CHAPTER 24
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The next morning Mia finally drew her first pain-free deep breath. Though her throat was still sore, she decided she was healing.
She studied Gage, who was stretched out in a chair next to the bed, his long legs sprawled and his head resting in a position guaranteed to give him a crick in his neck. She tried to convince him to go to Mama’s and get a good night’s sleep, but he refused.
His brother brought him some jeans and a T-shirt to change into after he showered at the hospital, but the tennis shoes beside his chair still bore the grayish stamp of the smoke.
A tap came at the door, and Jules poked his head around. She beckoned for him to come in, and smiled when she saw he’d brought two bags with the Café Beignet logo on them.
“I thought you could do with some coffee and a beignet,” he said by way of a greeting.
“I’d love both.” She still sounded hoarse.
Gage woke and covered a yawn, then rubbed both hands over his face. “Hey,” he greeted Jules.
Jules handed him a cup of coffee, and Gage removed the lid, took a sip, and hummed in appreciation.
Jules handed him a large envelope. “Someone turned these in at the Royal Street Station this morning.”
Gage set his cup in the floor while he opened the envelope and took out his wallet, phone, and keys. “Thanks. I wondered where they’d gotten to.”
Jules raised a brow at that and shoved a napkin-wrapped beignet into Gage’s hand, then set one out on a paper plate and placed it on Mia’s hospital table with a plastic fork.
“The fire chief said it would be okay for you to remove things from your apartment, Mia. They were able to get the sprinklers turned on and the fire under control before it reached your office or the apartment. Though everything smells like smoke.”
“Have they found Jazz yet?” she asked.
“Not yet. But the other business owners and their workers are keeping an eye out for him.”
Jazz had tried to protect her from Mason. She just hoped he hadn’t followed them downstairs into the fire.
Gage reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “He’ll turn up. He knows who supplies his food and treats.”
She attempted a smile and raised a hand to the side of her face where Mason slapped her. It felt swollen and misshapen.
“Did the doctor say anything about Mason?” she asked.
“They’re guarded about his prognosis. He’s burned pretty badly, and the nylon blend of his pants melted into the tissues and made his burns deeper and more severe. If he doesn’t develop pneumonia or an infection, he might have a chance.”
If he’d had his way, it would have been her. He meant for her to burn to death while awake and aware of the excruciating pain.
Then she remembered. “He called someone before he started the fires. The person he called was supposed to kill Gage.”
“We have access to his call log and bank account. Trust me, we’ll find out who he called, and who called off the security guards and turned off the fire alarm and the sprinkler system. The fire department and the NOPD are doing a joint investigation on this one.”
She nodded. She didn’t know how she was supposed to feel about all this. Mostly she just felt numb.
“Who called Gage from the rehab center to get us out of the apartment?” she asked.
“We don’t know yet, but the center has turned over the feeds from their cameras. We’ll know by day’s end.”
“While I was at the center, I stopped by to see Mrs. Fontenot. She told me something interesting. It seems Mason visited her about four weeks ago and offered to buy her house. She turned him down, and in nicer terms told him to go fuck himself.
“There were four other similar attacks in neighboring areas in the past six months. When Mason was stopped and drugs were discovered in his vehicle and he was arrested, a warrant was issued for his house and car to be searched. There was a gym bag in his trunk with clothing and shoes similar to what he wore yesterday, along with other paraphernalia and a ski mask. The bag was confiscated at the time of his arrest, and they’ve been processing everything in it.
“We believe he may have been responsible for those attacks and the one on Mama Bet.”
The silence stretched while she and Gage looked at each other. “I’m sorry, Gage.”
“Stop apologizing for your family, Mia. Nothing they do is your fault.”
Jules spoke. “I agree, Mia. Obviously Mason’s harbored a lot of rage. Every one of those attacks was against lone women who were defenseless, just like his attack against you yesterday. That’s on him. Not on you.”
She nodded. “Okay.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “The two men who took Gage? Have you found them?”
“Yeah. We know who they are. It seems one had a concussion and some facial injuries that needed medical attention.” Jules raised a brow at Gage.
“You didn’t really expect I’d cooperate with them, did you?”
“No.” Jules studied him. “I think I may have misjudged you, Fontenot. You did more than walk through fire for Mia. You put it all on the line for her.”
“Yeah. I tend to do that when murderous assholes are pointing guns at innocents.”
Jules nodded. “We’ll have to talk more before you leave. Maybe we can take care of that tomorrow and tie up loose ends. Think about how you want to word your statement.”
“Okay.”
Mia was pretty sure there was something going on that she didn’t understand. But she’d ask Gage what Jules meant as soon as they were alone.
Jules came to the bed and brushed a kiss against her cheek. “Natalie sends her love and says if you need anything, let her know. That goes for me, too.”
“Thanks, Jules.”
When Jules offered Gage his hand, he got to his feet and shook it.
As soon as the door closed behind him, Mia pushed the hospital table out of the way. “Will you come lie with me, Gage?”
He slipped in beside her, and she turned on her side to curl against him. “What did Jules mean when he said you put it all on the line for me?”
“The two guys who came for me yesterday were the same detectives who helped Mason run me out of town six years ago. The older one, Harrison, said they’d been told to keep me out of the way while Mason reasoned with you.”
“Mason told them to kill you. Before he started burning the store, he made a call and told them to ‘Do it.’”
“Yeah. But I think Harrison decided he wasn’t going to step over that line. When I escaped, the other one, Isaacs, shot at me, but Harrison didn’t, and when I looked back Harrison had his hand on his partner’s gun.”
“Jules will be able to piece all that together, won’t he?”
“Possibly. Even though they didn’t identify themselves when they came to get me, I knew who they were. I did assault two police officers.”
“If you’re charged, the Navy will discharge you.”
“Yeah. And I could spend some time in jail, depending on how the charges go.”
“You saved my life. If you hadn’t escaped from them… If you hadn’t done everything you did, I’d be dead now.” This couldn’t happen now. She wasn’t going to let it happen. “Surely they’ll figure everything out when they start putting the pieces together.”
He turned to face her. “No matter what happens, I don’t regret a single thing I did, Mia. I’ve loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you. After I left, every time I went out with another girl I was comparing her to you, and none of them ever came close.”
His dark eyes, so expressive, grew more intent and his voice got husky. “I still love you, and the idea of flying back to California without you is killing me. I don’t want to lose you again. Whatever it takes, I want us to be together.”
Her eyes swam with tears, and she cupped his cheek. “I want that too. I never stopped loving you. The last few weeks of being with you, I’ve felt whole again. Like a missi
ng piece finally slipped back into place.”
Gage’s kiss was tender and careful. “We can work this out.”
“I need the phone.”
“Now?” Gage asked.
“Yes.”
He climbed off the bed, retrieved his phone, keyed in his password, and handed it to her.
She punched in a number. “Hello, Mr. Thorpe. I’d like to meet with you at your earliest convenience. It seems Gage may have a legal issue and may require a good criminal defense attorney.”
While Gage listened to her give Thorpe a rundown, he stretched out beside her and finished the excellent coffee Jules brought them.
She hung up and keyed in another number. “Hello, Ming. I need to meet with you today about six. At Mama Bet’s house. I should be discharged from the hospital by then.”
“What are you going to talk to Ming about?” he asked when she hung up.
“A job. I’m going to offer him thirty thousand a year over what my mother pays him to get Promises back up and running again. I’ll offer Jessica complete control of the business and leave it in her hands. And once that’s done, I’m going to keep Ming on staff to help me structure things for the nonprofit organizations we’ll be doing.
“So you’ll be on the plane with me when I leave in a couple of weeks.”
“Yes, I’ll be on the plane. Whatever it takes.”
The phone still in her hand dinged, alerting her to a text. She smiled. “Stan found Jazz. He’s okay.”
Gage smiled at the relief in her expression. She would always put family ahead of everything else. And Jazz was part of the family. “I’m going to ask Mama Bet to give Jazz to us. After everything he’s been through, we can’t leave him behind.”
Mia laughed.
He studied her face, so battered and bruised, her cheeks red as though sunburned by the fire. But when she turned her intense, focused green eyes on him, he knew he’d never loved her more.
“Mama Bet already loves you. My brothers will love you when they get to know you. I love you, Mia. I’ll be your family until you’re ready for more. And then we’ll build the family you want,” he promised and kissed her again. “Whatever it takes.”
“Whatever it takes,” she agreed.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT TERESA REASOR
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BREAKING FREE (Book 1 of the SEAL Team Heartbreakers)
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BREAKING TIES (A SEAL Team Heartbreakers Novella)
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BREAKING HEARTS (Book 7 of the SEAL Team Heartbreakers)
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TO CAPTURE A HIGHLANDER’S HEART: THE TRILOGY
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WILLY C. SPARKS, THE DRAGON WHO LOST HIS FIRE
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