& Then They Loved (Ampersand Love #3)

32. Chasm

32

Chasm

Vihaan

Fourteen Years Ago

“ Y ou’re leaving?”

Vihaan stiffened, his stomach churning at the voice behind him. He breathed in, tamping down the urge to turn around. It had been two weeks since he’d seen Vera. Two weeks since she’d admitted that she’d picked money over him. Two agonising weeks of him avoiding her while counting down the days until he could leave for London.

“Yes,” he gruffed, picking up his passport from his dresser and tossing it into the open backpack nearby.

“I can’t believe I had to find out from Nanu. You’ve been completely unreachable and—” Her irritated rant dwindled away into nothingness at his lack of a response. “When will you be back?”

“Not sure.” He was going for a campus tour but had every intention of extending his stay. His remaining exams at school were a formality he could easily accomplish online. If he could help it, he wouldn’t return to India for a very long time.

“I’m. . . I’ll miss you.”

Vihaan scoffed under his breath, finally turning to face the woman who’d become the reason for his descent into hell.

“Yeah, I bet you will,” he smiled, his eyes cold. “You’ll have to find someone else to buy you jewellery now.”

Vera’s brows knotted at his barb, confusion dimming her usual confidence.

“Is something the matter, Vihaan? Are you angry with me?”

His jaw twitched, biting back the urge to yell at her to drop the act. To admit that she’d speared his heart with her actions. He wanted to ask her if it had all been a lie. If she’d been paid all along to behave as though she found him smart and capable. If it had been the money that had made her work so hard to motivate him. Or had she simply decided that her feelings for him were not deep enough to refuse a payout?

Why was she here now? To rub his stupidity in his face?

“I tried calling you,” she continued, oblivious to his rising temper. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for days now.”

“What for?” he asked, sounding remarkably composed given the storm brewing within him, ready to decimate everything between them.

Vera’s lips parted, only for her to heave a sigh. Something akin to discomfort flashed in her features as she shifted restlessly, one hand coming up to pluck at her sleeve, as if picking off invisible dirt.

“We didn’t finish our conversation before.”

“You took money from Papa. What else is left to discuss?”

“I was going to tell you when we met, but then I. . .” She sighed. “Guess it doesn’t matter. It’s better that your dad spoke with you. And it all worked out. He was very generous. ”

Generous? Vihaan wanted to laugh. The manner in which Vera was behaving—no regret or shame for having put a price on him and their relationship—had him seeing red. How could she be so emotionless? Maybe the only time she’d ever been truthful with him was when she’d admitted that money was paramount in her life.

Her callousness astounded him, making the pain of her betrayal sink in deeper, into a place where every emotion twisted and transformed into something dark and ugly.

“Do you still need money? Maybe there’s more you can get from me.”

“Umm, no, I. . . I earned the money already.”

She sounded so earnest, so innocent, that he couldn’t help but step closer. He raised his hand up to caress her jaw. “So beautiful, so lethal,” he muttered, his expression one of disenchantment. “I suppose you’re right. Out of curiosity, how much did you earn? Maybe I can offer a bonus.”

“Huh?”

“I have—” He looked through his wallet and took some cash out. “Is this enough for a quick fuck? Maybe not. A blow job perhaps?”

Her face drained of all colour, but Vihaan was too far gone to care. He sat back on his bed, looking pointedly at his crotch and then her. “C’mon then. What? This isn’t enough?” He removed his luxury watch and tossed it at her feet. “That’ll fetch five lakhs at least. Most expensive blow I’ll have ever had but you’re worth it.”

The air seemed to vanish around them as Vera grew deathly pale, standing motionless, as if she’d forgotten to breathe.

“Are you going to do it or not?” he asked, brow raised insolently, trying valiantly to tamp the bile rising in his throat.

“Why are you being this way? I don’t like this joke,” Vera replied, her voice cracking, her eyes shying away from him. If it was guilt that made her incapable of looking him in the face, it was too late. Vihaan’s broken pride demanded reparations.

“What joke? You need money, I’m giving you a way to earn it. Nothing you haven’t already done before.”

Red eyes raised to him, the growing fire in them doing nothing to melt the ice that caged his heart.

“I’m not a whore.”

“Certainly looked like it when you spread your legs for me.”

Her slap was quick, its sound still not loud enough to subdue the screaming agony tearing him apart from within. His cheek stung, an almost welcome pain to replace the mental anguish he’d been dealing with for a fortnight.

“I’m growing tired of your drama,” he spat, refusing to let the burn behind his eyes translate to tears in front of her. “Either get on your knees and use your mouth the way I taught you or get the fuck out of my house.”

Vera stepped back as if he’d hit her too.

“You told me you loved me.”

Her comment felt like she was throwing his stupidity in his face.

“I also called you a princess, but that doesn’t make you one, does it?”

“Why?” Her whispered question cut into him like a hot blade slicing through butter.

“Because,” he answered, his bitterness swelling, his pain crossing the line into cruelty, “I don’t want you anymore.”

Vera turned away, but not before he caught sight of the tears that spilled down her cheeks. His fingers dug into his sheets as he ruthlessly subdued the urge to run after her and rescind every nasty word. Her tears were no longer his concern.

“Aww Princess, don’t cry,” he called after her as he succumbed to the demon within. “We had fun while it lasted. And now you’ve learned a few new tricks in bed. Maybe you can get more than just a gold bangle from the next guy, hmm?”

Vera stilled, her hand clutching his doorframe. Momentarily, Vihaan wondered if she’d stomp back in and slap him again. Maybe that’s what he wanted. To rile her up so she’d react. So she’d show some emotion other than greed. So there would be some connection to kill this distance, even if for one final moment.

Instead, in a voice as cold as his heart now felt, Vera announced, “I hate you, Vihaan Oberoi.”

Vihaan sat there for what seemed like hours after Vera left, refusing to acknowledge the absolute devastation that was carving a hole into his chest. Before he could understand how, he found himself hunched over the toilet bowl, heaving his feelings and his food out in one go.

As he sat on the cool marble floor, his forehead dotted with sweat, a gnawing emptiness growing within him with each passing breath, he promised himself that he’d never fall in love again.

Love was for idiots. And he was done playing the fool.