Page 10 of Reckless Hate

Clearing her mind of any other thoughts, she focused on the task at hand. The soft material moved smoothly through the machine. She had been stitching since her childhood and could finish making a simple accessory within a few minutes.

Keeping it aside to use later in the day, she checked her personal email on her laptop. She was hoping to get more information from the lawyer she had hired a month ago.

There was no update from the lawyer, but there was yet another email. It was from her father.

Her fingers once again trembled, and she wanted to send the email directly to the trash folder, but she couldn’t. She clicked on it.

My Dear Sam.

I hope you had a great first day at Simha University. I know you will love it there and will excel at everything that you choose.

Hoping to talk to you soon and very proud of you.

Love,

Papa

It was a short email, but it caused havoc inside her heart. Anger filled her reading the email. The tone of it was as though it was written by a doting father rather than the man who had completely cut her off from his life after the divorce.

She clicked on the delete button, sending the email to where it belonged in the trash folder.

Taking a deep breath, she once again ignored the painful tug in her heart the memories invoked. Her eyes fell on the suitcase that was the only one left unpacked. It contained photo albums and knickknacks of her childhood.

She should have burned those a long time ago. Many times, she almost did, but she kept them as a reminder of what would happen if she trusted and loved someone.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her laptop and looked outside the balcony. The sun began to rise. Normally, she would go to the gym, but that day, staying stuck in an enclosed space with other students didn’t appeal to her.

She changed into her running clothes and set out for a long run. She put on her earphones so that no one would disturb her or try to talk to her.

But neither the thumping music nor the run cleared her mind. Disturbing and distracting thoughts continued to fill her mind.

She was still quite distracted when she went into her apartment and freshened up before going to one of the cafeterias to grab breakfast. She was about to enter the omelet area when someone suddenly came in her way. She tried to stop, but her momentum made her crash against the rock-hard chest of a guy.

She stumbled. The guy’s arms reached out to steady her, but before he could touch her, she took a step back.

The guy was tall, and she had to raise her head to look at him.

Her eyes clashed with the dark eyes on a devastatingly handsome face with chiseled features.

His mouth twisted slowly, flashing a set of dimples. “There are many ways to catch my attention, sweetheart,” he said in a deep, rumbling voice. “But pretending not to watch where you are going is the most unimaginative one.”

He was standing with a big group that included both girls and boys. And all the girls in that group giggled at his remark as though it was the wittiest thing.

She looked at him. “I wasn’t pretending,” she replied. She gave him an exaggerated sweeping glance. “And there doesn’t seem to be anything worth looking at in front of me.”

There were gasps from the girls in the group at her soft insult.

“How dare you insult Ved!” an outraged girl snapped. “Who the hell do you think you are!”

“She is the new transfer student from France,” a guy replied.

“Her name is Samantha Roy. The one we were talking about yesterday.”

Samantha ignored the conversation while her eyes remained locked on the handsome, chiseled face.

The smirk remained on the guy’s perfect face even though his eyes burned intensely. “A transfer student,” he repeated in a deep, mocking voice. “How very interesting.”

A chill passed through her as his smirk turned into a dark smile. Even his dimples couldn’t take away the dark intensity.

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