HER REVENGE

chapter 12

Chapter 11

Alina pov

I brought out my sleeveless lace top, dragging the baggy jeans out of the hanger. In the middle of pulling it out, my finger twisted between the fabric and the hook. The pain shot up so fast that I gasped. My face twitched, my eyes widened as the sting hit deep.

"Damn," I muttered under my breath, rubbing my finger, trying not to cry over something so stupid. I was still snickering at myself when I suddenly felt a hand slip around my waist.

"You have to be careful next time. Not everything around you reminds you of him," Dante’s voice whispered, his lips barely an inch from my ear. His breath was hot, too hot. I froze for a second, my heart pounding.

I closed my eyes, the ache in my hand forgotten. His words hit harder than the pain. Not everything reminds you of him. The betrayal that lived at the back of my mind came storming to the front again. My ex-husband’s lies. My sister’s laughter. Their wedding. Her dress. My empty hands.

I snapped. I slapped his hand off my waist and turned sharply, the fire in my chest burning through my veins.

His brows lifted as he stepped back, raising his hands slightly like he was trying to calm a wild animal.

“Calm down, tigress. You don’t have to stare at me like that,” he said with a little smirk. “It’s just a comment.”

A comment?

“What’s so funny, huh? That you got married to me just to take revenge on someone? Who?!” I shouted, folding my arms across my chest and moving toward him.

“I’m asking you a question, Dante!” My voice cracked, my breath quickened. “Since everyone’s so good at betrayal these days, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were just another actor in this movie of lies.”

“My God, Alina,” he scoffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re thinking too much. Chill out. Take a damn pill and reset your brain.”

He sank lazily into the couch like he didn’t just light a fire inside me. The same couch he moved earlier this morning—I noticed it the second I woke up. The mattress was now pushed to the corner, like I was just a shadow in the room. My eyes narrowed.

My chest rose. I kept walking, slowly this time, my eyes locked on him.

He’s hiding something.

“Dante!” I screamed, voice cracking like glass. My throat burned as tears slipped down, sudden and hot. “Just tell me the truth!” I broke off, gasping. My eyes darted around the room, and then I saw a long, thin metal glinting on the floor. It wasn’t a knife, but it was sharp enough.

I rushed to it, grabbed it without thinking. The cold steel bit into my palm, but I didn’t care. I clutched it tighter, storming towards him.

“For the last time, why the hell did you marry me?” I shouted. “Are you trying to take revenge on someone? Me? My stupid ex? My snake of a sister? Who exactly?!”

He sat up quickly, sweat already on his forehead.

“Is something wrong with you? Why do you think everyone has some secret agenda against you?”

I shook my head, tears blurring my vision. The world tilted. My pulse screamed in my ears.

I flung the metal toward him.

He ducked and scrambled off the couch, backing away toward the door. He looked stunned, terrified even. His hand grabbed the knob like it was his only lifeline. I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I stood there, shaking, breathing like I had run a marathon in fire.

My veins popped like electric wires on my neck.

He stared at me like I was someone else.

“What’s going on, Alina?” he said carefully. “I thought… I thought you were over him. I’ll call the doctor. You need help.”

His voice dropped to a whisper.

I didn’t blink. My hair had fallen into my face, sticking to the wet streaks of tears on my cheeks. He opened the door. The slam echoed behind him.

The silence that followed was deafening.

I sank to the floor like my legs gave up. My back pressed against the mattress frame. I dragged the duvet down, wrapped it around my shoulders. My body shook. I bit down on my lip, trying to stop the sobs. But they came anyway. I pulled at my hair, pressing my hands against my head like it would silence the storm inside.

I rocked myself, like a lost child.

Why me? Why always me?

My phone buzzed. A sharp vibration against the wooden floor.

I blinked through my tears. Unknown number.

My fingers trembled as I picked it up and brought it to my ear.

The sound that hit me first wasn't a voice.

It was a moan. A man’s moan.

Then a soft laugh followed.

“Alina,” came the voice I would never forget. My sister.

Camila.

My throat dried instantly.

“Alina,” she purred again, “when last did you hear him moan like this?”

My chest collapsed inward. I bit my lip so hard it nearly bled. I didn't want her to hear the sound of my crying. I swallowed it.

“I told you,” Camila continued with a sigh that dripped poison, “I always get what I want. Just like I made those investors pull out of Dante’s deal after they agreed.”

My heart stopped.

“What?!” I screamed into the phone.

The door burst open.

Dante rushed in like lightning, eyes wild. “Alina?! What happened?!”

I dropped the phone, eyes wide, breath ragged.

He picked it up from the floor. Camila’s voice was still loud and mocking on the line.

“Oh, hi husband,” she said.

He froze.

“What the hell are you doing, Camila?” he growled, his knuckles turning white as he held the phone.

“I’m just saying hi to your little mess of a wife. Didn’t you hear her scream? Or is she faking it like she faked being strong after the wedding?”

“Shut up,” he barked, then ended the call, hurling the phone across the room.

I stared at him, my tears dried into my skin, my body numb.

“Was it true?” I whispered.

He walked slowly toward me, crouched in front of me, breathing hard.

“What part?” he asked.

“The investors… she made them leave you?”

He nodded once.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice cracked again.

“Because I am just hearing it from her and I wasn't supposed to shout the way I did so you won't hear what the silly lady did and blame yourself for it”

“Why would I blame myself?” I asked, frowning.

“Because she didn’t do it for me,” he said slowly. “She did it to hurt you.”

I stared.

“Camila’s obsessed with destroying everything you touch. And that includes me now.”

I blinked. “You didn’t marry me for revenge?”

He shook his head. “I married you because… I didn’t want her to win.”

They was silence, I looked down, my hand still gripping the duvet like it was the only thing holding me together.

“I hate her,” I whispered.

“I know.”

“And I hate this.”

“I know.”

His hand reached out, but I flinched.

“I’m not asking you to trust me,” he said, standing slowly. “I’m asking you to fight, With me, Not against me.”

I didn’t reply.

My eyes landed on the broken phone on the floor.

And I realized something,I wasn’t crying anymore.

The fire inside was still burning.

“And what's going on over there?” I heard Camila's voice, sharp and sassy, I hated her for being clumsy.