Married in Vengeance (Dynasty Rebels #4)

Chapter 10

Ten

AADHYA

Fury sent Aadhya storming into the street without a thought of where she’d go next. She didn’t want to go back to Gadde Mansion and if she turned up at her house the day after her wedding, her family would get worried.

She tapped on the cab rental app on her phone and booked a cab, sighing. The griha pravesh puja was in two hours. She’d have to be back for that or all hell would break loose. But she still had these two hours…

She was standing on the crowded pavement waiting for her cab when the office door opened and the young boy she’d watched crying earlier emerged with his family and another man.

The man, clearly their lawyer, saw them off before turning towards her with a friendly smile.

“Hi. You’re Aadhya right?”

Aadhya nodded, warily.

“Ram’s partner, Karthik.” He held his hand out for her to shake. “I was at your wedding but I doubt you’d have registered anyone in the crowd.”

Aadhya shook his hand, smiling. “Nice to meet you.”

“Are you waiting for someone?” he asked, looking around the crowded road frowning.

“Just my cab.” Aadhya adjusted her chiffon dupatta which was falling off.

Karthik stared at her. “Why do you need a cab? I’ll have one of the office drivers drop you wherever you want to go.”

Right on cue, Aadhya’s cab pulled up beside them. “It’s already here.” With a last smile, she opened the car door. “Have a good day.”

“Aadhya, wait!” Karthik cast a worried glance towards the office. “Does Ram know you’re taking a cab?”

“What I do or don’t do in my life, Karthik,” she snapped, her frustration with the day spilling out on the poor man. “Has nothing to do with the great Ram Gadde.”

His eyebrows shot up as he watched her slide into the car and give the driver the OTP to start the ride.

“Alright then,” he murmured, shutting the door behind her and stepping away from the car.

Aadhya’s pulse beat an angry rhythm as she watched the crowded roads flash by. Within minutes, the cab pulled up in front of the multistoried building that housed the corporate offices of Laxmi Builders. Her family’s legacy and Aadhya’s first baby, this company was both her privilege and her refuge. As Chief Architect, she worked with her brother, the CEO, to take their heritage forward.

She wondered if Aarush was in office this morning or still snuggled up with his wife, sleeping off yesterday’s wedding reception shenanigans. Not that Aadhya had had any chance to partake in said shenanigans. She’d been home and tucked into her solitary bed well before a toddler’s bedtime.

She smiled absently, acknowledging passing staff’s greetings and ignoring their puzzled frowns at her unexpected presence at work that day. Tapping her foot, she waited impatiently for the elevator to arrive.

“Aadhya? Beta why are you here?” Vara Prasad Sir, their company’s senior most architect and an employee of over twenty-five years with the firm, walked up to her, a stack of rolled up drawings in one arm. “Griha pravesh is today kadha?”

“In a couple of hours, Prasad Garu. I just wanted to check on some work and then I’ll go back.”

“Arrey beta.” He flashed an avuncular smile. “Work can always wait. But these precious, new moments in your marriage won’t.”

Precious her arse, Aadhya snorted mentally. Outwardly, she just smiled and didn’t bother to contradict him. Coming from a family that lived in the public eye, she’d long since learned to guard every word that came out of her month. She couldn’t help it if her face flashed the subtitles though.

“I’ll come by your desk in fifteen minutes,” she told him as they got into the lift. “I want to discuss the structural changes to the clubhouse in Eonia.”

His smile dimmed at whatever he saw in her face. “You need to trust your team more, Aadhya. The harder you hold on to sand, the more it will slip through your fingers.”

Aadhya sighed. Technically, she was his boss. She was everyone’s boss, except for Aarush Anna. But being so much younger meant she kept ramming up against the brick wall of their indignation and righteous outrage.

“I’ll be at your desk in fifteen minutes,” she said, exiting the elevator with him. She didn’t miss the tightening of his facial features. She didn’t mean to insult the older man, but Aadhya was still reeling from a few recent professional setbacks and she wanted to make sure every last thread on every project was looped tight. If that insulted some people, then so be it.

She waved at Aarush’s startled secretary before breezing into his office and shutting the door behind her.

“Anna.”

Aarush’s head shot up at the sound of her voice, his fingers pausing mid-typing on his laptop.

“Aadhya?” Surprise saturated his voice as he rose from behind his desk and came forward. “What are you doing here? Isn’t the griha-“

“Yes, yes I know,” she cut him off irritably. “I’ll be there for it on time. What’s the point of a griha pravesh anyway. I’m already living in the damn house. I’m already praveshed.”

Aarush leaned against his desk, his hands in his pockets, watching her pace in front of him.

“I took a cab to get here,” she announced.

“A cab?” Aarush looked at her like she’d announced her arrival by space shuttle. Their circle didn’t normally do cabs, so she understood his reaction.

“Anyway.” Aadhya swung her arms in the air. “That’s why I am here.”

“Why are you here?”

“I want my car.” It was the first thing that came to mind. “Can you have one of the drivers drop it off for me?”

“Of course,” Aarush said immediately. “I’ll have it done.”

“It’s not that they don’t have a million cars I can use,” she added defensively. “But I want my own.”

“Okay.”

“And, and-“ She glanced wildly around the room. “I’ll be back at work from tomorrow. There’s no honeymoon or anything to bother about.”

“Okay.”

“I’m going to review the Eonia clubhouse drawings now. I’ll send you the revised ones by EOD tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” she repeated, her chest heaving with short, hard breaths. “I’ll go now then.”

“Alright.” Aarush watched her, a thoughtful, worried look on his face.

“I’ll go get praveshed after that.” Fury draining out of her, she stumbled towards the door, feeling a little lost and a lot sadder than she’d expected to the day after her wedding.

“Aadhya?” Her brother walked over to where she stood, by the door, and pulled her into a hug.

She clung to him, a few stray tears escaping her and wetting the front of his suit.

“What’s wrong?” Aarush asked, pushing her rowdy hair out of her wet, tear-stained face.

You know why.

Ram’s furious accusation echoed in her head.

“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “But I’ll find out.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not yet.” Aadhya pulled out of his hug. “Not until I figure things out.”

“Okay. But know this.” He held her by her shoulders forcing her to stay in one place and look at him. “I’m here for you. Always.”

“I know.” She gave him a watery smile. “I’ll get to the Eonia stuff now.”

Aarush exhaled, clearly deciding to drop the matter. “I want you to speak to the project team on the Arcadia site too. They have some questions about soil erosion.”

“On it.” Aadhya nodded, already feeling more in control. This was her domain and no one, not even fucking lawyers with imagined slights, could take it from her.

For the next hour, at least, she could bury herself in her professional life. The personal could wait.