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He couldn’t live like that.
But can I live without her in my life, now I’ve found her?
God, he was really starting to hate that reasoning voice inside his head.
Because the thought of never seeing Mia again sent cold icicles of bleak despair down his spine.
God damn it!
Now that he knew Mia was in the world, that he loved her, he was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t.
CHAPTERELEVEN
Mia didn’t say a word on the drive back to Darius’s apartment. But that didn’t mean her head wasn’t buzzing with so many different thoughts and images, it was impossible for her to grasp hold of a single one of them for more than a few seconds.
She now knew exactly where Darius had gone earlier this evening. Realized that he hadn’t just visited her landlord, that he had to have threatened the other man too. How else could Darius have persuaded the man into agreeing to do all the things Mia and the other girls had been asking for, requests the landlord had ignored, for the past month?
It was mind-boggling.
She was also reeling from the fact Darius had come after her at all, when her having left his apartment would have given him the perfect out to having to continue being involved in this dangerous situation.
Admittedly, the murder had been carried out in his building, but as all evidence of that had now been removed, Darius could just simply have carried on with his own life and ignored the fact he had ever met her or cared what happened to her.
It's what most men would have done—
“I have no idea what you’re thinking right now,” he muttered in the darkness of the SUV. “But I advise none of those thoughts lead to you even attempting to leave my apartment again until after I tell you it’s safe to do so.”
She turned to face him, very aware there was only the thin material of Darius’s T-shirt between her and the leather seat she was sitting on. “And when do you think that might be?”
He glanced at her, the lights from the dashboard throwing the starkness of his features into eerie shadow. “I’m not feelinginclinedto answer any of your questions either, not until after you’ve had your arse spanked for so recklessly putting your own life in danger and scaring the shite out of me.”
She snorted. “You’re exaggerating—”
His fingers tightened about the leather steering wheel. “Andrew Bart left a trail of mutilated bodies behind him, including his own father’s, on his way to the top of ruling over the most vicious and cutthroat criminal gang in London.”
Mia’s throat moved as she swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. “Casper really thinks that’s who killed Giles?”
“He doesn’t think, he knows,” Darius assured tersely. “Not Bart personally, but it was carried out under his orders. Bart could just as easily order your death too.” His eyes glittered in the darkness when he glanced at her.
“I didn’t know…”
“I asked you to stay in my apartment, where you were safe,” Darius rasped. “And what happened while I was out dealing with your fuckwit of a landlord? I received a telephone call from the head of security of my apartment building,” he continued before she could speak. “He told me that you’d just sashayed out the front door.”
“I don’t think I sashayed.” She winced. “I was just feeling so angry and betrayed after finding the file in the drawer while I was looking for the TV remote. I reacted instinctively.”
“Instinct is fine if it’s applied in the right circumstances,” Darius bit out. “What you did this evening put more than you in danger.”
Mia realized that now, and if anything had happened to Emma or the other girls she shared the house with, she knew she would have been responsible.
She eyed him appreciatively. “Did you really ‘talk’ to my landlord?”
Darius’s jaw tightened. “Your living conditions are appalling. I merely pointed that out to him.”
“Merely?” she teased.
Darius released a heavy sigh. “I might also have intimated there would be physical repercussions if he didn’t immediately get the necessary work done to make the house habitable.”
Mia had never liked her weasel of a landlord, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, and she couldn’t afford anything better. “You’re a hero—”
