Chapter 152: 152 ~ Mira
Jace was barely around these days.
If I was lucky, I’d hear his voice through a phone call or the faint click of his boots echoing down the hall long after midnight.
He always came in when I was half-asleep and left before dawn just like a ghost.
Sometimes, I’d roll to his side of the bed and press my palm against the cold sheets, pretending the chill was him. It never worked.
I missed his warmth. I missed his voice and the weight of his arm around me when the world outside felt like it was falling apart.
But I couldn’t complain..Not now when this was the on of the most crucial point in everything he was fighting for.
He had too many enemies and too many moving pieces to worry about. I didn’t want to be another thing dragging him down.
So I smiled when he walked in, even when my eyes burned from crying.
I told him I was fine, even when the silence between us hurt worse than any gunfire I’d ever heard ever since I met him.
The villa was always quiet. It was even too quiet for me who enjoyed silence and solitude.
I got so bored I studied the landmark. We were hidden somewhere deep in the hills, surrounded by tall cypresses and guarded gates, it was supposed to be safe. But to me, it felt like a gilded prison.
The guards rotated in shifts. I memorized their routes without trying.
Every hour, a shadow crossed the veranda. Every two, a truck pulled in to deliver food. And every night, when the lights dimmed and the wind carried through the olive trees, the silence pressed too heavy on my chest.
I thought I’d gotten used to it until the nightmares came back.
They started small: flickers of the night I pulled the trigger. The man’s face was a nameless blur that haunted me. It appeared in flashes and I saw the blood as I pushed him off the driver’s seat every time. It felt like it was on my hand.
I thought I had forgotten about it, but lately, it had grown worse. The gnawing feeling of guilt pressed into my chest and I wondered how Jace was able to sleep at night knowing he had so much blood on his hands.
I sighed. That wasn’t the only nightmare that haunted me.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Jace.
Sometimes he was bleeding out in my arms, his breath warm against my cheek as his gray eyes dimmed. Other times, it was me that wa bound and dragged through darkness by men I couldn’t see, screaming his name until my voice broke.
The worst nights were the ones where I dreamt of both with Jace lying still and me standing over him with the gun still in my hand.
I’d wake up choking back sobs, clutching the sheets like a lifeline, drenched in sweat and trembling.
And every time, I’d reach out to his side of the bed only to find it empty.
The nightmares weren’t just dreams. They were memories and fears tangled together, replaying everything I’d tried so hard to forget.
I’d killed a man.
No matter how much I told myself it was self-defense, that I’d had no choice, that he would’ve killed me first, the guilt still followed me everywhere.
I saw his eyes whenever I blinked.
He’d been alive one second, and the next... gone.
That kind of thing changes you.
There were moments I’d catch my reflection in the mirror and wonder who I had become.
I used to be a girl who baked bread for a living. Who smiled at strangers and prayed before bed. Now I was the wife of a mafia don, hiding from the world in a place that didn’t even feel like mine.
~
The next day...
It was around noon when my phone started to ring.
The sound startled me so badly I nearly dropped the glass of water I’d been holding.
"Unknown number." I saw when I checked the caller ID.
My chest tightened.
No one was supposed to have my number. Not here. Not now.
But something... maybe it was instinct or maybe just stupid curiosity, made me answer.
"Hello?"
There was a pause.
Then a voice I hadn’t heard in several weeks cracked through the line.
"Mira?"
My heart lurched.
"Roberto?" I called out softly.
I could hear the relief in his breath. "Thank God. I’ve been trying to reach you. Where the hell are you?"
"I can’t say." I gripped the phone tighter, glancing toward the door even though I knew no one was there. "It’s not safe."
"Mira—"
"No, listen." My voice dropped to a whisper. "You shouldn’t be calling. If anyone traces this—"
"I had to." His voice broke slightly. "You disappeared, Mira. You haven’t been seen in New York or LA. It’s like everything about you is gone. I thought... I thought something happened to you." I heard as the emotion clogged his throat.
Something did happen to me.
But how could I explain that I was now living under a false sense of safety, surrounded by armed men and luxury I couldn’t touch?
"I’m fine," I lied. "I promise."
"You don’t sound fine. You sound... scared."
I pressed my eyes shut, willing the tears not to fall.
"I just can’t talk right now. Please trust me, Robbie. I’ll call you when it’s safe." I said.
"Mira—"
"Promise me you won’t try to find me."
Silence stretched through the line, broken only by our breathing.
Then he whispered, "He’s controlling you, isn’t he? Jace. He’s—"
"Stop." My voice came out sharper than I meant. "You don’t know what you’re talking about."
"Then tell me! Tell me where you are! I’ll come get you—"
"I can’t!" I yelled before I could stop myself. The words tore out of me, raw and broken.
The silence that followed was thick and painful.
Finally, Roberto sighed. "You’re my sister. I’m not just going to sit back while you vanish."
"I know." My voice was soft now, almost pleading. "But you have to trust me. Please."
I hung up before I could change my mind.
The phone slipped from my fingers onto the couch, my pulse still racing.
I stared at it for a long time, half-expecting it to ring again.
But it didn’t.
~
That night, the nightmares came back worse than ever.
I was back in the warehouse. The smell of gunpowder wafted into my nostrils, the echo of footsteps, the deafening sound of the shot. Only this time, it wasn’t the man I had killed falling out of the vehicle. It was Jace.
He looked at me the same way the man had, wide-eyed and betrayed.
Blood poured from his chest, staining my hands as I tried to hold him.
"Mira..." he whispered, his lips barely moving.
I screamed for help, but no sound came out.
Everything around me blurred into darkness.
I woke up gasping. My throat hurt. My body was slick with sweat, trembling uncontrollably.
The room was dark except for the faint glow of the moon spilling through the curtains.
"Mira?"
The deep voice came from beside me.
I turned. Jace was there. He really there this time. His brows furrowed as he reached for me. "Hey... hey, what is it?"
"I... I saw you..." My voice shook. "You were bleeding. I couldn’t stop it."
His expression softened. "It was a dream, baby. Just a dream."
I shook my head, tears spilling down my cheeks. "It felt real. So real."
He pulled me into his arms, pressing my face against his chest. "I’m right here. Look at me."
His skin was warm. His heart was steady under my ear.
For the first time in days, I let myself melt into him, gripping him like the world would end if I didn’t.
"I can’t lose you," I whispered.
"You won’t." He kissed the top of my head. "I’m not going anywhere."
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his thumb brushing away my tears.
"Try to sleep," he murmured.
"I can’t," I said honestly. "Every time I close my eyes, I see—"
"Then don’t close them," he cut in softly. "Just stay here. With me."
And so I did.
Wrapped in his arms, listening to the quiet rhythm of his heart, I finally let the tension drain out of me. The storm inside my chest dulled to a slow, aching calm.
For the first time in days, I wasn’t alone. He was right next to me.
I was safe, or at least, I wanted to believe I was.
I drifted off into a peaceful sleep. It’s true what they say about sleeping next to the one you love. That’s the best sleep you can get.
But by morning, Jace was gone again.
The sheets beside me were cold, but there was a note on his pillow.
"Had to take care of something. Don’t wait up. — J."
I traced the writing with my fingers, the ache in my chest returning like an old friend.
I didn’t know what kind of world we were walking into next.
But I knew one thing for sure something was coming.
And when it did, there would be no hiding.