To her shock, he resolutely shook his head. ‘That’s not my call to make, Dadi. My wife will decide for herself where she wants to make her place in this world and I’ll support her.’
Kartik set his glass down, interrupting them. He mustered a proud smile and said, ‘Siya has come a long way from being a naive intern at the company, that’s for sure, but I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves. One successful venture doesn’t make her the next big thing.’
Mihit said, ‘Perhaps, then, the time has come for you to step down and hand over the directorial reins to Siya so she can show her true potential. She certainly seems ready.’
Kartik dismissed the suggestion with a casual wave of his hand. ‘Siya is ready, I agree, but unfortunately it’s not in the cards for her.’
It took a moment for Siya to decipher the meaning behind his words. The table had gone still. The only sound was a spoon clinking against the crockery as Sharda continued eating, unaffected.
‘What?’ Siya asked, hoping she misunderstood him.
‘The only way I can give you the reins of this empire is if you give us a male heir, but…’ he trailed off, and she couldn’t figure out which point to focus on.
Sharda finished his sentence. ‘Some things are never meant to happen,’ she remarked, certainty echoing in her voice.
Siya felt her world tilt sideways. Her pulse thrummed so loud it felt like others might hear it. Her fingers trembled around the napkin as she turned to face her father. ‘What are you talking about, Dad?’
‘You always were slow,’ Sharda taunted, her eyes glinting with satisfaction at her cruel hit. ‘The accident that killed your mother left you barren. You can’t have kids.’
Chapter 25
There was a sudden drop in the temperature and she couldn’t chase away the cold from her chest. Neena gasped softly, and Mihit looked wide-eyed at them. Abhay had gone absolutely still beside her. He was gripping the wine glass so hard, it looked like he intended to crush it.
‘What… what are you saying, Dadi?’
Kartik leaned back, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. ‘After your mother’s accident, you suffered blunt force trauma that led to some uterine damage. The doctor warned us you will not be able to conceive in the future.’
It felt as though someone had yanked her heart right out of her body. Her mind spun, trying to piece together memories of the accident that stole her mother from her. The fragments she could recall were fuzzy.
‘Laddoo, don’t talk about such things right now. It’s not suitable for dinner conversation,’ Sharda admonished him with a glare.
‘Are you kidding me, Dadi? You drop a bomb like that and then talk about table manners?’ Dhruv cut in.
‘And just because she suffered blunt force trauma doesn’t mean it couldn’t have healed by now. Childhood wounds have a better chance of going away,’ Neena suggested, holding Abhay’s hand on the table.
Kartik shook his head. ‘The doctor was adamant for Siya to undergo immediate surgery to reverse some damage but I was away and Amma was in Singapore with her sisters. There was no guardian here so we had to say no. She made sure to tell us that Siya will not be able to conceive naturally without it.’
‘And you still declined?’ Siya managed to ask past the lump in her throat.
He couldn’t be that indifferent, that heartless toward me… right?
Kartik shrugged, as if it were something casual like forgetting to switch off the lights.
‘Besides, we needed you to take care of the younger one,’ Sharda snapped her fingers, trying to recall. When she couldn’t, she turned to Kartik. ‘What’s her name?’
‘Kashvi,’ Kartik answered, with no hint of anger in his voice.
‘Right. What kind of name is that?’ she waved her hand once. ‘Anyway, the recovery phase of that surgery was long. What would have happened to your sister if you had stayed bedridden for months?’
Her fork clattered onto her plate as Siya exclaimed, ‘We lost Maa, but that didn’t make us orphans! Dad could have looked after Kashu, or even you!’
‘We had better things to do,’ Sharda scolded her, as if it was obvious.
A slow, high ringing built in her ears, drowning out the rest of her answer. Agony and fury tangled in her chest. The tension was so thick in the air that she could practically taste its smoky bitterness.
‘Why didn’t you tell me before? I could have done something! I could have…’ she blurted out, unable to wrap her mind around it.
Sharda folded her hands neatly in her lap. ‘What was the point in telling you? You were sedated at the time, and as a ten-year-old, you couldn’t have given consent for the surgery. And you know how I feel about these modern medicines, so I did what I had to do.’
