Page 115 of Obsession

Holding her elbow, he pulled the bottle from her hand and put it to the side, watching her carefully. Her face was red with anger, and her breathing was heavy.

“Do you think that just because you’re apologizing, I’m going to forgive you?” she snapped. “You’ve been nothing but rude, mean, and nasty to me for years.”

“I know, and I’m sorry,” he said.

“If you say you’re sorry one more time, I will stab you,” she growled, glancing at his desk, “with your paperknife.”

His lips twitched.

“I hate you,” she said. “I hate that you didn’t trust me, that you didn’t believe in my love for you, and what I hate the most is that you find my outburst amusing. It’s not.”

He smiled. “You’re adorable when you’re angry.”

His words incensed her even more. She tried to shrug away from his hold but he tightened his hold on her.

“I really am sorry, Anna.”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it anymore,” she said. “I know you’re blaming Zeeshan for destroying us, but the truth ishedidn’t ruin us,youdid.”

He blanched. This time, when she shrugged, he released her arm.

“The thing is, Mihir,” she said, sounding tired now. “You chose not to clear the air with me. You saw the proofs, and you believed that I had decided to send you to die. If you had confronted me just once, we could have clarified everything between us. But you didn’t even give me a chance.”

She stepped a little away from him. “You know, on the way from Moscow to Dubai, I kept wondering why you never did that. Now, after knowing your past, I understand better. I think that in your head, you’re still that poor little orphan who’s still questioning his luck. You got rich, you got to have a real family, and you met a girl who loved you, foryou. I didn’t know exactly how wealthy you were; hell, I didn’t know anything about you at all. But I still loved you. However, even that didn’t take away your insecurity. You never once believed that you were more important to me that anyone else, including my family. That I never would have betrayed you over them. That if there was a problem, then I would have come to you first. I wouldn’t have sent you to die. You believed the worst of me because deep down, you never believed you were lucky enough to find the kind of love that we had, and so you ruined it. Hating me thus came so easy to you.”

She paused to stare at him, her eyes brimming with sorrow. “Youbroke us, Mihir. Your lack of faith, your distrust, your anger, and your contempt broke us. I don’t regret our time in Moscow, because that showed me that you never really loved me, because once again, when the time came to choose me and to believe me, you didn’t.”

Her words struck him with a brutal, wounding force. He stared at her. The determined look on her face, the resignation in her eyes, the tightness in her shoulders—he was going to lose her.

He opened his mouth to speak, but she held a hand out, stopping him.

“I loved you so fucking much, Mihir. But you stayed married to me as some form of revenge—just to ensure I never found happiness with another man. And I was so stupid that I never even attempted to move on. Such a foolish mistake I made. What you want no longer matters to me anymore. You and I are over, Mihir. This is whatIwant now.”

“No, Anna,” he begged. “Listen…”

“We need to let the past remain in the past. I want to move forward. I can never be happy with a man who doesn’t have faith in me and in my love for him. So, I’m ending this. Right here. Right now.”

“No, you cannot. I won’t let you,” he said. “You’re mine.”

She looked at him, her features contorted with pain. Her hand curled over her belly. When she looked up, her eyes were clear. “I’m pregnant.”

Those two words knocked the life out of him. His throat knotted. No words would come out. For sure, he hadn’t heard her right.

She was… Anna waspregnant?

He thought back to the times in Moscow when he’d made love to her so many times without protection. She’d told him… It didn’t matter right now. His eyes fell on her flat belly. Ababy.Hisand Anna’s baby.

His chest constricted before realization settled, and his heart was filled with absolute and utter delight. He was going to be a father. In a few months, a little boy or girl would be born who would be part Anna and part him. Oh God. He was going to be a father.

“It’s yours,” she said, watching him carefully.

He had to clear his throat to speak. “Of course, I know it’s mine.”

“I really thought it was the wrong time of the month. Unfortunately, I think all the medication I took after I was stabbed affected my cycle. What I’m trying to say is that I didn’t trick you.”

“What?” he choked out. “That thought never even crossed my mind.”

“I had to clarify, lest you blame me for trapping you with a baby.”

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