Page 111 of Reckless Hate

Avantika Patel’s cheeks reddened as she blushed. Ved smiled, knowing his cousin’s girlfriend was sweet and shy.

“Thank you,” she said. She looked hesitant. “Ved, do you think I was being too pushy? Maybe I should have arranged for a lunch picnic close to the campus. Maybe dinner and a sleepover at the family beach house is a bit much too much for Samantha.”

He smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Ava. She’ll come.”

But two hours later, Samantha still hadn’t reached the beach house. That’s when Ved began to worry.

He called Samantha’s phone, but it was switched off. He then called Rishab Mathur’s phone, but the other guy was out on a dinner date with someone. Samantha’s roommate, Anita Nair, was also on a date.

Where the hell did Sam go?

“Do you think she is in her apartment and had turned off her phone?” Rana’s girlfriend, Namrata asked.

Rana’s girlfriend did have a brief interaction with Samantha. And like everyone else, they knew Samantha didn’t socialize or interact much with other students.

Ved shook his head. “No. I spoke to her. She said she was starting a couple of hours ago.”

“You spoke to her?” Ava asked in surprise. “But I thought you two hated each other and didn’t get along.”

“Well, yeah. That did happen… a while ago.” He smiled when Ava turned to glare at Abhi. It was obvious that his cousin didn’t tell her about Sam and him. Abhi wasn’t the kind to gossip.

Letting out a laugh, he walked towards the beach and pulled up his phone. He then pulled up the university’s tracking software and typed in Sam’s number.

A jolt hit him when he saw that Samantha wasn’t at the campus or on her way to the beach house. The last signal of her phone was at the Simha University airport.

CHAPTER 49

Samantha’s heart thudded hard. The last harrowing hours were a complete nightmare spent in fear and worry.

As soon as the taxi stopped in front of her mother’s house, she paid the cab driver and ran inside the gates. She rang the doorbell, and it was answered after a couple of minutes by her mother.

It was well after midnight, but her mother and stepfather were awake and waiting for her. The alcohol bottles and cigarettes indicated that they had been waiting there a while.

She didn’t wait to greet them or speak with them. She ran into the nursery. Maria woke up looking confused.

“How is Sohan, Maria?”

“He is doing fine, Miss Samantha. He is sleeping.”

“Please go back to sleep. I came home to speak to my parents. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

The nanny nodded.

Shutting the door, she went out where her mother and stepfather were waiting.

“Why did you ask me to come urgently?” she demanded coldly. “And what did you mean by Sohan’s welfare depends on me keeping silent? Are you both now on drugs or have you gone mad?”

There was a flash of anger in her mother’s eyes.

“Watch your mouth!” her mother snapped, even though her voice was slightly slurred.

“No, I will not. Do you know how sick it is that you are using your own son to blackmail me to come here?”

Her mother barely looked shamefaced or regretful. She looked angry. “You made me resort to this by cozying up to that man.”

Samantha frowned. “What man?” Her heart jerked in panic, wondering if her mother and stepfather figured out that it was Ved who had beat up her stepfather.

“Aravind Roy! Your father! Why did you speak to him!”

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