On This Side of Paradise: A Billionaire Second Chance Romance

cHAPTER SIX

Once the car had joined the traffic on the main road, she finally breathed free.

"I am sorry, Siddhartha." She fervently apologized. "I know you wanted to stay, but I was... it was..."

Siddhartha cut her off gently, "I understand, love. Seeing your ex can be painful. And clearly, the way it traumatized you even after all these years, I can finally see how hurt you had been by him. Your mother was right; he has been a dangerous influence on you. I mean, who else rushes practically a teenager into a clandestine marriage..." He abruptly stopped talking, realizing that he was censoring her own lack of judgement.

It hurt, but Ava supposed he deserved the truth.

"It wasn't like that Siddhartha. At least, not all of it." She reluctantly said. "At that time, I believed that we were in love."

"Yes, but didn't he force you to be with him?"

"That he did. He said he didn't do long distance relationship and if I wanted to be with him, I had to marry him. It was a choice I had to make. Him or my parents."

That it had been a wrong choice was clear to every adult but her. Her mother had cried, her father had threatened her, then tried to reason with her, but Ava had been blind in her love for Erico. And she truly believed that Erico had threatened her only because he had been as bewitched by her as she had been by him. Instead, it had been a war. A manipulative, ruthless, possessive tug of war between Erico and her parents, where she had been the unfortunate rope.

"I am sorry Ava." A gentle finger wiped the single tear from her cheek. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"By the way, did you find if he works there?" Ava's curiosity got the better of her. "If he does, I am going to give that bar a wide berth."

"I couldn't find anything, actually." Siddhartha replied, a little subdued. "But he definitely doesn't work there, but the staff says he has been hanging around there since the last couple of months."

"Oh. Just as well, I am never going back in there."

Siddhartha kissed her, lingering longer than usual, when they reached her apartment building. He held her close and said, "I am going to make you happy, Ava. You can lean on me. You need not worry about anything from now on."

Yes, she was definitely lucky.

"Thanks Tina, I will need you again tomorrow, same time."

"Sure, didi. Date night?" Her babysitter winked at her. She was a teenager, excited about every hint of romance.

I used to be like that.

"Nope, audit is going on. I will be late a few days now."

"Oh, okay." Tina left.

Ava let herself in her apartment and closed the door. Dani was safely ensconced in bed. She was exhausted. Her work that had for so long been a source of distraction and much needed financial support to her, had started to become tedious now. Often she found herself day dreaming about quitting. But she needed the money. No way would she be dependent for money on someone else again.

The doorbell went off when she was in the bathtub. It was her one luxury. Often after long days as these, it was her one bliss. She decided to ignore the bell. It was already past ten. She was not in the mood of facing anyone. It was likely to be her neighbor or the building security. She just didn't care. She closed her eyes again and turned up the volume of the music.

But whoever was on the other side of the door was persistent. Even after fifteen minutes, the person was refusing to leave. The bell kept going off in regular intervals. It would wake Dani. Cursing, she hastily pulled on her bathrobe and padded towards the main door.

She couldn't see anything through the peephole except a bulky shadow. Brows creasing, she opened the door and reeled back in shock.

Erico stood outside, lounging against the doorjamb. He had a mocking expression on his face as he searched her shocked face.