Page 228 of Mine Again
But the truth is, I always wanted to be his wife, to live with him, and I sure as hell wanted to make love to him every chance I got.
He never truly took anything from me. In fact, he gave me something no one else ever has.
Devotion. Love. Belonging.
He built a home not as a monument to himself but as a reflection of me. A house modeled on our secret hideaway, walls lined with our memories instead of marble. Pictures of us, of places we loved. A pantry stocked with my favorite foods, a closet filled not with gowns to parade in but with clothes I could breathe in. He even recreated the archer girl, that little statue I adored, because he knew I loved it.
And most of all, he stayed true.
Five long years. Not one other woman. I believe him when he saysit.
I feel it in the way he looks at me, as if the whole world narrowed to my face and never widened again.
The weight of his gaze heated my skin as if he had branded me with nothing more than his eyes. Even in silence, his presence wrapped around me like a vow, one I couldn’t escape and didn’t want to.
What kind of man does that?
Only one.
One who is flawed, broken, controlling, maybe even dangerous… but also a man who loves me in a way no one else ever has. A man whose obsession never let him replace me, whose devotion has always been mine alone.
I release a long breath, lungs filling with the certainty that Luca’s love is real.
Is it unconditional? Hell no.
He’d never let me walk away again. But I don’t want to. I want no one else.
He’ll move heaven and earth to get me back. I’ve never been more certain he’ll defeat the Jackal.
Meanwhile, Hale wears his cruelty like a crown, strutting as if he was born to dominate and destroy.
And he insists Luca is no different. That they’re mirror images, both men with blood on their hands, both dangerous, both killers in their own ways.
But Luca is not Hale; never has been.
Hale destroys to feed his hunger. Luca fights to protect what he loves. Hale takes for the sake of power. Luca’s power has always been mine.
I dig out the seeds of doubt Hale tried to bury in me.
I willnotlet them sprout.
With that vow still burning in my chest, I turn off the shower and towel dry, wrapping myself in a cocoon of soft white terry. Flimsy as it is, the robe is like armor against the chill inside me. Matching slippers whisper across the tiles as I move into the walk-in closet.
Racks of clothes hang in shades meant to please Hale, not me. They look like costumes for someone else’s life. Nothing appeals. I tug the robe tighter and decide I’ll stay in it. I’m not leaving this room today.
What I need isn’t a dress. It’s time.
Time to piece together some kind of plan. To find a way to slip Luca a clue, or to uncover a weakness in this fortress Hale calls home.
Does Luca have any idea I’m in Chicago?
He must. Who else would dare use me as leverage but the Jackal himself?
I step back into the main room, determined to hold on to the fragile calm I managed to piece together.
But the second I cross the threshold, I stop dead.
The television hums softly, blue light flickering across the walls. And Hale sits regally in an armchair like the king he sees himself to be, while I’m nothing more than a subject summoned for his amusement and pleasure.
