by P. G. Van
“Are you still in touch with the lawyer?”
“I was for a couple of years after. He would tell me where the monster was looking for me, and then suddenly, he stopped messaging me. I… I presumed he got caught and killed by that bastard.”
“What is he…” Samraat asked about the man who destroyed her life.
“I don’t want to know what he is doing? I am hoping that my disappearance would make him give up everything he took away from my parents. I can only hope he is paying for what he did.”
“What is his name?”
She shook her head. “I never ever want to think of him. I want to believe that he is dead, rotting in hell.”
“What if he is out there living off of your money… your parents’ hard work?”
She blinked away angry tears. “There isn’t a single day that thought doesn’t cross my mind, and it makes me so angry. I have learned to keep my emotions in check, especially when I know I cannot do anything about it.”
“You can, and I will do whatever it takes… give me his name.”
“No,” she said, hugging him. “I can’t do that. I can’t lose you also. I love you.”
Her words hit him hard. At that moment, he realized nothing was more important to him than her. “Naina, I don’t know if what I feel is love, but I promise to protect you, keep any darkness away from your heart, and anyone who wants to get to you needs to get past me first.”
“Samraat, I… don’t want you to leave me and go back to India. Please stay here. I can’t live without you.”
“I will figure it out, baby, don’t worry,” he said, wiping the tears off of her cheeks.
“Don’t leave me, please.” Her voice was a whisper as she drifted into sleep.
Samraat sat in the darkness holding her to him. He realized there was no denying the fact that he dreaded the idea of going back to India. Life without her didn’t mean anything. Is that love?
He ran his lips on her temple as he lowered her onto the mattress and said, “I love you, Naina. I will protect you until my last breath.”
Naina woke up to an empty bed, and her heart sank. She took in a deep breath, and the aroma of fresh coffee and him floated her way. She smiled, realizing he wasn’t far. She pulled a robe over her pajamas, stepped out of the bedroom, and saw him standing on the balcony, his back to her.
She walked toward him, her steps soft and light, and wrapped her arms around him from behind, kissing his upper back. “Good morning.”
He took her hand to his lips and kissed it before turning to face her. “Good morning, love.”
She blushed, taking his coffee mug from him, she took a sip of the warm liquid. “It’s divine.”
He smiled, placing his hand on her chin to brush his lips over hers. “Did you sleep well?”
Her lips widened against his lips. “Like a baby.”
“I need to tell you something.” He rehearsed telling her the truth, and yet he dreaded telling her why he came to the wellness center.
“What?”
“Let’s go back indoors.”
He grabbed her hand and took her into the living room, sitting her down on the couch next to him. “I need to tell you why I’m really here.”
“What?”
“I came here looking for Mini at her father’s request. I thought you were Mini and joined the wellness center since that was the only way to get close to you and convince you to go back to India with me.”
“What?” Her head started to spin.
“Baby, I am sorry. I should have told you sooner, but I could not get myself to leave you.”
“Is Samraat your real name?”
“Yes. Everything I told you about myself, my childhood, everything is me.” He pulled her close to him as her chest started to heave.
“How… how did you find this address?” She started to panic.
“It was not easy. It took years to find an image match of Mini, and months of investigation later, I was able to get to this address.”
She let out a helpless sob. “If you could find Mini, I could be found, too. It’s not safe to be here. We should go.”
“Naina, no. Not to be cocky, but only I could find you and that, too, by accident. A decade of private investigators couldn’t come up with a single clue about Mini.”
“Samraat, are you sure?” She looked worried.
“Tell me who is looking for you, and I will make him stop. I can’t bear to see the pain in your eyes.”
“I… I can’t. He is a monster. He will destroy both of us. He made me call him Dad to make the Board of Directors and investors believe he was taking good care of me when all I wanted to call him was Murderer.”
“You had to do what you did to stay alive.”
“My mom told me that something very bad could happen, and I never expected to lose everyone.”
“Naina, please. I can’t continue to see you miserable like this. I want to see that man rot in hell. I will do what it takes to take every last bit of happiness from him and make sure he knows why he is paying for it dearly.”
She shook her head. “No. I can’t. I promise I will never talk about this ever again. I don’t need to because I feel free that I told you everything.”
“You can’t be on the run like this, not forever.”
“I don’t have to. I have you.” She hugged him, and he felt the warmth sweep over his chest, but he could not let go of the fact that he could not take away her pain forever.
“Are you upset I lied to you.”
“I am glad you told me the truth.” She smiled.
He cupped her face in his hands and nuzzled the tip of her nose. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Samraat.” She placed her cheek to his chest and hugged him.
Chapter 19
Later that night, she stepped out of the shower to find him sitting in the living room on the couch, frantically typing on his computer. “What are you doing?”
“Getting some work done.”
“Aren’t you on vacation?” she teased.
“You are on vacation.” He winked.
“Loving my time off.” She smiled at him as he looked around for something.
“What’s your ideal vacation?”
She thought for a moment. “I have been to so many countries. I want to have a staycation like this and a house by a lake. That would be the best.”
“A woman of unique taste. How about profession? If you weren’t a coach, what would you want to be?”
“Never thought about doing anything other than what I do…” Her voice trailed off when he started looking around the room. “What are you looking for?”
“My phone, I want to make a note of what you like. I think it’s in the car.” He put away his laptop to get up.
“Let me go get it. I need to speak to the landlord as well.” Naina stopped him.
“Okay… don’t be long. I’m almost done with work.” He didn’t look up, and she smiled, looking at how engrossed he was with his work.
Fifteen minutes later, Samraat was still working on his computer when she came back. “Samraat, I thought you said you were done.”
“Almost,” he said, typing frantically before putting his laptop away and walking toward her.
She placed his phone on the end table and hugged him. “I’m sure it is tough for you to run your business from here.”
He chuckled. “I have people to take care of things.”
“I’m sorry.” She batted away tears.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“You… you have to be here for me and leave everything you worked so hard for and…”
He hushed her by placing two fingers on her lips. “Nothing matters anymore. If I were able to build something in India, I can figure out how to run it from here.”
“I am not trying to be selfish by…”
He silenced her with a soft kiss on her lips. “I know, you don’t need to explain.”
“Samraat, make love
to me. Show me how much you love me.” She kissed him back, her lips barely touching his.
Samraat smiled, gently pulling her to him, his hands caressing her every curve. “What do you want, baby?”
“I… I want a night I will never forget for the rest of my life.” She looked into his eyes with a deep longing.
He smiled in response to her words, but he saw something deeper than the need in her eyes. She was smiling at him, and her eyes bore into his as he took in the sight in front of him. “I want our every night to be memorable.”
With those words, he lay a flurry of kisses on her warm skin. She closed her eyes as if to memorize the feel of his lips, the roughness of his stubble, the sweet pain from the way his fingertips dug into her flesh, but most of all, the feel of his heart against her chest and the resonance of her heartbeat in her ears. She clung to him as he swept her off her feet, his lips never leaving hers as he carried her into the bedroom.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked as if he sensed the way she was reacting to his touch.
“Yes, I want to be with you all the time.” She kept her eyes shut.
“We will be together. I am working on it.” He kissed her cheek as he lay her on the bed.
She opened her eyes when he lay her down and looked at him. “I love you, Samraat.”
“Love you, too, baby. I still can’t believe my luck.” He smiled, kissing her on the forehead, and then his lips made their way lower. As his lips moved further, he pushed away her clothing, unbuttoning her blouse and then pushing down her skirt.
“If only I can freeze this moment,” she rasped as he lay gentle kisses along the curve of her breast.
“I will be there for you every moment of every day,” he said as he worshipped her entirety with his lips as he suckled, nibbled, and licked his way to her epicenter where the pressure was building. When his lips closed in over her drenched bud, she let out a cry of sheer joy, forgetting everything else. Her eyes rolled shut as he pleasured her, and she reached out to run her fingers into his thick, dark hair as her peak built up.
She raised the small of her back off the mattress as the wave of pleasure threatened to rip through her while he feasted on her inner folds. She cried out his name when she came undone. Her breathing was ragged when he came up to hold her to him as she rode her peak.
He teased and tantalized her senses until she couldn’t take it anymore, and, on her demand, he entered, filling her the way she had been wanting and waiting for, and as he made love to her, tears of joy and happiness rolled off her cheeks. She hugged him, enjoying his weight on her and wanting to remember the feel of him and deep into her soul for rest of her life.
Samraat woke up the next morning and reached for the softness that set his body on fire all night. He opened his eyes when she was not in reach to find himself alone in bed. The room was still dark with the blinds pulled down, but he could tell it was late morning.
“Naina,” he groaned, but there was no response.
The only time he didn’t hear her in the apartment was when she was meditating. He rolled off the bed, pulled on his sleeping shorts, and went into the empty living room. A strange feeling started to creep up his spine as he checked the bathroom and balcony.
He went back into the bedroom and picked up his phone and dialed her phone number. His heart sank when her phone rang on the end table next to the bed. He rushed out of the bedroom to power on his laptop in the living room.
As soon as the laptop was powered up, he logged into the apartment complex’s security system to look at the recordings from the surveillance cameras.
“No,” he let out a growl when he saw a familiar figure walk toward the back door, a dark hoodie pulled over her head, and nothing else in her hands, no bag or car keys. He watched in disbelief as the dark figure moved to the door and stopped just before opening the door to look directly at the camera.
“Naina,” his voice was a whisper when he saw her mouth ‘I love you.’
He collapsed on the couch, running his fingers through his hair, unable to comprehend the idea that she left. There was no other explanation for her words all night last night about wanting the time to freeze and for her memories to last forever. He stared at the image of the woman he loved as his vision blurred, and moisture gathered in his eyes.
The timestamp on the video indicated she left during the early morning hours, which meant she had not slept and left right after he fell asleep, almost four hours ago. But why? Because of what he told her? Did she feel unsafe?
Samraat felt miserable at the last thought, wanting to kick himself for not giving her the confidence she needed or wondering if he did something that compelled her to leave. He scrambled as he put on his clothes, grabbed the car keys, and drove to Mini’s apartment.
“Where is she?” he asked when Mini opened the door with a puzzled look on her face.
“Huh?”
Samraat knew Naina would not go to Mini’s place, but he could not leave any stone unturned as he looked for her. “She is gone, Mini. Left this morning.”
“What? No. What happened?”
Samraat thought through the events from the night before remembering her manner had shifted after she went to her car to get his cellphone. He pulled out his phone and opened his messages. He knew then why she left him when she made him promise that he would never leave.
He flipped his phone to show Mini the list of names that were on his phone. “Which one of these names are Naina’s legal name in India?”
Mini shook her head. “I… I don’t know.”
“What?”
“I… she kept her details to herself just so she could protect me.”
“Do you know the name of the man who is the reason she ran away?”
“No.” Mini’s voice was weak.
“What the heck, Mini. What do you know about her? How can you help me find her?”
Mini shook her head. “You can’t find her. When she is ready, she will find you.”
“No… I can’t.”
“I’m sorry, Samraat. You need to give her some space.”
“She is hurting, and she cannot be alone now. I should not have started the investigation about her and…” His voice trailed off when he saw another message that was marked as read.
It was a message from his uncle asking him when he was coming back and stating how much he missed him. Samraat took a deep breath looking up at the ceiling.
“Why can’t she be selfish for once? Why would she think her leaving would solve all her problems?”
“I don’t understand.” Mini looked shaken up.
“She left because of this message. She thought I would not return to India because of her, and she doesn’t want me to investigate any further.” Samraat sounded restless.
Mini watched in silence for a few moments. “Now what?”
“My only task… finding her, and I will find her,” he growled, angry that he let her slip away.
Chapter 20
Four months later…
A small-town thousands of miles from Las Vegas.
Naina smiled at the toddler and said, “Dhruv, are you ready for your morning walk?”
The two-year-old waved his hands in the air, excited about going to the park in his stroller with his nanny.
“I am sure you are excited.” She laughed, strapping the child into the seat of the stroller.
She had her jogging shoes on and was ready to get her daily workout, her way to forget him.
Samraat, the man who will rule her heart forever.
Since she took the job as a nanny for the two-year-old boy, every day over the past three months has been different. She changed her habits because every one of her old habits reminded her of him, and it was painful every time she thought about him. She spent night after night staring into the darkness until sleep took over due to exhaustion.
A new name, new look, new job in a new city, but her heart still beats for the man who promised to protect and love her f
orever.
She batted away the tears gathering on the rims of her eyes and picked up her pace as she ran, pushing the stroller on the walkway in the park. She had stopped meditating because she could not take one breath without thinking of him. Running was the only way to get her mind off of the things that are best forgotten.
It had been months since she spoke to Mini but had managed to send her a message saying she was okay and would return when the time was right. She had no idea if Samraat had returned to India. She told herself she shouldn’t care. He needed to be away from her to be safe.
The day she left him sleeping in her bed after a beautiful and memorable night, she made the decision based on the messages she saw on his phone when she went to get it from her car.
One was a message from his uncle asking him to return home. There was another message that shocked her even more—a list of names with the first name being Nayana, then she saw her name and the name of the monster associated with hers, and she knew it was time to put an end to it.
Samraat was gearing up to go against the monster, and she knew she could not let him take the risk for her. It melted her heart that he was making the effort to pacify her anger, but she knew it was dangerous to go up against the monster of a person who had already taken many lives.
She left knowing it was best for Samraat to return to India and his old life. Just before she walked away, she wanted him to know she loved him and the reason she was removing herself from his life. She didn’t want him ever to doubt her love for him.
She had reasoned with herself that it would be easier for him to forget her if he hated her for leaving without a word just like she had left Dev. However, with Samraat, she could not lie about how much she loved him and needed him to know.