Chapter 7 #2
‘Di, did they say why they rejected it? Maybe Piyush could tell us?’ she asked, hoping their legal liaison had answers.
‘I called him as soon as I got the file back. He checked the submission status and said the board rejected your application because you don’t meet the eligibility criteria outlined in the trust deed.’
‘What criteria?’ Kashvi asked urgently.
Siya sighed. ‘That’s the problem. I don’t know. The board members are anonymous, and the deed is only accessible to them. I don’t know anything.’
‘Ask Piyush!’ Kashvi urged restlessly.
‘I spent the last four hours going back and forth with him. He suggested I put in a formal request to access the deed since I’m a beneficiary. Two hours later, even that was rejected.’
‘Who the hell has the authority to do that?’ Kashvi snapped, enraged.
‘Our father. I recognised his signature on the document.’
Kashvi let out a bitter laugh. Why was she even surprised?
Only he could single-handedly ruin the future of countless people in a matter of minutes.
‘Karthik?’ Swayam asked, incredulous. ‘Didn’t you push him out of the family business? How is he still on the trust board?’
‘As our mother’s widower, he’s still a member of the family trust. He represents us on the board,’ Siya explained.
Luv raised an eyebrow. ‘Can’t we fight it in court? It can’t be legal to hide the deed from beneficiaries.’
‘We will, but there’s no way to know how long that would take. It’s our worst-case option, but we should try to avoid it,’ she said.
Kashvi tugged at Siya’s arm. ‘You found Maa’s will in the family vault and it mentioned our inheritance. What about that?’
‘When Maa received her share, she didn’t accept it. I think she never trusted Dad. She sent it back to the family fund to be split equally and added to our fund. It’s worth a hundred crores now.’
For a second, the room fell silent. Kashvi didn’t quite know how to respond to the weight of that number.
Siya went on, ‘But our money is in the trust corpus, and it’s governed by the trust deed.’
Still reeling from the amount, Kashvi grasped at whatever hope she could find. ‘But Maa wrote in the will that she wanted the money to come to us. That has to mean something.’
Siya gave a heavy sigh. ‘It does, but it won’t override the trust deed. The board has final authority.’
Kashvi scoffed. ‘The board rejected my application because I failed some criteria I’m not even allowed to know?’
‘Yeah. I know how insane that sounds. I’ve spent half the day looking for a loophole, and every single time I circle back to the same problem. That’s why I called Dhruv,’ Siya admitted with a hint of hesitation.
When Kashvi pinned her with a glare, her sister only shrugged. ‘He worked closely with Dad for years. If anyone can get a copy of the trust deed, it’s him.’
‘What did he say?’ Swayam asked.
‘He said he knows someone he can ask. He’ll be here as soon as he gets it.’
Swayam gently rested his hands on her shoulders and turned Kashvi towards him. ‘Once we know the criteria, we can figure out what you need to do. There could still be a way.’
Her throat tightened as she forced the words out. ‘If that money doesn’t come through, those people will lose everything they’ve built with their blood, sweat, and tears.’
‘I understand you’re worried—’
She shook her head vehemently. ‘No. You don’t understand. One organisation declared fifty new scholarships today because I promised to fund it.’
Her mind raced through every announcement she’d made since morning, and a wave of nausea rolled through her.
What will I tell them now?
Swayam cupped her cheek, gently tilting her face upwards. ‘I may not understand the scale of your work, but I know it matters to you. And that’s exactly why we won’t let it end here.’
For a moment, Kashvi simply stood there, the calm certainty in his voice clashing with the chaos inside her.
‘We will find another way, I promise you. Now breathe.’
As the fog of panic lifted slightly, Kashvi noticed her sister watching her and Swayam with narrowed eyes.
‘What was that?’
‘What?’ Kashvi mumbled.
‘What just happened between the two of you?’ Siya asked, folding her arms across her chest.
Luv began to hum the tune of Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko Toh Pyaar Sajna under his breath.
When Kashvi shot him a glare, he coughed into his fist. ‘Sorry. Maybe I ate the wrong kind of biryani.’
Swayam fought a smile, especially when Kashvi threatened Luv with violence, which he brushed off easily.
Though she didn’t push further, Siya continued to observe them, and Kashvi knew that the conversation was far from over. Thankfully, the doorbell rang, saving her.
‘That must be Dhruv,’ Abhay said, heading for the door.
Kashvi folded her arms against her chest, bracing herself.
Dhruv walked into the living room, exchanging awkward nods with everyone. Dressed in an olive T-shirt and jeans, he looked as if he’d come here straight out of bed, dishevelled and with ragged hair.
His gaze moved across the room before settling on Kashvi. A faint crease appeared between his brows. ‘You look like you’ve had a rough morning. Are you okay?’
His question struck a raw nerve.
‘Brilliant deduction, Sherlock. Now how about you start answering my questions?’ Kashvi shot back.
‘Sure. What do you want to know?’
‘How did you magically manage to get your hands on our family deed when it’s too confidential even for Siya?’ Kashvi asked, sharper than she intended.
Dhruv didn’t react to the challenge in her tone. If anything, his calmness only made her more restless.
‘I’m friends with Dad’s assistant. We went to university together. I asked her if there was any way she could make a copy,’ he explained.
Kashvi scoffed. ‘Just like that? She put her job at risk just because you’re friends?’
He shrugged. ‘People do a lot of favours when they hate their boss.’
Disbelief edged her voice. ‘She hates him enough to hand over confidential documents and risk legal consequences?’
Dhruv held her gaze head-on. ‘She’s his personal assistant, Kashvi. I’m sure you know him well enough to imagine how he treats his female staff.’
Kashvi cringed inwardly. She had been blissfully unaware of it until a few months ago, when Siya uncovered the old harassment complaints against their father buried in HR records.
She gave a reluctant nod, backing off.
Dhruv ignored the tension, shifting the focus to the matter at hand. He slipped his bag off his shoulder and pulled out two large sealed envelopes. ‘She gave me something else too and said we need to see it.’
‘What does it say?’ Abhay asked.
‘I don’t know, I didn’t open it.’
Kashvi frowned. When he noticed, Dhruv added quietly. ‘It’s a Kashyap family deed. I figured it wasn’t my place to read it.’
The scathing words she’d thrown at him a moment ago suddenly felt unfair, and she looked away. Dhruv had known for years that she didn’t consider him family, yet he’d still shown up in the hour of need. She didn’t know how to feel about that.
He held out the envelope to Siya. ‘If there’s anything else I can do, just tell me. I’m here.’
Siya gave a quick nod and tore the brown paper open. She pulled out a thick stack of papers, and her expression tightened with each clause she read. As a seasoned lawyer, she rarely reacted like this unless something had truly struck a nerve.
With every passing second, Kashvi’s heartbeat sped up.
Swayam gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. ‘Whatever happens next, we’ll deal with it together. It’ll work out.’
Kashvi nodded when she couldn’t speak. She could only hope.
‘What the fuck?’
The words tore out of Siya so sharply that everyone flinched. She crushed the paper in her hand. ‘That bastard!’
Kashvi didn’t need to ask. The shock and fury were written all over her sister’s face. If she was referring to their father, whatever was written in the deed was far worse than a technicality.
She felt the truth sink in, cold and certain.
I’m so fucked.