Vikram parked his AUDI RS7 in the basement and then went towards Akira's side to open the door.

"C' mon Vikram, don't pamper me so much. People will think I am taking undue advantage of you", Akira said and raised her eyebrows up, trying to show her contempt.

"I don't mind. You can take as much advantage of me as you want", Vikram said with a smile on his face and closed the door behind her as she came out.

While they were walking towards the lift he noticed the new locket in her neck.

Akira was never a big fan of jewelry and except for important occasions, she never wore any, so he was surprised to see her wearing a pendant to office.

"That's new I assume?", Vikram asked, pointing at the pendant.

"Oh Yeah !!! Technically not new it's his mother's. He gave it to me when I left, kind of like a farewell gift. Something to remember him by sort of", Akira said and then held the pendant in her hand for a moment and then smiled looking up at Vikram and said.

"Don't worry, I will not cling on to it like all those pathetic Girlfriends do on TV soaps. I know I have to move and I am moving on. Moving on with you", Akira stressed on last part and then held Vikram's hand and said,

"Thanks for being YOU. I don't know what I would do without you".

But before she could say anything more, he pulled her close and hugged her tight and whispered,

"Don't worry Akira. All this will be over pretty soon. I promise to you".

"I know", she said and sighed because deep down she was feeling extremely guilty for keeping him in the dark. But little did she know what all darkness was lurking behind.

---

Raymond called up David,

"Hello, David. It's me"

"Hello, Mr. Raymond"

"I think it's high time now. I can't let the water run above my heads anymore. It's time to switch from the pawn steps. I can't stretch it any further".

"So what's your plan?", David asked eagerly.

"Well, I need a small restaurant or coffee shop where we can capture all the audio and video needed as proof. I need to call the bait there. Can you arrange for any such coffee shop?", Raymond asked.

"Well, my school friend has a coffee shop near your house, Cafe Peppermint. I can make some calls if that's ok for you?", David asked.

"Perfect !!! Go ahead", Raymond said and then disconnected the call.

It was now time to call Scarlett.

.

.

On the first ring itself, she picked up her phone.

"Hello !!!", Raymond said and his voice sounded all cold and distant.

"Oh My God !!! I thought you will never call me. What is wrong with you Raymond? You don't return my calls. Don't even reply to text messages. I tried coming to your house too but you have changed the passkey. I mean why are you stressing me out so much?", Scarlett ranted non-stop.

"I was pre-occupied with my new project work. I wanted some time alone with myself to sort out what I want in my life", Raymond told calmly.

"That's ok Raymond, but at this stage of pregnancy, stress isn't good for the baby or me and you know that right?", Scarlett said softly but her tone was more like a reprimand.

Raymond took deep breaths to calm himself down and then said,

"You were right about Akira. She wasn't right for me. I guess she was with me just to give a foundation to her career and when she got a better opportunity, she just took off", Raymond said and sighed.

Scarlett beamed immediately to hear him talking about her in such a dejected tone. She knew it was to happen, but she didn't expect Akira to do it so smoothly that Raymond would be left with nothing but hatred against her.

"Leave her Raymond, there are so many important things to think upon right now. The baby needs the love of his daddy".

"I know. I need to sort things out. I don't like the way things are between us. So can we meet and discuss about it all in private? There is a coffee shop near my house - Cafe Peppermint. I will see you there around 2 pm?", Raymond asked.

"Why a cafe Raymond? Why not at your house? Our house?", Scarlett asked.

"Actually I don't want you to come here when all her things might be lying inside. I need to throw away all her stuff and probably then only I would like you to enter the house again. I threw you out of my house, so at least when I bring you back, I want to bring you back properly. That's the least I can do for you and my baby". Raymond said.

The evilness inside Scarlett couldn't stop laughing when she heard him say all those things.

"Oh Boy !!! You have fallen for me again!!!", she thought in her head and smirked.

"I would love that Raymond. Then see you at 2 pm".

"See you", Raymond said and kept the call.

His entire body was repelled with the lies that she spoke. He couldn't believe that he had spent years after years taking care of her. He couldn't believe why he was even with her before in the first place. This was the girl for whom he had fought against her mother and sister, just so that he could be with her. So when he thought about it all, he felt like he was at a loss of words or reasons to justify his past behavior.

He took a deep breath and then texted David,

"Scarlett is coming at 2 pm. Need to arrange a reason for Dr. Brooks" - Raymond

"I am on it. Give me 10-15 minutes" - David

"Ok" - Raymond

Now that he had some time, he decided to put on the headset to listen to what his girl was up to.

He heard her in an orientation meeting, where she was being briefed about all the company policies. He kept listening for 2-3 minutes but then took out his headset to reflect upon his plan.

After a couple of minutes when David was done, he sent a video attachment to Raymond.

Raymond opened it on his phone and after seeing it a smile curled on his lips.

"Perfect !!!", he mumbled.

Then he logged onto his system and masked his IP address and routed himself via multiple servers and sent the attachment to Dr. Brook's personal email address and hoped against hope that she saw it in time.

It was hardly 15 minutes and he got a reply from her,

"Dear Sender,

I agree with all the terms and conditions that you have. I will do everything as you have requested, but please do not make this video public. My job, my practice everything will be at stake. I didn't do anything to harm or kill anybody. I just did it because I thought you needed it for a greater good. I thought you needed it to save your marriage but looks like I was tricked after all.

So please understand my intentions behind it. I will meet you at the cafe at 2 pm, but as promised, I need all the copies of the video to be deleted. Hope I make myself clear, else I can also release your fake medical reports and prescriptions which are still with me and destroy your career too. So double think before landing into my territory because I have laced them with landmines for you.

"Dr. Brooks"

Raymond read the message and smiled.

The trap had been set.

It was time to see the women in action !!!

Raymond then called up Katherine,

"Hey Kat !!! You busy?"

"Hey, Ray !!! No, tell me", Katherine asked.

"Where are you? At the clinic?"

"No, I took a day off. Wasn't feeling good. Probably under the weather", Katherine said.

"Oh.. I get it must be the so-called Shawn effect. What did the poor guy do to dampen you?", Raymond asked.

"Why will I be upset because of him?", Katherine retorted.

"Well, because as far as I know, he had called you last night and now you sound all grumpy and under the weather".

"Can you stop with your random probabilistic theories?", yelled Katherine

"Fine Chill. I have something to lift up your dampened spirits", Raymond said.

"What?", Katherine asked all disinterested.

Raymond took a pause and then smiled and asked her,

"Well, I am going to watch a cat-fight. Care to join?"