Page 200 of Strange Seduction
“Trust me. To end things with Theo isn’t something I take lightly. I love your brother. I just don’t know how we can come back from this.”
Izzy looked at me, her expression softening. “Whatever you decide… we’ve got your back.”
“Yeah,” Mantis said. “Though I am rooting for y’all to figure this shit out. No pressure.”
I let out a laugh, the first real one all day. “Noted.”
They all smiled, but behind it was worry. The screen buzzed with notifications that one of them was losing signal. It didn’t matter. The conversation was winding down anyway.
When the call ended, I was alone again—even my head felt silent.
Nothing to say?
Doubt: You got enough shit going on.
Fair.
I looked across the room at the ring, still sitting where I’d left it.
I really wanted this to work out. Maybe I could talk to Theo and see if we could—
My phone pinged.
Teddy:We’ll talk when I get home.
Fuck.
I sat down at the edge of the bed and stared at the door.
Waiting.
Hoping.
Dreading.
I stared at the space beside me on the bed. He should be here.
But he wasn’t.
He said we’d talk when he got home, but when would that be?
And for the first time since I landed in Italy, I didn’t know what came next.
I spent the entire day stuck in the tight space between anxiety and guilt. I tried to keep myself busy—unpacked, repacked, drank, took a shower, sat on the edge of the bed staring at the door like he’d come bursting through it just to tell me this was all a bad dream.
I even wandered downstairs at one point, hoping to catch him in the lobby or maybe outside, smoking like he did when I stressed him out a bit too much.
But he didn’t show.
And every call went unanswered. Every text left on read.
By the time the sky darkened outside my window and the city lights flickered on below, the silence around me had turned deafening.
When the door finally opened, I stood so fast the blood rushed to my head.
Theo walked in like he hadn’t disappeared all day—coat slung over one shoulder, and shirt slightly wrinkled.
“Hey,” I said softly, stepping forward. “I’ve been trying to reach you all day.”
