Page 16 of Her Billionaire Protector

I’ve got to get out of here. I’m in Halo City to put Harvey away, not to hop on Armin’s dick as many times as I can.

Though would one more round hurt?

An SUV pulls up, slow. One that I recognize. My heart races.

Harvey’s.

My hand slips, and the coffee hits the floor in one splash, splatters my legs. My blood runs cold.

The SUV’s window slides down, and I catch an unmistakable glimpse of Harvey’s driver’s face. My heart beats ragged inside my chest.

He reaches out. He hands an envelope to Armin.

And he drives away.

I lean hard on the windowsill, weak all over, and I scan Armin’s face, trying to find what I missed. It makes a lot more sense that Harvey had gotten to him during those long, low-paid years when he was a small-town sheriff.

I search for the monster inside.

But I can’t find it.

All I see is the man I shouldn’t love.

It’s worse than a compromised identity. I have to get out of here. Now.

Armin opens up the door of his own SUV and I breathe a sigh of relief. I can’t face him again. At least now I won’t have to. I’ve got time to get it together and escape.

But then he slams the door shut and turns, empty-handed. He’s only dropped the envelope off.

He’s on his way back inside.

ten

. . .

Armin

It’s getting dark.I should turn on a light in here, but I don’t. Instead I turn the lipstick over and over again, the only thing she left behind.

Scandal, it says on the label.

I throw it across the room. It hits the wall and lands on the couch where I held her while she cried.

Two days ago, when she fled here, she wouldn’t even look at me.

God damn it, Mia.

Every time I think she’s starting to see reason, that she might leave this life behind, it’s like she has to prove me dead wrong.

Where are you?

I refresh the news feed on my phone, terrified every time I do that she’s going to turn up dead in the harbor.

My phone buzzes, a loud vibration on the desk, and I jump out of my chair.

Not Mia.

Vance. I answer. “Is she with you?”