Page 191 of Mine Again
“I will do everything in my power to make sure that never happens. Now that I have you back, nothing will tear us apart again.”
I kiss the tip of her nose, and she sighs.
I hold her gaze, the vow between us unshakable.
“When we’re there, follow my lead. No arguments.”
She nods, She nods, resolve written across her face.
“I’ll pack our bags.”
Chapter Seventy
Isabella
It’s been a couple of hours since the Delaware bombshell, and my mind hasn’t stopped spinning.
Last night was the highest point on the roller coaster. The rush of being so close to Luca again, the certainty that whatever storms we’d weathered, we were moving toward a future together. I fell asleep with that belief wrapped around me like a blanket.
Then morning came, and the plunge began. The bottom dropped out, my stomach along with it.
We’re hurtling into something dark and dangerous, and I feel every sharp turn and sudden drop.
Luca, on the other hand, doesn’t look like he’s falling at all. He’s calm, focused, and in control, the way he always is when the ground shakes beneath us.
I don’t know how he does it. Maybe it’s experience, maybe it’s the way his mind works. But it’s like I’m standing on a battlefield with no armor while he’s already mapped the entire campaign.
I tell myself to stay positive for his sake, to match his steadiness, but it’s harder than I want to admit. I barely understand a fraction of what he’s doing in this cyberworld he commands so effortlessly.
What I do understand is the way my chest tightens every time I remember what he said; that if Hale finds us first, it’ll be over.
My head keeps circling back to those words no matter how much I try to push them away.
What doesovereven mean?
Prison for him? A grave for me? Or something worse, something that leaves us alive but unrecognizable?
And beneath all that fear is something else, something harder to name.
Having watched him, the unflinching focus, the quiet authority, the man who refuses to let anything shake him, I feel an ache that’s equal parts love, longing, and a fierce wish to shoulder this with him.
Then a quieter, more treacherous thought slips in.
This is his world, a life where danger can appear with no warning and survival means staying two steps ahead of sophisticated predators. I’m not sure anyone can live in it without losing something they once were.
I zip up the second bag, having packed lightly for both of us, and set it by the door.
It doesn’t seem like packing for a trip but more like loading supplies for an escape. Every folded shirt and pair of shoes is a reminder that we might not be coming back, that the life I had only begun to accept here is already slipping through my fingers.
I step back into the office. Luca is working in silence across the room, his gaze fixed on the screens, fingers moving with lightning speed.
His jaw is set in fierce determination. He says he’ll never let us be torn apart again, and I want to trust that, but this is different from anything we’ve faced before.
This isn’t just another dangerous man with too much power. This is someone who knows exactly where to strike, who understands how to hurt him, and by extension, me. On top of that, local and international authorities are after him.
Luca switches off all the screens except the one still running thenews. They go dark, the muted glow replaced by the methodical sound of him carefully packing hard drives into a weatherproof case.
The quiet seems heavier than before. I stay by the main monitor, my eyes tracking the scrolling headlines. I’m not expecting good updates, but my stomach still twists when the “Breaking News” banner flashes red.
