Page 3 of Mia

The door opened, and my mother stepped in with a smile. Of course she wouldn’t allow me to come over here without here. Aside from her, I had a small team that I kept at my side at all times. Then there was the team of ten men and women that helped on the sidelines. With all of them here, I didn’t have to get my hands dirty too much, which was best.

My mother made her way to me and leaned in to kissed my cheek.

“Hey, baby.”

“Hey, Mommy.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay. Just ready to get playing nice for the night over. I don’t know how much longer I can hold this nigga off before I put a bullet in his head.”

JacQues wanted me bad. He never missed an opportunity to feel me up. He’d even asked to smell my pussy. I kept my gun on me because he didn’t want to take no for an answer.

“Titan will kill you both if you fuck that man.”

I rolled my eyes.

I was currently four months pregnant with Titan Deluca’s baby, and the only person who knew was him. I was expecting Titan to tell my family, but none of them had spoken a word about it. It was hard as hell keeping it from my mother, being that she was here with me. Thankfully, this baby seemed to want to be kept a secret because it wasn’t showing out too much… at least not around people.

“You spoke to him?” my mother asked.

“No. He’s called, of course, but I don’t need him distracting me right now.”

My mother raised her hands. “You know your man. That’s all I’m going to say.”

“First of all, that’s not my man.”

She waved me off. “Girl, please. Tell that to a fool that doesn’t know either of you. Anyway, the driver is outside to take you to dinner.”

I sighed. “Okay.”

She left the room, and I put the finishing touches on my hair and stood. I caught a glimpse of my baby bump in the mirror. It was small, almost making me look bloated instead of pregnant. I couldn’t believe I let that man knock me up. What the fuck was I thinking? Titan and I were so toxic. I loved him, but damn it, I hated his guts too. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to kiss him or spit in his face half the time. When we were good, we were great. When things were bad… I wanted to catch a body.

I grabbed my phone to put it in my clutch when I noticed the voicemail notification sitting there from earlier. Of course, it was from Titan. With a heavy sigh, I lifted my phone to my ear so I could hear what he had to say this time.

“Mia, I have lost my last little bit of patience with you. You’re carrying my child and you’re gonna fucking ignore me, like I don’t have the right to know how my baby is doing? How you’re doing? I know you better have taken your ass to a doctor over there. This is gonna be my last time calling you and you not answering the phone. Why do you want to piss me off, love? You must really want me to show my black ass. Bet.”

I shook my head as I deleted the voicemail. This was nothing new. He would call. I would ignore him. Then he would threaten me, and the cycle started all over the next day. I knew I was wrong, but I needed this time away from him, even with me carrying his child.

Shoving the phone into my clutch, I left my bedroom and headed downstairs to the front door. My mother was waiting to kiss me goodbye. I was so happy that I brought her with me because being out here and being pregnant would’ve been horrible if I had to do it by myself.

“You got your gun?” she asked.

“Strapped to my thigh as always.”

“Good. Be safe. I’m right behind you with DaVinchi.”

She kissed my cheek and opened the door. When I stepped out, Emmon, my bodyguard, was waiting to escort me to the car. His brother, Elum, was standing at the back passenger door to let me in. He worked part-time for my grandfather along with their other brother, East. The brothers were actually triplets, but to look at them, you would never be able to tell. Back home, whenever my grandfather needed a body disposed of discreetly, he called East because he owned a funeral parlor. That incinerator came in handy quite often. Emmon was the only one who worked full-time for the organization, but he was also a murder for hire assassin.

The nigga was insane which is why my grandfather made him my security. Honestly, none of the Monroe brothers were wrapped too tight, but Emmon took the cake. Elum gave me a head nod and a light smile, which I returned before climbing into the backseat. I settled in and took a couple of deep breaths.

“You good?” Emmon asked, handing me a bottle of water.

“I’m fine.”

“You look irritated.”

“When do I not look irritated? One, your cousin is getting on my fucking nerves, and two, I’m ready to put a hot one in JacQues.”