Page 43 of Mysterious

I close my eyes and let that truth sink in. My own mother betrayed me. The woman I credited all these years with being at my side every step of the way on my rise to the top betrayed me.

And for what? I don’t understand it. I would have never fired my own mother, no matter how much she got on my nerves.

Now I want nothing to do with her. I never want to see her again.

Liam eases me up out of the chair I’ve sat in for hours, holding me so I don’t fall. I turn to look up at him so worried about me being able to take a step and know no matter what happens, this is the man I want by my side.

“I love you, Liam.”

He leans down to kiss me, and breaking the very last rule he’s held on to until now, says sweetly, “I love you too, Mia.”

The coming days aren’t going to be easy for either of us, but we have each other. And love.

CHAPTERTWENTY

Liam

Mia clutches my hand tightly,wrapping her fingers around mine as I pull the car up to the house. After what happened in Miami, we’ve had to deal with my being arrested for shooting Michael, the fallout from her mother being arrested for kidnapping her own daughter, and the postponement of a month of dates on the tour so Mia can recuperate from all that she’s been through.

Two weeks into resting up, she heard me talking to my mother about my grandmother’s birthday party out at her house and asked if she could come with me. So now, she’s squeezing my fingers tighter than a vice and staring at the house while I let the car idle.

“We don’t have to go in. Trust me. My grandmother will have more than enough family here to wish her happy birthday, and I completely understand if you’re not ready to meet the rest of the Jackson and March clan. They can be a lot, and after what you’ve been through, nobody would blame you for bowing out of a get-together like this.”

Her grip on my fingers loosens a little, and she turns to look back out the rear window. “No paparazzi. I guess even they feel bad for me.”

“Everyone should feel sympathy for you, Mia. What your mother and Michael did was horrible.”

With a tiny smile, she says, “It seems like a terrible waste of a day free of the media to not go inside for the party.”

“Are you sure?”

With her typical sincerity, she nods. “I can’t wait to meet your family, Liam. I guess I’m just feeling like I don’t have one anymore. My father hasn’t been around forever, and now my mother is gone too. It’s a little scary.”

“I get that. For what it’s worth, my family has no problem taking in new people. We’re sort of like a cult, except we don’t do anything really terrifying. Just a lot of family get-togethers. So many parties. You have no idea what you’re signing up for with these people.”

She smiles at my attempt at being funny, so I lean over and kiss her softly on the lips. “Seriously. It’s your call. Everyone will understand, and even if they didn’t, it wouldn’t matter because I would.”

Her smile doesn’t return when I lean back, and she lowers her gaze to look down at our hands. “Are you sure nobody blames me for what happened? You got arrested, Liam.”

I slide my fingertip under her chin and gently lift her head so she can see my face when I say, “Nobody blames you. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay. You lost your job. You love being a bodyguard, but now that you’ve been arrested, it’s all gone. All because of my mother. And your friends got hurt and Kip may never get back to work again. None of it’s okay,” she says sadly.

“Nobody blames you. You didn’t do this, Mia. Everyone here knows that. And as for my being a bodyguard, I’m still protecting the only person I ever want to guard for the rest of my life. But if it’s too soon to be hanging out with a houseful of people, you say the word and we’re out of here. We can go wherever you want.”

Mia takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly before turning to look at me. “Okay. I want to go in. I’ve heard so many stories about your family that I want to meet them all. I was just worried that they all think I’ve ruined your life.”

I pull her to me to kiss away that crazy thought. “You didn’t ruin my life. You’re the woman I love. I did what I always hoped I would if someone I loved was in danger, and I’d do it again. Anyone who knows me isn’t surprised that I did everything I could to protect you.”

“You’re going to want to temper that I’d do it again talk when you go in front of the judge next month, Liam. Judges aren’t famous for being incurable romantics, honey.”

“I will, but that’s not the truth. I’m not sorry about what I did to protect you, Mia. I love you. You’re the best thing in my life, so why shouldn’t I have shot the man who was holding you hostage?”

She smiles and taps me on the tip of my nose. “I think you might be the most stubborn person I’ve ever met. I love you, but you’re stubborn, baby.”

I can’t believe my ears. Mia, the woman who fights me on everything from the moment we met, thinks I’m stubborn?

“I guess it takes a stubborn person to know one?” I ask with a chuckle.

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