Chapter 39
VEDIKA
Vedika’s heart stuttered in her chest as she met Prasun Mathur’s cold, hard eyes.
She’d known…she’d always known that one day she’d have to come face to face with Daksh’s family. But she just hadn’t anticipated that day to be today. Her face flamed as she realised she was wearing nothing but a bathrobe and answering the door to his son’s hotel room.
Not the son she’d been engaged to. The other one.
“Dad.” Daksh appeared behind her, his voice as cold and glacial. She felt rather than saw him come to stand by her side. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to talk to you, to convince you, to help the family out.” Prasun’s gleeful eyes scanned Vedika’s face leaving her feeling soiled and cheap.
“But I guess I didn’t have to,” he murmured.
“You did it anyway.” He looked away from Vedika and directly at Daksh. “We’re even. All your debts are paid.”
Vedika stiffened. “What are you talking about?”
Prasun smiled, condescension dripping from his pores but when he spoke, all he said was, “I’ll leave the two of you to talk.”
And then, he turned on his heel and left. Vedika’s gaze followed his stiff back as it disappeared down the corridor. Daksh’s long arm appeared in her peripheral vision as he shut the door, cutting off her line of sight.
Vedika stared at the dark wood of the closed hotel room door. “What did he mean by that, Daksh?”
He placed a calming hand on her shoulder. “Mouse, listen-“
“No,” she whirled to face him, anxiety and pain flaring in a toxic mess inside her. “Don’t patronise me.” She shook her head as she backed away from him. “Answer me.”
“I’m trying to,” he told her, his voice calm and level but his eyes spoke of a panic as old as time itself. “Just sit down. Let’s have breakfast and I’ll explain.”
“Explain what?”
“It’s not what you think.” He ran his hands through his hair, tugging at it like it would help make sense of his thoughts.
“Do you know what I think?” she asked, her voice chilly. “I have a couple of options. One is that you seduced me as revenge for your brother’s current predicament. Two is that you figured one member of the Mathur family, it didn’t matter which one, should cash the Thakkar cheque.”
A tense, fraught silence fell as they stared at each other, pain and anger mingling like an unexploded bomb between them.
“My brother’s predicament, as you put it, is entirely his fault,” he said finally, his voice deathly quiet.
“I don’t see why anyone, especially I, would want revenge.
As for the Thakkar cheque,” he walked over, cupped her face, his fingers tightening when she flinched away from him, “I couldn’t give a flying fuck.
I swear to God, life would be a lot easier for us if you weren’t a Thakkar.
And last but not the least, you came to me.
I didn’t pursue you, Vedika. You. Came. To. Me.”
“What. Was. Your. Father. Talking. About?” she gritted out.
“He found out we were attracted to each other and wanted me to use it. He wanted me to do what Ashish didn’t manage to. He wanted me to seal the deal.”
Devastation flooded her as she looked at Daksh. How could she have gone so wrong? How could everything have gone so wrong?
“What was he talking about when he mentioned your debts?”
Daksh didn’t answer, a muscle clenching in his jaw as he watched her, his eyes stormy.
A disbelieving laugh escaped her. “Answer me,” she demanded.
Daksh looked away from her. “I can’t.”
“You and your fucking brother,” she marvelled. “There is no difference between the two of you, is there?”
Daksh shut his eyes, her words seeming to slap him in the face. Devastation flooded her as she waited for him to tell her something, anything that would make a difference. Even now, even with everything she’d just heard, she wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe in him.
But Daksh said nothing.
“I’m such a bloody fool,” she whispered. “I-“
Pain knifed through her, a wound tearing open in her heart. She’d given this man everything, every last part of her. She’d offered herself up on a platter but, once again, the only part of her that had value was her father’s money.
“Mouse, please,” his words were laced with anguish, “you have to believe me. It’s not what you think. If you could just let me-“
“You have debts owed?” she asked, her heart bleeding in her chest.
“It’s not what you think,” he said quietly, meeting her gaze, his eyes begging her to believe him.
“Do you have debts owed?” she asked again. “Yes or no?”
“Mou-“
“Yes or no?” she screamed, the words torn from her throat.
“Yes.”
The bottom dropped out of her world. “Well,” she said hoarsely. “I suppose I should be grateful that, this time, my work at least was safe.”
Daksh said nothing.
“But I’ll give your brother credit for one thing.” A bitter laugh escaped her. “He had the decency not to fuck me before fucking me over.”
Daksh flinched.
A cold fury rode her as she walked over to where he stood. “Your brother broke my confidence, Daksh Mathur. But you, you broke my heart. I will never forgive you for what you did. I hope you rot in hell while termites feast on your dick.”
He met her eyes and in them she saw a pain that rivalled her own. Say what you will, he was a phenomenal actor, she thought. Tears blurred her eyes as she stepped away from him.
“Goodbye Daksh. I hope to never see you again.” She placed her hand on the doorknob, wrenching it open. “Tell your father that no member of the Mathur family will ever touch a single rupee of my father’s money. Vedika Thakkar is not for sale.”