Page 14 of Forged By Fate

I stiffened in anger as I read the whole article. It mentioned that Sunaina had been seen cosying up to a strange man, and there were references to a Reddit thread. I clicked on that and was horrified to find the details of our marriage laid out for everyone to read.

My temples began to throb as I read the whole thread before I handed the phone back to Sufi, who went pale when I showed him the thread.

“This is our personal life, Sufi.How the fuck did it land up on the internet?” I yelled.

“Language,” scolded Aisha. “You’ve been dropping f-bombs all morning, Chachu.”

“Sorry, baby. But this situation calls for f-bombs,” I said apologetically.

“What’s going on, Viren?” asked Sunaina worriedly.

“Someone posted the details of our life on Reddit last night. This article about your night out tracks back to the thread that says…” I choked over the words because I didn’t want to discuss this in front of Aisha.

“Aisha beta, this talk is for adults only,” said Daima, hustling her out of the room hastily.

I could hear Aisha’s protests as Daima forced her to go ride her bike in the garden. I waited for her to return before I went on.

“It says we’re married in name only. And there’s a lot of speculation about why I married Sunaiana.”

“Let them say what they like,” said Daima, with an angry snort. “Who cares about barking dogs on the internet?”

“It’s much worse, Daima,” said Sufi as he went through the comments. “They are trashing Sunaina, calling her a gold digger. Mr C, did you see this comment by the original poster that’s hidden away at the bottom of the thread? When someone asked why a billionaire would marry a nobody, the OP replied, saying they are almost positive you married her to secure Aisha’s custody.”

“How the hell would they know that? The details of our marriage contract are supposed to be secret. Do you think there could be a leak in Ranvijay’s office?” I asked.

Daima snorted again. Meaningfully. I looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t have to look so far, beta. I bet there’s a leak right here in our house,” she said furiously.

“No one living in our house would dare to say anything to the media, Daima. My staff is loyal to me.”

“And what about people who don’t live in your house?” asked Sunaina coldly. “Do you think they are bound by the same loyalty?”

“I don’t have time for riddles, Sunaina,” I snapped.

“Wise up, Mr C. The Reddit thread went up last night, and the article with my picture was released this morning. Who else could be behind it but Tahira?”

“I think she’s right. In another comment, the OP mentions that the two of you share separate bedrooms. How would anyone know that fact unless they have spent a night in our house? I’m sorry to say this, Mr C. But the source of this leak has to be either Tahira or your aunt,” added Sufi.

“Track it down, Sufi. Find out who posted this shit,” I said angrily.

If it turned out that Tahira was behind this smear campaign, I would make her sorry she ever set eyes on me. Because this shit could mess with Aisha’s adoption. If the social worker assignedto our case suspected our marriage was fake, she’d never sign off on it. And Ajit wouldn’t stop trying to get his hands on Aisha’s money until she turned eighteen. He’d keep filing for custody on some excuse or another. That was more trauma than any child should have to take.

“On it, Mr C. But you need to do some serious damage control immediately.”

“Like what?” demanded Sunaina.

“Date night,” replied Sufi. “I’ll book a table for you at the Ritz…no…wait. That looks very staged. Right! You’re going to take Sunaina for a picnic. I’ll arrange for you to be papped while you’re feeding her chocolate-dipped strawberries or something.”

“You’ve lost your mind,” said Sunaina bluntly.

“Too bad you’ll have to cancel your plans with your boy toy,” I said with savage satisfaction.

At least something good had come out of this whole mess.

“None of this would have happened if you had kept your girlfriend in line,” she hissed.

“My girlfriend?” I asked in disbelief.

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