Page 215 of Mine Again
I watch his face the way I watch code compile. Microexpressions. Breath. The tiny tells.
Maximo Marcos doesn’t care about most people. But Mia gets under his skin. He wants her. That much is obvious.
But it’s more than that. Her presence warps his math, tugs on something sealed off.
I see the moment he decides what to do with it.
“I want something in return,” he says.
Of course he does.
Mia’s voice goes raw. “What?”
He gives her a look that says she already knows.
Apparently, she does.
Her laugh is brittle, hollow, like she can’t believe she’s really standing here.
She tips her face up to the ceiling for one long second, as if searching for another way out, some escape that doesn’t exist.
Fuck. I’m not going to like this, Isa even less.
Chapter Eighty-One
Luca
Iwatch Mia’s shoulders dip, resigned, her breath catching. For a moment, she looks smaller, younger.
Then she pulls herself back together, piece by piece, until she’s steady again, steel in her spine. Her chin lifts. The queen in her rises.
Her gaze locks on Maximo, direct and unflinching. He doesn’t blink, doesn’t give her anything back except the certainty of a man who thinks he’s already won.
Silence stretches between them, taut as a wire.
Finally, Mia inhales, head high. “Fine,” she says, the word sharp enough to cut. “I will marry you.”
What the hell?
This is what he was waiting for.
The bastard knew Mia was there. Knew she’d step in to save her sister.
That flicker of a smile, the one I thought was control, makes perfect sense now.
He set the trap and waited for her to walk right into it.
He must’ve proposed to her before and she turned him down. But this time, he made sure she couldn’t.
Isa’s going to hate this. She’d never want her sister tied to a man like Maximo Marcos. Not for her. Not for anyone.
But Isa’s not here. I am. And I let this happen.
One sister kidnapped by a monster. The other sold to one in a tailored suit. And I’m the one who put them both in this mess.
The rage burns so hot it shakes through my hands, but I force them steady. My jaw aches from clenching. My nails bite into my palms.
Fury won’t free Isa. Anger won’t undo what Mia just gave away.
