Chapter 122: The Third Wheel

Dominic's voice cut through the line like a whip. "You didn't want to come with me, but you had no problem tagging along with Lia and Oscar to be their third wheel?"

Bella froze. "How did you find out?"

"Lia posted a photo on her social media," Dominic said.

Bella wanted to strangle Lia. She hadn't expected her friend to have Dominic as a friend on social media. Taking a deep breath, she scrambled for an excuse. "It was last minute, and Lia dragged me along. Next time, I'll let you know. I really need some sleep now. I'm exhausted."

Dominic didn't respond; he simply ended the call. Moments later, he sent a friend request on Facebook.

The moment she accepted it, Dominic called again. She reluctantly answered.

"Now what?"

Dominic's voice sounded distant, as if he were busy; his phone must have been held away from his ear. "Leave the line open. You can sleep. But if you hang up, you're dead."

The threat was terrifying, so she left the call running, quietly switching off the microphone, figuring at least he wouldn't hear anything from her end.

Curiosity got the better of her. She opened his profile and checked his posts. Surprisingly, he hadn't blocked her.

His feed was sparse, with just a few random photos posted at long intervals. There wasn't much to see. Bella easily scrolled back to a post from three years ago that caught her attention. It was a photo of a broken-winged butterfly, captioned, "No one ever asked me what I wanted. They just threw their burdens at me. I'm tired."

The timestamp was from the night Richard passed away. Was the "burden" the weight of taking over the Miller family business? Or was it her, the person who should never have entered his life?

"Huh. Wait, are you calling someone?"

Lia sneaked up beside her. "What are you looking at? Huh… Wait—" Bella quickly lowered her phone and squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm going to sleep."

Lia flopped onto the bed beside her, throwing a leg over Bella's waist. "I saw Dominic's profile picture just now. You're on a call with him, aren't you? What's this? Sleeping with each other on the phone now? You guys need to hear each other's breathing to fall asleep?"

Bella dug her fingers into Lia's leg and tickled her. "Your leg is heavy; get it off me. And no, I didn't call him. He made me stay on the line. He's weird like that. What can I do? I'm small, helpless, and pitiful. I've been living at his mercy since I was a kid. It's not like I can fight back. Now, shut up. I'm trying to sleep."

Lia let her be, and the room fell into silence. Fatigue from the day's travel hit Bella all at once, and she drifted off to sleep.

Lia's excitement yanked Bella out of bed at the crack of dawn.

Bella sat up, her hair a tangled mess, her eyes barely open. "Why are we up this early? Can't I sleep a bit more?"

Lia tugged her toward the bathroom. "The weather is hot lately. You'll melt halfway through the day if we don't get going soon. Then, we can forget about enjoying the trip. Oscar's already up and heading out to rent a car for our convenience. Let's not slow him down."

After washing up, Bella felt more awake. She grabbed her phone and checked it, only to find that the call with Dominic was still connected.

Since Bella was heading out soon, she didn't want to drain her battery. She reached to hang up when Dominic's voice came through the speaker. "You can hang up now if you're heading out. Listening to your snoring all night was punishing enough."

Bella's heart skipped a beat. "What? I don't—"

As she spoke, she noticed the microphone, which she thought she had turned off, was somehow back on. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She mustered a hasty goodbye and ended the call.

(The final sentence is incomplete and grammatically incorrect; it needs rewriting for clarity.) The promotional text at the end should be removed as it is not part of the story.