Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(84)

Mia looked up at him, her face flushed. “I’m going to talk to Tony again. He was trying to figure out how and where they would be going.”

Ian’s shoulders were up around his ears, his jaw tight with tension. “Who shot you, Case?”

“It doesn’t matter.” He could still see Theo standing there. His brother hadn’t even recognized him. He’d simply lifted the gun and taken out the enemy. He’d been an empty vessel filled with Hope McDonald’s perverse will.

“Fuck,” Ian cursed. “It was Theo. He shot you.”

“He didn’t know what he was doing.” Theo wasn’t a lost cause. “Once we get him home and off those drugs and into therapy, he’ll be the same Theo he used to be.”

Ian shook his head. “Don’t be na?ve. What that woman has done to him will change him forever. I’m not giving up on him, but we all need to understand how dangerous he is now.”

“He could have killed Mia,” Lawless said, his voice grave. “If you hadn’t gotten there in time, he likely would have.”

“No. He wouldn’t.” Mia kept her eyes steady on Case as though trying to make him believe her words. “He was ordered to kill me, Case. He stayed behind to do the job, but he couldn’t. I’ve thought a lot about what happened. He shoved me behind a shelving unit—the place you found me. Then he stepped out. I think there was a camera there and he wanted it to catch him. He fired twice, but into the wall. He wanted her to think I was dead.”

“Did he say anything?” He hadn’t gotten to talk to Theo. Mia had spent at least ten minutes with him.

“He recognized my smell,” she explained. “I’m wearing the same body lotion Erin uses. He plainly recognized it, but he wouldn’t believe me when I told him about her. It was almost like trying to think about her hurt him.”

“Conditioning,” her brother said with a frown. “She’s using techniques to trick the mind into associating certain thoughts with distaste. Some therapists use it on addicts. I suspect she’s using a harsh routine.”

“But it’s not anything that we can’t reverse,” Case insisted. “He had the chance to kill Mia and he didn’t.”

“He risked himself so I didn’t die.” Mia was still right there beside him.

Ian shook his head. “I’m going to read the reports. Get some sleep and we’ll reconvene in a couple of hours. I’m going to try to call in some favors and see if I can find any planes leaving Cartagena late last night or early this morning.”

“I’m already on it,” Fain replied. “Mia’s tried to reach out to some of her contacts outside of Santos. I’ll monitor all of those.”

Ian nodded and headed back toward the second bedroom. Lawless stared at Case from across the room.

Mia stepped in front of him, as if she could protect him from her brother’s very impressive stink eye. “Drew, we talked about this.”

“No, you talked about this. I said nothing. We’re going to have to choose to agree to disagree because I’m going to have a word with him. He nearly got you killed.”

“I brought him into this,” Mia pointed out. “This was my idea. He went along with it because he knew damn well I would go by myself if he didn’t.”

Case felt the need to defend his girl a bit. “You hired a bodyguard. He’s an *, but he’s fairly good in the field.”

Fain’s left hand came up, his middle finger pointing to the heavens, but he said nothing.

“It doesn’t matter. He could have called me. He could have stopped you,” Lawless insisted.

“I doubt that, but I am very sorry for what happened last night. Mia’s extremely competent, but I put her in danger.” He could still see her face when he’d been shot, could still feel the pain of knowing he might not see her again. “I did that and it ended with Hutch being taken, too.”

“He doesn’t need this right now,” Mia insisted. “He just had surgery. You’re not yelling at him until he’s at least had some sleep. Go on, Case. I’ll deal with my brother. We’re taking the adjoining room. I’ve already got your stuff in there.”

She was taking care of him and he’d been nothing but trouble for her.

“Mia, I think we should talk.”

She reached out and took his hand in hers. “After you rest. Drew, stay here because apparently we need to have another talk about you not intimidating my boyfriend.”

Her brother’s eyes rolled as she led him out of the room and down the hall. It looked like the Lawless siblings had taken up the entire top floor of the hotel. She led him past the room where Ian, Liam, and Michael were huddled together and to their personal bedroom.

“I don’t want you to worry about anything but getting better, Case,” she said as she ushered him in the room. “You need some sleep. It’s all still going to be here when you wake up. I’m also going to bring in a private doctor.”

“Mia, stop.” He squeezed her hand. “Tell me what he said to you. I need to know.”

She couldn’t look him in the eyes. “He was far gone. He didn’t seem at all like the man you described. It’s all in the report. I don’t want to think about it right now. I would rather concentrate on getting you better. We also have to deal with the fact that our brothers are going to try to ship us home as soon as possible. At least mine will.”