Chapter 22 #2
"That night… I was about to talk to you about my pregnancy. I wanted to ask you to shift me somewhere safe. I didn’t have much hope from you—but till that moment, I was still living in the illusion that you might care for your child…
if not for me," she said, her voice breaking slightly before hardening again.
"But after hearing you… I saw your reality once again. "
Silence fell. Shaurya was in complete shock.
All of this had happened right under his nose—and he had no idea. No wonder she blamed his actions.
His mother had tried to kill his child… his Siya. The thought alone made his blood boil.
It was time he taught his mother a lesson she would never forget.
But not now.
He forced himself to calm down. Rage could wait. Right now, he needed to understand everything—and then tell her his truth.
Siya is safe… Siya is safe… he repeated to himself, trying to steady his anger.
"How did you come home that night? Not through the main gate?" he asked. The question sounded odd—but she answered.
"I used to sneak out for my hospital visits. I used the back door of your ancestral house… Sudha aunty showed me," Akansha said.
That explained why no one had informed him. But her next words hit him harder.
"But your mother knew I was home… and that I was listening to your conversation.
She was the one who called me back that night, saying there would be guests and I needed to help her prepare dinner.
Otherwise, I would have gone straight to see A…
Akriti at the hospital with Mrs. Sudha," Akansha said, slightly fumbling over Akriti’s name.
Shaurya’s eyes darkened.
Damn. His mother had planned all of this... But why?
Fury surged through him. And suddenly, everything made sense.
Her cold, distant behavior the next morning…
His words hadn’t just hurt her, they had shattered her.
Shobha Shekhawat tried everything to terminate Akansha’s pregnancy. She wasn’t entirely sure whether Akansha was pregnant, but she began suspecting it when Akansha started avoiding certain foods and fruits. The slight physical changes only strengthened her doubts.
The shrewd woman began plotting immediately. But within a few days, Akansha started cooking her own meals, leaving Shobha with no direct way to adulterate her food. So she shifted her approach—tampering with the groceries instead.
That night, when Akansha returned from the hospital, she looked visibly shaken. The bloodstain at the back of her kurti was enough for Shobha to assume the worst—that she had miscarried. Uneducated and vile in her thinking, Shobha believed her plan had worked.
But she wasn’t done yet.
She decided to deliver one final blow—one that would ensure Akansha left Shaurya on her own. Because if Shaurya ever found out about the pregnancy, the miscarriage, and the loss of his child all at once, there was a chance he might soften toward her. And that was something Shobha couldn’t risk.
If this didn’t work, she had other plans.
But to her satisfaction… this one did.
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Hearing Shaurya’s words that night—filled with such raw disgust and detest—Akansha’s heart shattered. His cruelty carved something irreparable inside her.
She tried to convince herself that he might be lying… that the man she loved couldn’t be this heartless. But the hatred on his face didn’t feel like pretense. And her fragile state after returning from the hospital didn’t allow her to think beyond what she had just heard.
Broken and numb, she left from there. Sneaking out once again, she went to see Akriti one last time… to apologize.
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Akansha returned the next morning.
Shaurya was getting ready for campaigning when she walked in. He already knew she had returned—his driver and the gateman had informed him earlier.
She looked pale. Drained. As if every ounce of strength had been sucked out of her.
"Are you okay?" Shaurya asked, masking his concern like always.
She ignored him—as if he didn’t exist.
"You look pale… should I call a doctor?" he tried again.
No response.
She stood there, staring blankly. Then, as if remembering something, she moved. She dropped her dupatta into the laundry basket and walked toward the closet to pick out clothes before heading to freshen up.
That’s when Shaurya noticed the bloodstain.
"Is the bleeding heavy? I can get medicine for you," he said.
She ignored him again and walked away.
Still, he didn’t stop.
After speaking to their family doctor, he arranged for the required medicine and left a note for her—hoping it would ease what he assumed was just period pain.
He didn’t know…
Her suffering was far beyond that.
And unknowingly—
he had become one of its biggest reasons.
This was the reason Shaurya never even considered the possibility of Akansha being pregnant when she left.
That night, he had assumed she was on her period, and they hadn’t been intimate after that.
In the days that followed, she disappeared—and she had already signed the divorce papers long before that.
But that morning, when Shaurya woke up and realized his wife was gone, he found those very divorce papers—meant to be locked away in his locker—lying in her place on the bed. She hadn’t even left a note. According to her, he didn’t deserve one.
Placing the divorce papers there was her way of telling him to go ahead with the proceedings—not that he wouldn’t have done it anyway.
She knew he would have already submitted them.
Otherwise, he would have had to declare his marriage in the affidavit before filing his nomination, and the entire state would have known.
So she was certain—they were legally separated now.
That was why she had planned to confirm it with him later. Right now, Siya mattered more than anything else.
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Shaurya looked like someone had driven a knife straight into his heart.
So this was why she had been like that that morning. Not cold… shattered.
His heart had screamed that something was wrong with her—but he had ignored it, dismissing it as the usual distance she maintained in those days. He wished—desperately—that he had paid more attention… that he hadn’t brushed it off as mood swings during her periods.
Maybe his life would have been different.
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"Now that you know what you did, you must understand why you don’t deserve to be called my daughter’s father. So leave me and my daughter alone. You’ve already ruined our lives once… at least now let us live in peace," Akansha said.
Her resolve didn’t waver—not even in front of his shattered state.
Because every time she remembered his poisonous words… the panic attacks they triggered during her pregnancy… even after it—something inside her hardened. Siya had become her anchor, her strength, and with time, the frequency of those breakdowns had reduced.
She didn’t want to tell him what had truly happened the day Siya was born.
That night had only deepened her hatred tenfold, and even the thought of reliving it threatened to break her all over again—something she simply couldn’t afford right now.
She needed strength. Strength to walk away.
Strength to resist him—and his attempts to pull her and her daughter back into his life.
A life she no longer wanted to be a part of.
"I have something to tell you…" Shaurya’s voice cracked.
He cleared his throat, trying to steady himself—but before he could continue, the intercom rang. He picked it up.
"Sir… Akash Dikshit is here," Suraj informed.
Shaurya let out an exasperated breath. "Let him in after an hour," he said and hung up.
"What is it? Who is it? Is it my brother?" Akansha asked quickly.
Shaurya didn’t respond. He knew she would rush out without hearing him if she found out.
"I asked you something," she snapped, raising her voice.
He nodded reluctantly.
Damn… he was still afraid of his wife’s anger. Now that she no longer showed him her softer side, she felt even more intimidating.
Akansha rushed toward the door, but Shaurya was quicker. He pulled her back, gripping her forearms.
"He’s at the entrance gate. I’ve asked Suraj to let him in after an hour... you can meet him once he’s here. Until then, hear me out," Shaurya said, standing close—too close.
His eyes held hers, completely lost. Then his gaze slowly drifted to her nose, flaring with anger. Her cheeks carried a soft fullness now, a hint of baby fat that only made her more beautiful. Motherhood suited her.
He forced himself not to look any lower. He knew the moment his eyes reached her lips, he would lose control. She was the only woman who had ever set his body on fire… the only one who ever could.
She looked breathtaking—even without a trace of makeup.
How had he survived five years without seeing her? he wondered.
His breath brushed against her lips—they were that close.
Akansha felt it instantly.
Her body betrayed her.
This always happened when he was near. Shaurya Singh Shekhawat should go to hell for the havoc he created inside her. He was only holding her forearms… yet his touch alone was enough to set her on fire.
She hated it.
Hated how her body responded to the same man who had broken her.
"Shaurya… let me go," she said, looking away.
"I can’t," he replied, his eyes fixed on her.
"I said leave my arms, Shaurya," she repeated, taking a deep breath.
He knew exactly what his proximity was doing to her.
She was the first woman he had ever touched… ever kissed.
And she would be the last.
His wife owned every part of him—his soul, his heart, his body.
Only her.
"Okay…" he said softly, releasing her arms.
But before she could step away, his hands slid to her waist, pulling her closer.
A gasp escaped her lips.
He inhaled sharply, trying to control himself. Five years—and not once had he felt this kind of surge. And now, without even kissing her, without even letting his gaze linger where it shouldn’t… he was already burning.
He was ruined.
Ruined for any other woman.
And he was glad.