Page 212 of Wicked Proposal

Us.

Not “you”—us.

In the short time she’s been around, Mia has already become family to everyone who matters most to me.

And she’s become family to me.

Don’t let thesemudakitake yet another family from us.

My parents, my sister—they’re all beyond reach. Kira, too, alive only in memory and in the flowers Nikita brings her every week.

But Mia is here. She’salive. She isn’t a memory yet.

And I’ll be fucked if I let her become one.

“I have to go.”

Nikita grins. “Go get her, you big idiot.”

“Call me that again, and I’ll have you thrown into a dungeon.”

“Attaboy.”

I pour my last drink into a plant, grab my coat, and head out into the night.

The whole way to Mia’s apartment, my pulse is thrumming. I’m more lucid than I’ve been in ages.Awake.I have no idea how I’ll get her to forgive me. But fuck me, I’ll try. I’ll try as many times as it takes. Until she’s either on a plane or in my arms.

Because I can’t imagine a life without Mia in it.

I take the stairs of her shitty apartment building three by three. I’m out of breath when I get to her floor, the alcohol and exhaustion weighing me down, but I still push open the door.

Wait.Pushopen the door?

Why isn’t it locked?

“You.”

I almost draw my gun, but then I recognize the voice.Reese.

“Where’s Mia?”

He strides towards me, fists balled up with rage. He isn’t imposing by any means, but the black eye is new. “Why don’t you ask Sitter Ratched, you dickhead?”

“Sitter what?”

“Tamara. That psycho you sent to watch her son.”

Dread sinks into my gut. “I never sent anyone.”

“Bullshit,” Reese growls. “That night, when Mia stayed over at that rich boys’ club with you, you sent?—”

“No one,” I cut in. “I thought Kallie was staying over. Mia didn’t ask for a sitter, so I didn’t send one.”

“But…” Reese’s eyes widen. His fists uncurl. “But Mia said it was in the contract. She said?—”

“If she’d asked, I would have done it. But she never did, Reese.”

“Because she thought you’d already sent someone!”