{"canonical":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/","locale":"en","type":"work","data":{"title":"Destiny Mine","author":"Anna Zaires","canonical":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/","isbn":null,"heat":5,"year":2018,"seriesTitle":"Tormentor Mine","seriesOrder":3,"worldName":"Zaires Dark Contemporary","tropes":[{"slug":"antihero","label":"Antihero"},{"slug":"assassin","label":"Assassin"},{"slug":"assassin-and-civilian-romance","label":"assassin-and-civilian-romance"},{"slug":"dark-romance","label":"Dark Romance"},{"slug":"dark-captor-captive-romance","label":"dark-captor-captive-romance"},{"slug":"enemies-to-lovers","label":"Enemies to Lovers"},{"slug":"forced-proximity","label":"Forced Proximity"},{"slug":"forced-separation-and-pining","label":"forced-separation-and-pining"},{"slug":"found-family-mercenary-team","label":"found-family-mercenary-team"},{"slug":"morally-gray-possessive-hero","label":"morally-gray-possessive-hero"},{"slug":"pregnancy-scare","label":"pregnancy-scare"},{"slug":"protector-romance","label":"protector-romance"},{"slug":"revenge","label":"Revenge"},{"slug":"second-chance-reunion","label":"second-chance-reunion"},{"slug":"whirlwind-marriage","label":"whirlwind-marriage"}],"summary":"Fate made us enemies. I made us lovers.\n\nIn a different world, we were meant for each other.\n\nThis is not that world.","pitch":"Destiny Mine by Anna Zaires is a 2018 romance. Tropes: Antihero, Assassin, assassin-and-civilian-romance, Dark Romance, dark-captor-captive-romance, Enemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity, forced-separation-and-pining, found-family-mercenary-team, morally-gray-possessive-hero, pregnancy-scare, protector-romance, Revenge, second-chance-reunion, whirlwind-marriage. Heat 5/5. Book 3 of Tormentor Mine.","publisher":"Mozaika Publications","originalTitle":"Destiny Mine","englishUrl":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/","chapters":[{"index":1,"title":"1","summary":"Sara wakes in a clinic two weeks after a plane crash, nestled against Peter—the assassin who killed her husband and holds her captive. Though their proximity brings fragile comfort, she’s paralyzed by guilt over her growing attachment to her tormentor. As they prepare to return to his safe house in Japan, Sara confronts a terrifying possibility: her missed period suggests she may be pregnant from their earlier intimacy. Desperate for any scrap of control, she debates secretly testing herself, knowing Peter would learn the results first and cement their bond forever. Haunted by the diagonal scar on her forehead from the crash and the unresolved confrontation ahead, Sara realizes she must protect the potential child growing inside her, yet feels utterly trapped with no way to escape the man who both endangers and sustains her.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-2"},{"index":2,"title":"2","summary":"Peter steels himself for a dangerous gambit as he and Sara depart the clinic following the crash that nearly claimed her life. With her trust wavering and his own sleep deprivation mounting, he weighs Danilo Novak's hundred-million-euro offer to assassinate Julian Esguerra—a ruthless arms dealer whose Amazon fortress makes him nearly untouchable. The stakes couldn't be higher: Peter sees the hit as the only way to buy Sara the safety and future she deserves after their near-fatal accident. As their fourteen-hour flight to Japan lifts off, tender gestures of care mask his grim resolve, and he privately vows to keep Sara from conceiving until they clear this lethal hurdle, leaving the chapter hanging on the weight of his impending choice.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-3"},{"index":3,"title":"3","summary":"Peter wakes his team early to announce a mid-December meeting with the Serbian informant Novak in Belgrade, seeking inside intel on Julian Esguerra’s impenetrable jungle compound for a hundred-million-dollar contract. The delay is deeply personal: Peter needs time with Sara before committing to the dangerous mission and is prioritizing the hunt for General Walton Henderson III, whose Daryevo operation massacred Peter’s wife and son. When Yan Ivanov challenges whether Peter is recklessly endangering the squad to spite Lucas Kent for Sara’s injury, the kitchen tension escalates into a silent standoff until Ilya intervenes. Peter asserts his authority but recognizes Yan’s insubordination as a live threat to the mission’s cohesion, leaving the team fractured as they prepare to pursue two vengeance threads.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-4"},{"index":4,"title":"4","summary":"Sara wakes to tension at the breakfast table on their remote Japanese mountain base, where Peter's team silently objects to his contemplated new assignment. The lucrative job offer threatens to pull them into danger, but Peter reassures her with unexpected tenderness, touching the healing scar on her forehead. Haunted by a missed period and the fear that she may carry her captor's child, Sara confronts the depth of her feelings—she has fallen for the assassin who killed her husband. When Peter declares his love with raw sincerity, she finally believes him. Their restraint shatters into a passionate, urgent encounter in the kitchen, followed by laughter and vulnerability in the shower, where they cling to each other, accepting the complexity of their bond. The chapter closes on their fragile, defiant intimacy amid unresolved threats.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-5"},{"index":5,"title":"5","summary":"Peter wakes beside Sara, savoring the fragile peace between them after weeks of tension. When his teammate Yan summons him urgently downstairs, Peter discovers a surveillance feed showing Sara's elderly father receiving devastating news: Sara's mother has been in a severe car accident and may not survive. With federal agents watching the hospital for any sign of Sara, Peter's team mobilizes to gather facts before informing her. The revelation threatens to shatter the tentative truce they've built, as Sara has always feared losing a parent while away—a nightmare now coming true. Torn between protection and honesty, Peter resolves to intercept Sara before she learns the truth, determined to manage the fallout as the weight of potential loss settles over them all.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-6"},{"index":6,"title":"6","summary":"Sara rushes through her morning routine and packs an emergency backpack in their safe house, steeling herself for the day Peter's enemies finally catch up with them. Her pragmatic calm frays when Peter intercepts her with a savage, desperate kiss that escalates into an intense, physically overwhelming encounter that leaves them both shattered and breathless. Just as they recover from the aftermath, a hard knock on the door shatters the moment—Yan's voice sharp and urgent demands Peter's immediate attention. As Sara redresses and listens, a cold premonition settles over her that something terrible is about to unfold.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-7"},{"index":7,"title":"7","summary":"Peter emerges from intimacy with Sara into devastating news: her mother has been critically injured in a horrific car crash—T-boned by a drunk driver, the vehicle rolled three times—and now lies in surgery with a dozen broken bones and internal bleeding, unlikely to survive. While Sara’s father battles dangerously high blood pressure at the hospital, refusing to leave, Peter watches Sara descend the stairs and recognizes the shock paralyzing her. Determined to spare her unbearable loss, he makes the agonizing decision to fly her home immediately. Clenching her ice-cold hand, he asks if she’s ready to go before it’s too late, his heart shattering at the certainty that he is about to lose her. The chapter closes on the crushing urgency of a final goodbye racing against death.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-8"},{"index":8,"title":"8","summary":"Sara boards a private flight to Chicago with Peter and his men, reeling from news that her mother is fighting for life after a car accident. In the cramped cabin, she grapples with the crushing reality of returning home alone while Peter, a fugitive from the authorities, vanishes back into the shadows. Despite the danger, his fierce declaration of love and promise to reclaim her soon anchors her through the anguish of separation. As they touch down at a private airstrip, Sara faces a bittersweet goodbye—her mother’s survival uncertain, her heart torn between duty and the man who claims her forever. The chapter closes on the raw ache of temporary parting and the perilous hope of reunion.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-9"},{"index":9,"title":"9","summary":"Peter departs on a private jet immediately after a successful covert operation that outwitted US authorities, leaving his beloved Sara behind despite his crushing heartache. Though the mission went off without a hitch, the emotional cost is devastating—especially when Sara, his \"ptichka,\" cries and asks not if he will return for her, but when. Overwhelmed by protective instincts and paranoia stemming from her recent accident, Peter makes the painful choice to walk away, believing he cannot keep her safe while pursuing the threats ahead. He arranges for her to be watched but agonizes over the distance between them. With Ilya beside him in the cabin, Peter steels himself against turning back, vowing to return once he has neutralized the dangers posed by Novak and Esguerra. The chapter closes on his resolve: the separation is temporary, but the stakes for their future have never been higher.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-10"},{"index":10,"title":"10","summary":"Sara arrives at the hospital desperate to reach her parents before federal agents do, only to learn her mother Lorna has been rushed back into surgery for life-threatening internal bleeding. She finds her frail father in a private waiting room with friends Marsha and the attorney Levinsons, who aggressively block security guards attempting to detain Sara, buying time for her father to warn that the Homeland Security Act is about to be invoked against her. As Marsha gasps at the half-healed scar on Sara’s forehead and the family grapples with the terror charges looming over her, SWAT commandos breach the room with weapons drawn, transforming a medical vigil into a federal standoff.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-11"},{"index":11,"title":"11","summary":"Dr. Sara Cobakis faces an aggressive FBI interrogation led by Agent Ryson, maintaining a practiced cover story that her captor, assassin Peter Sokolov, grew bored with her and discarded her when her mother’s accident provided an excuse. While concealing the true nature of her five-month ordeal and her complicated bond with Peter, she learns her mother’s hemorrhage surgery succeeded. Her cooperation earns her temporary release, and she’s escorted out by Joe Levinson—son of her parents’ friends and a former human-rights lawyer posing as her attorney. In the cab, Sara confronts a painful what-might-have-been: Joe, seven years her senior and once a quiet presence on the periphery of her life, is everything she never gave a chance before marrying her ex-husband George. Now, with Peter’s dangerous claim on her heart and life, she knows there’s no room—or safety—for a new beginning with Joe.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-12"},{"index":12,"title":"Peter","summary":"When Sara falls into FBI custody, the team abandons their Japan plans and flees to a snow-covered safe house in a village twenty kilometers from Prague. While Anton grumbles about the cold and Ilya admires the winter scenery, Peter conceals his true anguish over losing Sara—the woman he considers his life—and the secret plan forming in his mind. He reschedules his meeting with Novak to next week and notes that Henderson remains at large. Though daily reports will keep him informed of Sara's condition, Peter is consumed by longing and the desperate need to rescue her, referring to her with the tender Russian nickname ptichka. As he heads out to establish perimeter security around the isolated house, he promises himself that their separation will be brief, even as the weight of her absence tears at him.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-13"},{"index":13,"title":"13","summary":"Sara rushes to her mother Lorna's hospital bedside after a brutal car accident leaves her with cracked ribs, shattered legs, and internal injuries requiring three surgeries. When Lorna wakes, the reunion is bittersweet: Sara is home only because Peter Sokolov—her alleged captor—returned her, forcing her to maintain a precarious double life as his lover for her parents while denying the relationship to the FBI. As Dad interrogates her about Peter's dangerous reputation and the violent I-294 chase that followed her disappearance, Sara battles guilt over her absence and an ache for the man she is supposed to hate. The chapter closes with Sara accepting that Peter will come for her again, leaving her trapped between familial loyalty and dangerous longing.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-14"},{"index":14,"title":"Sara","summary":"Sara spends the day at the hospital with her mother while her father rests, evading the watchful eyes of FBI agents who tail her every move. When her work friend Marsha visits, Sara accompanies her to a local diner to decompress, hiding her exhaustion and physical discomfort behind a greasy meal and warm beer. Under pressure from Marsha's interrogation about her mysterious disappearance, Sara spins a sanitized version of the truth: she claims her late husband George was killed by a Russian assassin named Peter, who then stalked, kidnapped, and held her in Japan. The lie protects the dangerous complexity of her feelings, which she cannot share—her unwilling obsession with her captor. In the diner bathroom, Sara discovers her period has begun, confirming she is not pregnant with Peter's child, a revelation that leaves her strangely bereft despite her relief. She returns to Marsha, masking her grief as trauma from retelling the story, concealing the depth of her attachment to the man who destroyed her life.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-15"},{"index":15,"title":"15","summary":"Peter counts the days until his meeting with Novak, drowning his restlessness in brutal training while Sara remains under FBI watch at her parents' home. Though his hackers feed him fragments of bureau intelligence and his men report her movements, the surveillance gap gnaws at him—every silence feels like a warning. When Anton calls out his volatile temper and obsessive fixation on Sara, the confrontation turns physical, revealing how deeply the fear of losing her has taken root. Nightmares of past trauma now merge with visions of losing Sara entirely, forcing him to confront a painful truth: with his dangerous plans underway, keeping her away may be the only way to keep her alive. The chapter closes on his resolve to endure the separation, no matter the cost.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-16"},{"index":16,"title":"Sara","summary":"Sara has spent a week at home hiding in plain sight, nursing her mother through recovery from a devastating car accident while maintaining a fragile web of lies. To her parents, she claims Peter is her devoted lover entangled in an FBI misunderstanding; to the Feds, she insists he kidnapped her. The dual narrative protects her father's weak heart, but the guilt gnaws at her with every smile she forces for Dad’s sake. When FBI agent Ryson confronts her about a conversation at the bar, Sara realizes informant Marsha has already reported back—possibly wearing a wire—forcing her to beg for silence around her family. Now she waits in the hospital’s liminal glow, counting the days until Peter deems Mom well enough to reclaim her, dreading the moment the two stories collide.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-17"},{"index":17,"title":"17","summary":"Peter Sokolov meets Serbian arms dealer Danilo Novak in a Belgrade café to discuss assassinating rival Julian Esguerra, but Novak refuses to reveal his inside asset at the target's compound. After a tense standoff where Peter's team—twins Yan and Ilya plus sniper Anton—refuses to accept vague terms for the hundred-million-dollar hit, Peter walks out and initially rejects the contract. However, at four in the morning in his hotel room, Peter captures an intruder sent by Novak and chooses to follow him alone, driven by the promise of finally uncovering the dealer's secret and by his personal mission involving Sara. The chapter closes on the unresolved tension of whether Novak's hidden asset is worth the risk as Peter decides to meet the arms dealer on his own terms.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-18"},{"index":18,"title":"18","summary":"Peter is forcibly recruited by arms dealer Novak into a high-stakes assassination plot targeting the ruthless cartel leader Julian Esguerra. During a tense ride in a black limousine, Novak reveals he possesses a female insider who can breach Esguerra's impenetrable compound security—but the asset won't be in place for eight months. Desperate to rescue his captive lover Sara, who he recently released to the FBI for her safety, Peter accepts the contract despite the agonizing delay, negotiating a twenty-five-million-euro deposit. The chapter crackles with criminal intrigue and romantic stakes as Peter commits to the long con, knowing that his only path to Sara's freedom runs through the heart of Esguerra's empire. Heat level remains low as the tension builds through psychological maneuvering rather than physical confrontation.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-19"},{"index":19,"title":"19","summary":"Sara endures months of limbo in her seized childhood home, trapped between FBI surveillance and the invisible watch of Peter Sokolov’s men. As her parents recover from their injuries and she pretends to resume normal life, her nights burn with an aching, physical longing for the wanted killer who once held her captive. She deflects Agent Ryson’s interrogations with panic-attack-induced evasion, volunteers obsessively at a women’s clinic to escape the emptiness, and lies to her worried family while counting the days until Peter returns. The chapter closes on her raw, unresolved desire: she no longer sees him as just a monster, but as the only person who makes her feel alive, leaving her suspended between fear and devotion.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-20"},{"index":20,"title":"20","summary":"Peter counts down eight months toward a projected reunion with Sara, moving his team through safe houses across Poland while working a contract for Novak. Though he forbids mention of Sara among his crew, he remains obsessed, reviewing surveillance footage of her daily and haunted by violent dreams of their past—including the night he drugged her—that leave him with conflicted physical responses. When their target, CIA-connected Walton Henderson III, proves elusive, Peter decides to travel to Asheville, North Carolina, to interrogate his associates despite the certainty of a trap. Tensions flare between team members Yan and Ilya over a Budapest waitress, but Peter focuses on the mission, knowing that retrieving Sara could happen within twenty-four hours if he abandoned caution.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-21"},{"index":21,"title":"21","summary":"Sara escapes her parents' house for one night out with her friend Marsha, hitting a loud club in Chicago's West Loop before settling into a nearby lounge with live music. After a few drinks, Marsha coerces her onto the stage, where Sara belts out several original performances to a rapt audience and earns an impromptu offer to join the band for the weekend. The high of applause momentarily lifts the crushing weight of her limbo—still waiting for Peter to return, still under surveillance by both the FBI and his men, still nursing the scar on her forehead. As the night ends and she rides home alone, the relief evaporates: another evening passes without any sign of him.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-22"},{"index":22,"title":"22","summary":"Peter lands at a private airstrip in the Great Smoky Mountains, torn between reaching out to Sara and protecting her from the FBI's watchful eye. Instead, he immerses himself in surveillance reports, thrilling at her public singing debut while seething with possessive jealousy at the thought of other men near her. When his team abducts Lyle Bolton—a seemingly upstanding Asheville grocer and cousin to his missing target Wally Henderson—from a remote cabin, the interrogation turns violent. Despite wounding Bolton to extract information, they learn nothing of Henderson's whereabouts, leaving the abuser incapacitated as Peter's team prepares to question five more suspects. The chapter closes on the unresolved tension of Peter's obsessive vigil and the looming threat to Sara's fragile freedom.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-23"},{"index":23,"title":"23","summary":"Peter's team systematically dismantles Walton Henderson's peripheral network, snatching his uncle, a family friend, a childhood-friend cop, his daughter's ex, and his son's teacher to send a ruthless message that no connection is untouchable. While the operation yields a promising lead—a local family in inland Phuket the Hendersons once bonded with—the violence escalates, leaving one captive wounded and others terrorized. Despite the tactical success, Peter is consumed by the crushing distance between this progress and his true goal: reclaiming Sara, still months away. The chapter closes on that unresolved hunger, the lead a fragile thread in an otherwise brutal hunt.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-24"},{"index":24,"title":"24","summary":"Sara endures an FBI interrogation by Agent Ryson, who reveals that Peter Sokolov recently attacked six civilians in North Carolina while hunting Walter Henderson III. Though relieved Peter is alive, Sara is devastated to learn he passed within states of her without making contact, realizing his vengeance quest eclipses any lingering attachment to her. As Ryson presses for information, Sara confronts how Peter's hold has warped her morality, recognizing she is no longer his priority. By chapter's end, she sheds her delusion about their connection, resolving to rebuild her shattered life by calling her therapist, Dr. Evans, and accepting that whatever they shared is irretrievably over.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-25"},{"index":25,"title":"25","summary":"Peter and Anton return to Moscow for a lucrative hit on an oil oligarch's rival, but the familiar streets stir painful memories of the past—including the day Peter killed his supervisor, Ivan Polonsky, over the Daryevo massacre cover-up. While walking past Red Square, Anton nearly mentions Sara, triggering Peter's rage and grief; the mere thought of her has become homicidal. Peter’s daily reports reveal Sara has moved on: she’s joined a medical practice, left her parents’ home, and now sings in a band wearing revealing dresses that attract unwanted attention. Consumed by jealousy and the fear that she’ll fall for someone else, Peter nearly orders hits on her admirers but restrains himself—for now. Before taking the job, he sent Sara a message he hopes will reach her, leaving the chapter on the knife-edge of whether she’ll remember him before it’s too late.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-26"},{"index":26,"title":"26","summary":"Sara revels in the high of a sold-out outdoor concert with her band, now rebranded Sara & the Rocker Boys, as she balances her double life as an OB-GYN nurse hiding from her past. At a celebratory bar, her bandmates—Phil, Simon, and Rory—pressure her to join a cross-country tour, but she refuses, citing work obligations while privately nursing wounds from a traumatic captivity six months prior. Posing as a grieving widow to mask her real trauma, Sara deflects romantic interest and maintains her cover, only to discover a chilling note taped to her car door after leaving: \"Remember, ptichka. For as long as we're both alive.\" With the FBI tailing her every move and her captor's lingering presence felt like a physical weight, Sara retreats to her apartment, heart pounding, the threat reigniting her fear that she can never truly escape.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-27"},{"index":27,"title":"27","summary":"Peter wraps up a successful Moscow operation and continues the hunt for elusive target Henderson while awaiting intelligence from Serbian arms dealer Novak. In a tense Belgrade café meeting, Novak reveals his scheme to eliminate Julian Esguerra and capture his empire: kill the husband, then hold wife Nora and their newborn daughter Elizabeth hostage to force transfer of assets. The revelation that a baby will be used as leverage triggers Peter's cold fury, reinforcing his resolve to avenge his own murdered family. Secretly planning to double-cross Novak, Peter proposes using Lucas Kent to infiltrate Esguerra's compound under the guise of reconciliation. With the pediatrician asset already en route to the compound and a hundred-million-dollar payday dangling, the chapter closes on the precipice of a triple-layered betrayal as Peter prepares to turn the tables on his supposed ally.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-28"},{"index":28,"title":"28","summary":"Sara wakes exhausted after another sleepless Saturday, suspended in the anxious limbo of post-PN life—two months since Peter's note arrived, eight since he brought her home. While her parents bask in Mom's miraculous stroke recovery and plan a September anniversary cruise, Sara remains trapped in her apartment under police watch, nursing the shame of having abandoned her family, patients, and friends. When the FBI's Ryson summons her to question Peter's latest Charleston interrogations, she confesses she knows nothing of his border-defying methods, yet inwardly craves his return. She has embraced a perverse truth: she needs Peter to be the villain who steals her away so she can forgive herself for loving him. As she whispers into the dark, begging him to come back and take her home, the chapter closes on her desperate, unresolved longing—she is waiting, but for what, she cannot say.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-29"},{"index":29,"title":"29","summary":"Peter reveals his high-stakes plan to infiltrate Julian Esguerra's heavily fortified Colombian compound by staging a fake betrayal of their Serbian contact, Novak. Using Lucas Kent as an intermediary, he intends to gain access, seize Esguerra's wife Nora and her baby as leverage to force the warlord's surrender, then disable the perimeter defenses for a team extraction. Over dinner with his crew—Yan, Ilya, and Anton—he faces fierce opposition; Anton calls it a suicide mission, while Yan’s unsettling eagerness to exploit Esguerra’s family raises Peter’s suspicions of a possible double-cross within his own ranks. As they prepare for the mission, Peter grapples with grief over Sara’s absence, his sanity fraying as he mentally converses with her, leaving the chapter on the razor’s edge of a deadly gamble where trust is the most fragile weapon of all.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-30"},{"index":30,"title":"30","summary":"Peter Sokolov arranges a clandestine meeting with Lucas Kent at the crime lord's wife's upscale London restaurant, using the public venue as cover for a dangerous negotiation. Though their history is poisoned—Kent once let Peter's beloved Sara escape after a violent incident—Peter needs Kent's access to reach Julian Esguerra. He reveals that a traitor lurks within Esguerra's compound and that a rival named Novak has placed a hundred-million-euro bounty on Esguerra's life, with specific threats against the crime boss's newborn daughter, Lizzy. Peter refuses a simple wire transfer, demanding instead a face-to-face meeting in Colombia to offer Esguerra the traitor's identity in exchange for matching the bounty. The chapter closes with Peter walking away from the unfinished meal, his stomach growling, dreaming of a future where he and Sara might finally share a peaceful dinner together—if he can survive this alliance.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-31"},{"index":31,"title":"31","summary":"Peter Sokolov travels to Julian Esguerra’s Colombian compound under armed escort, concealing a razor blade and wire that Lucas Kent’s frisk missed. In a tense meeting at the shed where Esguerra once tortured enemies, Peter proposes a triple-cross: he will deliver both Novak’s hidden asset and Novak himself in exchange for one hundred million dollars, peace, and global amnesty for his crimes. Esguerra—still lethally charming despite his artificial eye—listens with cold interest while Kent grows suspicious, unaware that Novak already knows of Peter’s supposed betrayal. The chapter closes on the unresolved threat of whether Esguerra will accept the deal or torture Peter to extract the asset’s name himself.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-32"},{"index":32,"title":"32","summary":"Sara is haunted by a vivid dream of her absent lover Peter, in which their passion turns from desperate longing to consuming intensity before he vanishes, leaving her shattered. Upon waking, she clutches the worn note he left behind—a promise addressed to her pet name \"ptichka\" that he will return while they both live. Though she knows the dream was only a manifestation of her fears and loneliness, the emotional devastation feels real, driving her to cling to the note as proof that Peter is coming back despite his apparent rejection and boredom. The chapter closes on her fragile conviction that he will return one way or another.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-33"},{"index":33,"title":"33","summary":"Peter faces interrogation by crime lord Julian Esguerra and his lieutenant Kent, trading immunity for his fugitive team in exchange for abandoning their hunt for Novak. When Esguerra demands the traitor's name, Peter reveals Novak's scheme to marry Esguerra's wife Nora and weaponize their newborn daughter Lizzie to seize control of all his assets. Their tense negotiation escalates into brutal hand-to-hand combat—Peter cracks a rib but survives the blade attack when Kent intervenes. They strike a deal: seventy-five million dollars and full immunity for Peter to deliver Novak alive. Before revealing the traitor's identity, Peter insists on being taken to Nora first, leveraging the threat to her safety to ensure Esguerra honors their agreement, leaving the chapter on the unresolved standoff over whether Esguerra will risk letting him near his family.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-34"},{"index":34,"title":"34","summary":"Peter is taken at gunpoint to Esguerra's colonial mansion after being stripped of his concealed weapons, the air thick with Esguerra's barely contained rage over a traitor loose in his household. When a newborn's cry pierces the silence, Peter is plunged into acute grief for his own deceased infant son, Pasha, hardening his resolve to protect the child at any cost. He finds an unexpected warmth in Esguerra's petite wife, Nora, a new mother who bears no ill will for a rescue that once endangered her. As Esguerra demands the traitor's identity with lethal patience, Peter finally plays his trump card, revealing that the family pediatrician is actually an asset of his enemy Novak. The chapter ends on a razor's edge, with the traitor still at large and Peter gambling his life on the truth.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-35"},{"index":35,"title":"35","summary":"Sara endures her parents' Saturday breakfast interrogation, where they push her to date Joe and insist Peter is a dangerous criminal whose hold over her is merely Stockholm Syndrome. Internally, she grapples with the truth: nine months after surviving a crash that nearly killed her, she has accepted her love for Peter, the man who kidnapped her and murdered her husband George. When her mother asks if she's heard from him, Sara hides the reality of a recent note proving Peter plans to return. She deflects with stories of her band, but the chapter closes on her quiet certainty—she will run away with him willingly, choosing their dangerous bond over her family's safety. The heat level stays at restrained longing, all emotional stakes and no physical contact.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-36"},{"index":36,"title":"36","summary":"Peter wakes chained in Esguerra's jungle prison shed, haunted by the pediatrician's murder he witnessed. After being unchained, he negotiates with crime boss Esguerra and his associate Kent to stage an elaborate deception: finding a sixteen-year-old lookalike and her infant sister to impersonate Esguerra's wife Nora and their baby. Disguised with bruising makeup and forced into terrified silence, the pair endure a grueling jungle trek to rendezvous with Peter's team—Yan, Anton, and Ilya—who react with shock and moral discomfort at the ruse. Peter intends to present the 'captured' woman and child to their enemy Novak, baiting him into a trap while the real Nora remains hidden at the compound. The chapter closes on the group's uneasy march toward the plane, the operation's success hinging on convincing Novak that Peter has seized his enemy's family.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-37"},{"index":37,"title":"37","summary":"Peter orchestrates a high-stakes double-cross from the cramped cabin of a private plane, where he and his crew—Yan and Ilya—transport a surrogate posing as Mrs. Esguerra and her infant. After feeding the baby a formula to keep them calm, they fly to a warehouse outside Belgrade to meet Novak, a ruthless client who commissioned the kidnapping. Peter presents photoshopped evidence of Esguerra's staged demise, convincing Novak to transfer fifty million dollars before leading him into a trap. When Esguerra's men open fire on Novak and his guards, the chapter shifts from tense negotiation to explosive violence, revealing Peter's true motive: securing enough money to rescue Sara and retire his team from the dangerous life.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-38"},{"index":38,"title":"38","summary":"Peter orchestrates a lightning-fast takedown of the Serbian asset Novak, revealing to his stunned team that he has spent months secretly working with the crime lord Esguerra to engineer the capture. Surrounded by Esguerra's men, Peter surrenders his weapons to secure Novak and a decoy \"Nora,\" ensuring his teammates Yan, Ilya, and Anton stand down to prevent bloodshed. He confesses the deception was necessary to earn Novak's trust and reel in Esguerra, offering his crew a staggering $175 million and full amnesty from prosecution in exchange for their silence. While Anton and Ilya react to the windfall, Yan questions their desire for legitimacy, and Peter announces his own plan to disappear into the United States with Sara, finally choosing a normal life over the fortune.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-39"},{"index":39,"title":"39","summary":"Peter boards Esguerra’s Boeing C-17 to Colombia with his team, only to learn the CIA’s amnesty deal comes with a brutal condition: abandon the hunt for retired general Walton Henderson III, the man who ordered the village massacre that killed Peter’s wife Tamila and son Pasha. With seventy-five million already secured, Peter faces an impossible choice between vengeance and freedom. When Esguerra reveals he knows about Sara—the woman Peter has been holding captive—he offers a darker alternative: reclaim her rather than accept the deal. Trapped in a limo between duty and obsession, Peter confronts the trauma of the massacre and realizes he cannot have both justice for his family and the woman he calls his ptichka. The chapter closes on his resolve to keep Sara, whatever the cost.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-40"},{"index":40,"title":"40","summary":"Sara, a Chicago doctor, notices the FBI surveillance that has shadowed her since her return from captivity has mysteriously vanished, triggering panic that her captor—Peter, the assassin who killed her husband and held her in Japan—may be dead. Desperate to outrun her anxiety, she throws herself into a double-booked clinic day, then joins bandmates Phil and Rory for drinks in Uptown Chicago, seeking distraction in familiar banter. As she scans the bar for threats, the weight of her secret life—her reluctant connection to a killer—feels heavier than ever. The chapter ends on a knife-edge when Peter materializes behind her friends, his accented voice cutting through the laughter with a magnetic smile and a chilling greeting, confirming he is very much alive and has found her.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-41"},{"index":41,"title":"Peter","summary":"Peter Garin arrives unannounced at a bar where Sara is socializing with two admirers, having just secured a new US identity and citizenship after a month of bureaucratic clearance. Bursting with barely contained desire and simmering resentment over a deal that spared his enemy Walton Henderson III, he publicly claims Sara as his own, announces he has quit his job, and leads her away by the hand. The chapter crackles with possessive intensity and raw longing as he prioritizes permanent integration over operational caution, leaving the stunned men behind while the promise of privacy—and everything it implies—hangs heavy and unresolved in the humid air.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-42"},{"index":42,"title":"42","summary":"Sara finds herself on a crowded North Broadway street in Uptown Chicago, walking openly with Peter, who has mysteriously reappeared after nine months. Once her captor, he now insists he is simply taking her home to her apartment, his grip warm and his will wrapping around her like an inescapable force. Confused by the absence of federal surveillance and his casual introduction to her friends, Sara oscillates between fear and a dangerous, lightning-hot attraction that manifests in vivid erotic fantasies. As Peter frames her cheek and speaks of 'us,' the chapter closes on the unresolved tension of whether this is a rescue, a recapture, or something more complicated—leaving Sara suspended between terror and longing as he unlocks her car.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-43"},{"index":43,"title":"43","summary":"Sara rides with Peter Garin as he reveals he has secured full amnesty and immunity for himself and his team through an unspecified favor to arms dealer Julian Esguerra. No longer a fugitive, Peter declares he is \"here for good\" and wants the domestic life Sara once craved—complete with a picket fence and children. Pulling over beside a quiet road, he produces a solitaire diamond ring from a velvet pouch and proposes marriage, insisting he wants to own her legally and completely. His possessive intensity clashes with the tender promise of sharing every day and night, leaving Sara stunned and silent as the chapter ends on the unresolved weight of his claim.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-44"},{"index":44,"title":"44","summary":"Sara returns home with Peter after he slipped an engagement ring on her finger during a roadside stop, the metal both burning and freezing against her skin. Their reunion ignites in the parking lot—anger giving way to a ferocious, public kiss witnessed by teenagers—before exploding into raw, possessive intimacy inside her apartment. Between breathless encounters, Peter reveals he endured a dangerous favor for Esguerra solely to clear his wanted status and build a legitimate life with her, swearing he has touched no one else in nine months. When he finally demands an answer to his unspoken proposal, a dazed Sara whispers yes, committing herself to the assassin who once tormented her. Yet as she slumps against the bathroom sink, elated and terrified in equal measure, the weight of her choice settles: she has agreed to marry her captor, and the future stretches ahead both promised and perilous.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-45"},{"index":45,"title":"45","summary":"Peter watches his fiancée Sara sleep, alternating between joy and dark satisfaction as he savors the reality of their engagement. He’s already arranged nearly every detail of their upcoming Saturday wedding—venue, dress, flowers, photographers—and slipped his ring onto her hand while she slept. Though he had prepared harsher measures to secure her yes, her consent ignites an almost violent elation. He cradles her from behind, calling her “ptichka,” and fixates on the promise that she’ll still be beside him when morning comes—a possessive vow that underscores his determination to claim her completely.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-46"},{"index":46,"title":"46","summary":"Sara wakes in her own apartment to the smell of breakfast and the shocking realization that her engagement to Peter is real—marked by the massive diamond glinting on her left hand. The morning unfolds in intimate domesticity as Peter, dressed only in dark jeans, expertly cooks omelets and pancakes in her kitchen, his powerful physique and arm tattoos on full display. Flustered by his presence and her own disheveled state, Sara retreats to the bathroom to compose herself, her heart racing at the weight of their new status. When she returns, squared-shouldered but breathless, the chapter closes on the unspoken tension of their engagement—a commitment sealed with a ring and a promise, leaving Sara caught between disbelief and desire.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-47"},{"index":47,"title":"47","summary":"Sara wakes to find her fiancé Peter Garin—formerly the assassin Peter Sokolov—sharing breakfast in her Chicago kitchen. As she prepares for her clinic shift, he reveals the scope of his amnesty deal: officially deceased in FBI, CIA, and Interpol records alongside his aliases, secured through arms dealer Esguerra’s leverage with the US military. He insists on maintaining a distant security detail around her, recalling how he killed two attackers who once threatened her near the clinic. Their conversation shifts to the logistics of their engagement, weighing the truth for her parents against a witness-protection cover story for everyone else. Despite the lethal undertone of his former profession invading her domestic routine, Sara feels a disarming warmth at his protective certainty. The chapter closes on the unresolved tension of living with a man whose past is both erased and still dangerously present.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-48"},{"index":48,"title":"48","summary":"Peter drives Sara to her office and stops at the grocery store to stock their kitchen, mentally cataloging the upgrades they’ll need—a second car, a larger apartment—before their Saturday wedding. But logistics only distract him from the consuming urge that has taken hold since their nine-month reunion in Japan: the desperate need to keep Sara with him constantly, to the point of wanting to restrain her indefinitely. He hopes the intensity is temporary, a reaction to their long separation, but fears he may never readjust to letting her move through the world alone. As he walks the short distance home, the conflict between giving her the life she deserves and his selfish need to possess her entirely threatens to unravel everything they’ve rebuilt.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-49"},{"index":49,"title":"49","summary":"Sara navigates a turbulent workday while wrestling with her engagement to Peter Garin, a former assassin whose violent past still shadows their future. After hiding her diamond ring in panic, she settles into her shift at the clinic, treating a teenage patient, a pregnant woman, and a girl with an infection before her day derails. Her final patient is Monica Jackson, a young woman Sara once helped escape abuse, now brutally beaten by her stepfather who escaped prison early through criminal connections. Terrified of losing custody of her special-needs brother Bobby to the legal system, Monica refuses to report the assault. Sara collects forensic evidence and provides emergency care, but for the first time feels the raw urge to see her patient’s abuser dead. The chapter closes on Sara’s conflicted emotions—torn between her Hippocratic duty and her protective rage—while the weight of her own uncertain engagement presses down.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-50"},{"index":50,"title":"50","summary":"Sara leaves the clinic shaken after visiting Monica, a patient recovering from assault, only to find her overprotective protector Peter waiting in a black SUV. As they drive home, his cryptic promise that Monica's stepfather will face consequences sends chills down her spine—Peter is clearly preparing to take violent action on her patient's behalf. The tension shifts when he abruptly announces they are marrying this Saturday, revealing he has already booked the venue, hired a chart-topping band, and arranged every detail without consulting her. Stunned by the whirlwind proposal following their nine-month separation and traumatic past, Sara protests that three days is impossibly soon, but Peter's possessive urgency overrides her objections. Their argument ignites into a fierce, passionate encounter that leaves Sara breathless and claimed, sealing her uncertainty about their future with raw, undeniable chemistry.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-51"},{"index":51,"title":"51","summary":"Peter brings Sara home and draws her a bath, his desire for her intense but restrained as he insists she marry him—either on Saturday or immediately in Las Vegas. Sara hesitates, pressing him for answers about his recent absence and the whereabouts of Anton and the twins, who he confirms are in Europe. Wrapped in a towel, she appears vulnerable to him, stirring a dark impulse he suppresses. Though they agree to talk over dinner, Peter remains unshakable in his resolve: by the end of the week, Sara will be his wife, no matter what.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-52"},{"index":52,"title":"Sara","summary":"Sara and Peter share a quiet dinner of Russian-Asian fusion in her apartment, the intimacy deepening when Peter confirms he has permanently abandoned his life as an assassin—sacrificing his chance at vengeance against Henderson, Sara's stepfather, as part of their binding deal. The revelation stirs complex emotions in Sara: gratitude mixed with guilt over the unresolved threat to her family. Determined to solidify their future, she impulsively invites her parents to dinner the next evening to meet Peter, setting the stage for formal introduction ahead of their planned Saturday wedding. The evening culminates in a passionate, primal encounter on the kitchen counter where Peter claims Sara completely, cementing their bond as fated mates and sealing her surrender to their shared destiny.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-53"},{"index":53,"title":"53","summary":"Peter slips out of bed while his lover sleeps, heading out to settle a violent score. With his driver Danny waiting in the car, he navigates to the rundown apartment where Samson \"Sonny\" Pearson—his lover Monica's stepfather and assailant—has been crashing with his ex-wife. Hiding in an alley, Peter waits with predatory focus until Sonny emerges for his early shift, then drags him into the shadows and kills him, staging the scene as a robbery gone wrong by taking his wallet. Whispering that Monica sends her regards, Peter leaves the body and plans a stop at a motel to cleanse himself before returning home, the brutal act done in the name of protecting his \"ptichka\" but leaving the risk of exposure unresolved.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-54"},{"index":54,"title":"54","summary":"Sara navigates the whirlwind announcement of her sudden engagement to Peter Garin, revealing the Saturday wedding at Silver Lake Country Club to her colleagues and friends. After being fitted for a thirty-three-thousand-dollar designer gown that Peter insisted on, she displays her engagement ring to receptionist Annabelle and her bosses, Drs. Wendy and Bill Otterman, absorbing their surprised congratulations. Phone calls to friends Phil and Marsha follow, with Phil stunned but supportive, while Marsha reacts with suspicion upon hearing the name Peter—triggering memories of the assassin Peter Sokolov who attacked Sara two years ago. As Sara deflects Marsha's questions and hangs up, the chapter closes on the looming dread of telling her parents and the unresolved tension surrounding Peter's concealed past.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-55"},{"index":55,"title":"55","summary":"Sara leaves her clinic job exhausted after fielding congratulations about her engagement all day, only to face the real test: introducing her fiancé to her parents over dinner. Peter, a former assassin now cleared of all charges, has taken charge of the evening—cooking Italian and scouting houses for their future, while his ever-present driver, Danny, escorts her home through the city. Their phone call reveals a relationship shifting from survival to domesticity: he’s regained his old house, they’re discussing pets and floor plans, and Sara finally admits to herself that she loves him despite his violent past. When her parents arrive twenty minutes early and spot her engagement ring, Sara announces that Peter is back and legally free, forcing them to confront the reality of her choice. The chapter closes on the unresolved tension of whether her parents can accept a man they once feared, as the dinner—and their judgment—begins.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-56"},{"index":56,"title":"56","summary":"Peter hosts a tense dinner for Sara and her parents, Lorna and Chuck Weisman, desperate to win their blessing for marriage. When Chuck demands straight answers about Peter's murky past and recent legal troubles, Peter strategically discloses his Spetsnaz background and the classified deal that gave him a new identity as Peter Garin. The turning point comes when he reveals the devastating truth: seven years ago, a NATO strike mistakenly destroyed his village of Daryevo, killing his wife Tamila and infant son Pasha. Sara publicly claims him as her ptichka, lending support as her mother's steel backbone cracks into sympathy. Though the mood thaws over homemade pasta, the unresolved question hangs heavy—whether two worlds can bridge the gap between a grieving soldier and the family guarding his beloved.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-57"},{"index":57,"title":"57","summary":"Sara hosts a dinner to introduce her fiancé Peter to her skeptical parents, hoping to ease their fears about his criminal past. Instead of confronting them, Peter disarms her parents with charm and strategic honesty, glossing over classified details while revealing he wants to start a family—shocking them with his baby talk and securing their tentative acceptance for the Saturday wedding. After the meal, her father warns her privately that Peter is a dangerous man whose violent nature won't change, extracting a promise that she'll come to them if he ever hurts her. Sara agrees, but privately admits she lied: she knows no one can protect her from the controlling monster she has fallen in love with, accepting that he is now a permanent, inescapable part of her life.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-58"},{"index":58,"title":"58","summary":"Sara navigates a hectic Friday as an obstetrician, performing a successful C-section on twins while fielding questions about her upcoming wedding. She deflects every inquiry about ceremony details—flowers, dress, venue—claiming they’re a surprise, though the truth is she knows nothing herself. At home, hourly calls from anxious parents, who fear she’ll vanish again, force her to dodge specifics about the man she’s marrying. With a driver handling the logistics and Peter acting as the official planner, Sara clings to the hope that by Monday the wedding will be over and normalcy restored. But beneath her forced patience simmers the unresolved tension of a marriage built on the shadow of the man who once took her against her will.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-59"},{"index":59,"title":"59","summary":"Peter collects Sara from work in his newly acquired armored luxury sedan, substituting for her old car without consulting her first. Their reunion ignites an immediate, passionate kiss in public that draws unwanted attention from bystanders, forcing him to restrain himself despite his intense craving. When Sara confronts him about the unilateral decision—insisting on a genuine partnership in all matters including wedding plans and living arrangements—Peter verbally concedes but privately clings to his possessive certainty that she belongs to him permanently. The chapter balances tender reunion with underlying tension over autonomy and control, escalating from flirtatious reunion to a charged negotiation of power within their relationship, leaving the question of true equality unresolved beneath his dominant devotion.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-60"},{"index":60,"title":"60","summary":"On the morning of his wedding to Sara, Peter wakes beside his bride-to-be under a flawless blue sky, determined to orchestrate a perfect day despite the shadows of their past. As he prepares coffee and breakfast for his sleepy, affectionate fiancée—whom he tenderly calls his ptichka—the intimacy between them crackles with unspoken desire and the promise of a fresh start. Though Peter briefly struggles against the urge to linger in bed, he channels his focus into the logistics at hand, recognizing that planning a wedding demands the same meticulous precision he once applied to more dangerous work. Yet beneath his methodical preparations lies a quieter vulnerability: a fear that this happiness might be fragile. Still, as Sara beams at him from the bathroom doorway, Peter commits to making today the beginning of a lighter future, choosing hope over the darkness they cannot erase.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-61"},{"index":61,"title":"61","summary":"Sara spends her wedding morning in chaotic preparation, surrounded by stylists transforming her into a bride for Peter, the man she loves yet whose past actions weigh heavily on her mind. As a handmade lace gown and elaborate updo frame her flawless reflection, a wave of panic strikes—echoes of their inauspicious start threatening to derail the day. Her mother's tearful admiration and Peter's meticulous planning, down to delivering her parents' formal wear, highlight the grandeur of the occasion, but Sara's trembling hands and racing heart betray her fear. When the doorbell announces an unexpected visitor, the fragile calm shatters: Agent Ryson stands in her living room, his derisive gaze fixed on her white dress as the invasion begins.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-62"},{"index":62,"title":"62","summary":"Peter prepares for Sara’s wedding in a black tie, surrounded by his former teammates—Yan, Ilya, and Anton—who now run the criminal enterprise he abandoned for civilian amnesty. Though he’s embraced a quieter life, his old instincts remain razor-sharp: he’s hired twenty extra bodyguards and commissioned aerial drone surveillance, remembering that weddings once offered perfect opportunities for hits. As he checks the venue, Yan confronts him with a haunting warning that this new life was never meant for him, leaving Peter to question whether he can truly escape his past. With one chair missing and the photographer unaccounted for, the chapter closes on the uneasy tension between celebration and danger, proving that even in formalwear, Peter remains a man with an arsenal concealed beneath his jacket.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-63"},{"index":63,"title":"63","summary":"On the morning of her wedding to Peter Sokolov, Sara Cobakis is confronted by Agent Ryson, the federal agent who has hunted Peter for over two years. Ryson accuses Sara of conspiring with Peter to murder her brain-damaged husband, George Cobakis, listing Peter's violent crimes—including torturing Sara herself, killing guards, and shooting down a police helicopter—as proof of his monstrous nature. Overwhelmed by shame and the weight of her choices, Sara retreats to the bathroom and vomits, accepting that she loves a monster. Before leaving, Ryson delivers a chilling warning: the immunity deal Peter brokered with federal higher-ups will be void if he commits another crime, and now the authorities have Sara's number too. The chapter closes on the unresolved tension of their impending marriage shadowed by surveillance and the threat of renewed pursuit.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-64"},{"index":64,"title":"64","summary":"Peter waits anxiously at the wedding venue forty-five minutes before the ceremony, but his bride Sara has not arrived. Surveillance confirms she remains at home with her mother, claiming illness, though Peter suspects hesitation. After a tense phone call in which Sara suggests delaying the wedding to live together first, Peter’s worry curdles into cold fury. He issues a chilling ultimatum: she must come immediately with her bodyguard or he will seize her by force, eliminate witnesses, and take her parents on an involuntary trip. The threat breaks her resolve; Sara capitulates in a broken whisper, and Peter hangs up with dark satisfaction, the coercion securing his possession of her just as the guests continue mingling around him.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-65"},{"index":65,"title":"65","summary":"Sara emerges from her bedroom shaking, clutching her phone and her lace wedding dress, determined to proceed with marrying Peter despite her terror. Though pale and nauseated—requiring medication to steady her nerves—she insists to her perceptive mother, Chloe, that she is ready. The stakes are brutal: if she refuses Peter, their friends die. Haunted by the awful truth of Peter's crimes and the recent verbal assault from Ryson, Sara feels worthless yet trapped, having already accepted his darkness willingly. Her mother's knowing eyes search for doubt, but Sara masks her fear with a fragile smile, claiming love is her motive. As the clock ticks toward the ceremony, Sara steels herself to walk into a union built on coercion and dread, the threat of violence hanging over every step toward the altar.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-66"},{"index":66,"title":"66","summary":"Sara arrives at a sunlit engagement shoot at Silver Lake, her stomach churning with conflicting emotions as she faces Peter—her captor, stalker, and betrothed. Despite her terror of his lethal obsession, she cannot deny the primal pull he exerts over her, a dangerous cocktail of fear and desire that leaves her skin prickling. As they pose for photos by the lake with her relieved parents and his watchful teammates nearby, Sara wonders if Peter truly would have massacred the guests to punish her for a previous absence. When he murmurs “ptichka” and steers her possessively toward the gazebo, she resigns herself to the inevitability of their union, stepping toward married life with the man who terrifies and intoxicates her in equal measure.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-67"},{"index":67,"title":"67","summary":"Peter Garin marries Sara Cobakis in an intimate lakeside ceremony, suppressing his violent urges to consummate the marriage publicly while privately vowing never to release her. Surrounded by his team—Anton, Ilya, and a philosophizing Yan—Peter deflects prying guests about their on-again, off-again romance that began in a Chicago club. As he watches Sara perform happiness for her coworkers, Peter suspects she may have learned of Sonny Pearson’s death, fueling his resolve to confront her when they are finally alone tonight. Meanwhile, Yan’s drunken provocation that Sara secretly craves the same darkness as them plants a seed of doubt about her true nature, leaving Peter eager to take his new bride home and unravel what she truly wants.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-68"},{"index":68,"title":"68","summary":"Sara endures her wedding to Peter Garin, performing the role of blushing bride while drowning in panic after a visit from federal Agent Ryson, who accuses the couple of conspiring to murder Sara's late husband, George. At their apartment, the tension explodes when Peter corners Sara against the wall, furious and suspicious, before tearing her dress and engaging in a brutal, possessive encounter that blends pain with pleasure. In the aftermath, wrapped in a towel on his lap, Sara finally confesses that she has fallen in love with him, acknowledging that she needs his dark control as much as his tenderness. Peter admits he chose her over his planned vengeance against Henderson, and the two commit to building their impossible marriage on mutual obsession and love, recognizing they are bound together forever despite their violent history.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-69"},{"index":69,"title":"Epilogue","summary":"Henderson broods over glossy wedding photos of Peter Sokolov and Sara, his throat burning with rage as steroid treatments fail to ease the pain that has plagued him for three years. Haunted by the fear that his children live in constant danger, he checks their silent social media feeds, confirming they remain hidden. Convinced the groom believes his reign of terror is over and that his powerful allies—Julian Esguerra, Lucas Kent, Yan and Ilya Ivanov, Anton Rezov, and Peter himself—are untouchable, Henderson compiles his own list of targets. Abandoning years of flight for cold resolve, he vows the world will finally see these men as terrorists, closing on his unresolved promise that they will pay for their crimes.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/destiny-mine/#chapter-70"}],"recapLocales":["en"],"indexable":true}}