Page 120 of Mine Again
But not like this.
Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine waking up thinking I’d gone through with a wedding I wasn’t even sure about, only to find out I’m actually married to someone else entirely, while my official,so-called fiancé is being tortured by the Russian mob.
I should probably care more about Sebastian being missing, but all I can focus on is my own twisted reality. Clearly, I didn’t know him, just like I feared last night before the ceremony. And something tells me his hidden debt is only the beginning.
I can’t go there right now. Not when some psychotic tattooed his name on my finger, and I have no idea where I am.
Rage flares all over again, and I stomp harder than I need to, boots slamming against the path.
And then he had the audacity to look proud of his handiwork, marking me like cattle.
I bet he expected me to throw his ring in his face. That’s probably why he did it, to make sure his claim on me can never be erased.
Stupid, arrogant jerk.
I keep moving, boots slipping on the uneven path. The gravel is long behind me. Now, I’m on a narrow trail that twists through dense underbrush. Damp leaves squish beneath my boots. A branch snaps underfoot. The forest smells wet and alive, like moss and bark and secrets.
I have no idea where I’m going. I just need to get away. Far enough to clear my head. Far enough to figure out what the hell comes next.
It feels like I’ve been walking forever, though it probably hasn’t even been five minutes, when a structure appears through the trees up ahead. My heart lurches.
A building.
Maybe there’s someone who can help… or at least there’s a phone so I can call Mamma.She must be worried sick by now.
She’d know something was wrong because she would have tried to check in on me. I’d planned to call her once Sebastian and I were married and there was nothing anyone could do to undo it. I was going to explain everything, make her understand.
But now?
What am I supposed to say?
Hi Mamma. Guess who waltzed back into my life? Oh, and by the way,turns out I married him and don’t remember a damn thing.
I press forward, heart thudding, but as I get closer, my hope dims. The building is no house. It’s a shed. Massive, the size of a barn.
Damn.
But some people live in converted barns, right?
“Hello?” I call out as soon as I reach it. I knock on the door, louder this time. “Anyone in there?”
Only silence greets me. It must belong to Luca because the door has no handle, just a security panel with biometric scanners.
Hmm, perhaps my handprint will work here too. But nothing happens when I press my hand against the panel.
I suppress the urge to swear and instead step up to the side window and peer in.
A helicopter sits right in the middle.
It’s the last thing I expected to see.
A fricking helicopter.
Is this Luca’s?
How can he even afford that? Who is he now?
And then it hits me. If that’s his helicopter, there has to be a pilot somewhere nearby. There has to be another house.
