Viktor's POV
I didn't wait to get any reaction, I stormed out immediately.
My head pounded.
That evening, the penthouse felt too big and too empty.
Every corner of the house smelt of Layla. Her scent clung to the cushions. I saw her slippers laying by the couch. I walked into the bedroom and found her scarf dropped on the chair, it felt like Layla left pieces of her everywhere to haunt me.
I got suffocated. Breathing became hard. I clenched my fists by my sides then I roared like an animal and slammed my fist to the wall. blood trickled from my knuckles but I didn't feel it.
Silence followed.
I went back into the living room and pulled bottles of whiskey and Vodka. I needed everything that could burn my throat and drown out the memories of Layla's face pressed against the cruiser window but unfortunately, it didn't work. It was even more haunting.
In my intoxicated state I was still wondering; where is she right now? Is she laying down on the cold cell floor? Is she crying? Or worse, cursing me and regretting the day she met me?
By morning, I still stayed shattered, I had no single sleep all night. My entire body was drenched with sweat.
I managed to get myself up to the office.
At the office, I met Chloe standing by my door in a parasitic manner. She held a cup of coffee and a neatly pressed suit. One that was strikingly familiar.
"Morning Mr Douglas, " she greeted me with a slick voice.
I ignored her and kept my eyes on the clothes in her hands.
"What the hell are you doing with my clothes in your hands?"
She smiled in a way I hated. "Relax... Your wife dropped them off and said you'll need them." Then she paused and slipped a folded note from her pocket and stretched it to me.
My pulse raced as I snatched it from her hands instantly...
Then I read the note : 'Stay more days if you wish'
My eyes furrowed. It looked like Layla's hand writing.
Did Layla want me gone longer? Why?
I crumpled the note. "Thank you. Now get out." I ordered with a sharp voice.
She lingered a little bit and her eyes glinted in amusement but I spared her no satisfaction of another glance.
Before she left I had already grabbed my keys . I stepped out and drove straight to the police station.
I waited with my fingers drumming impatiently on the desk as they brought Layla out.
I ignored the pain in my chest when I saw her messy hair, her red and swollen eyes which may have resulted from crying.
Layla's face crumbled the moment she set eyes on me. Tears rolled freely from her eyes.
-
Layla's POV
"Viktor!" I managed to call out with the weight in my chest, my voice cracked. I attempted to rush towards him but I was stopped by the guard.
He just sat there, stone-faced.
"Have you come to get me out?" I asked desperately.
Viktor leaned and shook his head slowly.
"No... I came to talk."
My composure failed me immediately. I began to break in even tinier bits.
I didn't know how long I had to sit there so I began to speak in a rush. I was desperate so much that it was evident in my tone. My words tumbled over one another.
"Do you really believe I did this? That I stole from you? Viktor! I thought we shared something real, something unbreakable. You didn't even think to talk to me. I'm your wife! How could you let them drag me like this? Humiliate me like this? How would I rob my own husband?!
I lost control as my voice kept rising at every question, shattering the silence of the cell.
"You couldn't even give me the benefit of doubt. I'm your fucking wife!"
"My contract wife," Viktor cut in deliberately with a voice so cold and dark. The room went still.
He leaned forward slowly as if he just finished watching a puppet show.
"That's all you are. Your kind is capable of so many things... stop acting like the victim."
My throat burned but I forced myself to meet his eyes.
"W—what?"
Viktor stood up, adjusted his sleeve. "I'm doing all I can to save my name. To protect my firm. Do you realise how bad this can go if it gets out there? You have no idea. You don't know what it means to build a firm."
He pushed his chair and walked away without looking back.
His voice echoed in my head long after he left the precinct.
Then, I realised that my life had taken a painful turn and the hope of setting a new course was far beyond the walls I was confined in.
"No one is coming to save me. There must be a way." I whispered as the guard led me back into my cell.