Married in Vengeance (Dynasty Rebels #4)

Chapter 47

Forty-Seven

RAM

He stood outside the palatial mansion that was home to the family that owned and had built most of the property in the state. Thunder boomed through the night sky as he looked up at the lit windows. He knew exactly which one was Aadhya’s.

Second floor, third window to the right. The blinds were drawn close and he couldn’t see anything but he leaned against the car, looking up, hoping for a glimpse of something. A shadow, a profile…anything.

But nothing. He’d been standing out here in the dark, leaning against his car and staring at her window for hours now. And he’d seen nothing. This was what his life had come to. This moment on the pavement like a doomed Roadside Romeo.

A bolt of lightning streaked through the sky and the heavens opened up, rain pounding down and drenching him in seconds.

“Saab.” The Reddy’s security guard hurried over with an umbrella, but Ram shook his head, patting the man on his shoulder in thanks. The man hovered for a second more before regretfully moving back to his post and the dry warmth of his security cabin.

A second later, his phone rang. He swiped it open and put the phone to his ear.

“You’re stressing my security out,” Aarush growled in his ear. “Either come in or leave.”

“I don’t think I’m welcome in your home.”

Aarush sighed. “Fuck you Ram. Come in.”

“No.”

“Then leave. You’re getting soaked.”

“No.” Ram turned his face up to the rain, wondering if it was possible to purge his sins in the deluge. Then again, probably not.

“You two are going to be the death of me,” Aarush muttered, disconnecting the phone.

Ram was just pocketing his own phone when the gate creaked open and Aadhya stepped out, a bright yellow with white polka dots umbrella providing her with cover from the storm.

Ram smiled. Even in a deluge, she brought the sun.

Aadhya came to a stop in front of him, holding the massive umbrella over them both, even though Ram was already soaked beyond recognition at this point.

“What are you doing?” she asked, fighting to hold the umbrella straight against the wind that insisted on attempting to rip it from her hands.

“Plumbing new depths to my madness,” he told her, his hand wrapping around hers and holding the umbrella steady. He almost wept at the simple contact, the chance to touch her one last time. “I needed to see you. I couldn’t fight it.”

Aadhya cocked his head. “You were at court today for Prasad’s hearing.”

“Did you think I wouldn’t be there?” He would be by her side for eternity, even if he needed to do it from a distance.

“The case looks to be going well,” she said, ignoring his question.

He nodded, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. “Yes. Just a few loose ends to tie up. But it’s over. You’ve got your life back now.”

“My life,” she laughed hoarsely. “I’ve got my life back??”

He paled but he didn’t flinch away from the bitter condemnation in her voice. A harsh sob caught in her throat and she struggled to swallow it, to not let it escape. A losing battle but one he knew she would fight till the end.

“Yes,” he said finally. “Your life, the one you want. You can do whatever you want, be whomever you want…even be with,” his throat worked a bit, but he forced the words out as he continued, “Whoever you want.”

Aadhya stared at him disbelievingly. “Be with whoever I want?” she asked, her voice dripping disbelief.

Ram nodded, the movement clipped. “Yes,” he said, his voice quiet, his gaze dropping to his fisted hands.

“Maybe I should get on those dating apps,” she bit out.

His fingers twisted together harder, but he said nothing.

“Or maybe you know someone you could introduce me to.”

He watched her, each perfectly chosen word slicing through him. He saw the slight tremor that passed through her before she braced herself. He took in the exhaustion lining her face and the pain devastating her eyes. He saw their life together, the shattered dreams and the broken hearts, the bittersweet moments, the frozen hurt. He saw it all.

“Sure,” he said, finally, looking away from her. “Why not?”

She stepped closer, her chest brushing his as she looked up at his face, forcing him to meet her gaze.

“You’re going to introduce me to your single friends?” she asked, her hands coming to rest on his chest. His entire body jerked at the simple contact, the heat of her hands feeling like a brand through his shirt.

He stared, transfixed, at her hands on his body. Acutely aware of the fact that this was the first time she was touching him in weeks, he almost fell to his knees to beg her to hold on tighter.

“Do I get to pick?” she asked.

“Pick what?” His voice deepened with suppressed emotions.

“Pick the guy you’re going to set me up with.”

“Don’t Aadhya.”

The rough murmur had her swallowing hard. Yearning spilled through his blood, a depthless need for this woman, only this woman, swarming through him. There would never be another woman for him. Not in this lifetime, or the ones to follow.

“Don’t what?” she asked, her voice shaking with emotion.

“Don’t push.”

She reached up to cup his cheek and he flinched away from her. Slowly but inexorably, she touched her palm to his face, holding him steady, holding him close.

His trembling hand came up to catch hers, his fingers wrapping around her wrist, his thumb coming to rest on her fluttering pulse.

“Stop.” The plea in his voice was the barest thread of sound.

“Why?”

He rested his forehead against hers, his eyes closing and throat working desperately to gain control. His hand slid through the hair at the back of her head, loosening the messy bun she’d fastened earlier. Curls tumbled out in disarray as he clenched his hand in her hair.

“Please stop. I’m begging you.”

“I don’t want to stop. I don’t want you to stop. You said I could have any man I wanted. I have always wanted you, Ram. Even when I shouldn’t have.”

He almost went to his knees at her confession, need and love slamming through him. “I don’t know how to live a life that doesn’t have you in it. I don’t know how to exist in a universe that doesn’t have you at its axis. I don’t deserve to be forgiven, Aadhya, but I’m begging for it anyway. Please forgive me. Give me one chance. Just one chance to make it all right.”

A harsh sob broke from her as she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close. Ram buried his face in her curls, his breath shuddering out of him in desperate relief.

“Please,” he said again, his words lost in the nape of her neck and drowned out by the thundering rainstorm breaking over their heads.

Aadhya nodded. “Yes. I can’t live another day without you too. Good, bad, ugly…you are mine and this is us.”

“I won’t fuck up again.”

She laughed, a bright peal of watery laughter. “I’m sure you will,” she told him, tears mixing with rainwater and sliding down her cheeks. “I’m sure I will too. But we’ll just be fuck-ups together.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, desperate to believe her but not wanting her to wake up one day and resent him.

“Ram Gadde, have you ever known me not to be completely sure of what I want?”

A small smile tilted his lips up.

“I was the one who hit on you the first time, remember?” She arched an eyebrow at him. “If it wasn’t for me, there would be no sex tape.”

“If it wasn’t for you, there would be no us,” he murmured. “There would be no me either.”

“There would have been an exceptionally efficient robot masquerading as a Supreme Court Chief Justice though.”

“Brat,” he said affectionately, tugging at her hair.

“Your brat.”

“My everything,” he murmured, lowering his head to kiss her.

Before he could though, his phone rang. He groaned, pulling it out and glancing at the display.

“What?” he growled, the moment he answered it.

“Now will you come in?” Aarush drawled, stepping out on to a balcony on the second floor and waving at them. “The guard is already traumatised by your Devdas routine. Don’t add sex education to his agenda for the night.”

Aadhya laughed. She took the phone from Ram’s hand and answered, “No, we won’t.”

“Why not?” Aarush grumbled.

“Because we’re going home. To our home.”

Happiness flooded through Ram at her words. He’d spent years thinking he needed a calm, peaceful partner to walk through life with him. Instead, he’d fallen in love with lightning framed by a thunderstorm.

Aadhya.

She lit up his life, sunlight or lightning, she would always be the brightest spark of his world. He’d married for vengeance, but he would stay married for the only reason that mattered – love.

And today, he’d finally get to take his bride home. Today, was the start of the rest of their life together. Today was the first day of their happily ever after.

Today was the day he was, in every sense of the word, Aadhya’s husband. Today he didn’t just have a life worth living. Today, he had everything.

THE END