Chapter 1
Isat at my vanity, brushing my hair, preparing to play the role I’d been playing for three months now. I’d successfully integrated one of the biggest underground human trafficking networks overseas and this shit was no joke. They made the criminals back home look like amateurs.
Here, I wasn’t Mia Dillinger.
I was Madam Celeste Coltrain, business associate to JacQues DuPont.
To him, I was running a brothel and needed girls to work for me.
The brothel I came in and took over was notorious for having some of the best girls in the city.
The previous owner, Miranda Devereaux, was a nasty bitch.
She was doing some foul shit, and I took great pleasure in putting a bullet between her eyes.
She and JacQues already had a prior business relationship, which is how I was able to get to him.
He didn’t question me taking over for that bitch because he wanted to fuck me.
The lust in his eyes the first time I met him was disgusting, but I forced myself to play along for the sake of business.
He delivered the girls; I paid him and gave them their freedom.
So far, I’d managed to get thirty women back to the states.
Unbeknownst to him, I’d been studying him for months prior to even stepping foot in Paris.
On the outside, Mr. DuPont looked like a regular old businessman.
He was handsome, successful, and decorated with awards and achievements.
Behind closed doors, he was a sick, twisted son of a bitch who sold men and women in the underground market.
His network first came up on our radar when a girl I grew up with went missing. Her mother and mine were good friends, and she called her for help. Because of the tracker in a necklace she wore, she was able to be found safe and sound.
The men who were set to deliver her were caught, and when questioned, they gave up their source. Of course, my grandfather had them taken care of. Papa James made sure they felt every bit of pain as they were torn limb from limb when he fed them to his pet sharks, Killer and Diablo.
Jaeda and Quaid worked tirelessly to find out everything they could about JacQues DuPont.
He was smart. Nobody would think to look for girls missing from America in Paris, especially not black women.
We go missing every day and never get the national coverage like our counterparts.
I was proud to be a part of not one, but two families that worked hard to combat that injustice.
Just like we got them back home, my team here would get them too.
Before I left here, I was putting this sick bastard in the dirt.
A knock on my door broke me from my thoughts.
“Come in.”
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.”
Yes, the Monroe brothers were Titan’s cousins. Their mother was Titan’s mother’s sister.
“All you gotta do is say the word and we can wrap this shit up.”
“I know.”
Lord knows I was tired of going on dates with this man. He was a creep, and he made my skin crawl. I hated having to play a fake ass bitch and pretend that I was interested in him when all I wanted to do was put a bullet in his head.
The ride to the restaurant took about thirty minutes.
Nightlife in Paris looks like something straight out of a movie.
It was so beautiful and lively. I hated that I couldn’t enjoy it the way I wanted to.
If I wasn’t with JacQues, I was working on the case.
If I wasn’t working on the case, I was trying to catch up on sleep because this baby did not let me be great.
He or she had me running to the bathroom multiple times a night.
My back hurt. I still had slight morning sickness, and I couldn’t eat to save my life most of the time.
It took everything in me to hold down the meals I shared with my mother or the team at times.
I was ready for the next five months to fly by so my body could be my own again.
Even with that being said, I’d finally begun bonding with life inside me.
At first, I was in denial. I figured if I pretended it wasn’t there, it wasn’t real.
The shit was very much real and I was very much pregnant.
As much as I didn’t want to be, I knew I could never get rid of our child.
Titan would never forgive me and if I was honest, I wouldn’t forgive myself either.
This baby didn’t ask to be here and it didn’t deserve to be punished because we were stupid.
I didn’t have a choice but to coparent with this man.
That’ why I had to get this mission over with so I could go back home and let this baby finish baking in peace. Would there be a falling out once I revealed my pregnancy? Hell yeah. By that time, the worst part would be over and we could move the hell on.
We pulled up to the restaurant, and I saw JacQues standing outside, talking on the phone. His eyes perused the black SUV as we came to a stop. When Elum got out to open the door and he saw it was me, he smiled.
“Mon amour,” he said, as he opened his arms to me.