Kartik laughed in his face. ‘I’m not your father. I’m the man your bitch of a mother dumped you on when she realised she couldn’t keep the bad omen born out of an affair without ruining her own life.’
His lungs burned as he held his breath. Dhruv couldn’t move. ‘You never told me that,’ he whispered, his voice barely audible.
He’d spent years begging Kartik to reveal the smallest information about his mother and he’d just casually thrown it at him as an insult. It hurt more than the slap.
‘Why would I?’ Kartik snapped. ‘You think I want to talk to you, to raise you? You were nothing but a nuisance from the start. Needy, clingy, desperate for attention. You still are.’
‘I’ve done everything you’ve asked,’ Dhruv spat, sharp and unfiltered, words finally cracking through his restraint. ‘I made every back-channel deal so you wouldn’t get your hands dirty, and stayed silent when you demanded it. I did it all for you! Even this time, all Siya and I did was protect our family legacy.’
‘I’ll deal with Siya. It’s time to knock her down from the cloud she’s been living on. And you? What would a stray, discarded boy know about family legacy?’
Dhruv flinched. ‘Don’t call me that.’
‘That’s what you are. You’re a stray I had to pick up because I had no choice. I should’ve just left you to rot in that orphanage. It would’ve saved us both the trouble.’
Something in his chest fractured with such ferocity that it almost made a sound. ‘How could you say that, Dad? I’ve tried harder than anyone else to prove I belong.’
‘Yet you still failed, because that’s all you are. A fucking failure,’ Kartik replied immediately, certainly.
He turned around and walked out of the room as if he hadn’t just cut someone open and left him bleeding dry.
For a second, Dhruv wondered if time had actually stopped, or if it just felt that way because something in him had gone utterly, irreversibly silent. There was nowhere left for him to go.
With a broken heart, he realised that he was truly and completely alone.
Chapter 20
The lights inside the Excelsior suite had been dimmed to a honeyed glow. Outside, the city lights blinked in a blur beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. Siya stood in front of the full-length mirror of the vanity, applying a final touch-up.
The bodycon gown of a deep, decadent sapphire blue hugged her curves like it had been poured onto her body. The sculpted bodice traced the line of her collarbones, cinched waist studded with black glittering beads, before flowing down into a pool of satin around her heels.
Two stubborn curls had escaped from her twisted updo and framed her face. Her makeup was minimal, just the way she liked it, with just a hint of warmth on her cheeks, only a ruby sheen on her lips, and her eyes framed in kohl-lined precision.
She inhaled slowly, pressing her fingertips against the engraved wooden border to steady herself, then met her brown eyes and exhaled. She was ready to face the cameras.
Her phone buzzed once with a message from Abhay saying he was on his way up to her hotel room, and just like that, all the nerves she’d painstakingly gathered scattered into pieces.
A soft knock came at the door, and her pulse picked up pace.
To prepare for the event, Siya had stayed at the hotel for the last two days. She hadn’t seen him in forty-eight hours and it had been harder than she cared to admit.
She opened the door and found him waiting there with a bouquet of orchids. His gaze moved over her slowly, like he was committing every detail to memory.
Siya took that time to study him, because there was no way to resist his allure. Abhay wore a dark navy tuxedo with the faintest sheen, the jacket fitted to his frame with tailored precision. The collar of his crisp white shirt peeked out from underneath the lapel. His bow tie was perfectly knotted, and the faintest shadow of stubble lined his jaw. But what struck her speechless were his cufflinks. Their initials “A” and “S” were studded with little diamonds on the onyx black matte surface.
Abhay let out a breath and said, ‘You don’t play fair.’
Siya dragged her gaze from their initials and asked, ‘What?’
He stepped in, letting the door swing shut behind him. He crossed the small distance between them and grazed his thumb along her jawline. He said, low and husky, ‘That dress is going to ruin me.’
‘Bit dramatic, don’t you think?’ she managed to ask.
His eyes didn’t leave hers as he reached out, his fingers brushing her cheek as he tucked one loose curl gently behind her ear. ‘You underestimate your effect on me, jaan. Seeing you like this and not ripping that dress off with my teeth is torture.’
Her throat dried up as she imagined him doing just that. She swallowed, not trusting herself to speak. Her heart thundered in a way that had nothing to do with nerves and everything to do with the way he was looking at her.
‘If you keep looking at me like that,’ he said, eyes flicking over her lips briefly, ‘I’m going to lose the battle inside my headand slam you against the nearest surface and kiss you until you forget your name.’
