Mia put her hand on his cheek. “You really don’t have to fire her. I don’t know what her problem is with me, but I think it can be solved by keeping her away from me.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m not one for second chances or acts of forgiveness, babe.”
“What if I’m wrong?” Mia didn’t really believe she was, but she also didn’t want to have the other woman fired if she had been even slightly mistaken about Selena’s intent. “She’s been a loyal employee to you, so it’s hardly fair to fire her for something she did to me, even if it was on purpose. She’ll be here long after I’m gone.”
Shane didn’t blink, and his eyes were flat and impossible to read. “Do you really think that’s true, Mia?”
Swallowing, she slowly shook her head.
“Smart girl.” He pulled her against him, though he didn’t touch her wounds. “You’re not going anywhere. Ever.” His cock hardened as he settled her on his lap, though he made no move to turn the embrace from anything besides soothing as the cold water sluiced over both of them. “Forever isn’t even close to long enough to get you out of my system, baby girl.”
She shivered, uncertain if it was from the cold water, the intensity in his voice, the possessiveness in his embrace, or the way her heart didn’t flutter with panic like it should have at his words. Mia didn’t think he was exaggerating his intentions or the lifespan of his obsession, which should have frightened her more than it did.
10
Smoke obscured his gaze, and the acrid smell of burning materials made it difficult to breathe even a few yards from where the warehouse still blazed. Shane stood with Bruno behind him and the fire chief at his side. Wallace was quietly seeing to bribing the other firefighters and the police officer who had responded to the reported fire. Until they had a chance to scour the building to remove the remnants of the weapons stored within, any witnesses had to be managed. Shane hoped they could keep it civilized and monetary, rather than having to resort to violence or threats of violence.
He cast a cynical gaze at the uniformed officer, watching as the man tucked a neat wad of bills into his pocket. Thank god for the corruptibility of the officials of their city and the natural instinct of humanity that encouraged making one’s own welfare supreme.
“Your people should be able to sanitize the scene within a few hours, Mr. O’Mara,” Candy Clayton, the fire chief, said.
He wondered what she would do with the ten thousand dollars he’d handed over to buy her silence, but he didn’t really care. Instead, he nodded and drifted back to the periphery of the crowd to join his men. Once they received the all-clear to enter the building, all trace of illegal weapons would disappear.
It was arson, of course, and he had no doubt who’d done it. He was actually surprised it had taken Peretti three days to fire the first volley in their war for possession of Mia. There wasn’t even a need to speculate who was behind the burning, since Aldo had texted him a picture of a match, along with the message of “burn, baby, burn.” He’d received it a few minutes before getting the call that his warehouse was on fire.
The same warehouse that held a million dollars in stolen and illegal weapons until an hour or so ago. The warehouse directly under his purview. Shane didn’t know if Patrick Murphy would expect him to cover the lost profit on those guns, or if he would simply expect Shane to get revenge. While Shane could afford the cost of repaying his boss if it came to that, he’d much prefer vengeance.
The only problem was the head of the Murphy family would expect him to keep it under the radar of the authorities. A highly public escalation in hostilities wouldn’t be appreciated or condoned. That didn’t mean Shane wasn’t going to do exactly what he wanted to serve Aldo Peretti’s head on a fucking plate. Turning to Bruno as the other man joined him, he said, “Find his drug dens and whorehouses. I want to know his moneymakers, and then I want to tear them down. Burn out the bastards and leave nothing but destruction in your wake.”
As Bruno nodded, Shane thought of Mia, knowing on an instinctive level she wouldn’t approve of his plan. Feeling a shred of something he wished he could ignore and didn’t want to label as compassion, he added, “Try not to harm any innocents. Clear out the whores and the low-level addicts if you can. I want to harm his profits and him personally, but without a lot of collateral damage.”
If Bruno was surprised by the caveat of mercy, he didn’t show it. Without even a blink, he nodded. “Yes, boss.”
* * *
Mia’s nose wrinkled at the acrid smell of smoke that accompanied Shane’s entrance into his rooms. In the past three days, she and Clovis had transferred from the guestroom to his suite. She’d been mildly surprised to find a landline plugged in and working but hadn’t attempted to make any calls yet. She half-believed he was having her watched to test her, but she was also afraid to call anyone.
Aldo must know all her friends and would probably be keeping tabs on them to find her. It would be fruitless to flee Shane only to land in Aldo’s hands. Forcing herself to be honest, she had to admit she wasn’t sure she wanted to plot her great escape just yet. Things were strange and fragile with Shane, and she wasn’t ready to upset that fragile balance yet.
Her state of almost-contentment with captivity worried her, but not as much as being at Aldo’s mercy or incurring Shane’s wrath. For now, she had to ride the current and at least pretend to be cooperating. Or tell herself that was what she was doing to be able to meet her own eyes in the mirror each day when she brushed her teeth.
Pushing aside that uncomfortably sarcastic thought, Mia focused on Shane as he closed the door. His face was smudged with gray and black where sweat didn’t gleam. His hair was tousled, and he stank like smoke. She wasn’t even aware of standing to approach him until she already had her hand on his arm. “What happened?”
“A fire.”
Mia rolled her eyes as she helped him take off the leather jacket. “I figured out that part for myself.”
He laughed, though it held a tired note. “Peretti has fired the opening shot, my sweet.”
She frowned, not even aware she was unbuttoning his shirt until her fingers touched the smooth expanse of his chest. His dusting of dark hair tickled her fingers as she worked her way down the buttons. “What did he do?”
“Burned up about a million dollars’ worth of…merchandise.” Shane seemed bemused that she was undressing him.
Since she was a little bewildered by the decision herself, Mia pretended like it wasn’t anything unusual for her to assist him. He looked exhausted and filthy. Who wouldn’t appreciate a hand? It didn’t mean anything. And if he thought it meant something, that could only work in her favor.
Even though it didn’t mean anything, she reminded herself of that as she pulled the shirt from his waistband and pushed it off his shoulders. Their gazes met for a minute, and heat blazed in his eyes, starting to drown out the tiredness. Biting her lip, she took a step back. “I’ll run you a bath.”
It was only when she had started filling the tub and added a generous dollop of scented oil from a silver bottle that she wondered why she had chosen a bath. A shower would have been faster.
