Page 37 of The Secret She Kept in Bollywood

“Is she okay?”

“She’s been better,” he said, and Anya could have hugged him for telling her the truth. “But she will bounce back.”

She nodded. “I want to touch you.”

He knew what she was asking. The weary look in his eyes was replaced by warm appreciation. “You don’t ever have to ask.”

Anya threw her arms around him and hugged him so hard that she could feel his heart thundering away against hers. It was selfish to think of their relationship in the midst of the heap of hurt Meera was facing but she’d been terrified that he’d push her away. That he’d blame her in some kind of convoluted way. For a moment, she’d forgotten that Simon wasn’t that kind of man. “I’m so sorry this happened.”

He pressed a kiss to her temple, his own arms tight bands around her. “You’re the last person who should apologize. You’ve been trying to warn Meera and me both that something like this would happen. This is all my fault.”

There was such anger in his voice that Anya jerked her head back to look at him.

A thread of fear wound through her heart. “You might not like hearing this but I’m going to say it anyway.”

To her surprise, he laughed. A serrated sound that half vibrated with anger. At himself, she knew. He clasped her cheek roughly before he said, “Don’t ever change, Angel.”

Her heart kicked against her rib cage. At the emotion in those words. At the tenderness in his eyes.

“Tell me,” he said, releasing her.

“Rani was so adored by fans and the industry alike that with even a whiff of this news existing somewhere in someone’s mind, it was bound to come out.”

“So you’re saying I messed this up too.”

“Did you know she was making a comeback?”

“Yes,” Simon said, biting the single word out. “I knew that she had signed with someone but not who. It was her exit plan from our marriage.”

The flat tone of his words said more than the words themselves. “Is that what you...fought about?”

A bitter smile twisted his mouth as he held Anya’s gaze in a challenge. “You think I’m such a small man as to begrudge her her career?”

Anya’s heart ached at the pain etched into his features. “No. I’m just...trying to understand.”

Understand you, and what hold your marriage and Rani still have on you...why you look so tormented by this.

But she said none of those things.

“God, I made mistakes enough,” he said, his gaze distant, “but I never stood in the path of her career. Not even when it ruined her mental health. We just never got a chance to tell Meera before the accident happened. She wanted all the logistics in place first. She was looking at schools, interviewing nannies... Rani intended to use the movie shoot as the first phase of our separation. She was determined that none of the upheaval would hurt Meera in any way. Whatever was happening in her mind, in her own life, she was a good mother to Meera.”

“So you didn’t know she’d signed with Raawal House, specifically?”

“No. Nor did she do me the courtesy of telling me that she was considering a comeback before she signed. Our relationship had already...fallen apart when she told me her news. After the fact. I just didn’t believe it at first... I was so angry.”

For her leaving him?

Had he still loved her when she’d left him?

No, from the first moment, all she’d heard in his voice was guilt. And he was too honorable to play with her if he still loved Rani.

Anya touched her fingers to his arm, gently shaking him out of his reverie. “Then it was bound to get out, Simon. At least now we can look at it this way—the worst is over. If we can just get Meera through this...they can never do anything more to damage Rani’s memory for her.”

He rubbed a thumb against her cheek. “God, what did I do to deserve you in my life?”

“I’d like to think we both deserve each other,” she said, other words fluttering on her lips. “Not in the usual horrible way it’s meant. In a good way.”

His smile widened. “I got that.” He exhaled harshly. “Meera wants to see you. Will you talk to her?”

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