CHAPTER 4- Never Been Asked Out

MIA'S POV

Mia is seven years old when she learns that her parents are drug dealers. She has no idea at that age what that meant. It was when she turned thirteen that she finally realized it wasn't normal to hide small packets of drugs on her body whenever she and her parents went to somebody's house. Mia wanted to run away from that life and that is when she met Lucas.

He saved her, only to bring her to another kind of hell.

At least her parents never hit her.

"Why are you helping me?" Mia blurts out. Roman is taken aback by the random question.

"Because you look like you badly need it."

When Mia doesn't seem satisfied, he asks, "Should I have another reason?"

"Well, for all you know I could be a serial killer."

"You?" Roman gives her a once-over, his lips twitching in the corners.

"What? I could be."

"Yeah, sure," he chortles.

"For a guy who—" Mia stops herself.

"For a guy that what?" Roman raises his eyebrows at her. "Ava's father told you something, didn't he?"

She casts her eyes down, thinking of a lie.

"He told me that—he told me that I would need an ID," she fumbles with her words as she tries to change the topic.

It is not exactly a lie. Raul told her she would need an ID to process her application which would be hard for her to obtain as it had already burned, along with their house.

"I know a guy. I'll take you there."

Of course, he would, Mia thought.

He checks his watch. "C'mon, it's almost time." Roman quickens his pace.

Mia tries to catch up to his long strides.

"Time for what?"

"You want to know what I do right?"

Mia pauses and gulps hard. She could still hear Roman's conversation with the creepy man inside her head, wailing with a warning.

Mia doesn't know whether to be disappointed or not. Fortunately, the creepy man is nowhere to be seen. Roman brings her to a shabby-looking resto-bar where he and his band play. It sounded like a joke when he first told her that but now, seeing him play the bass guitar with only music in his mind, he looks like just another normal twenty-two-year-old guy. Not someone owning a hidden gun and having whispered exchanges about a dead girl.

Roman introduces her to the vocalist. A long-haired man in his late twenties who owns the establishment himself. They go to the back where Jace is also running a forgery business. It isn't the exact place where they process the fake documents. The resto-bar is a front where he talks with his clients and then runs it back to the workshop, in a location more hidden and secure to create the counterfeits.

Roman leaves her with him because he has to take care of some 'business' as usual. Whatever it is, Mia is determined to find out before she falls into another trap.

Sitting on a stool by the corner amidst a busy kitchen, Mia waits restlessly as Jace writes down her information on a worn-down paper.

"Uhm, I have a question."

"Just ask," Jace grunts.

"Do you know anything about an incident last year about some little girl?"

He stops writing and looks up at her, his eyes twinkling with interest. "Did Roman ask you about that too? That guy's too obsessed with that case."

"I know," Mia lies, trying to sound nonchalant. "What do you know about it?"

Jace leans back in his seat. "All I know is the girl won some pageantry shit. She was supposedly beautiful, that's why she caught a lot of attention. Personally, I couldn't give two shits about what a little girl looks like. Unfortunately, her fame led to her rape and murder. The news of her death filled all the news outlets here and ran the whole year. That must be because it's the most interesting thing that has ever happened here since Raul caught a big ass fish," he snorts, taking a long drag of the cigarette. "Roman believed there's more to the story."

A beautiful little girl, raped and murdered. Roman being outcasted by the general population and is accused of killing her and yet is asking around about it. Mia can't make sense of it all.

"Why?" She asks, horrified.

"I'm afraid you have to ask him that yourself or else he'll kill me," he grins, the glint of the metal rings pierced in his lips gives him a sinister look.

At this point, Mia doesn't doubt that possibility. "What does he actually do?"

"He's a gardener by day."

Upon seeing the disbelieving expression on Mia's face, Jace guffaws. She frowns.

"For real, though," he chuckles, going back to his notepad.

Realizing she's not going to get straight answers, Mia sighs dejectedly. People are too intimidated by Roman to talk about it which she doesn't get as he's nothing but kind to her. She's going to be on her own if she wants to find out about the truth.

Mia has no idea if she can handle it.

Ava clicks her tongue for the nth time. Mia hastily stops gnawing on her nails. It is a bad habit of hers whenever something's bothering her. She desperately wants to ask Ava about Roman. If there's a person who knows him best, it would be her. She seems like the kind of person who wouldn't be associated with Roman's world. There must be a reason why she stayed friends with him despite his reputation and his father's disapproval.

But Ava continues to ignore her purposely, only acknowledging her existence when it's work-related.

"Refill table 7." Ava bangs her palm against the counter repeatedly, knocking Mia out of her daze.

"Got it," she says absentmindedly.

Mia walks to table 7, a steaming coffee pot in her hands. She refills the customer's mug, her head's still on the clouds.

"Aughhh!" A low voice cries out.

Mia finally snaps out of her daydream. She realizes with complete horror that she spilled hot liquid on the man's pants.

"Oh my God," Mia pales. "I'm so sorry!"

She immediately gets the towel on the pocket of her apron and begins wiping the front of his pants.

"It's fine. It wasn't that hot," the man weakly assures.

"Are you kidding? It's still burning, see?" Mia pats the man's crotch as if to show him it's too hot to be touched. He stares at her, unblinking.

Her eyes widen in realization for the second time. "Oh my God." Mia quickly puts her hands behind her back and backs away.

"I'm so sorry about that. I'm all over the place."

"It's nothing to be sorry for," he says, his voice betraying a hint of amusement.

Mia takes a peek at him. The man is undeniably good-looking with his thick brown hair pushed back lazily, soft hazel eyes, and a clean-shaven face.

"I could- uh," she clears her throat, caught off-guard by his handsome face. "I could give you free donuts for eternity."

"I don't think that's going to compensate at all. I could be in an accident at any given moment," he says pointedly. "I think one date ought to do it."

Mia has to blink multiple times to make sure she heard him right. He gives an appearance of a rich guy with his branded clothing. Not someone you just take to some diner. She mentally counts her money and comes up with nothing.

"Oh, but—"

"All I'm asking for is a bit of your time," the man insists. "It's the least you can do after fondling my crotch."

Her face goes red. "Wha— I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to touch it. I mean you."

He chuckles as Mia puts her head down again in embarrassment. "Relax, I'm just teasing."

He hands her his phone. She stares at it hesitantly.

"I'm going to need your number."

Without any excuses left for her to say, Mia puts her number in. When she is done, she lifts her head up and immediately averts her eye. He is gazing at her face intently.

"Do I have something on my face?" She asks, suddenly conscious of her appearance

The man shakes his head out of a trance. "No, sorry for staring. It's just, you remind me of someone."

"Uhm… okay. Here."

She gives him his phone back. He takes a glance at the screen.

"Mia," he says slowly, testing her name on his mouth. She could feel a flutter in her stomach at the sound of his voice.

"Killian Rodriguez."

He offers his hand. Mia is about to shake it when he suddenly brings her small hand to his lips, putting a cheeky kiss on her knuckles. "At your service."