Page 70 of Mine Again (Mafia Bride #2)

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Luca

“ H ale stole your work?”

“No… yes.” My jaw tightens until it hurts. “It was a trap, and I walked right into it.”

Isa’s brow draws in. “What do you mean?”

The realization grinds like grit between my teeth.

“He must have been behind the Brazil job. Hale set an impossible task to get the blueprint, knowing I wouldn’t be able to resist proving it could be done.

“He let me lay the groundwork for exactly what he wanted, then waited. Now he’s using it, moving his pieces into place. Delaware is him testing his new toy, watching how fast I’ll react.”

I shift to another window, watching the trail of falsified access points spin a web across the map as red dots multiply.

“And he’s showing me how far he’s willing to go.”

I rub a hand over my chin, staring at her.

“This isn’t just about destroying my reputation, though, in the underground, what happened is practically a gold-embossed calling card.

He’s making sure every U.S. agency, and probably half the international ones, are hunting me.

And knowing him, he’ll give them something tangible to identify me with. ”

Isa’s face drains of color. Her lips part, but no sound comes out. Her eyes flick to the screens, then back to me, like she’s trying to measure how much danger is crawling toward us through those lines of code.

“You’ll never be able to go anywhere again? Will they find us here?”

Us.

In the middle of all this chaos, her saying us cuts through everything.

I stop, turn my chair to face her, and take her face in my hands. Her skin is warm against my palms. I kiss her hard enough to make the rest of the world fall away. She responds instantly, clutching my shirt like she needs the contact as much as I do.

“They won’t find us here. I’ll make sure of it.”

Her throat works as she swallows.

“Is this because you ruined Hale’s plan for Sebastian to marry me?”

“I think this was always part of the plan,” I say, my voice rough. “First, take you from me and put you in another man’s bed. Then cripple me professionally so I have nothing left to fight with. And for the final blow, make sure I’m locked in a cell for the rest of my life.”

Her fingers tighten on my shirt, her breathing uneven, like she’s only now beginning to grasp the scale of Hale’s obsession.

For a moment, neither of us speaks. The silence is thick, heavy with the knowledge that this is no longer about power or revenge.

It’s about complete annihilation.

She shudders. “He hates you that much?”

I shrug. “Hate isn’t the right word. This is colder, heavier. The way he engineered Brazil… deliberate, patient, and precise. It’s a need to unmake me, and he’s willing to burn the world down to do it.”

“And all of this because you beat him at that hacking competition?”

“Yes. It infuriated him that someone fifteen years younger could tear his code apart and crush it.”

“That’s petty. He should’ve seen it as healthy competition, someone who could push him to do better.”

“That would require maturity. Hale’s ego is bruised. He needs to prove he’s the best, and he’s hell-bent on it.”

“Is he going to win?” Isa asks, clearly worried.

“Never. I’ve always outsmarted him. This time will be no different. It may look like he hit the bullseye in the first round, but the next two will go to me.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I’ll pull every trace of his route, hopefully before the Feds get to it. I want to see exactly where he slipped the malicious code in, the point where his exploit changes hands. If I can find it, I can unravel everything.”

I start typing again, my eyes scanning line after line of code. Windows bloom and close under my fingers.

“He’s smart enough to scatter it across nodes I can’t reach from this network.”

“Then where?” Isa’s gaze stays fixed on the monitors, fear and fascination warring in her eyes.

I lean back, lifting my eyes from the screens for the first time in minutes.

“Tangier.”

Her brow furrows. “Morocco?”

“It’s where I buried an offline node years ago. Air-gapped. Custom software that can tear through crypto wallet trails, dismantle his signature, and match exploits from Brazil to now.”

Her voice is careful. “You’ve had that there this whole time? Why not here?”

“I built the island to be untraceable, not untouchable. The node had to stay far from here. What’s on it is too dangerous to keep anywhere near you.”

She looks confused. “But I’ve only been here a few days.”

“Yes, but you were always going to end up here. This was always going to be our home.”

Despite the pressure closing in, she smiles. It’s small, but enough to cut through the chaos inside me. My chest feels like it could split from the way she owns my heart .

“So we go to Tangier?”

“We need to. It’s the only place I can do what has to be done. But if he finds us before I find him, it’s over. For both of us. He won’t let you go, Isa. He’ll either use you to break me or take you just to watch me burn. And if he gets to that point, there won’t be anything left to save.”

Her lips part, but before she can speak, I squeeze her hand, leaning in until my forehead rests against hers.

“I will do everything in my power to make sure that never happens. Now that I have you back, nothing will tear us apart again.”

I kiss the tip of her nose, and she sighs.

I hold her gaze, the vow between us unshakable.

“When we’re there, follow my lead. No arguments.”

She nods, She nods, resolve written across her face.

“I’ll pack our bags.”