Chapter 78: STARTING OVER

MIA

What are you doing, Mia?

My subconscious snapped. Was this what Stockholm syndrome felt like? snap out of it!

I pulled away, remembering who I was talking to as I put the envelope in my bag.

"There's something I need to tell you first," he said.

"Dante—"

"No, listen." He turned to face me properly. "I am serious, I will not stop you. I can see the look on your face that says you don't trust me but I need you to. I genuinely won’t fight you.."

"But."

"But I will never stop looking for you." He admitted. "I will never stop wanting you. Distance can not end what we have, it will just… be a little barrier but that has never stopped me.”

I needed to call a psych facility for him.

I stared at him. "You're doing it again."

"What?"

"Turning my exit into a cage. I'm standing here holding a plane ticket and you're telling me it doesn't matter where I go." I felt the anger come up instantly. "That's not a choice. You are still threatening me, Dante.”

“I am simply stating the truth.” He countered. "You can hate me for it. That's fair. But I won't lie to you about what I am, not at this point. You know what I am. I know what I am. Pretending I'll let you go and that'll be the end of it would be the cruelest thing I've done yet."

I looked at the envelope in my hands and couldn't believe how I had been so foolish to get my hopes up a few minutes ago, to the point of even crying when that was a lie.

I fucking hated him.

And I hated myself too for still loving him regardless.

"Then why give me this at all?" I said.

"Because I promised. And because you deserve the choice even if the choice doesn't change me." He picked up his keys from the table. "I'll drive you wherever you're going."

I decided to go to my apartment because trying to leave was just useless at this point. It was strange going back to the place where all this had started. The place where I thought it would just be me and my hot neighbor having photography sessions and not turning into whatever this was.

I technically still had the lease on but it was now empty because I had been so impulsive and moved my things into Dante’s space when he asked. We spent the next few hours moving what I could back into the space until we were both tired.

I stood by the window, staring out onto the city and took a deep breath. I felt so much better by just being in this familiar space even though it now had bad memories tied to it. I was too tired to think about my next course of action so that would have to be later.

He also barely said anything the whole time.

"Thank you," I said, when we were done.

"Take care of yourself," he said. "Eat something. Sleep."

I walked him to the door and shut it. For a while he didn't move then later, I heard his footsteps fade away.

The apartment needed to be deep cleaned because it smelled like dust and stale air because I hadn't been here in months. I stood there with my bag, just looking around because it felt so strange.

“Okay, Mia.” I said to myself. “Even if he is everywhere, you just have to ignore him and go back to the life you were living before him.”

I knew my email would be packed with messages and that was the best place to start picking myself back up from.

I was about to walk to the bedroom when my phone buzzed. When I looked at it, it was a message from an unknown number.

“I'm right across the hall whenever you're ready. Don't forget that.”

I blocked it.

Thirty seconds later a new number. “You can block me a hundred numbers. I'll always have a hundred and one.”

I put the phone face down on the dusty counter, looked at the door of my apartment and momentarily thought about changing the locks. But once again, that will be useless against him because he could easily pick it or break it down.

Now that I was out, first step:

Contact lin.