Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(94)

“She never mentioned anything but that her parents died.” Likely because he hadn’t invited the conversation. How many times had he called her entitled? How many times had he claimed she was nothing but a rich girl?

Even rich girls had their problems, had pasts, had needs.

“Give Drew a pass. I know you think he’s an *, but he’s got his reasons. I’m not only running background checks and gathering intelligence on his business rivals, I’ve been training him and his brothers. Self-defense. Offense. They’re going into something dangerous.”

And Mia would be with her brothers. “I know he hates me, but I can teach them all a thing or two.”

Ian nodded. “Then I’ll let you work with me. The only person Drew Lawless hates more than you right now is a man named Steven Castalano. Help him take the f*cker down and maybe he won’t shoot you. In the meantime, give Mia some space. Maybe send her some flowers or something. Girls like flowers.”

Mia might like flowers but there was something she liked even more. Mia liked intel. Mia liked information that led her to a great story. Maybe there was more than one way to apologize. Maybe it was time he started loving her for exactly who she was. Crazy. Smart. Competent. Loyal.

“I have to get her back.” He had a lot to do. He had to get his girl back and find his brother.

Maybe they weren’t two different ops at all.

“I think you do. I think if you let that one go, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. The bad news is you got the Taggart temper. We’re kind of *s sometimes. The good news is we tend to have ridiculously good taste in women. Now let’s go and deal with the fallout because Grace had no idea Theo was alive and she’s going to want someone’s balls for keeping secrets. I’m nominating Sean. Charlie’s already talking about more kids so I need to keep my balls intact.”

He followed his brother out, his mind on Mia.




A few hours later, Case locked the door, closing out the rest of the world before setting the alarm.

Hope McDonald was still out there. They couldn’t risk her coming after Erin. Especially not now that she knew the Taggarts had figured out Theo was alive. One of the plans to come out of the evening had been moving Case in. They’d talked about taking turns, but it made more sense for Case to watch over her. If he went out of town, she would be assigned a guard. TJ would come to work with her after her maternity leave.

She’d been surprisingly all right with it.

He walked back into the living room. It was empty. He could hear Erin talking softly. She must be down the hall, in TJs room. He began to wander that way, worried about her.

She’d been sedate most of the evening, talking in logical tones, asking all the right questions.

It wasn’t what he’d expected. She’d teared up in the beginning but she’d been right back to super-tough Erin after that. Grace had cried more than Erin had.

She was holding it all in and there wasn’t a lot he could do about it. If Theo was here, he would tell him that Erin needed to scene. It was how she’d been able to express emotion, but he couldn’t do it. He wasn’t sure she could anymore either. Erin hadn’t been back to Sanctum once since Theo had died.

What was he supposed to do? His brother wasn’t here. All the girls had left. Should he talk to Erin? He needed to talk to Erin because they’d candy coated a bunch of stuff and he couldn’t stand the thought of her believing things would be easier than they were really going to be.

God, he wanted to talk to Mia. If Mia was here, she would know what to do.

He stood outside the door, looking inside. Erin held TJ in her arms, holding him close to her body.

“Daddy’s coming home, baby boy. Your daddy is going to come home and we’re going to be a family. I promise you I’ll do everything I can to bring him back to us. Daddy’s coming home.”

Shit. The world went a little watery. That was Theo’s son in there. His son. It hit him with the power of a locomotive. Theo had made a baby and he had a woman who loved him. He’d made a family who needed him.

Case needed Mia.

He stepped back out, giving Erin time with her son. She hadn’t been unmoved. Public tears weren’t something Erin would easily do. She would hold it in and give in to her grief when she was alone.

Had Mia cried by herself after she’d walked away? She didn’t have a baby to cuddle, a piece of her love to hold close.

He’d been a dick. How could he have said those things to her? He’d been so worried about what he couldn’t give her that he hadn’t thought at all about what he could. He’d worried about himself, about getting hurt.

They’d been so incendiary that he hadn’t imagined she could hurt. She was larger than life. She was the girl who could tell everyone to f*ck off and walk away without a care. The tough girl who didn’t give a damn what anyone thought.

Except she’d been soft for him and he’d f*cked her over.

“You still up?”

He turned and Erin stood in the living room, her face blotchy from crying. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Her mouth curled up in a tired smile. “I don’t know that anything can truly disturb me tonight.”

“I’m sorry we kept it from you. I thought it was the right thing to do. I thought the idea that Theo was out there…” How did he explain this to her?