The Billionaire's Bride [ Rewritten]

Part 32 | Loving You is a Losing Game

I am, apparently, the most impatient man on earth.

According to my wife, anyway. And to be fair, sitting at the massive mahogany desk in my office, entirely ignoring a stack of multi-million dollar quarterly reports and calling her every ten minutes just because I wanted to see her, wasn't exactly proving her wrong.

"Just wanted to give you a status update: the pasta has arrived." I leaned back against the edge of my desk, a sheepish, thoroughly satisfied grin breaking across my face.

"I swear to God, Kartik, I'm going to kill you the second I step into that building," she scolded, though I could hear the underlying amusement vibrating through the speaker.

Hearing her threat, Arjun who walked into my cabin to drop some files, threw his head back and let out a booming laugh. "Have some patience, dude!" he yelled toward the desk.

I rolled my eyes and hurdled a couch pillow at him, signalling him to get out.

"See? Arjun agrees with me," she chimed in instantly, "I'm literally ten minutes away. You just need to-"

The words died in her throat.

A sudden screech of brakes echoed through the speaker, followed by the sharp, clattering sound of her phone tumbling off and crashing on a surface.

The smirk vanished from my face.

" Naira, what happened ?" My heart hammered against my ribs as I sprang to my feet.

" Naira! "

The line went dead.

Call back. Dial again.

My thumb practically smashed into the glass screen, hitting her contact name. I pressed the phone to my ear, my heart hammering against my ribs so violently it masked the sound of the line ringing.

Ring.

Ring.

" She's not answering," I whispered, the words barely clearing my throat, terrified out of my mind. "Arjun, she's not answering."

"Hey, look at me," Arjun said, his hands slamming down on my shoulders, forcefully anchoring me. "Take a breath. Where did she say she was? How far out?"

" Ten minutes," I breathed out, my legs already moving on instinct.

Out of the office. Out of the building.

I fumbled for my car keys, but Arjun snatched them right out of my hand.

"No," he barked, pulling me toward the passenger side. "You're in no condition to drive."

He threw himself into the driver's seat, slammed the gas, and pushed the engine to its limit as we tore out onto the main road.

For the first time the distance between her and me, felt terrifyingly far.