His gaze went to where she sat beside Ashish, smiling prettily at something his brother said while toying with the food on her plate. Not one bite had crossed her lips. He’d noticed.
He was a glutton for punishment, he thought, picking up his glass and taking another sip of scotch. Beside him, Kabir was asking him about his work and what he had lined up for the future.
“I’m on a month’s break, for the wedding,” Daksh said, tearing his gaze from Vedika. “After that, I have a project coming up in South Africa.”
Kabir’s eyes lit up. “It would be migration time, wouldn’t it?” He turned to Tani who was sitting on his other side, eating herbiryani like she wasn’t just eating for two but three, maybe even four.
“We should go,” Kabir told her. “Can we?” he asked Daksh over his shoulder. “You could get us up close and personal, right?”
Daksh nodded. He was pretty sure Kabir Kashyap could get up close and personal with the whole world without his help but he wasn’t going to point that out.
Tani’s spoon froze midway to her mouth. A few grains of rice fell off and landed in her plate.
“To South Africa?” she asked, looking at Kabir with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes.”
Daksh grinned, seeing the oncoming trainwreck in a way Kabir seemed to fail to.
“Daksh is going to be there and if we’re with him, we’ll get to be a part of the migration.”
“Sounds like a fabulous plan,” Tani said sarcastically. “And shall I give birth alongside the migrating elephants or would you prefer the giraffes be the child’s godparents?”
Daksh laughed, the sound exploding out of him. All around them the subtle murmur of polite conversation ceased as everyone turned to look at them. He choked back his laughter, avoiding his father’s censuring glare and reaching for his glass of water.
It was in the silence that ensued that several phones started to ring, all at once. He watched Vedika pick up her phone, frowning at it. A second later, she excused herself from the table, walking out on to their large balcony to take the call. A bare breath later,her father did the same. Her mother, clearly sensing something was wrong, followed closely on his heels.
But while the rest of the family was staring at them, Daksh was watching his brother. Ashish was staring at his phone like it was a snake rearing back to bite him.
“What is it?” he asked, keeping his voice low enough to be heard only by Ashish. His brother didn’t bother answering him as he rose from the table. He was mid-rise when Vedika and her father stepped back into the room. One look at their faces and Daksh knew the shit had hit the fan.
“Why Ash?” Vedika asked, her voice remarkably calm and steady for whatever drama was exploding. “Why did you do it?”
“I, um, I d-d-don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ashish stuttered.
Daksh shut his eyes briefly, mentally groaning. For all his flaws, Ashish had never been an idiot. He was the family genius, after all. But then Daksh had set the intelligence bar so low, any idiot could have done the limbo under it and emerged a prodigy.
“Don’t lie to me,” she said, her voice going cold even as her eyes sparked fire. “Not anymore. I know. I have a full report on the whole story. Your story.”
“Let’s stop talking in riddles, shall we?” Prasun Mathur’s irate voice cut through the conversation. “What do you know?”
“Your son brought me the Banlay project.”
“We are aware of that,” Daksh’s father interrupted testily. “It was going to bring several hundreds of crores to your company.”
“I suggest you don’t interrupt my daughter again.” Aakash Thakkar’s voice was steel wrapped in silk, a lethal blade. His words were anything but a suggestion.
Prasun fell silent, worry replacing irritation on his face as he glanced at Ashish and clocked the deathly white pallor of his face. He might have wanted Aakash Thakkar for a relative but he certainly didn’t want him for an enemy.
“Several hundreds of crores yes,” Vedika said now, stepping closer to where Ashish stood, motionless. “And how many of those crores were meant to go into your account, Ash?”
“Nothing…” he said, his voice a bare whisper. And then he closed his eyes, shame flushing his otherwise pale cheeks. “Yet.”
“You deleted the NDA to stall the deal,” Vedika said now. “How?”
“I know you have trouble remembering passwords so you have them saved on your phone. You left the phone unlocked once. It was easy enough to get to it.”
Vedika frowned for a moment before fresh betrayal spilled over her cheeks, bringing an angry flush to it. “The night you proposed to me.”
