Page 29 of The Surprise Bollywood Baby

But Zara didn’t have the energy to fight with him right now. More important, she didn’t want to lose the chance to be with him, for however brief a time. Maybe she’d always be a coward, then.

Tugged as if by some rope, Zara found herself caught in his gaze. This close, she could see two days’ worth of beard on his cheek. The tiredness in his gaze. The deep grooves around his mouth.

“You look exhausted,” she said, reaching out with a finger toward the line of his jaw.

“So do you, Zara. I’ve been a beast to you, haven’t I?”

“You mean, you’ve treated me like you’d treat any other actress, demanding impossible standards of achievement so that I can pull off the performance of a lifetime in your film? Yes.”

He laughed.

She pulled away as soon as the pad of her finger touched his skin. But he caught her wrist and pressed his face into her palm and something burst open wide in her chest. Some feeling she couldn’t cage anymore.

Take the risk, Zara. Ask for what you demand from life. From him, a voice whispered in her head, and Zara took the plunge.

“I came by the other night to talk to you. There was a woman laughing inside your suite. Vikram told me he saw you sneak the minister’s wife out early the next morning.”

His expression didn’t change at all. He looked just as unfazed. “Ah...so that’s why Naina’s been working so hard to keep Bhai away from me. He wants to have a go at me because he’s worried I’m a cheating bastard who doesn’t deserve you.”

“Everything’s a game to you, isn’t it?”

“And here I thought you were the only woman who understood my tormented soul,shahzadi.”

He looked down and Zara knew he saw the wet sheen in her eyes. But she didn’t give a damn anymore. Pretending like she wasn’t affected by what he did had always been simply a sop to her ego. A pretense. But she was tired of acting as if he didn’t matter to her.

Only a quiet stillness in his body betrayed his tension at her expression. He bent forward and his nose pressed into the crook of her neck and Zara felt electrified by the touch. “I’d rather see you punch my lights out than cry because of me. I’m not worth your tears, Zara.”

“No man is worth my tears. I’ve always tried to tell myself that.”

“That’s my Queen, then.”

Zara took in a rough breath and closed her eyes.

She opened them to find him caging her body with his broad one. Her breath was filled with the scent of him, infusing every little corner. Her fingers crawled into his hair and she tugged roughly, wanting him closer, needing to burrow into him. It was a strange thing that she’d seek comfort from him, when he could become the very thing that might truly break her.

“Why was she in your room, Virat?”

“She was scared. I’ve been doing a docuseries on powerful men and all the abuse they heap on women under their very protection. My supposed affair with her was nothing but a cover for our frequent meetings. She gives me information on the various women in his life he exerts that power over and I provide her with a much-needed dose of courage and motivation to leave the man.”

“A docuseries? Against powerful men?” Fear was an acidic thing in her throat.

“Hmm. So far, I have a high court judge and the minister.”

“And you plan to do what? Expose these men?”

He shrugged. “Something like that. She’s in a fragile place right now. I told her you’ll reach out to her. I know it’s an imposition but if you can take her under your wing and help her understand that her life is only beginning...”

Zara tucked her fingers under his chin and tilted it up, to look into his eyes. “Not even Vikram knows what you’re really up to, does he?”

“Bhai has enough on his plate without me becoming another liability. This project will be under my own banner. Not Raawal House’s.”

“Because you think he wouldn’t approve?”

He smiled then, a soft light awakening in his eyes. “Because it’s a risk. In many ways. Bhai has earned the freedom to not have to deal with any more problems created by the rest of us.”

“But you trust me enough to look after this girl?” Zara asked, hope fluttering like a persistently stubborn thing in her chest.

“Why wouldn’t I? You’re clearly experienced and interested in helping out these women.”

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