And Then It Rained (Sequel to Rain Again; Stand Alone Book) (Completed)

Chapter Twenty-nine: Shredding Ties

The sun shone brightly behind him, creating a brilliant, vibrant halo as he loomed over her-and he inched closer and closer-closing the distance between their lips. Greedily, she tilted up her head, expecting the kiss she already knew was going to be soul-consuming.

But it never came.

Instead, the alarm in her phone chimed.

Victoria lay with wide open, now fully awakened eyes on the bed. She stared at the empty ceiling feeling quite empty inside herself as well.

Why did she have to have such insolent dreams about Victor?

And it was incredulous - the amount she craved the kiss with moistness in places she could not bring herself to speak of. The disturbing fact was that the craving remained even after she raised from the bed and started packing her bags, almost as though she was on autopilot with different and entirely unconnected thoughts dancing about in her mind.

Garbage brain!

She forced herself to sober up as it was an important day today. A day when she was going to shred her ties with Victor and leave the country for the rest of the year. The divorce notice was supposed to be in his hand today, delivered at home. He would find it slipped into the door after coming home.

She had also left a small note on the dining table with a slim glass vase pressing it into place secure on one corner. It was a goodbye note and apology for making him suffer in the form of this marriage.

Her father wouldn't know about the divorce. Rex Davies's daughter would be overseas for her photography tour, that's it.

The twisted melodrama that her life had become had made her lose all hope in acquiring her mother's company. She had come to realize that her father was never going to willingly transfer it in her name. He had been using it like a carrot to consistently lure her forward.

Her dreams and desires were supposed to fail since always. She just wasn't ready to accept it.

Her heart was meant to break.

The tour was how she was going to get away from all these.

And maybe-just maybe, she could make this tour permanent. Perhaps, steering clear of all the known people forever might just be the ultimate solution to all her turmoils.

It turned out Sumaiya came to the same conclusion, too.

After her packing was done, when Victoria went to Sumaiya's apart to say her goodbye, the girl showed her some images of really old and expensive-looking Indian artwork from her phone.

"I overheard Adi while he was taking an urgent phone call," Sumaia said in a low voice, as though even the walls could soak in her words and send them to the mentioned Satan. "He talked about bringing in some sort of stuff from India after putting another honey pot in the hands of some people. He told them about sending some photos to evaluate how invaluable the mentioned stuff is. I checked his phone later when he went to sleep and found these-"

"Well, it bloody hell seems like he's smuggling out expensive artworks from India. Nevertheless-" Victoria lowered the phone and narrowed her eyes at Sumaia. "Are you saying you he came back even after the thorough beating he got? And more preposterously, you welcomed him in!"

Sumaia lowered her eyes. "He has started blackmailing and threatening in all possible sorts of ways. I'm totally and irrevocably terrified of this monster never ceasing to haunt my days and nights! And now," she let out a sharp breath. "You're leaving, too! The one person I can confide in and feel safe around-"