Chapter 10
One week later
The newspapers were screaming his name. His face stared back at him from every headline.
Akash sipped his tea, his eyes skimming the print, while the television ahead replayed Janak’s announcement on a loop.
He rose and walked to the large window of his new office, looking down at the newsroom, where nothing had changed.
The familiar buzz of activity hummed steadily below, while upstairs, he was still coming to terms with everything.
He let his gaze travel around the office.
It had been freshly painted now, fitted and ready for use.
New furniture had replaced the emptiness: a broad desk, shelves lined with files and books, and a leather chair.
Beyond that was a small seating area, arranged with plush armchairs, a compact couch, and a low coffee table between them.
Yet beneath the newness lingered the quiet of a room that had waited a long time.
This had been his grandfather Dhiraj’s office. After his death, Janak had refused to use it, preserving it out of respect for his closest friend and leaving it untouched for decades. For Dhiraj’s heir. For him.
Akash stood there, the realization settling deep in his chest. This wasn’t just an office.
It was a legacy finally claimed, one carefully protected, and one he was now expected to live up to.
The weight of power and responsibility pressed heavily on him.
He would succeed in this job. He would live up to this destiny he had been born into. And he would make Janak proud.
Just yesterday, Janak had told the world he was stepping back from Sehgal Media and handing over the reins to Akash as the new managing director. He’d spoken at length about the company, its beginnings, its history, and its legacy, laying it all out for everyone present at the press conference.
Almost instantly, the media had gone into a frenzy. The spotlight had shifted to Akash, reporters firing questions at him while cameras flashed relentlessly. In a matter of moments, he had gone from obscurity to becoming the focus of the business world’s attention.
He had answered their questions calmly and politely, assuring everyone how grateful he was to inherit such a mammoth business and how deeply thankful he was to Janak for nurturing and safeguarding it for all these years.
The board had been informed a few days earlier, and all of them had been there to support Janak’s decision.
The entire senior management had been there too.
Except Shauna. He knew she’d taken a week off from work.
Janak had told him that she hadn’t taken the news well, that she’d gone to Delhi and was refusing to talk to anyone in the family.
He sighed. Despite everything, he wondered how she’d felt when she finally learned the truth about him. He had known for years that her dream of running Sehgal Media stood in direct contrast to his own, and he regretted that she’d been forced to hear the truth from Janak the way she had.
But there had been no alternative. He’d requested Janak to keep his inheritance a secret until he was ready, knowing that the moment the truth surfaced, the media would descend, scrutinizing and judging his every move.
He hadn’t wanted that kind of attention.
Not yet. Not before he was in a position to control the narrative.
Janak had respected his wishes. So had everyone else who knew.
Unfortunately, that had meant Shauna learned the truth at the very last moment.
He grimaced. It shouldn’t matter how she felt.
She’d been rude, dismissive, and judgmental for far too long.
If anything, he should have felt triumphant, satisfied that he’d finally managed to silence her. He felt none of it.
More than once, he’d reached for his phone to call Rhea, her twin, certain she would know how Shauna was doing, but he stopped himself every time. Caring meant weakness, and he refused to admit that he cared about Shauna Sehgal. That he was still drawn to her despite everything.
He had to look to the future, to prove to the world and to himself that he belonged here. That this empire, built by his grandfather and nurtured by Janak, was his to lead.
With that thought anchoring him, he turned away from the window and walked back to his desk. His phone rang, and he smiled when he saw Jiya video calling him.
He answered, and his childhood friend Jiya’s face filled the screen.
“Hi, Jee,” he greeted. “You’re back? How was Paris?”
“Paris was great. But we’re not talking about that,” she said, glaring at him.
“I can’t believe I had to find out something this important about you from the news,” Jiya said, her eyes narrowing through the screen.
“The news, Akash. You’re one of my oldest friends, and you never once told me you were going to inherit the Sehgal Media empire.
How could you not tell me? And don’t even get me started on the fact that Rohan knew.
I’m furious with him for keeping this from me. ”
“In my defense, it never came up in our conversations, Jiya,” Rohan’s voice cut in smoothly.
Akash smiled as Rohan leaned into the frame from behind Jiya.
He was one of Akash’s closest friends. Akash had a close-knit bond with him, just as he did with Nirvaan, Dheer, and Vir.
The four of them were bound by a friendship that was as tight as it was unshakable.
Yet, he’d never told Nirvaan his truth, all because he was married to Shauna’s twin.
He’d asked the others also not to say anything, and even that had been so hard.
“Hi, Akash,” Rohan grinned.
Rohan looked so much more at ease these days. Akash had witnessed firsthand, while interning with him, how Rohan and Jiya had fallen in love and gotten married.
“Hey.” Akash gave him a warm smile. “Marriage suits you.”
Rohan grimaced. “Not when Jiya is mad at me.”
“Right now, I’m mad at both of you,” Jiya said flatly.
Akash gave her a soft smile. “I’m sorry, Jee. It was never my intention to hide anything from you. But you’re her best friend too. Can you honestly say you’d have been able to keep quiet and not tell her even once when Shauna shared her dreams and hopes with you?”
Jiya fell silent.
“And as for Rohan,” Akash continued gently, “Janak and I made him promise never to say a word about my inheritance to anyone. The same went for Aditya, Dev, and everyone else in our circle who knew. So please… don’t be mad at him.
You know Nirvaan is my friend too, and I never told him, because he’d never be able to keep this from Rhea.
I didn’t want to put him in a difficult position.
” He sighed. “I spoke to him, and he understood why it had to be done this way. I hope you will too.”
He further explained why he’d needed to keep this hidden for so long.
“Fine,” Jiya finally said. “I understand, and I’m so happy for you. I’m sure you will be incredibly successful. I have faith in you…”
She hesitated, her expression shifting.
Akash frowned. “What is it, Jee?”
“Shauna isn’t in a good place, Akash,” Jiya said quietly.
“I met her last night. I hope you know that she’s in Delhi, staying at their farmhouse there.
She’s hurt. Really hurt. This past week, she’d been replying to my texts with short, clipped answers.
I felt something was off, but then I thought maybe she was busy with work.
And then your news broke, and I realized she thought I knew and had chosen not to tell her.
Shauna wouldn’t take my calls, so I called Rhea to check on her.
That’s when I learned she’d been in Delhi for a week, and she hadn’t even told me.
I went to meet her. I had to really convince her that I too had been blindsided by this.
I know there’s nothing you can do about it, especially given your difficult history with her.
And I understand your reasons for keeping quiet about this.
But you and Janak never stopped to consider how this would impact her.
” Her gaze softened. “And that… wasn’t fair to her. ”
Akash’s grip tightened around his phone. “I never meant for it to hurt her like this. Nor did Janak. But some outcomes are unavoidable, no matter what you do.”
His gaze dropped to the laptop screen just as a new email appeared.
From: Shauna Sehgal
Subject: Resignation
Akash stared at the screen in disbelief, his eyes racing over the words. In the background, Jiya was calling his name.
He looked at his phone screen. “Sorry, Jiya. Can I call you back? Something has come up.”
He quickly ended the call and reread Shauna’s email.
Irritation surged through him. Shauna was walking away from Sehgal Media without even speaking to him face-to-face.
They had a history. They’d started out as friends, and over time, become distant.
That night in Singapore hadn’t changed anything.
The night in the Maldives had only confirmed what he already knew: whenever he and Shauna came together, it was chaos, heat, and conflict.
But amidst all that… there had always been something between them.
Which was why he’d expected her to talk to him at least once before simply resigning.
Then the anger ebbed, replaced by something heavier.
He knew exactly why she was leaving. She and he had never really gotten along.
Hence, she was protecting herself. From the humiliation of answering to him.
From him being her boss. Shauna Sehgal was too proud, and she’d rather quit the job she loved than report to him.
The realization settled uncomfortably in his chest. Sehgal Media without Shauna felt wrong.
She was woven into its fabric as deeply as he was.
And SEHVA… she had been with it right from the start.
Shauna had done outstanding work in her role as creative director of SEHVA and Sehgal Studios, and yet she was choosing to leave all of this behind?
His jaw tightened as he considered his response to her email. His phone rang again, snapping him out of his thoughts. He glanced at the screen and smiled. It was his architect calling.
“Hey, Aaliya,” he said.
“Hi, Akash,” Aaliya replied. “I believe congratulations are in order. How are you feeling?”
He let out a breath. “Overwhelmed, to be honest.”
“You’ll do great,” she said easily. “Keya’s so excited. She’s been waiting for this day for far too long. I wish you’d announced the news a few days earlier. Then we could have celebrated together in the Maldives.”
Lady Aaliya Singh Talbot, the Duchess of Kitteridge, was Keya’s friend. She and her husband, Damien, had been in the Maldives for Keya’s anniversary party and had returned to London post that.
“The timing just wasn’t right then,” Akash explained. “But we can celebrate soon.”
“Of course we will,” Aaliya said warmly.
Aaliya and Damien ran AlphaArc, one of the premier architecture and interior design firms in the world.
They were both brilliant, and despite living in London, their services were in constant demand all over the world.
They personally took on only a handful of projects, and Akash was genuinely grateful they’d agreed to redo his Malabar Hill mansion—the house his grandfather had left to Keya and him.
Keya had never wanted the house. But he had. He’d been waiting for the day it was restored, rebuilt, and finally felt like home again. Renovating it felt like waking it from a long sleep.
“How’s the house coming along?” Akash asked. “With everything going on at work, I haven’t had a chance to visit or check on everything there.”
“Don’t worry. It’s all going well, actually,” Aaliya said. “As you know, the exterior work is nearly done, and we’ve moved on to the interiors now.”
She walked him through the progress, explaining what her team had finished, what was still pending, the delivery schedules, timelines etc.
“The way I see it, the house should be ready for you to move in within a few weeks,” Aaliya said.
Akash smiled, the tension he’d been carrying easing for the first time that day. “That’s amazing.”
There was a brief pause.
“Akash,” she said, “there’s something else I need to tell you. I think someone’s been getting into the house at night.”
He straightened. “What? How do you know?”
“Last week, my team came in and found a few things disturbed. A side table had been tipped over, some boxes had been shifted, and dust sheets had been pulled aside. We thought maybe a stray dog had wandered in.”
“Okay, and?”
“It happened again. Twice last week. Each time, in a different room. Yesterday, we found footprints in the mud near the back entrance. Human ones.”
“Could it just be a homeless person seeking shelter?” Akash asked.
She exhaled. “I don’t think so. It feels like they’re searching for something. Every time, it’s a different room with things moved around or overturned. Once, even a patch in the garden looked like it had been dug up. It doesn’t feel random.”
“Where was security?”
“On the perimeter,” Aaliya replied. “Whoever this is knows how to avoid being seen.”
Akash leaned back slowly, the weight of her words settling in. “We need to get cameras installed immediately. I know we had decided to wait to add this security measure until the house was fully ready. But this can’t wait. Let’s do this as soon as possible.”
“I already have,” Aaliya said calmly. “The cameras went in yesterday. Full coverage, inside and out, for now.”
Relief loosened something in his chest. “Thank you,” Akash said, meaning it. “I really appreciate you taking care of it.”
He paused. “I’ll go visit the site tomorrow, just to have a look. When will you be in India next?”
“In a week or so,” she replied. “But don’t worry. I’m on top of everything.”
Akash disconnected the call and set his phone aside, his mind already turning over the possibilities.
Who would break into an empty, half-renovated house?
A homeless person looking for shelter made the most sense.
And yet, the thought didn’t sit right. Searching room by room felt deliberate. Purposeful.
He frowned, unease curling low in his gut. It was probably nothing, and right now, he had too much on his plate to dwell on it. With the cameras in place, they’d find whoever was responsible soon enough.
For now, he forced his attention back to the present. He had an overflowing inbox, back-to-back meetings beginning in less than half an hour, and a resignation he still didn’t know what to do about.