Hunter listened patiently to Mia, then lapsed into silence.
He really couldn't fathom what on earth was going on inside Dominic's head!
Hunter had tipped off Dominic to the FBI's interest more than a month in advance.
He had even exposed FBI Agent Brian, who was lurking nearby, waiting for a chance to get close to Dominic.
If Hunter had been Dominic, he would have pretended not to notice Brian's existence
and simply kept a low profile, doing nothing until the heat died down.
After all, while the FBI handles many serious domestic criminal cases,
they're still an intelligence agency; they can't keep investigating Dominic indefinitely.
In fact, if Hunter were Dominic,
he could have acted friendly and let Brian get close.
Then plant fake evidence or leads for Brian to chase,
shifting the FBI's focus onto his rivals or a completely wrong direction.
Meanwhile he could cause Brian some trouble and even use the chance to get rid of him.
Worst case, with advance warning Hunter would have plenty of time to move assets and family,
then either head back home to live it up
or disappear under a new name in some other U.S. city.
Getting a fake ID in the States isn't exactly hard.
So no matter how hard Hunter racked his brain,
he couldn't figure out why Dominic would order his men to teach Brian a lesson and, while they were at it, smash the parts store Brian was using as cover.
Wasn't that as good as telling the FBI he had something to hide?
If the FBI hadn't come after Dominic, Hunter would have suspected everyone at the Bureau of being useless deadweight.
'Ugh!'
'Is this the classic American muscle-head way of thinking? His skull must be full of mush!'
Even with Hunter's warning, Dominic still ended up on the FBI's radar—and behind bars.
This was something Hunter had never imagined!
If he could help it, he wanted nothing to do with this mess.
But one look at Mia, gazing up at him pitifully from his arms,
and Hunter sighed. Fine—he'd do it.
With intelligence more than double that of an average person, he possessed both a razor-sharp IQ and formidable logical reasoning.
Thus, in an extremely short time,
Hunter had sorted out the entire situation and formed a plan.
He immediately comforted Mia. "Don't worry, Mia."
"Dominic's only been in custody twenty-four hours. Knowing him, he won't confess to a thing."
"His men should still be holding out."
"Even if they're idiots, they know that once they talk they're looking at seven-plus years inside—"
"and probably a lot longer than that."
Mia froze, pulling away from his embrace.
"You…"
Before she could finish, Hunter cut in.
"You want to ask why I know they'll get such heavy sentences?"
"The California Highway Bandits—that's Dominic and his crew, right?"
Hunter had wanted to bring this into the open for a while; he saw no reason to hide it now.
"Back at the garage I read the rumors about the California Highway Bandits."
"Later I personally saw the cars your brother and his guys drive."
"Putting two and two together isn't exactly shocking, is it?"
"Otherwise why do you think, the moment the FBI asked me about your brother, I came straight to you?"
Mia fell silent. She hadn't expected the young Chinese-American hunk in front of her—
the man with whom she'd shared her most intimate, skin-to-skin moments—to be so perceptive.
Several doubts in her mind were answered at once.
During the past month-plus, the reason Mia hadn't reached out to Hunter again
was fear she might accidentally expose her brother's secret.
Mia had grown up relying solely on her big brother. Though she often resented his strictness,
compared with the Chinese-American almost-boyfriend she'd slept with once but barely knew,
her brother and his men—who'd always looked after her—clearly came first.
So, at Letty's and her brother's request,
she'd stayed away for more than a month, resisting the urge to see the handsome guy who'd taken her precious first time.
She never imagined he'd been clever enough to piece together her brother's identity from a handful of clues.
That must be why he'd twice warned her brother.
Perhaps, just as he claimed, he'd done it for her… Suddenly Mia felt a weight lift;
the complicated feelings she'd suppressed for over a month
flared in an instant from guilt and longing into deep, unmistakable love.
"Hunter!"
She flung her arms around Hunter again—this time more eagerly, more passionately.
Her red lips found his, delivering a fervent, lingering kiss.
"I'm sorry!"
When their lips parted, Mia gazed at him, guilt shining in her eyes.
Hunter merely smiled and shook his head, saying nothing.
He wouldn't tell her that, out of boredom, he'd skimmed a couple of psychology books
and just now, quite by accident,
had unlocked two new skills: "micro-expression analysis" and "mood reading."
Feeling himself drifting further toward scumbag territory,
Hunter decided to stop dwelling on such messy thoughts.
He brushed a light kiss across Mia's cheek
and quickly changed the subject. "You came to see me and haven't been arrested—"
"which proves the FBI still has zero evidence tying your brother to the California Highway Bandits."
"So our top priority"
"is to hire the best, most tenacious lawyer we can find for your brother and his crew."
"We can let them take the rap for illegal street racing, even for illegal vehicle modifications,"
"then pay to bail them out."
"But we absolutely cannot let the FBI keep them locked up."
Mia had never been good at making decisions; hearing Hunter's calm analysis, her eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly.
"Right, Hunter."
"Let's do it!"
Hunter, however, shook his head.
Looking at Mia, he hesitated.
"But pulling that off has one pretty big snag."
"We need to hire the best, most tenacious lawyers for your brother and the others."
"Just the retainer fee alone is no small sum."
"After that, their bail won't be a small number either."
"I'm out of money right now!"
----------------------------------
I've already uploaded over 40 new chapters on Patreon!
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead, feel free to check it out.
Your support truly means a lot to me!
patreon.com/Kazenova223
Thank you so much for being here!
And if you're having fun with the story, don't forget to drop a Power Stone for me!