Page 98 of Mine Again (Mafia Bride #2)

Chapter Ninety-Seven

Luca

“ T he only thing I found was a tranquilizer dart on the balcony.”

For a moment, it felt like my heart had been ripped clean out of my chest. The devastation. The helplessness. I can still taste it, bitter as blood.

“Same kind I used in Vegas. Hale’s attempt to mock me.”

Isa’s fingers tighten on my shirt. “I hate that man and his games. You must have been so frantic to find me. I wish I could have spared you that.”

She pauses, tilts her head, lips twitching, and I can tell she’s about to try to lighten the heavy mood.

“Back in Vegas, how did you shoot the darts? Like in those adventure movies where they blow them through a bamboo tube? Or with a gun?”

The ridiculous image she paints drags a chuckle out of me despite the rawness of the memory.

“Well, I wasn’t in a loincloth like Tarzan, though I felt pretty damn animalistic at that point.”

My voice drops as the memory claws its way back, her attempted playfulness vanishing like light swallowed by shadow. It was my worst nightmare, something I might never get over.

“I had just arrived at the chapel when I heard the music start. God, Isa… I was so relieved I wasn’t too late. And so fucking furious that you were going to go through with it.”

My throat grows more uncomfortable with every word. “I slipped in through a side door just as you stepped onto the aisle. You looked like a dream, and I froze for a second. But then I looked at your face…” I swallow hard. “It told me everything. You didn’t really want this—”

“I didn’t,” Isa cuts in.

She grips my hand. “I don’t remember much of that evening after I got to the dressing room. There was this guy… what was his name? Dario? Derek? It started with D. Anyway, he did my makeup and hair—”

“Another guy touched you?” I straighten, staring at her, unimpressed.

She stares back like I’ve lost my mind. “Luca. He was very, very gay. No need to get worked up.”

I sink back into the seat, dragging a hand over my face, my edges frayed from the wound this conversation is poking at.

“Please… continue,” I say, forcing myself to stay calm.

“Anyway, he was going on about how hot Sebastian was, and all I could think about was you. I might have told Derek… or Dario, whatever his name was… that I believed I’d only ever marry you.” Her voice falters, and the confession carves its way into me.

Tears shining in her eyes. “It felt like I was betraying you, even though I had convinced myself you were dead.”

Her words ignite something primal. She believed I was gone, yet part of her still held on.

Isa might have worn white for another man, but her vows were mine before they were ever spoken. They’ll always be mine.

She pauses, collecting herself, but I can see it all over her face. Even though her memories blur at the edges, the emotions are cutting her fresh all over again. Same as me .

“The only way I could cope was to drink the bottle of champagne Derek had in the room,” she continues, her tone sad. “He tried to stop me after a couple of glasses, but I wouldn’t hear of it. I needed to drown everything. Needed to numb what I was about to do.”

She swallows; the words catch in her throat. “I kept telling myself that marrying Sebastian would give me a normal life away from the Mafia. That it would finally free me from being a pawn in someone else’s game.”

Isa’s eyes grow more watery, and she swipes at them with the back of her hand.

“God, I’m so sick of crying over this.” Her voice cracks, but it doesn’t stop the tears from spilling in hot trails down her cheeks.

I ache to take them away, to crush her to me so tightly she never doubts again, so she never questions what she’s worth.

Her next words come out flat, drained. “Hale told me Sebastian’s prize money was one hundred million dollars for marrying me.”

My chest seizes. Rage floods hot and vicious through my veins.

Fucking Hale.

My Isa is priceless… I want to wring his neck. And I will.

Isa lets out a hollow laugh that twists something sharp inside me.

“No wonder Sebastian was so cheerful on the entire trip. I took it for excitement about our future together. But in reality, he was dreaming about what he could do with that kind of money. He never actually cared about me.”

Her whole body is shaking now. “He never let me out of his sight until the chapel. It makes sense now. He was so close to the finish line, he couldn’t risk losing his hundred-mil casino chip.”

Her words choke, but she forces them out. “He organized every single detail of that wedding meticulously. I thought it was sweet. But he was just preparing for the grand finale Hale would use against you. And it all needed to be legitimate in case anyone ever questioned it.”

She buries her face in her hands, shoulders trembling.

“Looking back, there were so many red flags. But I ignored them and twisted them into what I wanted to believe. I was such an idiot. ”

She thinks she was blind, but Hale had stacked the board against her. There was no way she could have realized what was going on. Shame tightens her face as she turns toward the window, and I catch her chin gently, guiding her eyes back to me.

“You’re not an idiot. You’re my beautiful, brilliant farfalla .” I press a kiss to her forehead. “Yes, you only saw what you wanted and shaped the rest to fit your story, but that doesn’t make you stupid. It makes you human.”

My voice hardens. “Hale and Sebastian played you, and I want to tear them apart for it. I only wish Sebastian were still alive so I could end him myself. Let’s hope the Russians made his death slow and painful.”

Her lips tremble, and I press her closer.

“But it’s over now. Sebastian got what he deserved. One less parasite on this earth.” I let the sentence hang, then add, “And Hale will pay for every sin. He’ll regret the day he ever laid eyes on you. I swear it.”

I let her cry against me until the tears taper off and her breaths grow steadier while I contemplate ways to torture Hale.

“So how did you do it? Dart-blowing tube or gun?” she asks eventually, steering us back to safer ground.

The trace of mirth in her question makes me smile into her hair. “Tranquilizer gun.”

She tilts her head, teasing. “Did you knock everyone out?”

Dark satisfaction curls in my chest.

“Yes, every last one. Sadly, there were only six. And they weren’t dead, but at the time? I almost wished they were. Seeing you in a wedding dress, walking down the aisle to someone who wasn’t me… it made me murderous.”

Her gaze softens, guilt flashing in her eyes. She opens her mouth to speak, but I press a finger to her lips and shake my head.

“It’s in the past, farfalla . You’re my wife now. That’s all that matters.”

She doesn’t respond right away, and I can tell her thoughts are spinning .

Finally she murmurs, “But I didn’t say ‘I do’. So, really, it can’t be legit.”

“You signed the papers. They were filed. It’s official.”

She tilts her head up, frowning.

“Hmm, I need more details. The part where you knocked everybody out… wouldn’t Hale have been watching a live feed? Wouldn’t the officiant report something? Someone would have noticed.”

I fix her with an unimpressed look. “Isabella Caruso, you are talking to the Venom. Even in my rage, I wasn’t careless.”

Her eyes flash with both exasperation and curiosity. “Go on, then.”

“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 into a 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 reached the 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.

“You were never meant to. That was the point. It’s… special. Ultra small, biocompatible. It cannot be detected unless you know exactly where to search. Yours is at the back of your hairline.”

I guide her hand to her neck, pressing her fingertips to the hidden spot. My fingers linger, possessive, a reminder that even when she thought she was lost, she was never untethered. Always mine to find.

Her forehead wrinkles as she searches, and when she finally feels it, her lips curve like she’s both impressed and amused I got away with it.

“You’re right. You’d have to know it’s there to make the connection.”

She brushes her fingers over the spot again, thoughtful. “You needed this, didn’t you? To be reassured I could never disappear from you.”

I nod once and cover her hand with mine, pressing it harder to the spot as if to say she’s found the part of me that would never let her go.

She doesn’t appear angry. Not even close. Instead, she presses her mouth to mine, soft at first, then firmer, her smile brushing against my lips.

“Thank you. I love knowing you can always find me.”

Her words banish the last trace of doubt.

She accepts the obsessive part of me that others would bark at, the part that refuses to let her out of my reach.

And instead of pushing it away, she pulls it closer.

It’s a rush of relief, satisfaction, and joy. To be so fully accepted… loved. It’s everything.

Then she tips her head back, a playful glint in her eyes.

“Now there’s no excuse for you not to come to me right away wherever I am.”

I huff, earning me a laugh, before her mouth claims mine.

Her kiss deepens, demanding, consuming.

And with this woman, all I can do is surrender.