Page 3 of Only With You

I narrow my eyes. “What about the alimony which you received? That’s a crazy amount for you to spend, not to mention the additional money I deposit in your account every month.”

She lets out a sigh and bites her lip.“I lost that in gambling.”

This is what is expected of her. But now I need to put a stop to it. “I’m sorry, Soha. This stops now. I can’t continue to help you anymore. You need to figure out another way to pay your own bills.”

“Are you telling me to start taking care of expenses on my own when you very well know I don’t even have a job?” She narrows her eyes at me.

“Then for once, make yourself worthy and find yourself a fucking job,” I snap back with equal vengeance. Doesn’t she get that thought of being jobless when she is splurging the money? There is no point in trying to make her understand that. She is too used to taking me for a ride. Not anymore.

Her black eyes flare and then narrow. “Is it about that girl? Is that worthless bitch more important to you than your kid? That fucking girl….”

And that is it. Her words make me fly into an outrage. I don’t let her complete her sentence and am on my feet. The next second, I am clutching her by her arms as I lift her from the couch. “Don’t you dare utter a word against her. She is my wife,” I hiss. It takes everything in me to not strangle her throat. But my grandpa taught me better to never raise a hand on a woman.

“Wi… wife...” she stutters and her face turns pale.

“Yes, my wife,” I roar. Wrath wracks my body.

“I… I... I didn’t know…” she whispers, an uneasy edge in her voice while her face is drained of colour.

I scowl at her. “Now that you know, get one thing clear in your thick skull that my wife is off-limits. If you utter a bad word for her, I will make sure you repent,” I warn, my tone getting harsher and louder with each second.

“Ranveer, I love you,” she murmurs, her face a study of desperation as she clutches on my arm. “I really do. I don’t want to lose you. Please give me a chance.”

I let out a humorous laugh and let go of her hand, making her stumble on her feet. “Love? It didn’t look like you loved me when you cheated behind my back. It sure as hell was not love every time you chose to lie to me.” I pause for a minute and take a deep breath. “I think instead of spending money on your parlour bills, which, by the way, is not doing you any good, you really do need to invest in buying yourself a dictionary and look up the meaning of the word ‘love’.” I slap her with my words. The stinging effect it has on her demeanour is worth it. But I am not guilty of saying that; she deserves every bit of my wrath.

Tears roll down her cheeks. But I will be damned if those fake tears move me. It’s all a farce which she loves putting up. Been there, seen that.

“What about us and what about what we shared?”

“There is nous. And there was nothing special between us except for lust. You mean nothing to me. We are divorced,” I remind her.

“But we can make it work for Mili.”

I close my eyes and take a few calming breaths. “I am not getting back to you.”

“Ranveer, you’re not paying attention. Mili will always bond us together. We will have to raise her together.” She is trying her luck but I’ll be damned if I fall in that trap once again.

“We aren’t doing anything together, Soha. Period,” I say through gritted teeth, not in the mood to continue this meaningless conversation with her.

She sighs, and I see that acknowledgement of defeat in her gaze. “You are right,” she admits at last. “But can you let us stay with you for a couple of days? Mili really wants to spend time with you, and I don’t have the heart to take her back.”

“She—” I say, pointing upstairs in the general direction where Mili is, “—can stay. You—” I clench my jaws as I point at her, “—can’t stay with me in this house.”

“But Ranveer…”

I hold up my hands,having zero patience and cut her words. “Nobut. I said what I had to and am not discussing this any further. Right now, I need to get to my wife and bring her back home.”

There’s no point in wasting my time arguing with her and continuing my conversation with Soha, not when my wife has left me. Without uttering another word, I turn around andmarch towards the front door, having every intention to get my wife back home. This night is nowhere close to being over. Damn!I need my wife back under my roof, only then will I be able to calm my pacing heartbeats.

Chapter 2

Alisha

The sadness and loss have made me so emotionally drained that I don’t even know what I am experiencing at the moment. Fear. Resentment. Exasperation. Helplessness. Distraught. I don’t know what exactly it is. Just when I thought I could explore a happy married life, I was struck by a powerful earthquake that shook the very foundation of my relationship.

Ranveer betrayed me.My inner voice hasn’t stopped taunting me for being a complete fool and not foreseeing his duplicity.But it is what it is. We make our own decisions, and those decisions have consequences.Instead of thinking rationally, I allowed my stupid heart to rule my head, and now, I have to pay the price. After all the faith I placed in him, it took only a single moment to destroy everything. Damn me for having that kind of a blind trust in Ranveer. I still can’t fathom how he could hurt me like this. I was under the assumption that we were inseparable and well-matched, sharing the same wavelength once we overcame our initial hurdles. Unfortunately, I couldn’t have been more wrong. He is married and has a child with another woman, while I, like an idiot, was envisioning our future and dreaming of building a family. I thought I’d finally found the love of my life, and we could be happy together forever. At least that was what he promised me. And like a fool, I believed that he was the best thing that has ever happened to me… until he destroyed everything. I hate him. He disgusts me! To think that he was married and even had a child while all the time not letting me get a whiff of it!

Dropping my forehead to the glass window in my bedroom, I close my eyes and sigh.I am at my parents’ place.I didn’t want to bring the mess at their doorstep, but I had no choice, as I didn’t know where else to go. But when my parents engulfed me in their warm arms on hearing the truth, I felt I did right by coming to them. The understanding and care they showed me was something only parents can do, trying their best to wipe off my sorrow in whatever possible way they could. I consider myself so lucky to have them. Their presence helped to wave off some pressure from me.

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