Page 147 of Mine Again
She lets out a sigh. Neither agreeing nor denying it.
Yeah, she’s testing me.
I’m tempted to forget this whole idea of space and patience. To remind her who she belongs to. To punish her for ever thinking happiness could be found in anyone else’s arms.
“And that was you trying to ruin our first date, wasn’t it?” she accuses. “You wanted me to get a bad impression of Andrea… clumsy, with unpaid credit cards. And then the wrong order arrived with a butterfly.”
I don’t deny it. What would be the point? I had fun that afternoon.
“And don’t forget the constant spam calls. Too bad you turned off your phone.”
She scowls at me, but I can’t help it. I laugh.
It fades quickly.
“The day Andrea told me he was leaving… you didn’t see Sebastian inthe café?” she asks, sitting down on the weight bench.
“No,” I say, irritation slipping into my voice. “Hale had the rest of the café cameras running on a loop, so he never showed. My original feed only caught you leaving. The interaction with Moretti was missing.”
I pause, jaw tight.
“I didn’t realize he had been there until I started pulling deeper files on my flight to Vegas. That’s when I found out we had both been played.”
Once I started digging, I couldn’t stop. And the rage I felt resurfaces all over again.
“Suddenly the evidence of your meet-ups with Moretti was everywhere. Too easy to find. Which meant Hale wanted me to see it. He wanted me to follow a trail of breadcrumbs. To sit back and watch your relationship with Moretti unfold.”
I lower myself to the floor in front of Isa, suddenly too tired to stand.
Isa shifts on the bench, her knee bumping the weight rack, but she doesn’t seem to notice. Her face is pale.
“He knew exactly how much it would destroy me,” I whisper, the look of guilt and regret on Isa’s face doing nothing to quiet the chaos inside me.
God help Carter Hale when I find him. For what he did to her… to us. For what he’s still doing.
Iwillfinish him.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Luca
“Ihated watching you with Moretti,” I admit.
I need her to understand she wasn’t, isn’t, the only one who suffered. That I was close to the edge too. Closer than she could ever imagine.
Isa’s eyes turn glassy. She’s on the brink of tears.
“By the time I landed in Vegas, I was ready to tear the world apart. Especially after uncovering Hale’s final taunt. Though he would probably call it hispièce de résistance, the sick bastard.”
Isa’s wet, shimmering eyes lift to mine. She braces herself for the blow.
“Your marriage license.”
The words barely make it out. My throat’s too tight.
“Yours and Moretti’s.”
It was like being gutted alive.
