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“No, I’ll just drop in and pick up whatever’s available. I think they made biryani today,” she said eagerly.
“That sounds great,” I replied mechanically.
We were almost at my cottage, and I did my best not to turn around to see if DV was watching us walk away. Sandhya stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“You go on in, and I’ll run back to the dining room. I should be back in ten minutes. Will you be okay until then?” she asked worriedly.
I nodded briskly.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, turning away.
I ran up the path to my door and my hand trembled as I shoved the key into the lock. I didn’t know how I kept it together until I shut the door behind me and shot the bolt. Only then, did I allow myself to cry.
I sank to the floor, great sobs escaping me, crowding my throat in their rush to get out. I choked and spluttered as I cried my heart out. For the second time, I had driven DV out of my life, and this time, he’d stay gone for good, because who would want to be with a girl who accused him of such a heinous crime?
I wasn’t a fool. I knew DV wouldn’t hurt a fly. He wasn’t capable of anything so sinister. Even after I left him, he followed me to Goa to check on me. There wasn’t a mean, nasty bone in his gorgeous body. But I’d had to make him believe that I thought the worst about him. That I thought he had killed a man. That I thought he was trying to kill me. And I’d had to do it in a way that would force him to keep his distance from me if only to prove his innocence. Because I wanted to protect him.
When that vase came crashing down just inches from where I stood, all I could think of was that it could have been DV in my place. We had poked the beast and now, we had to pay the price.
The press conference was staged to provoke the killer into revealing his hand, and the results were immediate. The killer was in the fucking commune! Was he here as a guest or a member of the staff? Or did he break in unnoticed?
Whatever it was, he meant business. And while I could take any number of attempts on my life, I couldn’t bear to think of anyone hurting DV. Until now, he had stood like a wall between me and the rest of the world. He had protected me at every step. What if the killer decided to go after him first? I couldn’t bear to think of a world without DV. Which was why I sent him away. Even if it broke his heart. Hearts could recover and wounds could heal. What mattered was that he was alive and safe.
I sobbed until I couldn’t breathe from the tightness in my chest. I had sent away the only man who had ever loved me. I didn’t need DV to say the actual words. His actions said it for him every minute of every day. His eyes said it every time he looked at me. And I loved him back just as fiercely. Probably even more.
If losing him was the price I had to pay to keep him safe and alive, then I was willing to never see him again. I knew this was the right thing to do, but I wished it didn’t hurt so much. Last time, I had sent him away because I didn’t want to trap him in a marriage that he clearly dreaded. And now, I wished he had never come back to check on me. I might never have experienced the most beautiful moments of my life, but he would have been safe.
My stomach twisted in anguish at the idea of never kissing him again, of never being in his arms again, of never being able to tell him how much I loved him. I ran to the bathroom and retched and retched, but the ball of misery in the pit of my stomach wouldn’t budge.
If this was heartbreak, then maybe it was better to never love than risk feeling like this. I wondered if I was cursed. Everyone who loved me left me sooner or later, and misery followed me around like I was its favourite child.
I splashed some cool water on my face and wiped it dry. My face was ravaged, and my eyes looked like the light inside me had been shut off. They looked dead. Dead, but determined. Because I knew the killer was coming for me.
Maybe not immediately. But soon.
And I would be prepared. I wasn’t alone in this fight, and I refused to let some faceless monster take my paradise away from me. I wasn’t going to involve my friends in this, either. It would destroy me if they got hurt because of me. The best thing to do was to go away until this was sorted.
My tormentor would find me, I was sure. I’d be waiting for him. But not alone.
I was going to hire Samar’s team to help me stay safe and fight this monster. They were going to help me disappear.
I ignored the tears running down my face and began to pack my bag. I’d call Samar after I enjoyed one last lunch with Sandhya because God knows when I’d get to see her or my other friends again.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. I opened it gingerly, but there was no one at the door. When I looked around, I found a package lying on the ground a little distance away from my door, and there was no one near it. With a sigh, I walked over and bent to pick it up.
And suddenly, everything went black.
CHAPTER22
DIGVIJAY
Iwalked away from her without a backward glance. Because I knew that if I turned to look back, I’d never let her go. And right now, Tasha needed to feel safe.
I couldn’t believe she thought I was trying to kill her. Although, all she had ever known in her life was violence. Why should she give me the benefit of the doubt when her very life was at stake?
Maybe she would calm down and change her mind after we had some time apart. It would be far too late for us, of course, but she could stop being frightened and seeing bogeymen where there were none.
I was fairly sure the vase had fallen off the ledge accidentally. But I didn’t blame her for thinking the worst. I just wished she didn’t think the worst about me so easily. Did our time together mean so little to her that she believed me capable of something so twisted and sinister?
