Daksh didn’t answer, a muscle clenching in his jaw as he watched her, his eyes stormy.
A disbelieving laugh escaped her. “Answer me,” she demanded.
Daksh looked away from her. “I can’t.”
“You and your fucking brother,” she marvelled. “There is no difference between the two of you, is there?”
Daksh shut his eyes, her words seeming to slap him in the face. Devastation flooded her as she waited for him to tell her something, anything that would make a difference. Even now, even with everything she’d just heard, she wanted to believe him. She wanted to believeinhim.
But Daksh said nothing.
“I’m such a bloody fool,” she whispered. “I-“
Pain knifed through her, a wound tearing open in her heart. She’d given this man everything, every last part of her. She’d offered herself up on a platter but, once again, the only part of her that had value was her father’s money.
“Mouse, please,” his words were laced with anguish, “you have to believe me. It’s not what you think. If you could just let me-“
“You have debts owed?” she asked, her heart bleeding in her chest.
“It’s not what you think,” he said quietly, meeting her gaze, his eyes begging her to believe him.
“Do you have debts owed?” she asked again. “Yes or no?”
“Mou-“
“Yes or no?” she screamed, the words torn from her throat.
“Yes.”
The bottom dropped out of her world. “Well,” she said hoarsely. “I suppose I should be grateful that, this time, my work at least was safe.”
Daksh said nothing.
“But I’ll give your brother credit for one thing.” A bitter laugh escaped her. “He had the decency not to fuck me before fucking me over.”
Daksh flinched.
A cold fury rode her as she walked over to where he stood. “Your brother broke my confidence, Daksh Mathur. But you, you broke my heart. I will never forgive you for what you did. I hope you rot in hell while termites feast on your dick.”
He met her eyes and in them she saw a pain that rivalled her own. Say what you will, he was a phenomenal actor, she thought. Tears blurred her eyes as she stepped away from him.
“Goodbye Daksh. I hope to never see you again.” She placed her hand on the doorknob, wrenching it open. “Tell your father that no member of the Mathur family will ever touch a single rupee of my father’s money. Vedika Thakkar is not for sale.”
CHAPTER 40
DAKSH
Rage rodehim as he got out of the cab. He stared up at the imposing façade of the beach facing bungalow that had been his childhood home. It reeked of benign neglect, genteel money, and of days of bygone glory. His family had come from money but it had been mismanaged, mishandled and in most cases just thrown away in the wake of bad choices.
Hence his father’s obsession to infiltrate the Thakkar family like a B-grade spy from a third rate movie. He wanted to marry into his safety net before the world glimpsed the decay behind the public image they projected. Unfortunately, the decay in his soul was visible even without effort.
Ashish had fucked up but his father…his father was the rot that destroyed a person from the inside out. Daksh should know. Prasun Mathur had hollowed him out a long time ago.
He input the code for the front door and entered, shutting the door behind him. The silent gloom of the house was enough to give anyone the creeps. He took the stairs two at a time, arriving on the first floor in record time. He turned right and smashed his fist into the door of the first room on that side.
He heard something fall on the other side before some cursing ensued. A moment later, his brother opened the door, bleary eyed and hungover.
“Let’s go,” Daksh said tersely, grabbing Ashish by the collar of his grimy shirt and pulling him along.
