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“What if I can’t?”
“We all die.” He furrowed his brows with a slight shake to his head, as if the answer were so obvious.
It was and it wasn’t, because technically this shitshow wasn’t my problem. “You mean you die. I just got here.”
“The society has been in place this long because even though we hate each other’s guts, we understand one thing. We stand together, or we don’t stand at all. Don’t let their theatrics fool you. Once they see this for the very real threat that it is, they’ll come back.”
“That means shit to me. You’ll find that my grandfather and I are very different people.” Whatever deal Jax Rossi cut with Rex, I knew it couldn’t be anything good. What did he offer? More drugs, more human trafficking? I wasn’t about to start up that fucked-up idea again. My brothers and I had just dismantled Jax’s business venture with the Venezuelan cartel.
“If I didn’t know that already, you wouldn’t be here. Jax was never going to be one of us.” He rose to his feet and poured himself a drink before he offered me one.
“No, thanks.” Though I did need a drink in the worst way.
“You start tomorrow.”
Chase Rossi would have no clue as to where to start looking for the would-be killers of the society members. But Agent Tyler Cole knew exactly where to dig. I gripped the backrest of my chair and shoved it against the table. “You can’t expect me to solve this for you. It doesn’t work like that.”
“I need people like you and Mia on my side. If the society goes under, chaos will ensue. This country’s economy needs us. It may not be apparent to you, but we’re the ones keeping peace. We’re the good guys.”
I rubbed the creases on my forehead. My brother Wesley had said we needed a different type of good guy. Was Rex Valentino it— the vigilante this city needed? Or was he feeding me pretty lies to save his ass?
“I’ll see you around.” My heart thrashed in my ears as I headed for the door, half-expecting his men to stop me, but they didn’t. When I reached the antechamber, the charge in the air shifted from murderous to slightly menacing. My life was this side of fucked up, if I considered that an improvement. The minute the door closed behind me, I picked up the pace without breaking into a run. Mia couldn’t have gone too far. I hated that Rex knew how much she meant to me. There wasn’t anything in this world I wouldn’t do to keep her and the baby safe.
“Mia,” I called out in the cavernous hallway. The carpet had been recently replaced, but the corridor still had that musty smell old buildings had.
“Tyler.” A muffled sound came from behind the walls.
“Mia.” I pressed my palms to the panel, following the whimpers and thumps that tumbled down the corridor. Mia was giving them hell. These assholes didn’t know who they were dealing with. She wasn’t the type to go down without a fight. When I reached a spot where the wood trim had a slight separation, I shoved the panel in and a door swung open. I chased after them down the hidden passage, which was well lit and looked fairly new. I made a right, then a left.
A few steps in, I found Mia towering over a guy sprawled on the floor. “He pulled me into the partition back in the boardroom. What the fuck? What does Rex want with us? Why split us up?”
“He wanted to talk to me alone.” I made to move, and the cold barrel of a gun dug just under my ribs.
Mia raised her hands, even though she didn’t have a weapon pointed at her. “Let him go.”
The bodyguard on the floor stirred, then was on his feet in two kicks, face bright red. His gaze darted between Mia, me, and his buddy. “She stays.” He wiped his bloody lip.
So this was Rex’s plan? Keep Mia until I fixed his Mafia problem? To hell with him. If these bodyguards killed me, who would help Rex? I elbowed the guy behind me, and he dropped his gun. I kicked it toward Mia, snatched him by the collar, and punched him several times until his body went limp in my grip. “The hell she is.”
When I turned to her, a loud thud in my ears made me fall to my knees before the whole room became a long tunnel in front of me. I rubbed my eyes to keep the shadows from creeping in.
“Stop.” Mia’s voice sounded far away and full of panic. “I’ll go with you. Just let him be. I won’t fight you.”
“Mia,” I called after her.
The panel opened, and then she was gone again.
Chapter3
For Valentine's Day
Mia
Rex’s bodyguard shoved me into the boardroom. I pushed back. “I said I’d come with you. I’m not a fucking rag doll.”
“Jesus fuck, she’s pregnant. Set her down.” Rex sat on the mahogany table with one thigh propped on it and the other extended in front of him. His dark gaze shifted from me to the man holding me in place just past the threshold. “My apologies for my men’s manners. They’re not used to dealing with lady bosses.”
Suddenly, my escort couldn’t get away from me fast enough. He was right to fear me. “If we were anywhere else, he’d be dead by now.” I turned my attention to Rex.
