Page 60 of Mine Again (Mafia Bride #2)

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Luca

I t’s the question I’ve been dreading most.

Of course, it had to come up. I expected it. But still, it burns a hole straight through me.

Because no matter how reasonable or true my answer is, it will probably never be enough.

I glance at Isa, reaching for her hand and threading our fingers together. She lets me, but her eyes stay on the clouds, like she’s bracing herself for whatever truth comes next.

I let out a humorless laugh.

“Right after the job in Brazil, I planned to come for you,” I say. “It had been on the books for months, even before your father was killed.”

I pause, letting the memories settle.

“When I heard what happened to him, I wanted to come for you right then. But Brazil was looming, and taking you with me was out of the question. Not to a location crawling with criminals and guns on every corner.

“Leaving you behind felt equally wrong. So I told myself you’d be safer with your family. That I’d come for you the moment the job was done. ”

I glance at her, my voice quieter now.

“And I did. Though not under the circumstances I had imagined.”

I squeeze her hand, but she doesn’t look at me.

“Isa, I was constantly searching for a way to come for you sooner. I went over every possibility, trying to find a path that would get me back to you.

“But every conclusion was the same. If I got you out of Sicily, it would have put your whole family in danger. You’d never have risked your sisters’ lives, and neither would I.”

I let out a harsh breath, the old frustration twisting inside me.

“And your father… he dictated the terms. I hated bending to him, but he made it clear we could only marry once the De Marcos were dethroned. With me on the run and no leverage to fight back, I had no choice but to agree.”

She nods, but I see the sadness creeping back into her face.

“Did my father really believe he and his allies could topple a century-old bloodline? That’s insane.”

“Still, insane succeeded, didn’t it?” I reply.

“Only because Mateo didn’t want to be Don. He was tired of fighting battles that weren’t his.”

“The result is the same, though. The power has shifted.”

Silence follows. She’s mulling over everything, the gears turning in her head.

“Did you help him?” she asks. “My father, I mean. Did you help bring down the De Marcos?”

I sigh. This was a point of tension between me and her father for nearly five years.

“He wanted me to. And there were moments I was tempted. I missed you so damn much. I wanted a way back to you, badly. But I couldn’t do it.”

I sit up a little, adjusting my posture so I can face her.

“I swore an oath of loyalty to the De Marcos when I had their family crest tattooed on my shoulder at eighteen… like my father and his father before him .

“But unlike my father, oaths and promises mean something to me. They’re not just tradition; they’re a foundation. That system may have exiled me, but it never wronged me.

"The rules were always clear. My father broke them, and the consequences followed. That didn’t mean I would betray my oath, just as I could never break my promise to you.”

Isa watches me, silent now.

“I kept looking for another way. A different angle to work around your father’s terms.”

She frowns. “What angle?”

“I kept tabs on Uberto. As I mentioned, I helped him out once. Through that, I managed to install firmware that gave me limited access to their internal systems. Nothing visible, nothing traceable, but enough to keep me informed.”

I study her expression. She’s curious now, but wary.

“When Gualtiero De Marco’s girl ran, I saw the communication threads. His digital footprint was frantic. He was trying everything to find her.”

Isa nods. “It shocked everyone that she got away. But it wasn’t a secret she wanted nothing to do with the mafia life. And who can blame her? She was never exposed to it.”

“True. But what caught my attention wasn’t that she left. It was what Gualtiero did next.”

“What do you mean?”

“He himself moved money into offshore accounts. Secured new identities. Bought transport in key locations. Private planes. Unregistered vehicles. He wasn’t just searching. He was planning to disappear.”

Her eyes widen slightly. “Are you saying Don De Marco isn’t really dead? He got shot. Mari was at the hospital. She saw him.”

“He was definitely shot. There were complications. But ask yourself, Isa… was there an open-casket funeral?”

She stares at me, stunned.

“You mean… we were all grieving a lie?” she asks, her voice tight. “An d Mateo knew?”

“If he did, he would have been sworn to silence. And if Mari knows, she’d be under the same burden. So don’t blame her. She wouldn’t have had a choice.”

Isa doesn’t reply. But something else flickers in her expression now. Worry.

“Talking about Teo and Mari… I need you to find them for me. I’m scared.

Mari said they had plans to disappear, but Niccolo Romero is claiming they’re dead, that he blew up their boat.

It could be for show, to help him claim power, but Mari hasn’t made contact.

She warned me it might take weeks, even months, but still… ”

I pull her closer and press a kiss to her temple. Her skin is soft against my lips, warm despite the wind.

“I’ll find her for you,” I murmur. “Or at least uncover what happened.”

“Thank you,” she whispers, looking up at me with a faint smile.

And damn if that smile doesn’t make my heart jump.

“But back to the plan you hatched,” she says, steadier now.

“When Ella O’Neil disappeared, Uberto kept hitting walls. That kind of silence usually means only one thing. Someone powerful was shielding her. So I did some digging of my own. I quietly fed Uberto what he needed to find a few crucial leads.”

I didn’t care about where Ella went or why. What mattered to me was what her disappearance represented, a window. Something I could use to get back to Isa.

“You were the anonymous tip-off.” She sits up straighter, not waiting for my reply. “At my birthday dinner, Mamma mentioned it. Father was going to Canada with Don De Marco to intercept Ella.”

“Yes, that was me.”

“Were you trying to get into Don De Marco’s good graces? So you could come back for me?”

“Not exactly. Even if I’d earned his trust, Gualtiero would still have been bound by his family’s rules. But I figured if I helped him get Ella back, and more importantly, helped him keep her, he’d vanish. That would leave Mateo in charge.”

“And with Mateo falling for Mari…”

I nod. “He didn’t believe in the old structures. I figured he was my best bet to get around your father’s decree.”

She nods faintly. “But that didn’t happen.”

“No, things turned out differently.”

Better for us. But devastating for my farfalla’s family.

We lie in silence, the grass cool beneath us, the sky above painted in midday gold. I can hear her breathing beside me, steady but thoughtful. A bird chirps somewhere in the distance. The wind moves through the tall grass behind the range like a slow tide.

She hasn’t said a word in minutes, but I can sense a shift in her.

The tension in her shoulders has softened, and her breathing has eased.

The truth doesn’t erase the pain of waiting or the hollow ache of having given up on me. But hearing that I never stopped trying, that I kept searching for a way back to her, seems to have settled something inside her.

I don’t say more, just lie beside her, letting the silence stretch.

It’s like the beginning of something new.

Something better than we had.