Chapter 12: Misunderstood
Lina received a call from an unknown woman. "You think you're special? Tony said the same to me once."
Her hands trembled. "Who is this?"
Click. The line went dead.
The silence afterward was louder than the voice. Lina stared at her phone as if it would explain itself, her heartbeat unsteady, her thoughts spiraling into dark corners she had been trying so hard to avoid.
By the time Tony arrived that night, she was in tears. She tried wiping her face, but the redness in her eyes betrayed everything.
"What happened?" he asked, voice tight with worry.
"I can't do this anymore," she whispered.
"Lina, listen—"
"I'm tired of secrets, Tony. I can't fight ghosts I can't see!" Her voice rose, cracking with the weight of exhaustion — not from him alone, but from everything life had thrown at her recently.
He reached for her, but she stepped back. The movement was small, but it stabbed him like a rejection he wasn't prepared for.
"Maybe we need time apart."
Tony froze. For a moment, he didn't even breathe. The room felt colder, as if those words had sucked out all the warmth.
"Is that what you want?" His voice was soft, almost afraid.
"I don't know," she whispered, her arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to hold her own breaking pieces together.
He let his hand drop slowly to his side. He looked around the room — the sofa where they'd laughed, the table where they once shared late-night meals, the framed photo of her smiling at the beach. All of it suddenly felt like it was slipping away.
"Lina," he said again, but this time he didn't try to hold her. "I'm not your enemy. I wish you could see that."
She swallowed painfully but said nothing.
Tony stepped back, his eyes lingering on her one last time. And then he walked out. No argument. No plea. Just a quiet, heavy exit that hurt far more than shouting ever could.
The moment the door closed, Lina's legs gave way. She sank onto the couch, pressing her face into her palms. She didn't want to lose him. But she also didn't want to lose herself.
Outside, Tony paused by his car. He leaned against the door, jaw clenched, staring at the ground. He had come to explain, to clear the air, to hold her and promise they would get through it. But she looked at him like he was the problem — like he was the reason she couldn't breathe.
And maybe he was. Without meaning to be.
He exhaled shakily. "Time apart," he repeated to himself.
The words tasted bitter.
As he drove away, he didn't turn on the radio. He didn't even look at his phone. He just gripped the steering wheel tightly, trying to keep himself together, because breaking down now meant admitting he was losing her.
Inside the house, Lina finally looked at her phone again. That unknown number. That cold voice. That threat.
She didn't know whether Tony was lying, or whether someone was truly trying to destroy them. But in that moment, all she could feel was fear.
Fear… and loneliness.
Little did she know, the storm wasn't over. It was just beginning.