Chapter 3
Siya stepped into the room feeling as if she’d stepped into an alternate reality. The gold-toned chandelier was dimmed, bathing the room in muted light. Velvet drapes were open to the glittering skyline of Mumbai.
Dressed in a dark dinner jacket, Kartik Kashyap was laughing—actually laughing—at something Mihit said, and seeing that, Siya nearly stumbled. For as long as she could remember, her father had spoken of Mihit Agrawal with the hatred of someone planning a war against him.
‘Mihit is a snake in silk. One day, I will skin him alive,’ Kartik had once said to her in a moment of exploding rage when the Agrawals had won a coveted contract with a diamond supplier.
And now here they were, sharing vintage whiskey and anecdotes, and that unsettled Siya more than if they’d been shouting at each other.
Those words echoed in her mind as she walked into the room and sank into the plush leather chair with a polite greeting. Abhay took the seat beside her and she silently cursed him for their close proximity. His gaze flicked to her like he needed her to confirm that this wasn’t a fever dream.
Mihit spoke up first. ‘Hey kids. Quickly order something before the kitchen closes.’
Immediately, Kartik chimed in with a smug grin, ‘Oh, come on, the kitchen doesn’t close for us. It’s food and drinks all night long.’
Siya gave him a tight-lipped smile in acknowledgement when he held up his glass to make his point, but made a mental note to tell Namita to send compensation to the staff for their overtime. It was unfair that the kitchen staff should pay for her father’s vanity.
She kept her arms crossed and body angled away from Abhay, but she wasn’t fooling anybody, least of all herself. Especially when he adjusted in his seat and his knee brushed against hers, a shiver ran down her spine, but she didn’t move away, and neither did he.
The two men were conversing about the diverging market, and all Siya could focus on was Abhay. Every time he shifted, she noticed the sound of his breath, the rustle of his sleeve, and the faint, maddening scent of his cologne.
‘You two look tense,’ Mihit observed, pouring more whiskey.
Abhay leaned forward, fingers tapping the edge of his glass as he responded, ‘I never thought I’d see the day when the two of you would be hanging out like old business school friends.’
Mihit chuckled, while Kartik ignored the jab. He cleared his throat and set down his glass. ‘The situation has changed. The market is shifting right under our feet, so desperate times call for desperate measures.’
Siya thought to herself that if her father was speaking to Mihit Agrawal politely, the situation must be out of control.
‘That bad, huh?’ Abhay echoed her thoughts.
Mihit gave a wry smile. ‘The Patel Group has made a move we can’t afford to ignore. I suppose both of you saw the news this morning, didn’t you?’
‘The Patel-Riaz partnership?’ Siya asked, and Mihit nodded.
Her father refilled his glass with trembling hands, whiskey sloshing over the table.
Siya felt the urge to reach out and stop him.
She knew first-hand the kind of person he became when he drank, but she was worried he might make a scene if she said something.
The last person in front of whom she wanted to be insulted was sitting right next to her, so she kept mum.
Kartik joined in the conversation, but his words came out slurred. ‘The fucker had to choose now to launch a new line in India. It’s already creating problems for us.’
A new launch in the month of September could mean only one thing. ‘They are targeting the Diwali season, aren’t they?’ Siya asked, taking a sip of her Merlot. She was too unsettled to eat, but she could never resist a vintage glass of wine.
‘They must also be aiming to corner the bridal market. That is going to undercut us on both exclusivity and celebrity endorsements,’ Abhay’s voice followed, cool and clear.
Siya eagerly suggested, ‘We can counter it if we launch a new line of lineage collection and position it as a heritage celebration with designs from our family heirloom archives. We can run it with a focus on emotional ad campaigns and influencer collabs.’
She had already begun forming a rough plan in her mind when Kartik scoffed aloud. ‘Influencers cannot reflect our luxury standards as much as A-list celebrities. This is the real world, not your fairyland, Siya. Don’t trouble your tiny brain so much and let the adults talk.’
The words struck like a slap, and embarrassment burned her cheeks.
She couldn’t bring herself to look at Abhay, so she cleared her throat and took a big gulp of her wine.
It wasn’t the first time Kartik had spoken to her this way in a fit of drunken stupor, so she was used to it.
But the fact that Abhay witnessed it made her stomach churn.
Abhay kept his gaze on Siya, who refused to meet his eyes, and he could see that she was trying not to show the sting. He clenched his jaw to stop profanities from rushing out, and in a clipped tone, said, ‘I think it’s a good idea.’
Siya’s gaze darted toward him, and though she didn’t say anything, he could see reluctant gratitude reflected in them.
Abhay shrugged casually, but there was a touch of defiance in it.
‘Loyalty brings customers, whether it's through an influencer or a celebrity. People want elements of relatability and emotion in what they buy, especially with a bridal focus. What Patel and Riaz are doing is a spectacle. We have a long-standing loyal customer base and elite buyers behind us.’
Mihit raised an eyebrow at his son, clearly surprised with his input. His eyes danced between Siya and Abhay, and she could tell he was trying to decipher the nature of their united front.
While Kartik was talking to the waiter, Siya discreetly picked up the half-full bottle of whiskey and placed it on the floor next to her leg.
She could only pray her father didn’t notice the missing bottle.
When Kartik tried to fill his glass with the bottle, Siya knew he was too drunk to see it was empty.
Mihit took one look at the drunk Kartik and rolled his eyes. The way he was playing with his cufflinks with his brows furrowed, his displeasure at her father’s behaviour was clear as day.
Mihit exhaled and trained his gaze on both of them as he said, ‘Jayesh Patel is not just trying to enter the market. He is trying to redefine it. And with Riaz backing him up, he’ll succeed if we keep fighting and dividing the market among ourselves.’
For decades, Agrawal and Kashyap had split the jewellery market like two empires divided by blood and war. Where one opened a flagship store, the other opened two. Every season, every exhibition, every celebrity campaign, it had always been a cut-throat competition between the families.
Kartik pointed his finger at Siya, and she could see that his eyes were bloodshot now. ‘If they get a foothold in the market before we come together, we lose leverage. Permanently.’
Her spine stiffened. She narrowed her eyes as she asked, ‘What do you mean by coming together?’
‘We’re setting aside our differences and sealing this alliance the old-fashioned way.’
Abhay frowned and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the edge of the table. ‘Dad, what is he talking about?’
Mihit smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. ‘He means we are combining our forces. One business, one family. A unified Goliath legacy too big to compete with.’
Siya held her glass so tight that it almost cracked under the pressure. The breath in her chest froze to ice. Through the ringing in her ears, she barely heard Abhay ask in a rough voice, ‘Excuse me?’
‘You heard him. We want the two of you to get married,’ Kartik said, sipping his whiskey as if he hadn’t just thrown a bomb across the table.
‘You can’t be serious,’ Abhay argued in a gruff voice, giving them a chance to retract it.
Kartik didn’t flinch. He gave a faint smile and said, ‘It’s a strategic decision. The market responds well to symbolic power.’
Siya felt her throat tighten up but kept her tone even as she asked him, ‘So, I’m a symbol now?’
Kartik chuckled bitterly and shook his head. ‘Only you could make everything about you. Must you always be so dramatic, Siya?’
Before she could respond, Mihit stopped her with a gesture of his hand and said, ‘I understand the magnitude of what we’re asking you to do here. This isn’t… simple. But the threat from this new launch is very serious, and if we don’t unify now, we will lose control of the market.’
‘There are other ways to unify, Dad,’ Abhay told him. ‘A joint seasonal launch, or maybe a merger where we can show solidarity.’
‘You kids don’t understand how the real world works,’ Kartik remarked, trying to take a sip from his empty glass.
Siya opened her mouth, then closed it again. Speaking against her father in private was one thing, but doing so in front of the Agrawals was something she didn’t want to risk. Her pulse quickened as she tried to figure out what to say.
It was clear from Kartik’s drooping eyes that he was too far gone to reason with, so Siya turned to Mihit and said, ‘Uncle, I think we should consider the optics here. Our family rivalry is well-known and this sudden change will raise questions. If the press finds out the marriage is transactional, it may backfire.’
Abhay nodded in agreement with her. ‘The day our competitor announces a new partnership, we end our decades-long rivalry for what? For love? You don’t think people will find it suspicious?’
‘That’s why our PR head, Shukla, has come up with an elegant solution. We’ll announce that the two of you have been secretly married for two years and have been living together in perfect domestic bliss. And now, we are ready to bless it with an official ceremony.’
Air rushed out of her lungs. ‘You cannot be serious, Dad.’
‘We have a plan to distract people from this too. Soon after we announce your wedding, we’ll share how we’ll launch a maiden merger between Kashyap Luxe and Agrawal Jewels with both you and Abhay as co-chairs.’
‘You underestimate the public. You really think they’ll be so charmed by a new jewellery line that they won’t catch such an obvious lie?’ Siya asked.
Kartik didn’t hide the sarcasm when he said, ‘You always had a flair for theatrics.’ He turned to Mihit, and bitterness crept into his words as he continued, ‘This situation calls for a grown-up decision that might actually serve her family, but she’s being too stupid and spoiled to see it.’
Siya’s eyes stung, but she didn’t let it show on her face. She refused to give him the satisfaction. Her hand tightened around the stem of her glass as she said, ‘You don’t need to talk about me like I’m a child.’
Her father didn’t even look at her as he threw a casual, ‘Then start behaving like an adult whose opinions are worth listening to.’
Abhay had had enough. He fixed his gaze on her father and said, ‘Everything she’s said makes sense. And if you’d just listen to her, you might—’
‘She’s impulsive and stubborn. Too much of an emotional fool,’ Kartik countered as he refilled his glass.
‘You mean she’s smart enough to call out things at their face value,’ Abhay snapped.
Siya looked at him then, really looked at him.
His face was composed, but his jaw had the faintest tic, and she could see the vein in his forehead throbbing rapidly.
Her stomach flipped unexpectedly when he turned to meet her eyes.
The anger reflected back in them made her nervous.
She couldn’t guess how Kartik would react to being openly challenged, and she didn’t want to find out.
Kartik narrowed his eyes at Abhay, trying to figure him out. ‘I see. You’re suddenly quite invested in her.’
‘What I’m invested in is fairness. No one should get railroaded because she’s the only one in the room with common sense,’ Abhay threw back at him, holding his own. He was walking a tight line, not giving away much about their shared past, but playing as her back up was bound to raise questions.
Her heart thudded against her chest. Abhay was furious for her and she didn’t know what to do with that knowledge.
‘I’m only twenty-eight. I’m not ready to get married, and certainly not this way,’ Siya said. If Abhay could speak up in her defence, she certainly could too.
‘You’re not here to be ready. You’re here to be useful!’ Kartik retorted in anger, and slammed his whiskey glass hard on the table, making it crack.
‘I’ve been stepping up my entire life, Dad, but I didn’t realise I was stepping into a cage,’ Siya said quietly.
Kartik said with a touch of warning in his tone, ‘Siya, you’re overreacting.’ She heard the words he didn’t say, don’t challenge me.
Abhay clenched his hands under the table, doing his best to ignore the drunken babbling of Kartik as he turned to speak to his father. ‘Don’t ask me to become the kind of man who would trample over a woman’s consent, because I will never do something like that.’
Kartik scoffed. ‘You kids are too na?ve for the business world.’
Siya was done here. She’d dedicated her life to the business and family, but she refused to give in to this outrageous demand.
‘I respect our business legacy. I really do, Dad, but a forced marriage is not the price I’m paying for it.’
Siya then turned to Mihit and said, ‘I’m sorry, Uncle, but I refuse to be a pawn in this game.’
She looked once at Abhay, and a mixture of gratitude and longing flickered between them before she walked out with her head high but her heart heavy.
Behind her, the door shut with a gentle whoosh. The night air was cool, but she burned with anger. She broke into a run down the stairs, and out the lobby, until she reached her car.
She quickly pulled out of the hotel, driving back to her apartment. Her head was swirling with questions. What the hell happened back there? Had her father lost the last shred of humanity?
He was practically trading her off in exchange for a better sales quarter, and to whom? Abhay Agrawal. The man who shattered her faith in love.
He’d once made her feel alive, then left behind an ocean of pain in her heart.