach and clinging to my waist. I cradle her head, my gaze finding Kara’s. “She’s shaken. Gives us a few.” Kara nods and hurries away while I tilt Mia’s face and ease her stare to mine. “You’re okay, baby. I got you. You know that, right?”

“You could have been killed. I caused this. I didn’t listen to you. He knew about us and I felt like it was now or never.”

“I heard everything. You were right to just get out and while I’d have preferred you never see him again, you got him to admit everything on the audio. You did good.”

“He’s dead.” Her voice cracks. “I didn’t do good. He’s dead.”

“You did what he forced you to do and you tried to get out of his path.” Sirens grow louder, now in the garage, closing in on us. “He was armed, Mia. Had we not called him to the garage what happened in the stairwell might have happened in his office and we might not have gotten to you in time.”

The ambulance pulls up just behind us, followed by at least one police car, and Mia grabs my shirt in reaction. “Oh God. The world knows now. The news will be blasting everywhere. My father is going to find out. Call him, please. I can’t talk to him. I’ll cry and he’ll freak out.”

I pull my phone from my pocket and kneel beside her, punching in her father’s autodial that I never deleted. “Mac,” I say. “It’s Grayson.”

“Grayson? How the hell are you?”

“Listen, sir. Mia is with me and safe, but there’s been an incident at her office. She’s shaken but unharmed.”

“What incident? I need to talk to her. Tell her I need to talk to her.”

“Sir—”

“Grayson, damn it.”

I cover the phone and look at Mia. “Baby. He needs to hear your voice.”

She nods and takes the phone. “Hey, dad. Yes. No. My boss. He’s crazy or he was. He’s dead. No. I’m fine. Just—meet us at the apartment.” She looks at me. “Grayson’s apartment that’s my apartment again. I hadn’t had time to tell you.”

“He’s still on the security list,” I say. “I’ll have the building let him in.”

She repeats my words and then hangs up right as Blake reappears. “The police are going to want to talk to you both. Just tell the truth.” He looks at Mia. “You okay?”

“No, I’m not, but thank you. Grayson would have shot him, and I know what you did in that stairwell not only saved him trouble but you saved my life, Blake.”

“I’m just glad I pulled the trigger before Grayson, who clearly knows how to handle a gun a little too well for my sanity today.”

“My father insisted that a man with money had to know how to protect himself,” I say. “And so, I do but thank you. I know you saved me a lot of grief. I would have killed him.”

“It was justified,” Blake says. “He was going to shoot, but it’s less complicated this way.”

“Then he really is dead?” Mia asks.

“He didn’t have much of a chance,” Blake replies. “I was taught to shoot to kill and I do. I wasn’t giving him a chance to lift his gun and shoot because he would have.” He eyes me. “I called Eric. He has an attorney on the way to represent you, though I see no reason this becomes a problem for you. In fact, thanks to Mia, tonight ends this for you both.”

A police officer appears next to Blake, followed by a plainclothes detective, as does a tall man, in a blue suit, with a salt and pepper beard; Ridell Murphy, a ten-year veteran with the firm, and one of our best criminal defense attorneys. “Eric sent me,” he says, which doesn’t surprise me, as Eric respects the hell out of Ridell.

“Glad to have you with us, Ridell,” I say.

“Yes,” Mia agrees. “Good to see you right about now.”

“I’d rather see you under different circumstances, Mia,” Ridell says, and he’s too much of a pro to ask how she is doing. He knows the answer: not well. Instead he and Blake take control of the questioning that comes at us hard and fast, and stretches for hours in one shape or another.

Blake repeats the same words over and over. “In my professional opinion Mia would be dead if I wouldn’t have pulled that trigger when I did. We have cameras and audio for you to make your own assessments.” He handles just about everything thrown our way before we can and owns it as his.

Once the police finish with us, Mia is shaking so hard that the EMS tech still on scene insists he check her out, quickly directing us to the bed inside the vehicle. I help Mia inside and when I would stay outside, and give the tech room to evaluate Mia, she isn’t having it.

She pats the bed next to her and whispers, “Please.”

I glance at the EMS tech, a fit, fifty-something man with gray hair, and he nods his approval.

I join Mia and sit next to her. “Joe” introduces himself and kneels next to Mia to check her vitals. “Shock,” he declares after a short exam. “You really need something to calm your nerves.”

“What I need is to go home,” she says, looking at me. “Can we go home now?”

I reach up and brush her cheek. “Yeah, baby. We can go home.” I glance at Joe. “Is she safe to go home?”

“She is, but if she doesn’t stop shaking, you need to get her something to calm her nerves.”

“I will,” I assure him. “I have a doctor we can call if necessary.”

Joe approves, and I exit the vehicle and help Mia down. Kara and Blake are waiting on us outside and an SUV pulls up next to them. Blake pats it. “Your ride. My man, Smith is behind the wheel. He’ll take you home.”

Kara hands Mia a sweater. “This will warm you up and cover up any mess.”

“You mean blood,” Mia says. “Thank you. My father is waiting on us at the apartment. I don’t want to freak him out any more than he’s probably freaked out already.”

She hands Mia some sort of towelettes. “Clean your face in the car.”

Mia touches her face. “I wiped it off earlier. There’s more blood?”

“Yeah, honey, just a little bit,” Kara says and looks at me. “You, too. You have a few lingering smudges.”

I nod and then Blake and I shake hands while Mia and Kara hug. “I’m here if you need me,” Kara promises Mia, pulling back to look at her. “That includes to talk. That was a rough scene back there and you’re going to question yourself but don’t. I guided you through what to do. You asked me. You didn’t act alone. Furthermore, you were trying to just get out of there. That was a good thing.”

“Agreed,” Blake says, and then backing up what I already expressed he adds, “He had a gun. He knew about you and Grayson. I don’t want to think about you waiting for him in his office, and us not getting to you in time.”

“Where do we stand on backlash from Ri’s cronies?”

“That file Mia grabbed assures you have none,” he says. “It proved Ri was not only trying to frame you but Rosemond also.”

“Who’s Rosemond?” Mia asks.

“The mob affiliate Ri was involved with,” Blake explains. “Ri was his gravy train and we didn’t want Rosemond lashing out at you two for hurting his bottom line. That’s how those types work. Thanks to you, Mia, he won’t. We scanned the data from that file which involved him and sent it to him before I handed it over to the police. He now knows that Ri was trying to take him down. You’re both free and clear. Go home. Rest. I’ll be around if you have questions tomorrow.”

We say our goodbyes and Mia and I climb in the backseat of the SUV and I pull her close. The minute we’re moving, I cup her face and lean in, kissing her with a long stroke of my tongue, emotions I’ve suppressed for hours, all but bleeding from me into her. “I almost lost you tonight,” I whisper, pressing my cheek to hers, my lip at her ear, “I would not have survived losing you.” He pulls back to look at me. “I can’t lose you.” I press my head to hers. “I would not have let him hurt you. No one will ever come that close again. You have my word.”

She pulls back. “You told me to get in and get out. You’re not mad at me?”

“You were trying. He wouldn’t let you and you were protecting me.” I stroke her hair from her face. “Most importantly, you’re alive, so no, I’m not mad at you.” I lean in and press my lips to her ear again. “But I might need to keep you in the bed, naked, and in my arms for a few days, just to convince myself you’re really okay.” I stroke her hair from her face. “And to make sure you know I have you. I’m not letting go. Ever, Mia.”

“Promise?”

“Promise, baby,” I say, pulling her into my arms and holding onto her. She lays against my chest, and she’s still trembling, quaking inside and I just want to take away the fear and trauma. The only way I know to do that is just to hold her and keep holding her for the rest of our lives. And I will, but I’ll do so just a little tighter right now until she’s ready for me to loosen that hold. Until she heals.