Page 254 of Mine Again
“I organized everything I needed during my flight to Vegas. As you said, Sebastian was desperate to marry you and did everything by the book… marriage license, chapel booking, witnesses. Thanks to him, I knew exactly where to look and which systems to target.”
“You did all of that while piloting a plane?” she asks, incredulous.
“Autopilot, baby. Multitasking at thirty thousand feet.”
“Ah.” She settles back into me, and I rub her arm in soothing circles.
“Hale had already tampered with the chapel’s camera feeds, but he didn’t expect me to. I was still meant to be in Brazil for another week, so he made no effort to cover his tracks. I shut down the feeds when I arrived at the chapel and made it look like a power outage. Every camera within a mile radius went dark for an hour.”
Isa blinks, lips parting. “That’s… terrifyingly impressive.”
My mouth curves. “When everyone was out, I zip-tied Sebastian. Might have punched him a few times, too. But it wasn’t satisfying, given he couldn’t fight back.”
Her brows rise. “And then?”
“I stuffed him in the trunk of a car and sent the Russians his location. I had cameras on both him and the vehicle, and saw when they dragged him away.”
Her hand flies to her mouth. “Luca…”
“Meanwhile,” I continue, softer now, “I moved everyone else intoa side room with empty champagne bottles. When they woke, they believed they’d passed out drunk. The tranquilizer I used also wiped their most recent memories.”
She stares at me, wide-eyed. “And me?”
“The reluctant bride,” I murmur, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “You were hazily waking, and in that time you signed the papers… with a little help from me. Then, and I’m sorry for this, I gave you another shot, stronger this time, so you’d sleep until we were back on our island.”
All of it seems like an eternity ago… more nightmare than memory, sharp in its terror but distant, unreal. Hard to imagine that was less than two weeks ago.
Isa’s lips purse, her eyes huge.
“So that was our wedding day? That’s… horrible.”
She shakes her head slowly, as if she cannot decide whether to cry or laugh.
I smirk, stroking her cheek. “Our next one will be better. I promise.”
“It better be. And don’t you dare ever knock me out again.”
“I won’t. I’ll only knock you up.” Her mouth twitches, and despite herself a laugh slips out.
I press a kiss to her hair. “But you can’t really blame me. With the time I had and the rage I was carrying, pulling it off with only one casualty, and one who deserved it, was pretty damn impressive.”
She smirks, shaking her head. “I actually have no words.”
“There’s a first,” I tease, relishing the small laugh it earns.
“I would have liked to have seen Hale’s face when he realized his plan failed,” she says softly.
“Me too. It would have enraged him beyond belief. But damn,farfalla. He came far too close to taking you from me.”
“Hence, he tried again in Tangier.” Her body shudders. She lifts her gaze to mine, brows knit. “How did you work out I was in Chicago?”
“You have a tracker,” I say simply. “I was going to tell you before the Delaware breach hit the news. I implanted it the moment we reachedthe island.”
Her eyes widen, blinking fast.
“Where is it? I haven’t noticed anything.”
I allow myself the faintest smile, tilting my head as I study her.
