Chapter 98: 98 ~ Mira
"Hi Donna," I said as she walked into my supposed bedroom.
I didn’t expect her to be here.
"Mira." She smiled slightly. I returned it with a nervous one.
On my first day here, I made sure I went to find her. I didn’t even care that I was wearing the dress that I had on from dinner with Massimo the previous night. I just needed to see her and tell her what her son had done.
She disapproved of it of course and said that she was going to speak to him. But even I knew that was futile. Jace was as stubborn as a mule and the only way to get him to listen was to take drastic decisions just like we did two years ago.
It had been two days since I got trapped here and he was still yet to let me go back. There was no way for me to escape because I was sure he left strict instructions to not let me out.
"You look very different," she remarked.
It was probably a compliment but I did not know if I was to thank her for it.
"I love what you did with your hair,"
Instinctively, I touched my bob cut. "Thank you,"
Then she went back to her serious stance.
"My son is very stubborn," she started.
"Too stubborn." I muttered in response.
"And you have every right to be thoroughly upset with a man who is obsessed with you like this, especially because you don’t want him."
My breath slowed. I didn’t want him anymore right? I asked myself.
The obvious answer should be no but why was there a ’maybe’ in my thoughts?
"But the truth is, I’ve never seen him this way. Ever."
I was quiet. She seemed lost in her own thoughts as she spoke.
"I gave birth to that young man so for sure, I would know. He’s tough, rigid. Has gone through more bodily harm than the average man but nothing broke him like your absence."
She blinked. "Every time, I asked him why he married you, he would never give me a reasonable answer. I hated him for how selfish he was. But then I got to understand the light you brought into his life even when he didn’t see it for himself."
She sat up and faced me fully.
"He’s not perfect, Mira. He probably doesn’t even know how to go about things like this because he never learned from anyone else. All he has ever known is wars, bloodshed, survival. All he’s ever believed in is authority,"
I sighed, already getting a sense of where this was heading.
"You’re a grown adult Mira, I’m never going to compel and push you to make a decision. I just want to at least let you know that my son loves you. He just doesn’t know how to do it right."
I immediately felt goosebumps go on a rampage all over my body. I didn’t believe Jace loved me. He was incapable of it.
I wasn’t here to rekindle any flame. Whatever we had was lust and fiery passion. I wanted nothing to do with it.
I nodded in spite of my thoughts and told her I would think about all she said. She promised to get my phone back to me and shortly after she left me to my thoughts.
Leaning on the door as I shut it behind me, I stared into space.
I was here to have my revenge on Jace for what his father did to my family. There was nothing more I wanted to do with him.
The ship had sailed and sunk.
~
Hours later...
The walls of this room felt too familiar, too suffocating.
The drapes were drawn, but I could still make out the faint glow of New York’s night pressing against the windows. I hated it. I hated being back here.
Jace thought bringing me here like I was still his possession was some kind of grand gesture. Like I would suddenly fall into his arms and forget everything he had taken from me.
I laughed under my breath, bitter and sharp.
The audacity.
He had some nerve thinking that I was a fool.
I stood in front of the mirror, staring at my own reflection. I barely recognized the woman looking back at me. My hair was different, my style sharper, my spirit harder. And yet, beneath it all, I still saw the girl who once believed I could be Jace Romano’s salvation. But instead, he was her ruin.
I shook my head vehemently. No. That girl was dead.
She had died in that hospital bed along with the child she never got to hold.
I pressed a hand against the edge of the vanity, grounding myself before the tears could fall. Jace didn’t get to see me cry anymore. Not him. Not ever again.
The door creaked open without a knock, and of course it was him.
Jace filled the doorway like he owned it, like he owned everything. Tailored suit, cold eyes, lips tugged in that self satisfied smirk I once thought was irresistible.
"Why are you here?" I asked flatly, not turning around.
He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. "Checking on my wife."
The word sliced into me. Wife.
I turned on him, fire and rage shooting through my veins. "Stop calling me that!"
His brows lifted. "That’s what you are, Mira. No matter how much you hate me. No matter how far you run."
I wanted to throw something at him. Instead, I folded my arms.
This man was dumber than I could give him credit for.
"Do you hear yourself? You dragged me here against my will. Do you think this is how you win me back? Kidnap me, lock me in your gilded cage, and call it love?"
His jaw ticked, but his voice was calm. Too calm. "It’s not love I’m reminding you of. It’s truth. And the truth is you’ll never belong to Massimo Ricciardi or any other man. You are mine."
I laughed. It was loud, sharp, ugly and I hoped the sound would pierce his ears.
"Mine. Mine. Mine. That’s all you know how to say. You don’t see me as a person, Jace. Just something to brand with your name."
He moved closer, his presence heavy and suffocating. "And what about you? You think I’m blind to how you look at me? You think I don’t see it? You still feel it, Mira. You’re just fighting yourself right now."
My heart stuttered, but I refused to let it show. "You’re delusional."
"Am I?" His voice dropped, dangerous and intimate. "Because every time I close my eyes, I see you. Every time I breathe, I taste you. You can’t erase me from you any more than I can erase you from me."
I shoved at his chest, hard.
"I hate you so fucking much!"
The words cracked from me like glass shattering. The ache ripped open again, raw and bleeding, no matter how many times I tried to stitch it shut.
For a moment, something flickered in his eyes. Pain. Regret. But then it was gone, buried beneath that iron control he wore like armor.
His hands flexed at his sides. "You think I don’t carry guilt with me over how I fucked things up. Every day? You think I don’t fucking drown in it, Mira? But running away doesn’t change it. Hating me doesn’t change what happened. It’s hard to admit but that’s the truth."
"It changes me," I spat. "It keeps me alive. It reminds me I’m not yours anymore."
We stood there, breathless, glaring at each other like enemies on a battlefield. Maybe that’s all we’d ever been.
Finally, I tore my gaze away, stepping back. "You don’t get to decide my life. You don’t get to rewrite my story just because your ego can’t handle losing."
His lips curved, but there was no warmth in it. "This isn’t about ego. This is about me proving to you that I am unavoidable. It’s inevitable."
I froze. That damn word again. Inevitable. Like he was some storm I couldn’t outrun.
And maybe that was what terrified me the most because a part of me still remembered what it felt like to be consumed by him.
I needed air. I needed space. For the first time that day, I knew I needed to step out of this room because his presence made it suffocating.
I brushed past him, ignoring the way his hand twitched like he wanted to stop me but forced himself not to.
Good thing he remembered the punch. The bruise on his nose was enough to let him know that he should know better than to touch me.
I found my way down to the pool at the backyard.
The moment I was alone again, sank to the floor by the pool, not ready to dip my legs into the water, pressing my forehead against my knees. My body trembled, anger and grief clawing up my throat.
But beneath it all, a different fire smoldered. Not love. Not anymore.
Resolve.
If Jace thought kidnapping me meant I’d fold, he was wrong.
If Massimo thought parading me around meant I was his, he was wrong too.
I didn’t belong to either of them.
And I would prove it, even if it meant burning both empires to the ground.