CHAPTER 51

Melinda’s POV

‘Meet me at the Lotus Pavilion in ten minutes.’ I texted Kramen. ‘It is time to pay for your sins.’

This was it. One more rejection and all of it would be over. I had expected to feel at least some kind of relief, but all I felt was a sense of emptiness; as if my soul was stranded in the middle of the infinite universe with nowhere to go.

An inadvertent sigh left my lips, and I leaned against the backrest of the chair, my gaze landing on the small pond with large, round leaves. Keith had specially gotten this artificial pond created for me when he found out that I loved lotuses. In a couple of months, it would be summer, and the pond will bloom with flowers. Too bad I wouldn’t be there to see them.

The water sparkled with a golden glow as the ripples radiated out slowly in the soft breeze; its tranquility soothing my battered heart.

“Why did you call me here?” Kramen’s cold voice sounded behind me. “Is this your way of blackmail me or something?”

I turned around; adjus