Chapter 53: "Give Susan Back to Me!"
Gavin's POV
After Mia left, I wanted to chase after her and drag her back.
How dare she run away from me for another man?
She was a mistress I paid for. What right did she have to resist me, to defy me?
Just as I was about to go after her, Eva stepped in front of me.
"Gavin, are you still going to chase her?"
"Can't you see? Mia doesn't care about you at all. She only has eyes for Jayden."
Eva's words extinguished my impulse to pursue her.
I stopped, staring at the direction where Mia had disappeared, the fury in my eyes threatening to consume me.
In the end, I didn't chase after Mia.
Instead, I stayed at the party, drinking glass after glass.
The alcohol numbed my nerves but couldn't numb the anger and frustration of betrayal burning in my chest.
I drank myself into oblivion. Finally, it was Eva who helped me back to my room in the manor.
My body was unsteady, my vision blurred.
In my haze, the woman before me seemed to have Mia's features.
Her hair, eyes, even the shape of her lips overlapped with Mia's image.
"Mia..." I murmured her name, reaching up to touch her face.
"You finally came back... I knew it... you couldn't leave me..."
I thought she had come back to me after all, unable to stay away.
I closed my eyes and kissed what I thought were Mia's lips.
But soon, I realized something was wrong.
Mia's lips were softer, with a hint of sweetness.
The woman was responding eagerly, even with a touch of flattery.
That wasn't how Mia would react.
If it were really Mia, she would be biting me, fighting back, glaring at me with those defiant eyes until I fucked her cry and beg.
And Mia never wore such strong perfume.
She always carried a faint, gardenia-like fragrance.
As clarity returned, I opened my eyes. The scene before me gradually came into focus.
Eva had her eyes closed in rapture, moaning with satisfaction.
"Gavin, keep kissing me..."
I snapped fully awake, nausea churning in my stomach.
I had mistaken this woman for Mia? Damn it!
Disgust overwhelmed me. I shoved her away hard. "Get out!"
Eva stumbled back several steps and fell to the floor.
She looked at me in disbelief, tears instantly welling in her eyes.
"Gavin, you..."
"I said get out! Didn't you hear me?" I roared at her.
Frightened by my rage, Eva didn't dare say another word. She scrambled up from the floor and fled from the room.
After she left, the alcohol surged through my brain again.
Too exhausted to think about anything else, I collapsed on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, I woke from my hangover and summoned David to ask about Jayden's situation.
"Mia suddenly showed up at the apartment yesterday. We didn't have time to deal with Jayden discreetly." David said, his expression troubled.
"So he's still alive?" My tone was laced with displeasure.
David nodded. "Yes, Mia and her friend took him to the hospital."
"According to our people's report, Mia stayed at the hospital taking care of Jayden all night."
David's report made my blood boil.
That damned Jayden. Was he really that important to her?
She actually took care of him all night. What right did he have?
David continued, "Last night, Don Connor called me and ordered me to handle an urgent matter for mafia."
"Someone tried to take advantage of your engagement party to attack our dock and steal a shipment of the new drugs."
I frowned. "Fuck! What happened to those bastards? Did you catch them?"
"I arrived in time, and they jumped into the sea to escape. We haven't tracked them down yet."
I narrowed my eyes. "Any movement from Enzo?"
"Not so far," David replied. "Mr. Enzo seems normal, as if he knows nothing about it."
Speaking of Enzo reminded me of his suspicious new wife.
I recalled last night's engagement party. "Raina didn't seem to attend my engagement party yesterday. Where was she?"
David said, "When we went after Jayden, we didn't see Raina. She's been staying at Enzo's private villa lately."
Could this woman have something to do with yesterday's attackers?
Otherwise, why didn't she come to the engagement party?
I told David to keep watching Raina closely. We couldn't let our guard down.
Just then, a commotion erupted outside.
I growled irritably, "What's going on out there?"
A servant rushed in, looking panicked. "Sir, a woman named Mia is here to see you."
I raised an eyebrow, my mood lifting slightly. "What does she want?"
Had she realized Jayden was a useless waste and regretted leaving me?
The servant stammered, "She says... she wants you to hand over Susan."
What? My face instantly darkened.
I walked out of the room. Mia immediately rushed toward me.
"Gavin, where did you hide Susan? Give her back to me!"
She actually thought I had done something to her mentally ill mother?
This lack of trust felt like a sharp offense.
I said coldly, "Mia, I didn't hide your mother."
"Stop pretending!" She didn't believe me at all, shouting with red-rimmed eyes. "Who else could it be but you?"
"Jayden got her safely onto the plane, but the doctor in North America said they never received her!"
"It must be you! You had someone take her off the plane!"
Damn it! Did she trust Jayden that much?
Fury surged in my chest.
She would rather believe Jayden than me, and we had been together for three years!
If Mia had chosen to ask me for help instead of going to Jayden, things wouldn't have turned out this badly.
This was all her own doing.
I didn't explain, suppressing my anger. "I told you, Susan's disappearance has nothing to do with me!"
"I don't believe you!" she roared. "You're the underboss of the mafia. You're so ruthless. What wouldn't you do?"
So in her eyes, I was the kind of bastard who would hurt her mother to achieve goals, using any means necessary.
My heart felt like it had been stabbed, aching and suffocated.
"Darling, what's wrong? Why all the noise so early?"
Eva came down from upstairs, intimately linking her arm through mine.
"Mia? What are you doing here?!" Eva shrieked accusingly. "Mia, this is the second day of our engagement. Gavin and I haven't even woken up yet."
"Barging in like this is rather rude, don't you think?"
She turned to the servants and ordered, "What are you waiting for? Throw her out!"
Mia struggled, shouting at me, "Gavin! Give Susan back to me! I'm begging you!"
I suppressed the urge to feel sorry for her, watching coldly as she was dragged out of the manor.
I wanted her to know: this was the price of betraying me.