Page 19 of Married in Vengeance

Precious her arse, Aadhya snorted mentally. Outwardly, she just smiled and didn’t bother to contradict him. Coming from a family that lived in the public eye, she’d long since learned to guard every word that came out of her month. She couldn’t help it if her face flashed the subtitles though.

“I’ll come by your desk in fifteen minutes,” she told him as they got into the lift. “I want to discuss the structural changes to the clubhouse in Eonia.”

His smile dimmed at whatever he saw in her face. “You need to trust your team more, Aadhya. The harder you hold on to sand, the more it will slip through your fingers.”

Aadhya sighed. Technically, she was his boss. She was everyone’s boss, except for Aarush Anna. But being so much younger meant she kept ramming up against the brick wall of their indignation and righteous outrage.

“I’ll be at your desk in fifteen minutes,” she said, exiting the elevator with him. She didn’t miss the tightening of his facial features. She didn’t mean to insult the older man, but Aadhya was still reeling from a few recent professional setbacks and she wanted to make sure every last thread on every project was looped tight. If that insulted some people, then so be it.

She waved at Aarush’s startled secretary before breezing into his office and shutting the door behind her.

“Anna.”

Aarush’s head shot up at the sound of her voice, his fingers pausing mid-typing on his laptop.

“Aadhya?” Surprise saturated his voice as he rose from behind his desk and came forward. “What are you doing here? Isn’t the griha-“

“Yes, yes I know,” she cut him off irritably. “I’ll be there for it on time. What’s the point of a griha pravesh anyway. I’m already living in the damn house. I’m already praveshed.”

Aarush leaned against his desk, his hands in his pockets, watching her pace in front of him.

“I took a cab to get here,” she announced.

“A cab?” Aarush looked at her like she’d announced her arrival by space shuttle. Their circle didn’t normally do cabs, so she understood his reaction.

“Anyway.” Aadhya swung her arms in the air. “That’s why I am here.”

“Whyareyou here?”

“I want my car.” It was the first thing that came to mind. “Can you have one of the drivers drop it off for me?”

“Of course,” Aarush said immediately. “I’ll have it done.”

“It’s not that they don’t have a million cars I can use,” she added defensively. “But I want my own.”

“Okay.”

“And, and-“ She glanced wildly around the room. “I’ll be back at work from tomorrow. There’s no honeymoon or anything to bother about.”

“Okay.”

“I’m going to review the Eonia clubhouse drawings now. I’ll send you the revised ones by EOD tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” she repeated, her chest heaving with short, hard breaths. “I’ll go now then.”

“Alright.” Aarush watched her, a thoughtful, worried look on his face.

“I’ll go get praveshed after that.” Fury draining out of her, she stumbled towards the door, feeling a little lost and a lot sadder than she’d expected to the day after her wedding.

“Aadhya?” Her brother walked over to where she stood, by the door, and pulled her into a hug.

She clung to him, a few stray tears escaping her and wetting the front of his suit.

“What’s wrong?” Aarush asked, pushing her rowdy hair out of her wet, tear-stained face.

You know why.

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