Page 217 of Mine Again
“You know I could have handled Maximo. He would have agreed to help me eventually.”
“I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing, Luca. This way, he has extra motivation.”
I lean back just enough to see her face. “I take it he proposed to you before?”
“Twice, actually. The first time was in Sicily, the day after he met me.” She peeks up at me, chuckling, but the laugh doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Crazy, right?”
I laugh a little too, shaking my head. “And the second time here?”
“Yeah, though I wouldn’t call it a proposal… more like a demand to marry him. I have the great honor of being chosen by him to carry his heirs.”
The sarcasm drips from her lips, but I catch the edge of bitterness beneath it. Again, it’s so much like my Isa. The likeness makes my insides tighten with how much I miss her.
We stay like this for another minute, silently taking strength from each other. The fire crackles in the hearth, filling the space where words fail. Then I step back, searching her face.
“I hate you’re in this position now… I shouldn’t have let this happen.”
She scoffs, straightening. “Don’t think for a moment Maximo has won. Let him call me fiancée, wife, queen, whatever feeds his ego. It doesn’t matter.”
I study her. She’s Isa’s sister, yes, but right now she seems like something else entirely, regal, defiant, untouchable.
Her eyes harden. “I’ll marry him because I honor my word.”
She stops there. The silence stretches. I keep my breathing even, though my chest is like a cage ready to crack. The fire pops, and still she waits.
Then her lips curve into a smile. “But I said nothing aboutstayingmarried to him.”
The firelight glints in her eyes as she steps closer.
“He wants to own me, Luca. That’s what this is really about. But no man owns me. Not him. Not ever.”
Something inside me twists, half fury, half respect. Maximo thinkshe outplayed us, but Mia isn’t conquered. She’s planning her war.
I incline my head. “Then he’ll never see the victory he thinks he has. And if you decide you want out, you tell me. We’ll find a way.”
Her gaze locks on mine, searching. Finally, she nods once, decisively.
“Good. Because Iwillcall in that promise.”
“It’s yours,” I say. “No questions. No hesitation.”
For the first time since entering Aldo’s office, the tension in her shoulders eases. She doesn’t thank me; she doesn’t need to.
I owe her after all, and she knows it. She holds out her hand, and we shake on it, an alliance forged between us.
And one day, Maximo Marcos will learn exactly what it means to play with fire. And that some fires can’t be controlled.
Chapter Eighty-Two
Luca
We arrive at the Marcos estate forty minutes later, the sun high enough to bleach the stone walls in a hard white glow.
The gates open on command, wrought iron sliding back to reveal a stretch of pristine driveway. The grounds are manicured to perfection, hedges clipped into neat lines, fountains glittering in the late-morning light.
Guards stand at intervals along the path, their dark suits making no attempt at subtlety. Every move here is about presence, about reminding you whose territory we’ve stepped into and who calls the shots.
Inside, the temperature drops. Marble floors echo with our footsteps, the cool air carrying the faint scent of polish and money.
