Chapter 28 #3
Mihit nodded, his shoulder hunched in defeat.
‘That dinner made us realise just how much you’ve suffered emotionally and mentally under his care, and we saw our mistake.
That’s why we’ve been reaching out, to apologise to you.
You’ve been fighting in your own way, and we let our grief and prejudice blind us to it.
You deserved better than that. We don’t expect you to forgive us but we want you to know that we’re sorry, beta. ’
Siya didn’t deserve their apology. She realised with a sharp pull in her chest that she had been doing the same to their son.
Once she knew his identity, all she saw him as was a rival, someone to compete with, someone to shield against, not the man who loved her.
The shame of every assumption she’d made sat heavy in her gut.
‘I do understand, because until recently, I believed my father’s versions too,’ she admitted, her throat dry.
‘It’s not easy to unlearn what we’ve been taught.’
‘Wait, what did you mean yesterday when you said Dad didn’t let you see me?’
Neena shook her head insistently, and leaned forward.
‘We knew both you and Kashvi had been with her in the car, even though he kept that fact out of the media. When we found out where you were hospitalised, we tried to see you, but Kartik had the power to approve visitors and he declined our every request. He even blacklisted us from Roohi’s funeral, not allowing us to pay respects to our friend one last time. ’
‘Is that why you started this rivalry with him?’
Mihit scoffed. ‘We didn’t do anything. After Arohi passed away, Kartik came into full power and used every resource to come after us.
He undercut our every deal, stole our long-term merchants and waged a smear campaign with cheap rumours about our family.
We recognised his revenge, and retaliated in kind, but we didn’t start this. ’
Siya looked down, a lump forming painfully in her throat. Oh god, just how many lies has he told me? She’d dedicated her life to proving herself to someone who was not only cruel as a father, he was also a horrible human being.
Neena cleared her throat and took back the polaroid from Mihit. ‘Siya, may I ask you for something?’
She nodded. ‘Yes, of course.’
‘Would you be open to letting me have the emerald star pendant from her personal jewellery she’d left with the will? She originally made it for me, and… I’d returned it to her when we fought. I’ve regretted it every day since.’
Confusion twisted inside her. ‘Aunty, I’ve never heard of her will,’ Siya said, trying to sort through her memories and came up short of any mention of it.
Her brows furrowed in confusion. ‘You should have. Roohi specifically told me she left the will for you to inherit at eighteen. Until then, the will and her personal jewellery were directed to be sealed in her personal locker in the Kashyap vault. Didn’t Kartik tell you?’
‘No. When I finally joined the company after I got my practising license, I asked him to see it. He told me since she passed away in an accident, there was never a chance for her to write a will. She’d verbally promised to leave the company to him, and when I pointed out that a verbal will is not legally valid, he laughed in my face. ’
‘I’m sure that she had a will. Our fathers had been very adamant about keeping our ducks in a line.
In fact, they made us form our individual wills the same day after a robbery attempt at our ancestral home in Delhi.
We kept updating it with time. She certainly had one, and she made changes to it too. ’
She placed her palm over her heart, feeling it hammer against the ribs. Her mind spun with questions. How had she never heard even a peep about this will?
Siya had been suspicious when Kartik had told her there was no will, but she hadn’t looked hard enough. Clearly, trusting her father had been the wrong call.
Why would he lie? Had he destroyed it? What had her mother changed in it that would make him want to hide it?
‘Do you know who her lawyer was?’
‘It was Naksh Mehta,’ Neena turned to Mihit for confirmation and when he nodded, she continued. ‘But he passed away long back. He’d been working with your grandfather for years, and then during his retirement, he became Roohi’s personal lawyer.’
Naksh Mehta? The predecessor to her mentor Ashutosh Singh before she took over as CLO? There had to be a trail somewhere in that office building and she had to find it.
They were caught by surprise when Siya suddenly stood up, fuelled into action by hope. ‘I think I might have an idea where it might be.’
Neena stood too, and asked, ‘Can I help in any way?’
Siya shook her head. ‘I’ll figure it out. I need to know her final decision. But you’ve already helped me. You filled the gaps in my life. I understand Maa better.’
Her tears shone in the dim light of the lamp. ‘I wish I’d done more. I should’ve gone after her, forced her to see it wasn’t love but possession, but instead, I abandoned her.’
Siya wrapped her fingers around her wrist as she softly said, ‘You were grieving her too. She wouldn’t want you to drown in guilt.’
Neena gently cradled her cheek, as she said. ‘I see her compassion and fire in you. She’d have been very proud of you.’
‘Thank you, Aunty. Also, thank you for looking out for me, and saving me from being married off,’ she whispered, gratitude choking her.
Neena shook her head and clicked her tongue. ‘Enough with the aunty thing now. I’d love it if you call me Mom.’
A rush of warmth bloomed in her chest, and tears stung her eyes. It had been years since she’d called someone that, but the soft smile on Neena’s face and the quiet strength in her voice reminded Siya of her mother.
She cleared her throat, and smiled through the tears. ‘Okay, Mom.’
Mihit came up behind her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as he agreed with her. ‘You’re our kid too, just like Abhay.’
Neena patted her back and Mihit placed a firm, reassuring hand on her shoulder.
‘Speaking of Abhay, I think I should tell you that Agrawal men are raised to be fiercely loyal. They will always protect the ones they love, and I’m confident he will not fail you. You just have to give him a chance.’
Her words felt like sunlight after a season of bitter cold. The possibility of believing them was so vast it scared her.
‘You just have to decide whether you want him beside you when the storm hits, because there will be storms, Siya. There always are,’ Mihit offered.
‘I promise, I’ll make it work,’ she said, and he smiled at her.
She bid them goodbye, and she rushed out of the mansion. Her shoes scraped against the gravel in the driveway as she ran to her car. As she got into the car, she called Namita, and said, ‘Clear my appointments for the evening. I’ve got something more important to do.’