Chapter 96: 96 ~ Mira
The walls of Jace’s mansion hadn’t changed. Same marble floors, same dim lighting, same air that smelled faintly of expensive whiskey and something darker - him. The familiarity of it all was suffocating, like being dragged back into a nightmare I thought I had clawed my way out of.
I hated everything it reminded me of.
I had sworn I’d never set foot in this place again. Yet here I was, stripped of my freedom, bound by a man who refused to let me go.
And the worst part? Some traitorous part of me wasn’t just furious. It was trembling. Because being back here felt like standing on the edge of a cliff. It was dangerous, but familiar enough to make me remember what it was like to fall.
I hated myself for that.
"Don’t try to be sweet to me, Romano. I can’t find my phone," I snapped, arms crossed tightly over my chest. I hated how he was ogling my cleavage in this night dress. I wanted distance from him, but my body betrayed me by remembering what it felt like to have those hands all over me.
He leaned casually against the edge of his desk, the picture of arrogance with his dashingly handsome features. "For the next couple of days, I want it to be just you and me. No distractions."
His tone was smooth, but I knew what he really meant: No Massimo. No lifeline. No escape.
I laughed. It was sharp and humorless. "We’re not on vacation."
"Let’s make it one then," he said, as if it was that simple. As if he could just snap his fingers and rewrite the last two years of my life.
I turned away from him, pacing the room like a caged animal. My pulse was erratic and justified anger buzzing in my veins. "Do you hear yourself, Jace? You don’t get to just kidnap me, drag me to New York, and play house."
"You think this is a game?" His voice sharpened.
I whirled on him. "Everything with you is a game. Power, control, ownership. It’s all you know how to do. And I’m not your pawn anymore."
His jaw flexed, his gaze darkening. "You’ll always be mine, Mira."
My chest tightened. That word - mine. Once upon a time it made me feel wanted, yearned for even. Now it felt like a curse.
I stepped closer, meeting his glare with every ounce of fire left in me. "No, Jace. I stopped being yours the moment you destroyed everything we could have had. The moment you decided control mattered more than the life we created together."
He flinched almost imperceptibly, and for a second I saw the crack in his armor. The guilt. The man haunted by the same ghost that haunted me.
But I didn’t soften. I couldn’t. I could never forgive him just like that,
"I built something without you," I continued, with my voice low and trembling with anger. "I clawed my way out of the wreck you left me in. Do you know what that felt like? To wake up every day with nothing but scars and memories you wish you could burn out of your brain?"
He said nothing, just watched me with that unreadable stare, like I was both his salvation and his destruction.
"Of course you don’t," I spat bitterly. "Because all you ever do is take. You take and take until there’s nothing left but ash."
Silence hung heavy between us. My chest heaved, my throat raw from holding back tears I refused to let him see.
Finally, he pushed off the desk, closing the distance between us in two strides. His hand lifted, hovering near my face like he wanted to touch me, but he stopped short. His voice was low and hoarse.
"And yet, even in Lisbon, even with Ricciardi at your side, you still think of me."
The audacity of him.
I shoved him hard in the chest, and this time he let himself stumble back a step. "You don’t get to decide what I think about. You don’t get to decide anything for me anymore."
"Then tell me you feel nothing," he challenged me, eyes burning into mine with so much intensity, I thought I would melt. "Look me in the eye, Mira, and swear you don’t still feel me in your bones."
My throat went dry. Damn him. Damn him for knowing me too well. For seeing through the layers of ice I had built around myself.
I wanted to scream I hate you until my voice broke. I wanted to say the words that would cut him the way he’d cut me. But the truth lodged in my chest, betraying me with silence.
And he saw it.
A dangerous smile curved his mouth, slow and triumphant. "That’s what I thought."
I slapped him. The sound cracked through the room, my palm was stinging and my chest heaved repeatedly.
"Don’t you dare," I whispered, tears burning at the corners of my eyes. "Don’t you dare think this is love. This is obsession. You don’t love me, Jace. You just don’t know how to lose."
His expression hardened, the smile vanishing, replaced by something far more dangerous.
"You’re wrong," he said. His voice low and absolute. "This is the only love I’ve ever known. And I’m not letting it go."
I swallowed. I couldn’t do this. Damn him, damn Massimo and damn whatever fucking plan that had brought me back here.
He held my arm, trying to pull me back as I was about to leave and I punched his face.
He staggered a bit, eyes wide and shocked by my reaction.
"Don’t you ever put your hands on me. Ever." I warned him and walked away.
Jace needed to realize that I was not the same girl from a few years ago. I was Mira Valente and this girl is not a weakling.
And I would make sure to torture him for what his father did to mine.