Page 36 of Twisted Deceit
She was still unable to digest how persistent he was and how outraged he was when he was outbid. Was there a more significant motivation than what he shared about bringing his family together?
Why couldn’t he tell her?
If it was not something he could not tell her, it had to be questionable. Annoyed that he left her by herself, she decided to have some fun of her own.
Wasn’t he going to buy her a gift anyway?
The next item seemed like a perfect gift for a wife from her husband on their honeymoon. “Let’s get this started!”
Chapter 15
Shortly after, Aadhya was ecstatic that she won the auction and enjoyed doing it. She loved playing with the bidding system and outbidding the other auctioneer by a fraction of a point. She had watched Nakul bid and learned how to use the system. Annoyed that she was left all by herself by her secretive husband, she had no other option to manage her annoyance. She let out a victorious laugh as she looked at the screen that lit up as if in congratulations for her win.
“Show me my surprise,” she said, tapping her fingers on the glass wall as the large velvet box opened. The box opened, and her eyes widened when she saw the jewelry sparkle under the light. She had no idea what she was bidding on other than the fact that it was gold jewelry.
Her jaw dropped when she saw a beautiful pair of earrings, a multi-layered necklace, and a matching bracelet. The stones on the jewelry shone like they were a source of light, and she held onto the screen for support as she took in the beauty of the items.
A robotic man’s voice congratulated her using her code name for the win and moved on to the next item. She watched as the box on the stage closed and was sealed again to be delivered to her, and a beeping noise started on the screen. She looked at that screen and saw a camera tracking the item as it moved on what looked like a conveyor to be delivered somewhere.
As she watched the screen, her eyes fell on a universally well-recognized symbol. The symbol of the US dollar and what followed after was what made her gasp. She saw the number two and the long line of zeros that followed it.
She started to shake outwardly when she processed the value of the number flashed on the screen before her. “What the heck!”
Just as she processed what had happened, the door opened, and her husband stepped in. She looked at him, fearing the unknown. She had spent millions on a jewelry set and didn’t even need it. Out of spite, she started bidding but was carried away when the bidding got aggressive, and she wanted a distraction from being angry about her husband leaving her alone after accusing her of seducing him.
“What is that?” His voice made a sting of fear and guilt rumble through her.
She had no way out of the situation but to be a bullhead. “Something I liked. I knew my husband would want me to have.” She managed to hold a smile as she turned to look at him. “I like my surprise very much.”
She watched as he held her gaze for a long moment. “Good. Time to go.”
He turned away from her to hold the door open for her and she sighed in relief. She was glad she didn’t have to exercise her taunt about him being unable to afford a gift for his wife. It was the backup plan if he had objected to her spending all that moment on a piece of medieval jewelry.
She was a bit taken aback he didn’t say anything. Even her aunt would yell at her for spending so much money on a jewelry set.
Aadhya told herself not to act so foolishly the next time she was agitated.
*****
Later that night, Nakul stood on the balcony off their suite's living room, looking into the water. The moonlight reflected off the serene lake, which did not calm Nakul. He felt agitated, and it was for more than one reason. The biggest was the woman who was fast asleep in the bedroom upstairs, oblivious of her effect on him.
“Fuck!” he ran his fingers through his thick hair, unable to break out of the replay of the image of her as he ripped off the sexy dress, earlier that day. The way her cheeks turned red from embarrassment and her smooth, velvety skin glowed in the light, was the most beautiful sight he had seen. There was no need for him to pull the dress off of her to tell her it was not appropriate and yet he did.
To top that off, his contract wife had purchased an exotic necklace that he wanted her to see wear—only the chain and nothing else. “Stop,” he warned, his fingers fisting tightly.
Any amount of warning was no good. Not after she plastered her pillow lips against his, and all he could think of was lifting up her body-hugging dress and taking her right there.
She was playing him, and it was working. His contract wife was stunning and didn’t need to seduce him; she merely had to look his way, and she had him hard as a rock. And just at the memory of how stunning and elegant she looked earlier that evening, he was craving what he shouldn’t be again.
His phone buzzing pulled him out of his desire-driven thoughts, and he saw his brothers were calling him. Shaking away all thoughts of his wife, he answered the call. He had called them a few hours ago but could not talk to either. They were both working with a clan in the western region of Singoor.
“Hey, Rishab and Shivay, how did the clan meeting go?” Nakul smiled as he spoke to his older brother, barely a year older than him.
“Not too bad. We still have clans refusing to talk to us because of the curse.” Rishab sighed.
Nakul looked up at the sky, realizing how challenging it had been for him and his brothers to connect with the clans. After the untimely deaths of the heirs over the past two decades, the clans were scared to talk to other clans. All the deaths followed the efforts to bring the clans back together and they didn’t want to risk it.
“I wish we could tell them about what we found about the Kanwar heir’s death and tell them it was no fire accident.” Nakul’s investigative team had assessed the location where the ritual was being performed over the past week. It didn’t take them long to rule out any possibility of a small ceremonial fire from becoming widespread. They confirmed that a highly combustible material had to be involved and implied that others had to be present to stage the accident.
