Page 225 of Mine Again
Every memory of Sebastian seems counterfeit now, printed on paper and traded behind my back.
“You must have been so disappointed when Luca ruined your plans at the finish line,” I grit out, clinging to the only comfort I have, Luca stepping in just in time.
Hale’s eyes sharpen. His smile doesn’t falter, but the gleam in his gaze clouds over, giving him away. He was furious then, and a part of him still is. Luca spoiled his grand design.
“Ah, well. Caruso wouldn’t be such a fun opponent to beat if he were any different. It makesthiswin even sweeter.”
“Why didn’t you try to save Sebastian from the Russians? Pay off his debt? He’d done your bidding by then.”
Hale shrugs, careless as flicking ash from a cigar.
“He didn’t make it over the finish line, did he? Besides, I wanted to see what Caruso would do to him. I’d hoped he’d get bloodthirsty, perhaps tear him apart limb by limb. But he only handed him over to the Russians. So dull.”
I draw in a sharp breath, stunned at how easily he dismisses his relative.
Sebastian never owned my heart. It was always Luca’s, even when I thought he was gone. But that doesn’t mean I wanted Sebastian dead.
Yes, I was furious to learn I’d been played, but I used Sebastian too. He was an escape hatch I wanted to believe in, a convenient, seemingly safe man who promised a quieter life away from the Mafia. I let that fantasy blind me. I ignored the red flags. That’s on me.
“You could have tried to get him back.”
“I had other priorities.”
Hale leans back, utterly unaffected.
“I don’t waste grief on the weak. He gambled; he failed. Why would I mourn a man who couldn’t outplay his enemies?”
I lean back in my chair, stunned by his coldness. He watches me with that infuriating smile, shaking his head as if my shock amuses him.
“Your outrage is touching. Almost convincing,” he says, his eyestaking on a calculating gleam. “But we both know you didn’t really care that your precious Luca delivered Sebastian to his enemies and sealed his fate.”
He brushes crumbs from his fingers as if flicking away the notion. “Though boring, it was clever of him. Spared himself from getting his hands dirty.”
This timeIscoff. “Isn’t that what you do?”
Hale throws back his head and laughs, like I’ve told a joke he can’t get enough of.
“No. I don’t mind pulling the trigger myself. In fact, I relish it. And it doesn’t have to be a gun. The keyboard is far mightier.”
His eyes glow with delight as he leans closer.
“My point is that the wonderful Luca has many deaths on his hands… just like me.”
He’s trying to goad me. I know that.
Luca has never killed a man. He’s always refused to in Sicily and told me that hadn’t changed in our time apart.
But have his hacks killed?
The thought makes my stomach clench. I hate that Hale’s words hit their mark, and seeds of doubt take root in my mind. I don’t want them to, but I can’t stop them.
Hale catches the flicker in my face, and his smile spreads smugly, like he’s just scored a victory.
“He’s never mentioned it, has he? How many people he’s hurt?”
“I’m not interested in—”
“No, of course not. That wouldn’t fit the delusion, would it? The brooding protector. The tragic lover. Always watching. Always one step ahead.”
