The Marriage Demands (#Wattys2017)

Chapter 32

AMBER ZAID

Panting, I entered my office and quickly made way towards the desk. My heart was beating a hundred miles per second with all the fear and insecurities raging inside of me. Flopping on my leather chair, I tried to catch my breath. Not that I ran here but what I have done, it won't take long for him to wake up and realise that I had drugged him. But it needed to be done, I needed to get away from that place and come here because I've been away from this place for too long.

These past two months have been complete torture for me. I can never forgive Zac for what he put me through; he meddled in my affairs for the last time and now I'll see to it that he pays dearly for it.

Because of him, my self respect and confidence is completely shattered. I knew that I made a mistake by marrying that man in the first place. My addiction to cocaine was the only means for me to skip the cruel realities of this world as well as the horrible memories of my past. Now when I look at myself in the mirror, I see my old self and all that I had been trough comes crashing down in my mind and I'm reminded of my losses.

I worked so hard to forget them, but now that I'm in the clear, my brain does nothing except to remind me that I'm a failure and a loser.

Sighing, I took out my keys and opened the locked drawer; I know that I have a hidden stash in here. When my drawer flew open, my eyes immediately landed on the small pouch of white goodness.

Time to forget everything again.

Away with being sober.

************

ZAKRIYA ISLAM

I woke up with a jolt, my head spinning.

Groaning, I rubbed my temples to relieve the pain, my hand instinctively going towards my right side to check for Amber.

Then it came back to me, she drugged me!

My hands pried to my neck only to find it didn't have the chain with the keys. I jumped out of bed and ran towards the closet. As expected, I found the keys lying on the floor along with the small safe in which I had hidden Amber's wallet and car keys. My heart began to throb frantically as my mind conjured up numerous possibilities as to her whereabouts and activities.

Damn!

I shouldn't have trusted her so easily. I knew that she was smart and could easily out wit me but I never expected this. I was beginning to get furious but i needed to control my emotions and think rationally.

Ignoring my throbbing head, I put on some casual clothes and took my keys and wallet. Calling Haleema, I raced towards the main door.

"Asalam alaikum, Bhai,"

"Haleema, Amber escaped!" I said almost breathlessly.

"What?!" She almost shrieked. I explained to her what happened and just like me, she couldn't believe that Amber was capable of such tactics.

"She's not at the hospital that much I know, I'll call the boutique and ask there."

I went to every possible place that thought she could be at and after hours of searching, we couldn't find her anywhere. I hadn't even noticed that it was beginning to get dark.

Where are you Amber? Please don't be doing what I'm thinking?

Sighing, I rested my forehead against the steering wheel and prayed to God that she's okay and not doing anything rash.

My cell phone began to ring with an unknown ID. Oh please let it be someone with news of my wife.

"Hello, Asalam alaikum,"