The Scars of a Saint (The Il Cuore Heirs #2)

Prologue

Vedika Thakkar squinted as she tried to see her boyfriend in the dim light of the intimate, luxurious restaurant they sat in.

What was he doing down on the floor anyway?

She stared, mystified, as he patted the floor around him and then pulled out his phone and scanned the ground with the torchlight.

“Did you drop something?” she asked, keeping her voice low so she didn’t attract the attention of the snooty ma?tre d who was glancing over at them.

“No. Alright.” Ashish emerged from under the table, looking hot and flustered. “Shall we order?”

“We’ve already ordered,” she reminded him quietly, her brow furrowing. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am.” Ashish picked up his glass of water and took a deep gulp. “Right. So…We ordered.” The words spilled out of him in a staccato rush.

Vedika’s frown deepened. What was going on with him? Was it alcohol? Drugs? Or a stroke or something?

“Ashish, if you’re not feeling well, we can leave. We could go see a doctor or something…”

“NO!”

Vedika jumped at the loud protest. Several diners at other tables turned to look at them. She flushed, embarrassed at the thought of being in the center of a scene.

“Okay,” she murmured, still perplexed by his strange behaviour. The reason she’d started dating Ashish was because he was always steady, always calm. Vedika’s nervous system didn’t do well with volatility. And it certainly didn’t understand men who decided to crawl under tables.

Ashish’s hair was sticking straight up now, like he’d been running his fingers through it and tugging hard. Except she hadn’t seen him do that. So, what had he done to achieve that look? Stuck his finger in a socket?

She shook herself out of the many tangled roads her mind dragged her down. It had always been like that. As a child prodigy, an off-the-charts genius, her mind had always been a loud and noisy place. So, Vedika worked to keep the rest of her life quiet and calm.

And that’s what Ashish made her feel, she reminded herself. Calm.

“How was work?” she asked brightly, pushing her glasses up her nose with one finger.

Ashish worked with his father, like she did with hers.

Another thing they had in common. She’d graduated with an MBA from Harvard and gone straight to work at Thakkar Industries.

Ashish had gone to the Kellogg School of Management before working in New York for a couple of years.

But eventually he’d found his way back home. Just like she had.

“Great. We finally closed on the FinFact deal.” Ashish’s face relaxed as the conversation found familiar territory. “Dad’s happy.”

“Happy and proud, I’m sure,” she replied, as the waiter arrived with their orders. She thanked him as he placed her vegetarian pasta in front of her and Ashish’s steak in front of him.

“The end goal to both our lives.” Ashish toasted her with his beer mug. “Keep the fathers happy.”

A faint thread of something ran through Vedika. Unease? No. She brushed it off. What did she need to feel uneasy about?

“That’s not why I do what I do,” she said, forking up some pasta, her brow furrowing again. She made an effort to smoothen it out. What was wrong with her today? “I love my work.”

“Hmm.” Ashish didn’t really seem to be listening, his attention on his pocket now.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Vedika put her fork down, tucking her long, straight hair behind one ear. “You can talk to me if there is something bothering you. I’m here for you.”

Ashish’s eyes softened as he looked at her. “Thank you, Vedu. You’re the best you know? It’s one of the things I really love about you.”

“One of the things?” She lightened up enough to tease, feeling steadier with his return to normal.

“One of the many, many things.” He leaned over the table, his tie falling into the sauce poured on to his steak.

He didn’t notice but Vedika did and her fingers twitched to fix it. But before she could, Ashish leaned over and caught her twitching fingers in his obliviously steady ones.

“You’re my best friend,” he said earnestly.

Vedika’s newly acquired frown was back. “I thought I was your girlfriend.”

Ashish laughed, a strangely nervous sound. “You always take things so literally.”

What other way was there to take them? Vedika’s frown deepened. “Ashish, what exactly are you saying?”

He patted his pocket again and this time he pulled out a little box. A little, blue, jewelry box.

“You’re my best friend,” he said again. “And I believe friendship is the best base for any relationship, including marriage. I love you, Vedika. Will you marry me?”

He popped the box open and a monstrosity of a ring peeped out at her. Was this what he’d been searching for on the floor? Had he dropped it? And more importantly, how did he not spot it immediately? She was sure the damn thing could be seen from the moon.

Ashish smiled gently at her, clearly taking her silence for shock or overwhelm.

Calm, she thought. Steady. Even as she looked at that large, ostentatious diamond looking back at her, she felt nothing but calm and steady.

Perfect.

Vedika looked up at him and smiled. “Of course I will. I love you too.”

Vedika held out her hand, allowing him to slip the ring on to her finger. It was too big for her slender fingers and slipped around, the diamond hanging down, facing the ground.

The people at the tables beside them started to clap and cheer, startling her out of her contemplation of the ring. She pulled her phone out and took a selfie with Ashish, the ring prominently on display. That’s what people did during proposals, didn’t they?

“Oh my God!” A young teenage girl at the table to their right gushed. “This is so exciting!”

Vedika stared at the ring again, waiting for it…the excitement, the fizzle, the bubbles in your bloodstream that everyone talked about.

But she felt nothing. No, not nothing. She felt calm and steady. Just what she wanted, what she’d always wanted.

Right?