CHAPTER 23 #2
He let his thumb trail gently along her cheek, then across her lips. The longing in his eyes deepened.
But the moment he met her eyes; he saw her tears.
“Aanya?” he whispered, attempting to cup her face again.
But she pushed his hand away and held up a set of papers she had hidden behind her back.
“So this is why you married me?” she asked, her voice trembling.
Reyansh froze. She had found the will.
That will had been locked away. Hidden. Then how?
“Aanya… let me explain,” he stepped forward cautiously.
She backed away. “So it was all a lie? That kiss, the proposal, everything you said about being smitten?”
“Don’t twist this,” he shot back. “Those things were real. This is different.”
“You lied to me, Reyansh.”
“I lied?” he roared. “Can’t you read my eyes, Aanya? My body language when I’m around you? My gestures, my silences, do none of them mean anything to you?”
Aanya’s heart stung. That was the very reason she had chosen to wear the red saree tonight. To see the truth in his eyes. And she had seen it…his hunger, his longing, his restraint.
But none of that could erase what she held in her hand.
But still… that didn’t erase the betrayal.
“I’m too hurt to decode your gestures right now,” she whispered, holding up the papers. “Because of this .”
“ This … was a mistake,” he admitted hoarsely.
“A mistake?” she hissed. “A mistake your best friend knew about but not your wife?”
His jaw tightened. So it was Shagufta who told her.
That woman had crossed a line. Again .
He’d deal with that betrayal later. Right now, only thing mattered.: clearing Aanya’s doubts.
“Let me explain.”
“What will you explain, Reyansh?” she snapped. “You married me for money. That’s the truth.”
Without warning, he stepped forward and grabbed her arms.
“No. That’s not true. Just hear me out. For once,” he said again, but this time, it was a demand, not a plea.
Aanya tried to pull free but failed.
She didn’t want to give him the same silence he had shown her the day after their wedding. She wouldn’t be that cruel. He deserved one chance to confess.
With great effort, she stilled herself and took a breath.
The moment she did, Reyansh loosened his grip, his eyes watching her with desperate intensity.
“Noor Mahal,” Reyansh began quietly, “was once the largest palace in Udaigadh. It was our ancestral property. My grandfather had a fallout with his younger brother, and as a result, the estate was divided. Noor Mahal went to his brother, who later sold it off to another family for a higher bid. My grandfather never came to terms with it. He tried to reclaim that palace, but before he could make any progress, his time ran out. He passed away.”
Aanya listened in silence, absorbing each word. She had never known much about Reyansh’s family history. No one had ever shared it with her, and truthfully, she had never cared enough to find out.
“My father was too young when it happened,” Reyansh continued.
“The desire to reclaim Noor Mahal passed on to him. It became a legacy of regret... a burden of unfinished business. But just like his father, he never got the chance. He and my mother died in a car crash before he could do anything about it.”
Aanya swallowed hard. She could see the grief surface in his eyes, something she hadn’t witnessed before. He had never spoken about his parents with her either.
“When my father died, his lawyer approached me and told me everything. And somehow, I knew I had to fulfil this last wish…to bring Noor Mahal back into the family. Not for its value, but to grant peace to our family’s lost legacy.”
His jaw clenched slightly.
“When I grew up, and had the money and influence, I initiated the process to trace its current owner. That’s when I discovered the palace had passed into your mother’s maternal lineage. Eventually, it was transferred to your mother, Narayani Malhotra.”
Aanya’s pulse quickened.
“But by the time I found that out,” Reyansh said softly, “she had already passed. I couldn’t deal with her directly. So I reached out to Kyle… because your father was abroad at the time.”
Aanya’s heart skipped. Kyle?
“I made her an offer. I was willing to pay any amount to get the property back. But Kyle was helpless. She told me that, according to your mother’s will, Noor Mahal could only be inherited by the man who married Narayani Malhotra’s daughter… you !”
Aanya’s gaze dropped to the floor. So that was it. That was why he had proposed marriage so suddenly. Even knowing how impulsive, rebellious, and emotionally unstable she was at the time, he had still pushed for it.
“Aanya,” Reyansh stepped closer. “Look at me.”
“Why?” she snapped, lifting her eyes. “Do you still have the courage to meet my gaze, Reyansh Chopra?” Her voice cracked as she moved forward. “You married me… for a property?”
“I told you, that’s only half the truth. The other half, you refuse to believe,” he shot back.
“Oh, the other half?” she laughed bitterly. “Let me guess. That you were smitten by me? That a single kiss made you want me forever?”
He gripped her arms, frustration surging through his body.
“Don’t be presumptuous, Aanya.”
“And don’t you dare tell me what to do,” she barked, shaking off his touch. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before? Even if I couldn’t have transferred Noor Mahal to you, we wouldn’t be trapped in this mess of a relationship right now.”
Reyansh’s hands clenched. Anger, regret, and helplessness boiled inside him, but he had no justification, no defence strong enough to convince her otherwise.
“How many more secrets have you buried?” she demanded.
“None,” he said with quiet conviction. “There are no more secrets.”
“How am I supposed to trust that? You’ve never told me anything until I’ve dragged it out of you. And by the time you do, it’s already too late.”
His silence confirmed her worst fear.
“Relationships don’t survive this way, Reyansh,” she said. “We started on a lie... and now, it’s impossible to hold anything together. I can’t do this anymore.”
Reyansh’s lips flattened into a hard line. He stared at her as if trying to make sense of the wreckage he had created.
“Don’t give up on me, Aanya,” he whispered. “Not now… please.”
“You didn’t leave me with any choice,” she replied bitterly, before turning and walking out of the room.
Reyansh swung his fist into the wall beside him.
Pain erupted through his knuckles, but it was nothing compared to the torment twisting in his chest. Why did everything in his life seem to spiral out of control the moment he thought he had fixed it?
Would he ever be able to gather the shattered pieces and hold them together again?
Later That Night
Aanya stood under the shower, letting the water pour over her.
She wanted to erase the memory of everything.
Of every betrayal, every lie, every cold truth she had been forced to face in the last twenty-four hours.
First her father and Kyle… and now Reyansh.
One by one, they had hardened her heart to stone.
She felt nothing for them anymore. She was done.
Done pretending, done justifying, done hoping.
Leaving them behind was no longer painful. It was necessary.
The Next Morning
As expected, Reyansh hadn’t returned to their room the last night.
For the second time in a row, he had slept in the drawing room.
And for once, Aanya was relieved. She had no strength left for another confrontation.
She was done with his silence, his hot-and-cold moods, his secrets, and their collapsing facade of a marriage.
When she woke up, there was a message from Radhika already confirming that they had landed safely in California.
Aanya typed back a quick See you soon Di and tucking her phone away, she got out of bed, dressed for work, and headed out, ready to put one more day behind her and one step closer to her escape.