by Shilpa Suraj
Not wasting time arguing, Minty walked over to the passenger side and got in. Swearing silently at himself and the world in general, Ryan got in and started the car. Glancing at Ryan’s set profile, Minty kept her thoughts to herself for the entire drive. Turning into Sia’s lane, they took in the house still shrouded in darkness.
‘If you’ve said or done anything to hurt her again, I’m going to kill you this time.’
Grimly staring at the dark house, Ryan nodded. ‘Any ideas on where she would go?’
‘Plenty. No ideas on why she isn’t taking my calls.’
Flipping his phone out, Ryan tried calling Sia only to have it ring fruitlessly.
‘Shit.’ Dropping his phone near the parking brake, he got out of the car. With Minty at his heels, he walked up to the porch and rang the doorbell. Leaning on it as hard as he could, he waited. When pounding on the door didn’t get them a response, they did a quick walk around the house, rattling windows and calling out her name. Barring a few curtains swishing in neighbouring houses, they got no reply.
‘Do you have a spare key?’
‘No. I gave it to her mother when they arrived unexpectedly once and forgot to take it back.’
Swearing, Ryan walked back to the front and pulled his wallet out. Riffling through his cards for the most worn and used one, he yanked out an unused gift card. Sliding the card through the gap, he flexed till he felt the bolt give and slip back. Pushing the door open before it clicked shut again, he held it open for Minty to enter.
Smiling faintly at Minty’s raised eyebrows, he shrugged. ‘My misspent youth has some uses. My parents often locked me in my room without dinner or lunch as punishment. I just busted out after they slept and ate to my heart’s content.’
A quick scan of all the rooms told them what they already knew. The house had been empty since morning. The dirty dishes were still in the sink and the unread morning paper lay casually tossed across the sofa. Leaving Minty to the kitchen and drawing room, Ryan walked into the bedroom and stared at the unmade bed. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he took in the twisted sheets and rumpled pillows. Turning the light on he proceeded to look through the room for any indication of where she could be. When his search of the room turned up nothing, he gave the sheets one last yank in frustration before turning to leave. The crackle of paper under his foot had him stopping and crouching.
Picking up the scrap of paper, his eyes traced the words.
‘I’m running into office for an important meeting. I’ll be home in a couple of hours. Knowing you only snore as loudly as you were this morning when you’re very tired, I left you to sleep it off. We need to talk. I don’t know where this is going to take us but wherever it is I hope it’s together. Call me or I’ll call you once my meeting is done.
P.S- You rocked my world, Ry’
Forcing himself to unclench his fist and stop mangling the note, Ryan tucked it into his wallet.
‘Should we call her parents or the police?’ Minty’s forlorn voice reached him through the darkness.
‘Are you sure she wouldn’t have just gone somewhere to clear her head? She has a tendency to do that if she has things on her mind.’ He’d certainly given her enough to think about. Guilt shredding his insides, he tried to think of where she might be.
‘She would answer the phone and tell me she was okay. She wouldn’t ignore my calls.’
‘You’re sure?’
‘Of course, I’m sure.’ She snapped back at him. ‘She always replies to calls and messages as promptly as possible. It’s been over six hours since I last spoke to her and she hasn’t called back or even messaged. I’m telling you something is wrong. You know her, Ryan. She wouldn’t do this.’
Thinking back to that morning’s fiasco, he winced. ‘Let’s go.’
‘Where?’ Struggling to keep up with him in her heels, Minty swore and tugged them off and threw them in the backseat of the car.
‘We’ll drive around all the spots she would normally go to and see if we can spot her there or on the road. Call Adarsh. He can take some of the places. We need to split up into two cars too. If we still don’t find her, we’ll call her parents and go to the police.’
Gripping the steering wheel, he kept his eyes peeled for any sign of Sia. He could hear Minty on the phone with Adarsh telling him to check out a few places. Blanking his mind out to all the horrific possibilities, he turned into the all night library. A quick scan of the brightly lit premises told them she wasn’t here. Leaving, they drove to the next venue, a coffee shop they often frequented even as children.
Two hours later, Minty was ready to accept defeat. Adarsh hadn’t seen any sign of her either. ‘We need to call her parents and the cops. Ryan, look at me.’ Tugging at his shirt to get him to stop his ceaseless scanning of the area, she said, ‘It’s almost midnight. We’ll check the house one last time to see if she’s come back and then we’ll call her parents.’
Ryan looked like he’d aged ten years in the last two hours. Remote as his expression was, he couldn’t mask the despair in his eyes as he took one last scan of the area before nodding.
In silence, they made their way back to the car before driving into the night again.
Chapter 24
The call came through three fruitless hours later. They’d called Sia’s parents who were now on their way and lodged a complaint at the nearest police station. Sitting in the dark of Sia’s empty house with Adarsh and Minty, Ryan jumped when Minty’s phone finally rang. Fighting the urge to yank the phone from her hand, he watched as Minty answered and listened. Swearing, Adarsh shot up and grabbed her as she paled and swayed.
‘That was the hospital. She was in an accident. She’s been unconscious and they just got around to checking her identification and tallying it with our police complaint.’ Her eyes huge, Minty pushed away from Adarsh and ran to follow Ryan who was already halfway to the door.
‘Neither of you is driving.’ Pulling the car keys from Ryan’s nerveless fingers, Adarsh moved to intercept them before they reached the car. Nudging Minty into the backseat, he shut the door and slid into the driver’s seat. Ryan sat in stone faced silence as Adarsh took directions from Minty to get to the government hospital Sia was at. They pulled into the crowded parking lot and ran through the crowd towards the information desk. Following directions, they made their way to the ward Sia was in only to be told they couldn’t go in.
The doctor who came to see them looked too young and too tired to do a halfway decent job. Ryan listened as he told them about the bus that had run a red light and crashed into the rear of Sia’s car sending it into a spin. Sia’s injuries were not as bad as expected. She’d been wearing her seat belt and her air bag deployed cushioning the impact. She had a broken rib from where the seat belt had cut into her and was quite badly bruised and battered. The main point of concern was the knock she’d taken when her head banged against the door. They’d done all they could for her. Now there was nothing left to do but wait for her to wake up.
‘We’d like to shift her to a private hospital.’ Ryan’s hoarse voice cut through the doctor’s monologue.
‘I wouldn’t advise moving her at this precise moment. Once she wakes up and we get a better gauge on her condition, we can take a call on that.’
‘Then I want her shifted to the best private room you have. I don’t want her in a general ward.’
Irritation moved across the doctor’s face as he answered, ‘I’ll see what I can do. We’re pretty full at the moment. Are any of you family?’
Shaking her head, Minty said, ‘Her parents are on their way. They should be here in a couple of hours. We’re friends.’
Clenching his jaw at the friends bit, Ryan strode off towards the hospital’s information desk. Bullying, bribing and pulling every string he’d acquired over the last six years, Ryan had the private room arranged within half an hour. He watched with his heart in his throat as the orderlies wheeled her out of the ward and to the room. Minty walked with
them holding on to Sia’s hand with a vice like grip. The bruises stood out in stark relief to her almost bloodless face. Reaching the room, they settled her in trying to make her as comfortable as possible. Minty stepped out with Adarsh to call home and check on Sia’s parents leaving Ryan alone in the room. Listening to the beeping from the machine she was hooked on to, he slowly lowered himself into the only available chair. His gaze roved over her pale, still face before settling on the reassuringly steady rise and fall of her chest. Gently taking her limp hand in his, he sat in silence counting each soft breath. He heard Minty and Adarsh enter followed shortly by a nurse who told them only one attender was allowed to stay with the patient in the room.
‘Ryan.’ Minty’s hand laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. ‘We’ll go down to the waiting area on the ground floor. Call us if there’s any change or you need anything?’
Nodding without taking his gaze from the quiet breath that tethered him to his last shred of sanity, a distant part of his mind registered the door closing behind them. In the silence that followed, Ryan brought her cold hand to his lips. Kissing it gently, he clasped it as tightly as he dared with both of his. Lowering his forehead to their joined hands, he took a moment to will his tears back.
‘I’m an idiot.’ His voice sounded startlingly loud in the quiet of the room. Trying to clear the hoarseness in his voice, he spoke again. ‘I’m an idiot who’s got his foot jammed so deep in his mouth that he can barely get his apology out. I found the note. I don’t know how I missed it this morning. I guess I couldn’t really believe that all my dreams were coming true so I reacted at the first hint that something was wrong.’ Fighting to keep his voice steady, Ryan continued. ‘I told you once that I was nothing without you and you told me I was wrong. You were right. I am something without you but with you, Sia? With you, I’m so much more. With you, I’m the person I’ve always wanted to be. Please wake up. I need you to wake up and yell at me. I need you to tell me what an ass I’ve been for the way I reacted this morning. Please wake up. Please.’ His voice broke on the last word as he finally gave in. Cradling her hand in both of his and burying his face in them, he wept his heart out. He cried for all the time they’d lost and for all the memories they could have created.
The first time he felt it, he thought he’d imagined it. The second time her fingers squeezed his, his eyes shot up to her face. Her pale face stayed as still as it had been the last hour. Just when he thought it might have been wishful thinking, her eyes fluttered open. Pain filled and dazed, she blinked as she tried to focus on him.
‘Ry?’
‘I’m right here. Right here.’ Kissing her hand again, he reached over to press the call button. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’
Moistening her dry lips with her tongue, Sia tried again. ‘Ry?’
‘Yes?’ Leaning in to hear her more clearly, Ryan braced himself against the bed.
‘You are an ass.’ The soft whisper feathered across his face. He was still grinning like an idiot when the nurse walked in.
* * *
Hours later, Ryan sat in the waiting room. Sia’s parents were in the room with her. Minty and Adarsh had finally left for home after talking to Sia and listening to endless reassurances from the doctor and nurses on the floor. He watched people parade endlessly through the doors of emergency. Through the fog that seemed to surround him he took in the sights and sounds of all the human misery around him. Blocking his mind off to the more desperate cries and moans of pain, he rolled the disposable cup of coffee Minty had given him between his palms.
Feeling a touch on his shoulder, he got to his feet to face Sia’s parents. Scanning their tired faces, he relaxed when he found no worry or tension.
‘She’s going to be absolutely fine.’ Leena’s quiet voice reassured him.
‘Great.’ Feeling a fresh burn of tears at the back his throat, Ryan blinked rapidly to dispel them. ‘I’m just going to go wait in the car until it’s time for visiting hours.’
‘That’s four hours away.’
‘I’m not leaving.’ Looking directly into Sia’s father’s knowing eyes, Ryan let his own resolution show.
‘She doesn’t want to wait four hours. She wants to see you now.’
Ryan took off at a run even before the words fully registered. Not waiting for the elevator, he took the stairs two at a time. He slowed to a more respectable pace when he made it to the corridor that led to her room.
Opening the door, he entered the room and took in the sight of Sia sitting propped up in bed. The bed had been raised to a 30 degree angle to give her enough support. Stopping a few feet away from her bed, he let the door swing shut behind him. Not sure what to do or say next, he tried to read her expression without success.
Sia felt her heart clench at the vulnerability he was trying so hard to hide. Not saying a word, she held her arms out to him. The speed with which he reached the bed and gathered her up in his arms had her laughing. The laughter died as his arms closed around her in a hug that was as gentle as it was fierce. Stroking a hand along his back, she waited for the tremors racking him to subside.
‘I love you.’ The soft whisper had him stilling. Her breath feathered through the hair at his nape as she continued. ‘I never stopped. Not for a single minute of the last six years. Not for a single second. My marriage was doomed from the beginning because I didn’t have any space in my heart for him. You were everything to me. You were never nothing.’
Pulling back to look into the warmth of her eyes, Ryan tried to speak only to have her shake her head and stop him.
‘You weren’t completely wrong this morning. I needed some time alone to think and the meeting was a convenient excuse. I used the time after you stormed out to spend a little more time thinking. I came to the conclusion that since I’d used you so heartlessly in the morning, I would really have to make an honest man of you.’
The warmth and happiness spreading through him had a slow smile spreading across his face. An answering twinkle lit up her eyes as she said, ‘So, Ryan Mathur, in the interests of preserving your reputation, would you consider marrying me?’
‘In a heartbeat.’ Pressing her hand to his thundering heart, he asked, ‘This won’t be one of those long engagements, will it?’
‘What does it matter? I don’t intend to wait till the formality of the wedding to start our married life.’
‘So we’re going to live in sin till the wedding?’ Chuckling, Ryan eased her back against the pillow. When she only tightened her embrace, he shifted to the side and stretched out next to her. Tucking her head under his chin and turning her carefully to lie against him, Ryan pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head.
‘Glorious, exciting, passionate sin. I can’t wait.’ Her drowsy voice had his smile broadening.
‘I love you.’ When she only burrowed closer at his words, he said, ‘I will never leave you again. Not in this lifetime.’
Pressing a kiss to his throat, Sia mumbled. ‘I know. It took me some time to get to that conclusion but I got there eventually.’ Running a soothing hand down her back, Ryan said ‘I can’t wait for you to see my home in Mumbai.’ A sudden flash of apprehension had him adding, ‘Unless you want to live here? Either place is fine.’
Tilting her head back, Sia smiled sweetly as she said ‘We have a lifetime to work out the details. Don’t worry. I don’t care where we live as long as you come home to me.’
Gently cradling her as she dozed lightly in his arms, Ryan knew he was already home.
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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© 2014 Shilpa Suraj
Published in India 2014 by
Harlequin India Private Limited
R - Tech Park, 13th Floor,
Off Western Express Highway
Nirlon Complex Goregoan (E)
Mumbai - 400 063
ISBN 978-93-5106-657-6
Typeset in Times New Roman 10.5/14 by
InoSoft Systems, Noida
