Hateful Games: (An arranged marriage billionaire romance) (Arranged Games Book 2)

Chapter Seventy-nine

I am not fucking up the world’s greatest gift that’s happened to me.

A woman stealing my heart that I vowed to keep black and lock in a cage. To not let it be my ruination like the way it was for my parents. I never believed a love that fulfilled and made you happy existed. A love that didn’t eat away at your soul, but fed it.

In my world of deceit and greed, it’s a myth.

A reality out of reach.

Until Rose, who shattered all my beliefs.

The first time I touched her when she was sixteen, she jolted me like electricity. It felt as though a loaded truck slammed into me. That’s how powerfully I was hit with the stunning force that was Rosalie Kapoor. Since then—in that one single and terrifying moment—I knew I had met my match. But I couldn’t let her know.

Couldn’t let my emotions slip, giving her an edge. So, I treaded carefully, sealed my emotions around her. I perfected the mask of indifference, a bully, an asshole to ensure she never peered beneath to find the true feelings that she was stirring.

We’ve come so far that I’m not going to let a secret—no matter how tumultuous, tragic, and appalling—destroy my chance of keeping her forever.

It’s time for my father to confront the sins of his past.

Once and for all.

Today, he’s graced the office with his presence. A week after Rose and I spent that bittersweet night at my parents’ house. Not once he’s asked if Mom is all right. Does he even remember he lost his second kid and almost me? I’ve never resented a man as much as I do him.

Without knocking on his door, I push it open and stroll in.

He looks up from the pile of papers on his desk and furrow in his brow disperses into a smooth line. Lowering his reading glasses, he asks, “How are you, son? Your mother and I were thinking of inviting you and Rosalie over.”

“Why did you choose Rosalie, and not Jasmine, all those years ago?”

He jerks in his seat, looking taken back. No signs of the truth reflecting in his eyes whatsoever. Steepling his fingers on the desk, he regards me carefully before asking, “Why do you ask? Aren’t you happy with Rosalie?”

“Call it curiosity,” I answer, taking a seat across from him and crossing my legs. “The oldest daughter is usually the first choice. Yet you skipped right past her. She also wouldn’t have rebelled as hard as Rosalie did. Anyone’s curiosity would be piqued.”

He knows.

It takes everything inside me to stay seated and let the rage simmer down. He’s had a kid with another woman, cheated on my mom, and still remains delusional to say my marriage to his rival’s daughter wasn’t about getting closer to Lily.

Lily is as much to blame.

Has she been leading him all along?

Are they still having an affair?

“How long have you known, Nova?” he asks after a tense beat of silence.

“The question is, how long have you, Dad? Was it when she chose Mihir over you? Let another man raise your daughter? Did you marry Mom just to spite her?” My voice rises an octave with each livid accusation. He remains stoic and unflinching. “Do you still fuck her? Was my marriage convenient for your affair? I mean, you don’t have to hide being seen with her in public since we’re all one big fucking family now. You can flaunt your mistress in front of the entire world without shame.”

“Stop!” he roars, slamming his fist on the desk. “Don’t you dare insult her.”

“You’re one to talk,” I sneer angrily. “You can treat Mom like shit, ignore her existence, and insult and make a mockery of your vows, but one word about Lily and look at you. No wonder she still drinks.” He flinches. I shake my head in disgust. “Probably thinks you go to Lily every night to cheat on her. Because of you, I’m lying to my wife every day. She has no clue. Do you have any idea how much it will devastate her?”

“I’ve never cheated on your mother.”

I laugh humorlessly in disbelief and at his audacity. “Did you forget you have a kid with her?”

“You only know one side of the story, Nova. I’m guilty of a lot of crimes against your mother but cheating isn’t one of them. Neither is lying to her. Yes, I’ve always loved one woman, but Lily has moved on and it’s taken me years to accept that. Teresa has known the truth from the beginning. I didn’t learn about Jasmine being mine until years later from Mihir, who couldn’t resist taunting me how he not only stole the love of my life but also my kid. I told your mom everything before confronting Teresa. Except I didn’t know Mihir had been filling your mom’s head with lies behind my back that Teresa and I were still seeing each other.” Expression turning grim yet earnest, he unleashes the biggest bomb. “Your mother is the one who fixed your marriage with Rosalie, son. She and Mihir guilt-tripped and threatened Lily about revealing that I was Jasmine’s biological father if she didn’t say yes. Teresa, being distrustful as she was, thought this would ruin any chance of Lily and I getting together. Except there was nothing to end.”

I sit, stunned and speechless.

Is my mother truly capable of that? Then again, I know all too well that in love, all’s fair and lines all but disappear. The ones you think you’ll never cross.

How many times have I told Rosalie that I’d never let her be with another man. I’ve lost count. Yet I’ve meant them each time.

“You cannot tell her, Nova,” says Dad. “Some things are better left in the dark.”

“Nothing ever stays in the dark.”

Our eyes lock in a silent battle. The sound of a text pinging interrupts us.

I move to stand when with a sigh, my father focuses on his phone, but the stark dread on his face stops me cold. A storm brews when his gaze flashes to mine. “What did you do, Nova?”

“What?” I frown.

“Why do I have a text from Mihir saying he wants to meet? Both of us. Now.” His tone is angry. Standing abruptly, his chair skidding on the floor, he rounds the desk. “Let’s go.”

I check my own phone as I walk alongside my father to the elevator. My mood turns bleak when I see there is, in fact, an unread text. A surprise invite from Mihir is equivalent to walking defenseless into Satan’s lair.

No telling what disaster is waiting for you until it’s too late.

I knew this business merger with him was going to come bite us in the ass.

We take my car, both of us lost in our own thoughts as I drive toward Mihir’s house. My mind plagued with what fresh hell he has in store for us. I’m already filled with boiling fury at the role he played in damaging my parents’ marriage. My mother has always been easily led and na?vely fooled. She and Dad could’ve had a semblance of a good relationship, even a friendly one, had it not been for Mihir.

How am I ever going to tell Rosalie and stand a chance to fix it?

I circle down the driveway I’ve driven only a handful of times and never for a good reason. Déjà vu slams into me as I park and kill the ignition. The flashback of Rosalie blasting my car providing a momentary distraction and bringing a smile to my lips. It vanishes just as fast when my dad and I step out.

The sun beats down on us as we walk toward the front gate.

It opens with a flourish by one of the many staff members.

Lily must not be home. Another bad sign.

“Mr. Kapoor is waiting upstairs,” the woman says and walks us to the study upstairs. Like we don’t already know the way.

My father is silent but I can sense his unease. I see him in a new light. He’s flawed but also lonely and sad. Maybe he’s right. I’ve only seen and believed one side of the story. I imagine being in his place and I can’t bear the thought of watching Rosalie settle down with another man, have his kid. I would rather be dead.

Love is a tricky notion.

It possesses the power to bring out our worst and most vindictive qualities, as well as our good sides.

Which side do I fall on?

I harden my expression upon reaching my father-in-law’s study and wear false boredom as I enter first. Then my father.

Mihir’s conceited and slimy face fills my vision. I stiffen even before an arrogant and vicious grin etches across his mouth. Relaxing against his big chair, as if we’re mere peasants showing up at his doorsteps, he greets us. “Gentlemen. I’m so glad you could visit on such short notice. However, urgent business matters can hardly wait, as you’ll both agree. Have a seat, please.”

His politely spoken words don’t perfectly veneer the gloating tone underneath. He’s practically foaming at the mouth, as though he’s won a lottery we don’t know about.

“Why are we here, Mihir?” demands my father, putting his hands in his pockets. “If it were business, we have a perfectly good office to discuss this in.”

“I prefer to conduct my most important and discreet ones at home,” he answers. “In a minute, you’ll be thanking me for the privacy as well.”

The more he talks in circles, the more my hackles rise.

I’ve no patience for his sick mind games. So, I coldly taunt, “Then how about not wasting our time with chit chat and getting to your point?”

His gaze flashes to mine, his jaw tightening. I hold his stare as flashbacks of our previous encounters raise blotchy redness to his cheeks.

“Always so blunt,” he sneers, his mask cracking.

“You could’ve told me over the phone,” I jeer, arching an eyebrow. Taking a seat across from him to show I’m not intimidated, I smirk. “Perhaps when you sent the text.”

My father follows suit, settling on the chair to my left. “What was so important you had to call us in the middle of the day?”

“I’m afraid the time has come to balance the scales and end the corrupt reign of the D’Cruz legacy, men,” he announces bluntly and slides one file to each of us. His tone is all businesslike as he delivers his threat. With the readiness of a manipulative man plotting for years. The room filling with his smugness. “You, Danish, will sign The Cruz Port over to me, while your son will resign from the CEO position and both your shares will be sold to me. If you both say no, Danish, then the information in the files in your hands will be made public tomorrow, along with a copy sent to the CBI.”

His words ring in my ears while my eyes read the dump of confidential information in my hands as I flip through the pages. I don’t want to believe what I’m seeing, but the truth slaps me in the face that my instincts were right all along. Though, it’s far too late.

Mihir’s been stealing my clients.

The file holds every single detail about the Middle East project I’ve been keeping on the down-low. The secret location of my team where they’ve been working for the past few months.

“There’s more where that came from, Nova. I have access to every deal your company’s ever done and will be doing. Whatever decision you make, they’ll all be mine regardless,” Mihir informs me before laughing evilly. “Although you might be wondering how I got my hands on it.”

My father isn’t faring any better, his face ashen as he stares at his lap. I catch a sight of the photos he’s looking at but can’t make them out. What does Mihir have on him?

Someone inside my company has been sabotaging me and it isn’t my fucking former assistant, who I last checked was in jail. Mihir must’ve paid off a higher-up in my company, who leaked all the sensitive information to him, thus ruining me and my firm’s reputation.

But who would be foolish or daring enough to go against me?

As if I summoned the traitor, the door creaks open from behind me.

The figure walks past my side to face me beside a smug-looking Mihir.

I stare into my wife’s dark eyes.