Married in Vengeance (Dynasty Rebels #4)

Chapter 26

Twenty-Six

AADHYA

Aadhya woke late that afternoon feeling like her brain had turned into cotton fluff and her mouth had chewed on the bark of a tree. But for the first time in a while, she woke up fever free. She rubbed her gritty eyes and sat up in bed, her skin feeling clammy and sensitive like someone had rubbed sandpaper all over it.

She caught sight of her phone on the bedside table, eyeing it like she would a venomous snake. What fresh hell had broken loose in the office? How angry was Aarush Anna? Had she fucked up again?

She swallowed hard, her sore throat working as she struggled to push past the confused emotions clogging it.

“Water?”

Aadhya stared at the broad hand holding the glass in front of her face. Slowly, ever so slowly, she looked up to meet Ram’s gaze. And here was another confusing mess. Where was the man who glared at her like she was his mortal enemy? The one who made love to her like he wanted nothing and no one more than her but also like he hated himself for wanting her that much and her for inspiring it in him?

This man looked at her with a host of conflicting emotions in his eyes. Even the thought of making sense of it exhausted her.

“Thanks,” she said hoarsely as she took the glass and sipped gratefully. “I’m better now. You don’t need to hang around. I’m sure you have work or something to get to.”

“Or something,” he said, sitting down beside her instead of running from the room like a rabbit on rollerskates. “How do you feel?”

“Better,” she mumbled, looking away from him and at her phone. Her stomach churned at the messages and emails that had surely piled up while she slept.

“Aadhya?”

“Hmm?” Distracted, she reached for her phone.

“What’s going on at work?”

Her hand curled into a fist an inch away from her phone, dropping to her side. “Nothing,” she said defensively, turning to face Ram. “Nothing that’s any of your business.”

“It’s not?” The sardonic edge to his voice had her ire rising.

“No, it’s not. My business is not your business.”

“As your husband, I beg to differ.” Irritation sparked in his voice and expression.

She glanced over at him taking in his rumpled, stained t-shirt and ratty shorts. His hair stood on end and the lenses in his glasses were smudged. He looked nothing like the immaculate, perfectly pressed and polished Ram she knew. Strangely enough she found she preferred this version of him.

“You need to choose,” she told him.

“Choose?” One eyebrow shot up.

“Are you my husband and by that I mean, husband in the truest sense of the word? Or not?”

Ram’s lips pressed into a thin line, his eyes flashing fire. “You really want to push me on this?”

“Yes.” She pushed to her feet, wishing she wasn’t as shaky as Bambi on her feet. “I do. I really fucking do.”

“Apparently,” he replied, getting to his own feet, sending her a weirdly meaningful look. “It’s time!”

Aadhya stared at him. “Yes, you douche. It’s time. It’s time for you to stop acting like someone with multiple personality disorder. You’re giving me emotional whiplash.”

“I am acting like that? I am???” Ram was livid, a vein popping in his temple. “If anyone has been-“

But he never got to finish that statement as the door opened and his mother and sisters filed in.

“You’re up!” Veda exclaimed, looking relieved. “I was so worried when Amma told me how sick you are.”

Aadhya smiled wanly, sitting down on the bed with an awkward thump. “You shouldn’t hug me,” she murmured when Veda looked like she was going to throw her arms around her. “I’m a germ basket at the moment.”

Veda stopped with her hands hovering awkwardly in the air. Raashi snorted with laughter. “You should wear a mask Akka. You’d probably end up bringing the state to a grinding halt if you got your darling husband sick.”

Veda glowered at her sister, dropping her hands and going to sit at the end of the bed.

“All good Aadhya?” Raashi asked cheerfully.

“All good Rash-matash,” Aadhya replied, smiling. Raashi was someone she understood better than anybody else in this family. “How’s life in the arclights?”

“Ugh!” Raashi collapsed with a groan in the middle of bed. “The worst.”

With anyone else this would have come across as fake. Which woman wouldn’t want to be married to a superstar? But Raashi genuinely couldn’t have cared less. In fact, she would have been happier if Harsh had been a software engineer or something.

“Maybe his next movie would flop,” Ram said dryly. “Then people might be a little less obsessed with him.”

“Bite your tongue.” Raashi popped back up like a demented jack-in-the-box. “It will not flop. It will be a hit to beat all hits. I won’t accept anything else.”

Aadhya laughed. Raashi’s red, indignant face had the whole room grinning, even their mother had an indulgent smile on her face.

“You won’t accept anything else?” Veda teased. “What are you now? The Box Office Goddess?”

“Yes,” Raashi said smugly. “And Harsh worships at my altar every night.”

“EWWWW.” The yell was unanimous from both her siblings even as their mother glanced up at the ceiling trying to pretend she wasn’t in the room.

“For God’s sake, Raash.” Ram’s exasperation was at volcanic levels. “Have you no filter?”

“No.” Raashi shrugged. “Never did. Why are you so surprised?”

Aadhya grinned. And this was why she loved Raashi so much. What you saw was what you got. Far better deal than the endless layers that was the Ram onion.

“Aadhya, do you have a passport?” her mother-in-law asked, the question coming completely out of left field.

“Yes,” she answered, nonplussed. Did anyone not have a passport? Not in Aadhya’s world and she strongly suspected, not in the Gadde world either.

“It’s current?” Athama asked casually, wandering over to the window to look out at something only she could see.

The siblings exchanged confused glances as an even more confused Aadhya mumbled, “Yes?”

“Amma?” Ram asked cautiously. “Why are you asking about Aadhya’s passport?”

His mother frowned at him absentmindedly. “She’ll need it no.”

“Well yes.” Bewildered, Ram glanced at Aadhya who shrugged in response. “But for what?”

“For when we go shopping.”

Oh! Aadhya stared at her mother-in-law. She’d assumed shopping would be to the high-end stores in Banjara Hills but clearly, her mother-in-law had other ideas.

“Don’t worry.” Amma patted Ram’s cheek. “We’ll only be gone for a week.”

A week? Panic flared in the pit of her stomach. Aadhya couldn’t be away from work for a week, especially right now. She couldn’t even be away for another day. Today was enough as far as her time away from work went.

“Why have I not been invited for this shopping trip?” Veda asked.

“Or I?” Raashi chirped.

“Because,” their mother said, glancing first at Veda. “I don’t want to go shopping with fifteen safari suited men.” She looked next at Raashi. “And since when do you want to shop? With me?”

Raashi flushed. “Fair enough,” she mumbled. “I hate shopping.”

“Amma,” Ram’s voice broke in. “You can’t go to another country to shop on a whim. Aadhya has work.”

“It’s only Paris,” his mother frowned. “We’ll be back in a week, like I said.”

“Did you ask Aadhya if she can take a week off from work right now?” he persisted, ignoring his mother’s black frown.

Aadhya appreciated the interference on her behalf but she didn’t need Jekyll & Hyde’s help. She could stand up for herself.

“Athama, can we go somewhere closer right now? Maybe even in the city. And then we’ll plan an all-girl’s shopping trip to Paris sometime later this month? Maybe during the Dussehra break?”

“No thank you,” Veda said stiffly. “My safari suited men and I aren’t free during Dussehra. You guys should go without me.”

“And me,” Raashi muttered, her voice more subdued than normal. Clearly feelings were hurt all around.

“Whatever,” her mother-in-law added. “Only in this family will such a simple thing become so much drama. Forget it.”

And with that, she marched out, not bothering to wait for anybody else to say anything. Aadhya watched her stiff, hurt figure march out of sight before turning to meet Ram’s eyes. Those dark, intense eyes pinned her to her spot on the bed, probing her gaze until it felt like he was scouring the very depths of her soul for her secrets.

Aadhya lay back on the bed and shut her eyes, effectively blocking the whole lot of them out.

God, these Gaddes were exhausting!