Chapter 25
VEDIKA
A strange numbness descended over her, a vacuum of sound and emotion. She ignored the angry voices of her family, the concerned glances, the comforting touches and focused on the kernel of rage inside her.
She followed her father into his study as he spoke to some of the senior leadership, discussing options for damage control.
Damage control. She was the damage he had to control. Her bad choices, her blind faith, her na?ve illusions…
“Vedika.” Aakash’s calm voice throbbed with an undercurrent of tension, of worry. “We’ll have to call off the Banlay deal.”
“Why?” Kanak asked, frowning. “It’s a good deal. The profit margins are massive and it’s scalable. It pushes new frontiers in AI and-“
“Because of Ashish,” Vedika interrupted, a headache throbbing behind her eyes. “If we push this through, he makes a lot of money. The ‘insider trading’ finger will point directly at us when he does.”
“He’s not your fiancé anymore,” Vikram pointed out from his corner of the room.
“But he was when he made the trade,” she countered. “Pa is right. We need to nuke the deal.”
All her hard work…this was the deal that was supposed to make her career. Instead, it would break it. She would forever be her father’s daughter who couldn’t hack it in the professional world. The na?ve idiot who got played by her own fiancé.
Tears stung her eyes but she blinked them back. “I was such a fool.”
“No,” her father said immediately. “He’s the fool.”
“Hell yeah,” Vikram agreed. “Especially if he fumbled someone as amazing as you, Vedu.”
“Amazing,” she scoffed under her breath.
“I’m a bundle of neuroses wrapped in an old lady’s body and fashion.
I couldn’t even believe someone like Ashish would be interested in me.
” She met her brother’s gaze, bitterness in her own.
“But I guess I was right about that, wasn’t I?
He didn’t want me. He wanted our father. ”
“Eww,” Kanak muttered. “Could you phrase that differently?”
“Vedu.” Her father rose from his seat and walked over to where she stood. “That man doesn’t deserve to kiss the dirt off your feet. You are, and always have been, way too good for him. You deserve someone who will worship you, adore you, and light up like a fucking lantern the minute they see you.”
Her lip trembled as the tears finally escaped. Her father held her close, his arms tightening around her as she sobbed, shame and grief for a shattered dream spilling out of her.
Kanak’s arms came around the two of them a second later. “I’m going to castrate that bastard,” she muttered.
“Ma please,” Vikram muttered back, joining the group hug. “There are children in the room.”
“They’re my children,” Kanak shot back. “They can handle a little castration talk.”
“Everyone shut up,” Aakash said, gently rubbing Vedika’s back. “Except you, darling,” he added, kissing the top of Vedika’s head.
“Yeah darling,” Vikram added. “You tell us all the ways you want to maim the douche. Unlike our old father here, I have the training to make it happen.”
“Your old father,” Aakash said with an annoyed look at Vikram, “doesn’t need training. He can maim the douche without even lifting a finger.”
Vedika laughed, a watery laugh, breaking away from the hug and wiping the errant tears. “There will be no maiming the douche. I’m not sad that he doesn’t love me. I’m sad that I have such bad judgement.”
“You’ve always had bad taste in men,” Vikram agreed. “You think Pa is good looking.”
Aakash sent his son a glare that should have incinerated him but only had him grinning unrepentantly.
Vedika chuckled. “I’m fine now, guys. Really, I am. I just…” She sighed. “I’m not heartbroken. I’m betrayed and angry and furious…but I’m not heartbroken. Why am I not heartbroken?”
Bewildered, she tried to make sense of her feelings. Daksh’s silence had hurt more than everything Ashish had done. Why?
“He never loved me. That’s obvious. But I obviously didn’t love him either. I was going to marry I man I didn’t love or who didn’t love me. What does that say about me?”
For a moment no one said anything. Probably because there was nothing tactful or nice they could think of to say to that.
So, Vedika helped them out. “That I was so desperate to have someone in my life, to be loved, to be wanted, that I accepted the first man who tolerated me?”
“You are loved, Vedu. You don’t need a man for that,” Kanak said gently. “And any man who doesn’t see you for the treasure you are is a fool.”
“No Ma. I’m not that girl. I’m not you or Kimi or Tani…You guys are effortless. I am a lot of effort.”
“You’d be worth all the effort in the world.”
The quiet words were a bomb detonating in the study. As one, the Thakkars swung around to look at the door where Daksh stood, framed by the doorway.
“Who the fuck let you in?” Aakash exploded, before anyone could react.
“Kabir,” Daksh said, not flinching under Aakash’s ire, standing his ground and meeting the other man’s furious eyes. “He’s a fan,” he added with a small grin.
Shock coursed through her at the sight of him but that grin…it pulled an answering smile from her, even now, even in this moment.
“I don’t give a fuck,” Aakash said through gritted teeth. “Get out. I don’t want any of the Mathurs near my daughter.”
“That’s fair,” Daksh shrugged. “But what does Vedika want?”
Her mouth went dry at the sound of her name on his lips, the deep baritone, a soothing salve to the burn of her humiliation.
“Aakash,” Kanak said quietly, warning in her tone.
But Aakash Thakkar was done listening, even to the love of his life. Nobody hurt his family and got away with it.
His voice went deathly cold. “You are not getting anywhere near my daughter.”
“With all due respect Sir,” Daksh stepped into the room, going toe to toe with Aakash, “if your daughter wants me around, God himself couldn’t keep me away.”
His dark, intense gaze switched from her father to her. Vedika’s chest constricted, her breath coming short under the weight of that gaze.
“What’s it going to be, Mouse? Should I stay or should I go?”