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Because, even if he was too old and emotionally damaged for her, he wanted to keep Mia safe!
“Something like that,” he dismissed. “It will also be better for the girls you live with if you don’t go home for a while.”
Her eyes widened. “You think I would be putting them in danger if I did?”
“I would prefer you, and they, didn’t take that risk.” He truly had no idea whether Mia’s presence would put her housemates in danger too. He just wanted to keep her safe.
She chewed on her bottom lip. “But isn’t my staying here going to put you in danger too?”
He snorted. “The fact I’m standing here now shows I’m really not that easy to kill.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing important,” he bit out.
She looked at him searchingly for several long seconds. “I’m still not happy at the idea of involving you in this any more than you already are.”
“Those two men involved me when they chose to commit a murder in my building. Besides”—he gave a dismissive shrug—“if anyone from the criminal underworldisinvolved, then they would need the permission of the heads of the other criminal factions before carrying out that hit. Matteo Zalotti and Gregori Markovic aren’t just associates, but friends of my whole family. They wouldn’t take kindly to anyone killing one of us without being informed and approving the hit first.”
“It all sounds so…civilized,” she murmured incredulously.
“In its own way, it is.”
No need for him to tell her that she didn’t have that same protection and that most of those criminal organizations wouldn’t give a damn whether she’d seen anything incriminating or not. Just knowing she’d been there at all meant they would probably kill her on the off chance she could recognize or describe who committed Fletcher’s murder to the police.
Her slender throat moved as she swallowed. “In the meantime, you think it’s best if I stay here tonight?”
“I believe I said I want you to say here for the foreseeable future. That means at least until the situation is resolved.” Even if he was very quickly driven insane by having Mia staying in his apartment.
“With you?” she clarified.
“And Honey,” he drawled.
The ghost of a smile curved her lips. “This is a no-pets-allowed apartment building, remember?”
“An apartment building I own, and, as a consequence, I can decide what rules do or do not apply to me,” he growled. “If you agree to stay, Honey can too.” He was aware he was being unfair by using Honey as leverage, but the thought of Mia leaving here, of her possibly being in danger, made him feel as if there were dozens of ants crawling beneath his skin.
Mia moved to stand in front of the huge wall of windows looking out over the London skyline.
Windows that, although she wasn’t aware of it, didn’t only filter the sun’s rays, but were also bullet and bomb proof.
Overkill?
Without a doubt.
But so was living on the top floor of a building with so much security, it was as impregnable as a fortress.
Or, at least, Darius had thought it was. He was going to instruct Casper to seriously look into overhauling the building’s security in the next few days.
Mia breathed in noisily before releasing it again as she turned to face him. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Darius echoed warily.
“Definitely okay.” She grimaced. “I might value my independence, but I’m not stupid.”
CHAPTERSEVEN
Mia wasn’t so sure of her decision a few hours later when, after she’d eaten the light lunch of the soup and fresh bread Darius had made for her, he then suggested she lie down and rest. “I’m not a child,” she protested.
