“Then why did you marry him?” His voice cracks, the hurt unmistakable.
“Because I had no choice,” I admit, my voice trembling despite every effort to stay composed. “After the Veer incident… Dev blackmailed me using Sonia.” My throat tightens, and I force the words out, the truth scraping my throat raw as he listens, his jaw tight, his eyes dark with a mix of pain and anger he’s trying so hard to keep in check. And when I finally finish, when there’s nothing left to hide, I whisper, “I never wanted this with him. Never. But I didn’t have a choice. Please… please don’t hate me.”
He doesn’t waste a second. His hands close around mine, his thumbs brushing over my knuckles as his eyes lock onto mine. “Meera, I could never hate you. Never.”
“My parents do,” I whisper, my composure breaking.
“I’ll talk to them. I’ll explain everything. You’re not alone.” His grip tightens. “I am here. I will not let him or anyone hurt you.”
I nod, my hands trembling in his grip.
“You don’t have to stay in that marriage, Meera. We’ll try and get the divorce,” he says.
“No. Samarth, I don’t want a divorce,” I blurt it out too fast, and Samarth’s brows shoot up in surprise.
I swallow hard, forcing my voice to steady as I continue, “I mean… not yet. Not until I destroy them. I’ve been given a chance to watch them closely… to find their weak link and tear them apart. I won’t let this opportunity slip.” I tell him half the truth. The other half I keep buried inside me. The part where I know Dev won’t let me go easily. Where I know he’ll hurt thepeople I love before he signs the divorce papers. And I can’t risk even a trace of that possibility.
He cups my face gently, his thumbs brushing away the tears gathering on my cheeks. “It’s risky, Meera.”
“I know.” I inhale shakily. “But I also know I have you with me. And with you by my side, I can face anything.”
“That’s true,” he murmurs, leaning in to press a soft, reassuring kiss to my forehead. His hands slide down to hold my arms. “What matters now is our next step—what we do, how we move forward, how we protect you.” His eyes lock onto mine, fierce and soft all at once. “But before anything else, you have to promise me you’ll never hide anything from me again, no matter how hard it is, no matter how terrifying it is. We face everything together. Deal?”
I nod, tears spilling freely now. “Deal. I… I promise.”
And for the first time since marrying the devil, a genuine smile finally finds its way to my lips. Small, shaky, but real.
Chapter 14
Dev
Loosening my tie, I walk towards my room, every muscle in my shoulders knotted from the long, grinding day. Locking down the new location for our expansion was one thing; shutting the cops up about the drug lead they had on us had been another. But in the end, both were dealt with.
Now all I want is a shower and, more importantly, a glimpse of my wife. But the moment I open my bedroom door, my mood sours.
Esha is sitting on the edge of my bed in a barely-there black dress, clearly trying to be seductive, but it does absolutely nothing for me.
“Hi, Dev,” she purrs.
Great. Looks like I am not done entertaining bullshit tonight.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I snap, moving past her towards my wardrobe.
But she grabs my wrist and pulls me down onto the bed beside her.
“What is this rude behaviour? I missed you so much,” she whines, sliding closer, her overpowering perfume sending my irritation to the edge.
“Esha, I am tired, and I am in zero mood for your crap,” I say, yanking my hand free from her grip.
Esha and I met three years ago on a business trip to Australia, where she’d been out partying with a friend. Since then, we’ve hooked up and had our fun. But even with us being the same age, sharing the same obscenely rich backgrounds, and the same belief that relationships are overrated and sex is nothing more than a release, she never became anything more than that. Neither interesting nor impressive. And certainly not worth a second thought.
“You’ve become boring after marriage, you know that?” she drawls, her fingers tracing over my shirt. “How about we have some fun, for old times’ sake?”
“I don’t do old times, Esha,” I reply.
Right at that moment, the door opens, and my head turns to see Meera.
She freezes, her gaze taking in the scene. I don’t even get a chance to open my mouth to explain or push Esha’s hands off me, because Esha deliberately pulls back her hands and smirks at Meera.
