Married in Vengeance (Dynasty Rebels #4)

Chapter 12

Twelve

AADHYA

She stared at the lit projection screen in the conference room, the BOQ or Bill of Quantities for a fifty thousand square foot gated community displayed on it. The endless lines on the excel sheet filled with numbers didn’t register, her mind on a far more puzzling problem.

Why had Ram Gadde married her? Clearly, he believed she’d wronged him somehow. She had no idea how but shelving that for the moment, how did marrying her right this supposed wrong?

“When can we expect the recalibrated figures?” Aarush’s voice cut through her hamster-on-a-wheel thoughts and Aadhya shook the invasive thoughts off, coming back to the moment.

“The consultants will have it for us by Thursday.”

“The project is already behind schedule by three months.” Aarush’s voice was hard. “We’re bleeding money here. Let’s see what we can do to expedite it.”

Aadhya nodded. As Chief Architect, both credit and blame for projects sat squarely on her shoulders, and she wasn’t going to shy away from it.

“We’ll work on it,” she promised. She saw Mr. Vara Prasad smile approvingly at her and smiled back.

“Once we have the drawings nailed down, let’s double the teams on the ground so we move faster. I want a complete schedule with dates of deliverables on my desk by EOD tomorrow. Prasad Garu, we’ll review it together at that point.”

He nodded. The meeting ended on that note and everyone started to disperse, leaving Aadhya alone with her thoughts.

She should file for a divorce, she thought idly, twirling a pen between her fingers. She should, and still, pain twisted through her at the thought of it. She wanted to be married to Ram, but not this Ram. She wanted to be married to the man who’d laughed with her, slept with her, and made her scream his name in mindless pleasure. She wanted the man she’d fallen in love with over countless stolen nights and endless whispered secrets.

But, that wasn’t what she’d gotten. Or rather, that wasn’t whom she’d gotten.

Her pen stopped mid twirl as her phone rang. She glanced down at the name flashing on it with a sigh. She didn’t have the energy to pretend to be the peppy new bride everyone expected her to be, but she couldn’t hide from the world either.

“Gayu,” she answered the call.

Gayatri Bakshi, Aadhya’s best friend from the day they’d sat next to each other in kindergarten class was the founder of one of the most popular schools in the city today, but you’d never know that from the first question out of her mouth.

“So was the wedding night as incredible as I imagined it to be?”

Aadhya rolled her eyes. “Spent a lot of time imagining my wedding night, have you? That husband of yours is not getting it done right?”

“That husband of mine is not getting it done at all, forget about right,” Gayatri groused. “He’s off on another business trip.”

“Don’t you have a school to run?”

“And you have buildings to build,” Gayatri countered. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t have time for girl talk. Spill!”

“There’s nothing to spill,” Aadhya prevaricated, collecting her notepad and pen and walking out of the conference room towards her cabin.

“Uh huh.” Gayatri was like a bloodhound who’d got a first whiff of the scent it was tracking.

“And that’s why you’re back in office, working, instead of doing body shots off of each other in Hawaii?”

“That’s oddly specific.” Aadhya paused, outside her cabin. Phone signal inside was rubbish and the call would drop the minute she went in.

“It’s what I wanted to do on my honeymoon,” Gayatri groused.

“And what did you do instead?” Aadhya teased, leaning against the door to her cabin.

“Like you don’t fucking know. He took me on a pilgrimage of all the major temples in South India.”

Aadhya’s laughter spilled out of her, her heart lightening despite the strain the last few days had dumped on her.

“Stop laughing at my woes and tell me yours,” Gayatri demanded. “Tell me what’s going on and don’t fob me off with nonsense.”

A germ of an idea took root in Aadhya’s brain. If she couldn’t figure out what had started the fire, there was only one thing left to do.

Fight fire with fire.

And when Aadhya set fire to something, the results were usually incendiary.

“You know,” she said now. “We should catch up.”

“Finally,” Gayatri replied, sounding pleased. “When and where.”

“Tonight. My house. Bring the gang.”

“Your house? As in, Gadde Mansion?”

Everyone who lived in Hyderabad knew Gadde Mansion. It was a massive 70,000 square foot monstrosity in the middle of Jubilee Hills, the neighbourhood of the elite of Hyderabad.

“Of course,” she said. “That’s my house only, no?”

Aadhya felt like a fraud even as the words left her lips. That house did not feel like her house from any angle. Half the time she kept getting lost in it, the other half she tiptoed around like an unwanted guest.

“Are you sure, Aadhya?” Gayatri sounded worried. “You’ve only been married a few days. Why don’t you check with your in-laws if they’re okay with everyone coming? You know what the girls are like. Maybe I should come alone.”

She knew exactly what the girls were like and that’s exactly what she was aiming for.

“No, bring everyone. Ram’s been wanting to meet my friends and this will be the perfect time to introduce him to them.”

“Okay,” Gayatri said doubtfully. “If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

Aadhya disconnected the call, a smile on her face.

“What are you planning?” Aarush asked, as he walked past her and towards his own massive cabin.

“What do you mean?” She did her best to look innocent.

“I know that look on your face, you monster,” he said drily, walking backwards so he could still look at her. “Whatever it is, dial it down.”

She shrugged, not bothering to deny his implied accusation. “But nothing’s fun, if it’s not dialed up to a million or more.”

Aarush stopped at the large double doors that led to his room. “Be careful?” he asked.

“I will.”

“Be mindful?”

Aadhya grinned. “I’ll try.”

He shook his head in defeat before pushing the doors open.

“Don’t worry,” she called after him. “I’ve got this.” She totally did!