Chapter 8 #3
"It's breathtaking, Akhil," Shruti whispered, looking out at the water before turning her head to face him. "I still can't thank you enough for bringing me here. Today... today was one of the happiest days of my life."
Akhil looked at her, his dark eyes glowing under the subtle yellow dock lanterns. He set his scotch glass down on a wooden dock post and took a slow step closer to her, closing the distance between them.
"I built this villa six years ago, Shruti," Akhil spoke softly, his deep voice carrying a quiet, heavy emotion that made her pulse flutter. "Everyone in Mumbai thought I built it as an investment project for my European hotel group."
Shruti looked at him, curious. "Why did you build it?"
Akhil looked directly into her dark eyes, his expression turning intensely serious, raw, and completely vulnerable.
"I built it," Akhil confessed softly, "because six years ago, you published an article in a travel magazine. You wrote a small paragraph about how your ultimate dream was to sit on a stone terrace on Lake Como, drinking wine and watching the sunset."
Shruti froze completely. Her heart stopped beating in her chest. She stared at him in utter disbelief, her lips parting in shock. "What... what did you say?"
"I read every article you ever wrote, Shruti," Akhil murmured, stepping closer until he was standing just inches away from her, his broad frame towering over hers in the quiet starlight.
"I built this entire estate for you. Hoping that one day...
just one day... I would be able to bring you here and see you smile the way you smiled today. "
Shruti felt her eyes welling up with hot, unshed tears. Her breath hitched in her throat, her chest aching with a love so massive it threatened to shatter her heart into a thousand pieces.
"Akhil..." she sobbed softly, her voice trembling. "You... you did that for me?"
"I've done everything for you, Shorty," Akhil whispered, his voice dropping to a low, raw gravel filled with eight years of hidden longing. He raised his hand, his long, warm fingers gently cupping her soft cheek, his thumb brushing away a single tear that slipped down her skin.
"Akhil... why?" Shruti pleaded softly, her dark eyes searching his face desperately. "Why have you always treated me like this? Why do you protect me like your life depends on it? Why did you build this place?"
Akhil stared down at her beautiful, tear-glistening face. The eight years of silence, the solemn promises to Raghav, the age gap, the family boundaries, everything collapsed inside his mind like a house of cards.
He couldn't keep lying to her. He couldn't keep hiding behind the lie of being just her brother's protective friend.
"Because I love you, Shruti," Akhil whispered, the raw confession tearing out of his chest like a physical force.
"I have loved you since the night you turned nineteen in that garden gazebo.
I stayed away... I tried to be just your brother's best friend...
I tried to keep my distance because I thought I wasn't good enough for you. But I cannot do it anymore."
Shruti’s breath completely stopped. The world around her seemed to freeze in time. The roaring lake, the twinkling lights of Bellagio, the cool mountain breeze, everything vanished.
Before Shruti could speak, before she could utter a single word of her own eight-year-old confession, a sharp, loud ringing shattered the quiet night air.
'brRRING! brRRING!'
Akhil’s encrypted satellite phone in his trouser pocket buzzed violently, its high-pitched emergency ring echoing across the quiet wooden dock.
Akhil froze, his dark eyes flickering with frustration as he looked down at his pocket, then back at Shruti’s stunned, tear-stained face.
He pulled out the phone. The caller ID displayed an emergency alert code from Leonardo Bianchi and his chief of security in Milan.
Akhil took a deep, heavy breath, his jaw tightening as he slid the phone open and brought it to his ear. "Talk to me, Leonardo."
"Akhil!" Leonardo’s frantic voice boomed through the speaker. "We have an emergency! Victor Romano’s men were just spotted at the private boat marina in Como town! They have tracked your arrival at Villa Raheja!"
Akhil’s entire posture instantly shifted. The raw, vulnerable lover vanished in a split second, replaced by the lethal, protective storm of the billionaire warrior.
"Are they moving towards the villa?" Akhil demanded, his voice dropping to a cold, razor-sharp register.
"Two fast motorboats left the Como docks five minutes ago heading towards your peninsula!" Leonardo warned urgently. "Get Miss Malhotra inside the main villa fortress now!"
Akhil ended the call and slammed the phone into his pocket. He looked at Shruti, his dark eyes burning with fierce, unyielding protectiveness.
"Inside," Akhil commanded softly, grabbing her hand securely in his broad palm. "Now."
Shruti looked into his dark eyes, eyes that had just confessed eight years of secret love, and held onto his hand tightly. The quiet peace of Lake Como was broken, and the dangerous storm had finally arrived at their doorstep.