Married in Vengeance (Dynasty Rebels #4)

Chapter 8

Eight

AADHYA

Ram dismissed the driver who came forward to help and slid into the driver’s seat himself. Aadhya wondered if she should get into the front passenger seat but before she could shift in her heavy outfit, Ram slid the car into gear and drove away from the venue, leaving her sitting in the back like he was her chauffeur.

She sat in silence, her gaze on his cold, rigid profile, watching him navigate the potholes and traffic with the same steely concentration he was using to ignore her.

Her head was starting to ache. Her hair had been pulled back into an elaborate, tight bun and a heavy maang tikka attached to it. The constant tug against her temples had started the throbbing. With the mounting stress and frustration of the day taking up residence in her shoulders, her head wasn’t the only thing aching.

She watched the muscles in Ram’s shoulder flex as he changed gears, overtaking a water tanker on the highway. They were on the Outer Ring Road, the highway stretching ahead of them into the infinite darkness of the night.

Just the two of them, in the car, silence blanketing them.

The two of them and a wealth of unspoken words. Maybe it was time to start talking.

“Ram.”

She saw the muscle in his jaw flex as he clenched it.

“What’s going on?”

The muscle flexed again but she got no response.

“I asked you a question.”

His hard gaze met hers in the rearview mirror. A second’s worth of eye contact before he went back to looking at the road.

“You’re just going to ignore me then.”

He flipped on the indicator, changing lanes and taking the exit that would lead them to Gadde Mansion.

Anger rose, a fiery plume that made her chest burn and her hands shake. “Ram.” Her voice was sharper as she reached out to grip his shoulder and shake it.

He shrugged out of her grasp, like she was nothing but a pest that was bothering him. A stray mosquito. She was surprised he wasn’t swatting her.

Traffic picked up as they entered the main roads of the city. He drove with a detached precision that was both reassuring and maddening. She wanted to shake that control, to shatter the walls he built around himself, to make him lose control, to be the man she’d gone to bed with…the only time she’d seen his iron grip on his life shake.

She’d shaken him before. She could shake him again.

Before she could figure out how though, Ram turned into the road that led to his home. Their home now, she reminded herself. A few taps on the horn and the security guards came running to open the large gates.

They drove in and stopped in front of the sweeping marble staircase that led to the front door. Aadhya gathered the heavy folds of her lehenga to get out of the car, waiting for Ram to open the door. Only to stare open mouthed as he tossed the keys to a helper and strode away from the car without a backward glance.

A humiliated flush tinted her cheeks as one of the helpers hurried over to open her car door and help her out of the car. Embarrassment gave way to fury as she stared at his retreating back, the staff’s interested side glances burning through her poise.

She hauled her skirts up, fists clenched in the heavy material and stormed after him. Everyone had their breaking point and Aadhya had always reached hers far faster than others.

Her gaze fixed on the ass’s stiff, retreating back, she trailed him to his bedroom. She caught the doorjamb just as it was slamming shut and shoved it open, pushing her way through.

Ram didn’t even blink. He just shrugged out of his coat, uncuffed his shirt and walked straight through to the bathroom.

A scream built in Aadhya’s throat. Forcing it back, she yanked her heavy dupatta off and stepped out of the stupidly cumbersome lehenga. She unzipped her choli and pulled it over her head, her breath coming in short, heavy pants. Cool air rushed in to soothe her overheated skin as she stood there, her hands on her hips trying to get a grip on her rioting emotions.

The bathroom door swung open and Ram stepped out in track pants and a t-shirt that looked like it had been around since the Stone Ages. His gaze tracked her standing in the middle of the room in her bra, panties, and the stupid golden stilettoes she’d chosen with such excitement for tonight’s function.

Aadhya squared her shoulders, tipped her chin up and met his gaze head on. There was nothing he hadn’t seen before. Nothing he hadn’t kissed into breathless jelly. Nothing he hadn’t driven into insanity with his touch.

Something flared in his eyes, something dark and deadly as he looked at her. She hated herself for the excitement that erupted in the pit of her stomach at the sight of it. It had always been this way between them. One look, one touch…and it was all over.

Except, Ram blinked, his infamous shutters coming down over his eyes. He took off his glasses and dropped them on the side table, looking away from her and walking towards the bedroom door.

“Where are you going?”

Her low voice didn’t even cause a hitch in his step. Aadhya reached out as he crossed her and grabbed his arm, stopping him.

“Where are you going?” she asked again, her voice cold and hard.

“Out.” He pulled out of her grasp, but Aadhya was ready for him.

Swinging around, she put herself between him and the door, her bare back meeting the polished wood of it.

Ram’s eyes got impossibly harder. “Move.”

“Not until I know what the fuck is going on with you. With us.”

“There is no us .” He spat the last word out like it was poison.

She picked up the chain around her neck, the golden pendant dangling between her fingers. “This says otherwise.”

His gaze dropped to the thaali she was holding out before flashing back to her face. His inclined his head towards her, a slight dip. “ That is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

She frowned, even as hurt sliced through her, thin ribbons that snaked through her heart.

“It’s what we both wanted, wasn’t it?” Her gaze searched his cold, tight face. “You sent the proposal to my family. You initiated this.”

“I did.”

“Then why are you acting like you don’t want this, don’t want me?”

“Because I don’t.”

Pain like she’d never known it slammed through her, taking her breath away. “W-w-what?” she stammered, taking a stumbling step back.

“Move out of my way Aadhya.” Ram looked away, his eyes squeezing shut, almost as if her pain caused him pain.

But that wasn’t possible, was it?

“Why did you marry me?”

He didn’t answer, his face still turned away from her.

“WHY DID YOU MARRY ME?” Aadhya slammed her hands into his chest, shoving him back a step.

The man was built like a rock. If she pushed him back a step, it was because he let her.

“I don’t want to do this.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck what you want?” she screamed, getting right up into his face. “Why did you marry me?”

Ram took a sudden step forward, his arm going around her naked waist and hauling her up against him.

“Enough of the dramatics,” he said, his voice bitingly cold. “We both know the stakes here and why we married each other.”

Bewildered, she turned her head slightly, the locks of hair falling out of her bun brushing against his jaw. Something, somewhere had gone terribly wrong. But what?

“I know why I married you,” she said shakily. “Why don’t you tell me why you married me?”

He looked down at her, a slow, chilling smile splitting his face. “You want to know why I married you?”

She nodded dumbly, fear snaking through her.

“I married you to ruin you, Aadhya Reddy.”