“If you wanted me in your life, you would let me stay here and help you. Case, this is your life. This is what you do. This is the most important mission you’ll ever have and I’ve got contacts that can help. I would understand if I couldn’t help, but I can. I have reporter friends who’ve done extensive stories on the cartels. If a cartel owns that building, I can figure out who and possibly get information from an inside man. I have a lot of people in this part of the world who owe me favors.”
“No. You’re going home.” He wasn’t choosing his brother over her. He was choosing to keep her safe while he did what he had to do. And honestly, he needed a little time to figure out how to handle her. He wanted her, but he wasn’t sure he wanted this volcanic emotion he felt around her. Why couldn’t it be simple? Why couldn’t she see it was for the best?
The very fact that she would fight with him like this when they had an op to run proved his point.
“All right. I need a minute to fix my makeup and then I’ll be ready to go.” She turned and walked into the bathroom.
What the hell had just happened? How did she go from arguing with him to politely telling him she needed a moment? Was she fucking with his head? Was this some kind of manipulation to get him to do what she wanted?
He wasn’t going to be moved. This was what a leader did. He made the call and he stuck by it. Mia was going home and he’d just have to deal with her when he’d gotten Theo back. If she didn’t understand how important that was, then she wasn’t the woman he’d thought.
Still, when she opened the door, for a moment he saw deep sadness etched on her face. Then she gave him a tight smile. “I’m ready. Let’s get this done.”
She walked past him. It took everything he had not to chase after her and haul her back into his arms. He wanted to kiss that look off her face, to promise her everything would be fine.
He couldn’t be certain that wasn’t exactly what she was trying to do—to get him soft so he would change his mind.
He followed her to the SUV. She’d said she judged him by his actions. She would just have to wait and see. When he showed up on her doorstep in a few weeks, she would know he hadn’t been lying.
And then they could really start their lives. This was a minor blip in a brand new relationship. That was all.
He hoped that was all.
Mia forced a smile on her face as she took the glass of champagne from the tray. Not that she would drink it. Despite what Case thought, she had done the undercover thing a time or two before and rule number one was she didn’t trust anything she hadn’t poured herself. Even if she was at a party.
“This is awesome. You should try the little cake thingees. They’re good.”
Her partner didn’t have the same rules. Hutch was like a kid in a candy store or a kid at a well-done buffet. For a group that fed the hungry, they knew how to do gourmet.
“Hutch, how about a little less eating and a little more hacking?” Case’s voice came over the small device she’d placed in her ear before they’d gotten to the party. “You’ve done your obligatory socializing. I think it’s time to get the job done.”
So he could get rid of her. She didn’t mention that. It wouldn’t do her any good. The men around her were once more working to decide how her life would go and she’d learned long before the only way to counter that was to do her thing and not compromise.
“I agree. It’s time to move,” she said. She looked directly at Hutch so anyone who glanced their way would think they were having a conversation. “I think we’ve got a decent understanding of all the good work the charity is doing in the community and how they’re managing it. There are a lot of doors they’re opening.”
Hutch seemed to get serious. “Yes, they are.”
Mia counted four doors that led to different parts of the building. She’d had a brief discussion with the director, a middle-aged man who seemed a little overwhelmed by all the people around him. He’d explained the different workings of the charity to her in halting English. There was a food pantry that helped the urban poor and attempted to stave off childhood malnutrition. They had outreach in rural areas of the country as well. There was also a department that helped with job searches as unemployment was a real problem in the country.
She and Hutch had been given a nice tour that included the director pointing out his office and the business offices.
There wasn’t actually a guard posted on the doors, but there were several well-dressed men who didn’t seem to be mingling.
“Are the guards going to be a problem?” Case asked.
Mia glanced around. No one was looking their way at the moment. A guitarist was playing, his fingers flying across the strings as he entertained with local music. The crowd of roughly sixty or seventy people seemed preoccupied with him. There were a few groups talking quietly around the buffet and some people at the open bar, but no one seemed to notice the Americans.