He didn’t want Fox and Addison to go. He didn’t know if he wanted to go one hundred percent straight. The unknown was a scary place.
But more than anything, he wanted Mila.
Fox smacked the side of Atlas’s face with his usual brand of violent affection. “Go get her. Figure it out,” he said gruffly.
He shook off his apprehension.
Mila was what he wanted, and he’d give up stealing cars for the chance to make things work with her. As for Fox, he’d be fine with Addison. They were the perfect team.
It wasn’t as if he’d never see them again. Most families did this. People grew up and moved on.
The only problem was Mila.
Fox hadn’t seen her face.
Anything Atlas did would be too little, too late.
Chapter 15
Mila paced the small kitchen, waiting for her dad to say something. So far, he’d been staring through her for a good two minutes.
“So let me get this straight,” he finally said. “You started dating a suspect in order to get close to him and you didn’t think it would end badly?”
She’d had to modify the story a bit so she didn’t freak her dad out. He didn’t need to know about how she kept meaning to stay distant but the crazy, wonderful things he did to her body made it impossible. That and everything else about him.
“Hush, Bill,” his wife scolded, nudging his elbow on the kitchen table. “Can’t you see she’s in love?”
“Ugh!” She clenched her fists and tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling. The same light fixture that had been there when she was a kid stared back at her, cracked and out of date like the rest of the house. She’d been bugging her dad to update the kitchen since Vero had moved in. The sunny yellow paint was looking less sunny and more sad as time went on. “What should I do?”
“I can’t answer that for you, sweetheart. Love does crazy things to a person.” He gazed at her in silent understanding. “You know what it did to me.”
Like father like daughter. Mila had been swearing she wouldn’t end up like her father since she’d joined the force seven years ago. And now here she was. In almost exactly the same bind. Was she actually thinking about turning a blind eye to crime? It wasn’t as if Atlas had stolen a pack of gum from the corner store. This was a big fucking deal.
Integrity meant everything to her. Even if Atlas only stole cars from the rich, they were innocent victims. This was her job—catching the bad guys, protecting the innocent. She’d let Atlas go last night because they’d both known she wasn’t going to shoot him. And making a decision whether to call it in on the fly like that could have been bad. There’d have been no reversing it. The idea of seeing Atlas in cuffs, appearing in court, sentenced to up to ten years in prison, even if they never found out about the other cars he’d stolen, made her sick to her stomach.
“You’re in a tough spot, Mila,” Vero said. “But you love this man. Is love more important than your job?”
It wasn’t that simple. Mila wasn’t choosing between a job and love. She was choosing between two loves. Being a cop wasn’t just a job. It was who she was inside. It was her whole life.
Her dad watched her for a long minute—the creases in his forehead deepening. Did he know what was going on in her head? Probably. “Is there a way you can cover it up? Or is there an accomplice who can take the blame?”
She thought about Fox and the bubbly Addison. Luke and his pregnant wife, Ophelia. She remembered how dedicated Luke was to his wife and her company. And how Fox and Addison were so in love they barely ever took their eyes off each other. They were good people. She couldn’t put them in jail any more than she could Atlas.
Maybe Atlas would give up their buyer.
No. That’d be bad for Fox and Addison. Although he’d mentioned them skipping town. But if news got out that their buyer was caught, they’d never get contracts again.
Fuck. Since when did she care about helping them? They were breaking the law! Why was she worrying about making it easier for them?
“This is so fucked up,” she muttered, more to herself. “I can’t pin anyone for this. What do I tell Roberts? The bad guys got away?” She paced more, chuckling humorlessly. “Everyone is going to think I’m the shittiest detective in the history of the force.”
Her dad raised a brow. “Not the shittiest.”
Well yeah, he still had a bad rep, depending on who you asked. A few defended his loyalty. Every officer pretended not to know their brother-in-law smoked pot recreationally. Or their best friend who ignored zoning laws to build a shed in their yard. That was just part of being a cop. But covering up gang activity was entirely different. So was covering up a car theft ring. How many thousands of dollars in insurance money had they cost?
Ugh. Who the fuck cared about the insurance companies?
“What do I do?” she nearly whined. “Tell me what to do, Dad. For once in my life, I want your advice.”