Chapter 44: LET’S MEET

MIA

He was in the shower when my phone rang with a call from an unknown number.

I stared at it for a while, letting it go to voicemail because I was shocked. Why would the stalker call me? My heart raced and I felt heat in my belly. The number called again and then I hesitantly picked up.

"Hello?"

"Please don't hang up."

It was a woman's voice which made me confused. Why would she stalk me?

I walked to the bedroom window, keeping my voice low just in case. "Who is this?"

"It's Lin."

Oh. I froze and also felt disappointment go through me.

"I know Dante told you not to contact me," she said before I could speak. "I'm not calling to cause problems. I'm calling because I need you to hear something."

How did she know?

"Then you should know I have to listen to him." I walked to the bathroom door, checking through the gap underneath and saw his shadow in the shower plus the sound of water still running. I had borrowed time left. "This isn't a good time."

"There isn't ever going to be a good time. That's the point." She said calmly. "I know how this sounds. I know you have no reason to trust me over him. But I need you to know that you're in danger, Mia. Real danger."

I stopped moving. "What are you talking about?"

"I can't explain it over the phone. There's too much and you deserve to hear all of it and not in pieces." She paused. "Meet me tomorrow at a coffee shop in a public place, I'll send you the address. Come alone and I'll explain everything."

"You're Ren's cousin. You showing up to warn me about my boyfriend is not exactly—"

"I know how it looks. I'm asking you to set that aside for one hour." Although she was trying to be calm, I could hear the urgency in her tone "What I know about Dante has nothing to do with Ren. This isn't about family Mafia or whatever you think the angle is."

"Then what is it about?"

"You. And the fact that you've been noticing things that don't add up and you don't have anyone left to talk to about them."

I sucked in a sharp breath. I really needed someone to talk to and Yuna wasn't an option at the moment and lin… I actually wanted to hear what she had to say.

I heard the water pressure reduced.

"I have to go," I said.

"Mia." She rushed out. "He's not who you think he is. And I can prove it."

I stood with my phone pressed to my ear, listening to the water and my pounding heart. Could I trust her?

"I'll think about it," I said.

"That's all I'm asking."

I ended the call.

I stood there for a few seconds doing nothing then went to my recent calls and deleted the number from my history just as the shower turned off then I quickly rushed to the desk with my laptop, pretending I had been working since.

Dante walked out in a towel, hair damp as he looked at me.

"You okay?" he said.

"Just editing." I didn't look up. "Hungry?"

All through dinner we barely spoke as I was lost in my head. Lin was related to Ren so she had all the reasons to destabilize whatever Dante and I had, obvious reasons, and I was smarter than that.

Then I thought about what she'd said.

She seemed to know a lot about me. Was she having me watched? Did she force Yuna to tell her something?

My heart stopped at the thought of yuna. I had been so consumed by Dante that I hadn't even tried to reach out to her since our fall out. But she also hadn't tried so maybe she had completely erased me from her life.

I sighed and this made Dante raise an eyebrow at me but I shook my head with a smile and continued eating.

I was loading the dishwasher when Dante came into the kitchen and said, not looking at me, "Any interesting calls today?"

My heart stopped.

The dish in my hand almost dropped so I carefully set it down then turned to face him, keeping my face as neutral as I could.

"No. Why?"

He shrugged and got a glass from the cabinet. "Just wondering. You seemed distracted tonight."

"Did I?"

"A little." He filled the glass at the tap and looked at me over the rim as he drank. His eyes watching my every move. "Everything okay?"

"Just work stress." I turned back to the dishwasher. "I'm behind on a few things. It's fine."

"You'd tell me if something was wrong, yes?”

I paused. They closed the dishwasher, straightened and looked at him. “Of course.”

He stared at me strangely for a while and I almost started to fidget when he nodded, setting his glass down then walked over to me and pressed a kiss on my forehead, hand resting at the back of my neck as he massaged it.

"Don't stress," he said. "You're doing everything right."

Then he went back to the living room.

I turned away from him and took deep breaths to calm myself down. My mind began to race to whether Lin had maybe texted while I was away from my phone and he saw it. Or there was another means he was using to monitor me.

I looked around the house but had never seen a camera. Maybe I was just paranoid and so was she.

I didn't sleep that night.

I lay in the dark with his arm across my waist. His breathing had slowly evened a while back while I stared at the ceiling, tossing Lin's words in my head over and over again.

What could she possibly know about him that sounded so serious? I turned to look at his peaceful face. He didn't seem like he was hiding anything and that’s why I loved him.

He may be possessive but I understood why. Was this another plot from Ren to ruin my happiness?

Everything was giving me a headache.

I turned my phone over on the nightstand and looked at the dark screen.

I'd deleted Lin's number from my call history but I remembered it.

I'd been doing that a lot lately. Remembering things I'd been careful not to write down because my head my the only place I could keep things safe from him.

Dante shifted in his sleep, pulling me closer as he breathed down my neck and I made a decision. I would meet her but I wouldn't tell him.

I needed to see what she had to show me and that would determine my next cause of action.

I looked down at him again.

Dante… can I trust you?