Page 167 of Mine Again
It shouldn’t be this easy.
Not after everything. Not after five years of silence and ache.
But it is.
And this emotional roller coaster I keep talking about?
Right now, I’m on the rise. Climbing. Hopeful.
But everyone knows what comes after the peak.
Even with Luca’s promise that he’s on this ride with me, even with his arms ready to hold me when we fall, I still fear the drop.
I try to take comfort in his presence. In his steadiness.
In the way he’s here. Now. Always just a breath away.
The water cuts off, yanking me from my thoughts. My gaze drifts to the door, just like that first morning I woke up here. I expected Sebastian to emerge from the bathroom then.
My stomach knots. I want to erase the memory of how he played me.
Was any of it real?
The way Sebastian looked at me, kissed me. The conversations about our dreams and hopes.
I hate that I’m questioning myself…everything,really.
I don’t want to be cautious and guard every decision with doubt.
And Ireallydon’t want to let fear hold me back from what’s rekindling between Luca and me.
Because it’s there.
Simmering. Waiting.
The belief in my own instincts is shaky. And maybe the only way to rebuild that is by choosing better now.
And here’s the thing: I spent years wishing for this… for exactly what I have right now.
Luca back with me, loving me as fiercely as ever, and a life away from the Mafia.
Luca didn’t just think of me these past five years. He built hisentire worldfor me.
Every detail in this house—every cup, every book, every tucked-away memory—is our old hideaway, remade into something permanent.
It all speaks of a man who never moved on. Who, unlike me, never even tried.
He held on. To me. To us.
So should I really let the past get in the way and ruin this?
Now that we’re back together, it’s like no time has passed.
Except it has.
We can’t pretend we didn’t lose those years or that there isn’t pain between us.
But maybe it’s not a mountain we have to climb.
