Chapter 107: 107 ~ Mira
"You’re in America?" He repeated again, like he wanted to climb out of the phone and fight me.
The sound of Roberto’s voice slammed into my chest harder than I expected. I froze at the edge of the bed, still in the dress I’d worn for the wedding, my heels kicked off somewhere near the door. Every trace of wanting to use the bathroom conveniently disappeared.
My phone was pressed to my ear, my hand suddenly clammy against the screen.
"Hello to you too, Roberto." I said, forcing a wry smile he couldn’t see.
"Mira," his tone was sharp, accusatory. "Do you have any idea what it’s like to turn on the TV and see my sister... My own sister on the arm of Jace Romano at one of the most public weddings of the year? You didn’t think to call me first?!"
I exhaled, sinking onto the mattress. The room smelled faintly of Jace’s cologne he’d just stepped into the bathroom to take a shower, leaving me in the silence of this place. Silence that wasn’t silent anymore.
"I wasn’t exactly expecting it to be broadcasted," I murmured.
"You weren’t expecting—" he cut himself off, then groaned. "Mira, do you know what that looks like? After everything you told me, after everything he put you through, you’re just parading around with him like it never happened?"
I closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. "It’s not like that."
"Then what is it like?" Roberto demanded. "Because from where I’m standing, it looks like Stockholm Syndrome."
His words stung, though I knew they were meant to. My little brother always thought he could protect me, even when his decisions were the very reason I was in this mess to begin with.
"You don’t understand," I whispered, my voice tired.
"Then make me understand, Mira!" His voice cracked through the speaker, raw with a whirlwind of emotions.
"Two years you’ve been ghosting me. Two years I’ve been left wondering if he killed you, or if you—" he broke off yet again, breathing heavy. "And now I see you in America, with him, on TV? Do you know how that feels?"
A lump rose in my throat. "I wanted to call," I admitted softly. "But every time I thought about it... I didn’t know what to say. How to explain where I was, what I was doing."
Roberto was quiet for a beat, and in that silence, guilt twisted my stomach. It ate into me. How could I have abandoned my only family member like that?
"Mira," he said finally, softer now. "I thought I lost you. Twice."
I laid back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "You didn’t lose me. I just... needed time."
"Time for what? To forgive him?" His words came out bitter, sharp.
"No. Time for me. To breathe. To exist without everyone else’s mistakes drowning me."
I was carrying so much, I needed to breathe. I needed to live. I needed to be away from all the tragic reminders of what my life had been in the past year before moving to Lisbon. I wasn’t sure anyone would understand.
There was another silence, broken only by the faint sound of water running in the bathroom. My eyes flicked toward the door, knowing Jace would walk back out any second.
"You’re with him right now, aren’t you?" Roberto asked, suspicion dripping from every syllable.
I swallowed. "...Yes."
"Jesus Christ, Mira." His disappointment was a weight on my chest.
"It’s complicated," I whispered.
"It always is with him." He retorted angrily.
I bit my lip, fighting the urge to snap back. He wasn’t wrong, but he also wasn’t right.
"You don’t know him like I do," I said instead.
This wasn’t what he thought it was but I did not have the energy to explain to anyone. I was okay with being misunderstood.
"And thank God for that," Roberto shot back. "Because if I did, I’d be dead."
I sat up, anger finally sparking in me. "Don’t you dare play the victim card with me. You think I wanted this? You think I chose any of it? I was dragged into his world because of you, Roberto. Because of your debts. Because you couldn’t stop gambling with lives that weren’t yours to gamble."
The silence on the other end was sharp, jagged.
"I’m sorry," he said quietly, the words thick with shame. "I never wanted this for you. I thought I could handle it. I thought I could protect you."
My chest tightened, some of my anger bleeding out. "You can’t protect me. Not from him. Not from any of this."
He exhaled shakily. "Then what do I do? Sit here and watch you go back to him? Watch him break you again?"
I leaned against the headboard, my heart torn in a thousand directions. "No. You trust me. You let me figure this out my way. Because whether you like it or not, Jace is in my life. He’s not going anywhere. At least not anytime soon."
Roberto’s reply came sharp, cold. "And what about Massimo?"
My breath hitched.
"You think I don’t know?" Roberto pressed. "You think I don’t know what he’s after—or what he’s using you for?"
I sat frozen, my fingers tightening around the phone. "Roberto—"
How the hell did he find out? Was he keeping tabs on me all this time?
I thought I had been discreet with my affairs. Was there a mole somewhere or did he have someone watching me? I had so many questions running through my mind all at once.
He continued. "Don’t lie to me. Not again. If you’re playing both sides, Mira, you’re going to get caught in the middle. And when that happens, I can’t save you. Nobody can."
My stomach churned. It felt like everything I ate was about to come back through my mouth.
"Mira," he said, his voice breaking, "please don’t let him destroy you again. Either of them."
The bathroom door creaked open. Jace stepped out, towel slung low around his hips, steam curling around his frame. His gray eyes immediately locked on me, sharp and possessive.
"Who’s that?" he asked, his voice rough from the heat of the shower.
Panic surged in my chest. I covered the mouthpiece and whispered, "No one."
Roberto’s voice flared through the phone. "Is that him?!"
I scrambled, forcing my tone calm. "I’ll call you later," I rushed, and hung up before either man could push me further into a corner.
My hand trembled as I set the phone on the nightstand.
Jace’s gaze lingered on me, suspicious, like he could smell the lie in the air. "Mira," he said slowly, "who were you talking to?"
I met his eyes, my pulse thundering in my ears. "Nobody that matters."
Maybe he already knew he it was but it didn’t matter. I was not going to say anything more.
His lips curved into that dangerous smirk I hated and craved all at once. "Everything that touches you matters to me."
And just like that, I felt the noose tighten around my neck again—caught between the brother who wanted to save me, and the man who swore he’d never let me go.
I walked away before I could get lost in thought. I needed to get out of these clothes and shower.
While in the shower, as the water soaked me from head to toe, all I could think of was how to get those documents and get this thing done and over with. I was going in too deep.
After wiping every trace of water on my skin, I slid on one of Jace’s shirts that was like a dress on my petite frame. It smelled just like him and for some reason, the scent left flutters in my stomach.
I slipped under the covers, turning on my side to face away from him. "Goodnight, Jace."
The mattress dipped as he slid in beside me, his warmth pressing close. His arm draped over my waist, anchoring me against him as though my very body was his lifeline.
"Goodnight, amore mio," he murmured against my hair. He pressed kisses to my cheeks and forehead.
I shifted slightly, trying to create distance between us, but Jace tightened his hold. His lips brushed the back of my neck, feather-light at first, then lingering.
"Jace," I whispered, my voice a warning.
He rolled me gently onto my back, his gray eyes burning into mine. "Just one thing I can’t go another night without."
Before I could ask what, his mouth was on mine.
The kiss wasn’t rushed. It was devastating. His lips moved against mine with a hunger that was slow, deliberate, like he was reclaiming every second of the years we’d lost. My fingers betrayed me, curling into the sheets, then into the hard muscle of his shoulder.
His hand cupped my jaw, tilting my face to deepen the kiss, his tongue brushing mine in a way that stole my breath and made my chest ache.
For a moment, I let myself drown.
When he finally tore his mouth from mine, his breathing was ragged, forehead pressed against mine. "That’s enough for tonight," he murmured, his thumb still tracing the line of my cheek.
I blinked up at him, dazed. "You’re stopping?"
A dark chuckle rumbled from his chest. "If I don’t, I won’t be able to."
And just like that, he pulled me back against him, holding me as though the kiss hadn’t just left my entire world unsteady.
I could tell he was tired because he didn’t do anything further.
But long after his breathing slowed, I lay awakephone still buzzing with unread messages, my brother’s warning echoing in my head.
And all I could think was: maybe I wasn’t healing. Maybe I was walking straight back into the fire.