Page 190 of Mine Again
“Is this because you ruined Hale’s plan for Sebastian to marry me?”
“I think this was always part of the plan,” I say, my voice rough. “First, take you from me and put you in another man’s bed. Then cripple me professionally so I have nothing left to fight with. And for the final blow, make sure I’m locked in a cell for the rest of my life.”
Her fingers tighten on my shirt, her breathing uneven, like she’s only now beginning to grasp the scale of Hale’s obsession.
For a moment, neither of us speaks. The silence is thick, heavy with the knowledge that this is no longer about power or revenge.
It’s about complete annihilation.
She shudders. “He hates you that much?”
I shrug. “Hate isn’t the right word. This is colder, heavier. The way he engineered Brazil… deliberate, patient, and precise. It’s a need to unmake me, and he’s willing to burn the world down to do it.”
“And all of this because you beat him at that hacking competition?”
“Yes. It infuriated him that someone fifteen years younger could tear his code apart and crush it.”
“That’s petty. He should’ve seen it as healthy competition, someone who could push him to do better.”
“That would require maturity. Hale’s ego is bruised. He needs toprove he’s the best, and he’s hell-bent on it.”
“Is he going to win?” Isa asks, clearly worried.
“Never. I’ve always outsmarted him. This time will be no different. It may look like he hit the bullseye in the first round, but the next two will go to me.”
“What are we going to do?”
“I’ll pull every trace of his route, hopefully before the Feds get to it. I want to see exactly where he slipped the malicious code in, the point where his exploit changes hands. If I can find it, I can unravel everything.”
I start typing again, my eyes scanning line after line of code. Windows bloom and close under my fingers.
“He’s smart enough to scatter it across nodes I can’t reach from this network.”
“Then where?” Isa’s gaze stays fixed on the monitors, fear and fascination warring in her eyes.
I lean back, lifting my eyes from the screens for the first time in minutes.
“Tangier.”
Her brow furrows. “Morocco?”
“It’s where I buried an offline node years ago. Air-gapped. Custom software that can tear through crypto wallet trails, dismantle his signature, and match exploits from Brazil to now.”
Her voice is careful. “You’ve had that there this whole time? Why not here?”
“I built the island to be untraceable, not untouchable. The node had to stay far from here. What’s on it is too dangerous to keep anywhere near you.”
She looks confused. “But I’ve only been here a few days.”
“Yes, but you were always going to end up here. This was always going to be our home.”
Despite the pressure closing in, she smiles. It’s small, but enough to cut through the chaos inside me. My chest feels like it could split from the way she owns my heart.
“So we go to Tangier?”
“We need to. It’s the only place I can do what has to be done. But if he finds us before I find him, it’s over. For both of us. He won’t let you go, Isa. He’ll either use you to break me or take you just to watch me burn. And if he gets to that point, there won’t be anything left to save.”
Her lips part, but before she can speak, I squeeze her hand, leaning in until my forehead rests against hers.
