Chapter 31
His car came to a stop at a signal. Akash checked the time.
, Just a few more minutes, and he’d be with her.
Today, like most days, had been busy for both of them, leaving no chance to meet, and now his heart lifted at the thought of finally seeing her.
Being with her. The light turned green, and his bodyguard eased the car back into the evening traffic.
His lips curved into a smile as he watched the city blur past outside his window.
Ever since Shauna and he had finally laid the past to rest and admitted what they felt for one another, life had settled into a happy pattern.
Work kept them busy, but they still managed to snatch snippets of time during the day to meet one another.
However, they did spend their evenings together, first at their new home, which was coming along beautifully, and then at his apartment.
Happiness flooded his chest. He couldn’t wait to see her. To walk into their home and find her there. To hear her voice, to feel her in his arms after another long day. And in just a week, they would be married. One week, and she would be his in every way that mattered. His partner. His wife.
His smile deepened. It all still felt surreal. Sometimes he had to pinch himself to make sure that this wasn’t just a dream.
His phone rang, and he smiled when he saw her name flash on his screen.
“Hey,” he said, answering immediately. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes max.”
There was a long pause.
“Hi,” she finally said, her voice sounding flat. Not like her usual happy self.
His brows pulled together. “Shauna? Is everything okay?”
Another long pause followed.
“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked.
“I’m ending this… us,” she said.
“What?” he let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “What do you mean, you’re ending this? Is this a joke?”
“I mean exactly that,” she replied, her tone calm. Too calm. “We’re done.”
His frown deepened. “I don’t follow what you’re saying, Shauna.”
“I said we are done. Over. I’m breaking up with you.”
“What?” Akash shook his head, feeling confused. “No. No, this isn’t funny. Where is this coming from? Talk to me properly.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she said. “This was always how it was going to end.”
Something in the way she spoke sent a cold shudder through him.
“What does that mean?” he asked slowly.
His heart began to pound. Disbelief rocked him to his core. This couldn’t be what he thought was happening. Surely, this was some kind of joke, and she’d start laughing at the end of this.
“It means,” she continued, her voice sharpening, “none of this, us… was real.”
Akash blinked. “What?”
“You heard me,” she said. “You, me, all of it. It was never real.”
She’d just spoken to him a little while ago. She’d seemed fine then. Why was she talking like this now? It didn’t make sense. All their moments together flashed before his eyes. Her smiles, her laughter, her kisses, the way she melted into him. It was real. He knew it in his bones that it was.
“That’s not—” he cut himself off, shaking his head harder now. “I don’t know what has gotten into you, and I’m not talking to you about this on the phone. I’m reaching the house in a few minutes. Let’s talk more, and then you can look me in the eye and tell me it wasn’t real.”
“I’m not there, Akash,” she said. “I never came here this evening, and I will never be coming here again.”
“What is going on, Shauna?” he asked, getting angry now. “Why are you suddenly behaving like this? This is not funny, and I don’t like this joke anymore.”
“This is the truth.” She barked out a mirthless laugh. “I planned for you to fall in love with me, and it was so easy.”
His chest tightened. “You planned it? Why? For what purpose?”
“I agreed to marry you and then got close to you to show the board that they could believe in you. With me by your side, they saw you as stable and reliable.”
His mind scrambled to deny it, but her tone left no room for doubt. Her voice, her words, all of it felt too real.
Still, his heart refused to believe it. “You’re lying.”
“Am I?” she said. “You think the board would’ve trusted you the way they do now without me standing next to you?”
“So what? This was all some kind of… setup?” he demanded.
“Yes.”
His heart cracked open at her words, but a part of him still couldn’t believe it.
“So none of it was real?” he asked.
“None of it was real,” she repeated. “Not the nights spent in your apartment or our time here. It was all a big ploy to get you to this point where the board believed in you. That ends now. You will fail in front of the board. My grandfather will be forced to take up the reins again, and with time I will prove to him and the board that I am the better leader for Sehgal Media. After all, it is my family’s name on the logo. ”
His stomach dropped as the reality of her words sank into him. “So, this was always about you leading Sehgal Media? It was about you competing with me?”
“Yes. It was all for me to get here to this point. I told you once that I will always choose power over everything else.”
He felt the crack in his heart widen.
His voice sounded hoarse to his own ears as he spoke. “You don’t mean that. You can’t. You don’t fake something like this for this long. Not everything. Not all of it.”
“You don’t know what I’m capable of.”
He shook his head, his eyes burning. “No. I don’t believe you. I’m not accepting this. Whatever this is, if you’re angry, if you’re hurt, then I’ll fix it. But this? This isn’t you. I refuse to believe that you don’t love me.”
“This is exactly who I am, Akash. You just never saw it.”
Traffic moved around him, horns blaring faintly in the distance, but everything felt distant. Muted.
“You used me,” he said as the realization finally dawned on him. “All of this… just to claim Sehgal Media.”
“It was always about the business.”
The simplicity of that hit harder than anything else.
Of course. Sehgal Media had always been her endgame.
And what better way to claim it than by tearing him down?
By dismantling him in front of the board.
By walking away and making it look like he wasn’t worthy of the mantle.
If he was failing so completely in his personal life, how could he possibly be trusted to run a company?
They had doubted him once. Now, they would never believe in him again.
Fuck. His head was reeling.
Still, some part of him couldn’t accept it. She wasn’t heartless. She wasn’t cruel. This… This wasn’t her.
Then, almost lightly, she said, “Take care. Don’t call me again. And don’t worry about our families. They will deal with this too.”
“Shauna—wait—”
There was a pause. He heard the slight hitch in her breath, and then the line went dead.
Akash stared at the phone in his hand, unmoving. The glow of the screen faded, leaving only his reflection staring back at him and the slow, painful fracture of his heart.
The car rolled forward, turning into the narrow alley that led to his house. Their house. The placed where he had imagined building a life with her. A future that now felt like a cruel illusion.
Something in him snapped.
“Turn the car,” Akash ordered, his voice sharp.
The bodyguard hesitated for half a second, catching the shift in tone.
“Sir—?”
“I said turn it,” he bit out. “We’re not going there. Take me to my apartment.”
The car slowed, then smoothly pulled out of the lane, merging back into traffic.
Akash leaned back, his jaw clenched, his hands curling into fists.
She had planned everything. Her words echoed in his ears. A hollow laugh almost escaped him.
Of course it was. Of course she’d calculated every move, every word, and every moment. None of it had been real.
His chest tightened. He dragged a hand through his hair, his breaths uneven. But even as the anger surged, something weaker, something stubborn, refused to give in.
No. No, this didn’t make sense. This wasn’t Shauna. He knew her. She wouldn’t hurt him like this.
His phone rang.
The sharp sound cut through everything, making his heart jolt. For one short second, hope flared inside him that it would be Shauna calling. He grabbed the phone.
It wasn’t her. The light in his chest flickered out just as quickly as it had come. He tapped the button to answer his sister’s call.
“Yeah,” he said, his voice flat.
“Hi, Akash,” Keya’s voice came through, bright and excited. “Kabier is on the line with me. We were talking about your wedding. Gosh, I’m so excited my baby brother is getting married.”
“We know you’re excited,” Kabier said, sounding amused. “Now tell him why we called.”
“Listen…” Akash said.
But Keya continued. “I was thinking… before everyone leaves for Goa, we should do something big. Maybe a proper family dinner? Rajiv still has that yacht there. We could do it there. Make it special, you know?”
Akash shut his eyes, his breathing heavy. Minutes ago, he’d been so excited about his wedding, and now it seemed like he was in an alternate reality.
Keya continued. “It’ll be perfect, just family, something intimate, but still—”
“Keya,” he cut in. “The wedding isn’t happening.”
Silence followed his words.
“What?” Keya and Kabier both said together.
“What do you mean it’s not happening?” Kabier asked.
Keya let out a soft laugh. “I’m sure you both just had a fight.”
“No, it’s not that,” Akash said.
He told them about the call with Shauna, about what she had said, and the cold certainty in her voice.
Keya and Kabier were both silent when he was done.
“I knew you were in love with her,” Keya said. “You never told anyone, but it was obvious to all of us that both of you were in love. Hence, I can’t believe Shauna would do this.”
Akash didn’t respond. There was nothing he could say that would help the situation.
Kabier’s voice came through. “Her phone’s switched off. I just tried calling her. Where are you?”
“I’m reaching my apartment,” Akash replied, his voice sounding distant even to his own ears.
“We’re coming there,” Keya said immediately. “We’ll be there soon.”
“No,” he said quietly. “You don’t need to come, Keya.”
“We’re coming,” she shot back, fiercer now. “You cannot expect me to stay away when I know your heart is breaking.” Her voice softened. “Just… just stay strong. We’ll figure this out. Okay?”
She ended the call.
Akash lowered the phone slowly. A sharp, crushing pain filled his chest. Why would she do this?
God, he was such an idiot. She’d told him that she’d played him, and yet a part of him refused to believe it.
He didn’t want to. Because without her, the world was a hollow, empty place, devoid of meaning.
Believing her meant that everything was over. And he knew he’d never be able to survive that.