Page 112 of Between the Lies

The driver didn’t say much, except asking Nina for some sort of code relating to the taxi app, then they were swooshing down corridors towards the car park’s exit.

Within a minute, they emerged from the car park and right into a vortex of bridges. On one side of the road lay a construction site; on the other a sea of motorbikes. Then they hit traffic… and not the kind you saw on the M8. Fuck no. This was… an ocean of cars, ranging from rattly old ones to new Porsches, all sitting next to each other in a haphazard mix. Horns sounded from all around, and then a bike whizzed past their taxi, somehow squeezing through the gap between cars.

Nina shook her head. ‘Aye, it’s all coming back to me, even though it feels… odd.’

Robert sighed upon seeing the wee upward tilt of her lips. ‘Your family will be glad to see you.’

That was the wrong thing to say. Her smile vanished. ‘I don’t think?—’

He reached out and engulfed her hand. ‘Darling, this last year, you’ve stood by me. I want to do this for you. Now that you’ve burned all your bridges and dusted off the ash, it’s time to rebuild them.’

She bit her lip, her gaze falling to her feet. ‘I’m scared.’

‘I know. That’s why I’ll be by your side every step of the way.’

‘Always?’ She whispered it, but not with fear – no, it was vulnerability that made her voice so low.

Robert squeezed her hand. ‘Forever and always, darling.’

Nina turned forward to watch the road. ‘Forever and always.’

Smiling, Robert settled in. Mumbai – now this would be a truly exciting adventure.

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