Because if he was going to enter into this arrangement, he’d make damn sure the contract benefited him just as much as it did her. A cold certainty settled in his chest. For sure, whatever came next, there would be no going back.
14
That night, Shauna sat at the dining table with her family, listening to the conversations around her. Tonight was family dinner night, and so her whole family was present. Rishi and Mehak were there with their newborn daughter, Ruhaani, while Rhea and Nirvaan had come with Vayu, who was upstairs fast asleep alongside Sameer and Raashi’s twins, Jhalak and Jash.
Now that dinner was over, everyone was gathered in the living room. She sat in one corner of the sofa while conversations flowed around her in easy, happy tones. Yet every now and then, her parents, one of her brothers, or their spouses would glance at her discreetly, as if checking her mood. She was acutely aware of how carefully her family was tiptoeing around her.
And while she’d eventually resigned herself to speaking to them again, the hurt lingered, and the sting of betrayal hadn’t faded. She spoke when she had to and stayed quiet the rest of the time. She hadn’t confronted them, yet. Maybe one day she would. Maybe there was no point in confronting them at all.
For now, her mind was too consumed by how, in the span of three weeks, the ground beneath her feet had shifted. Not once, but twice.
“I won’t be a footnote in your life.”
Bloody hell. What was she getting herself into? Was she really going to marry Akash? Her mind had spun in circles around the question. If she married him, she’d get everything she’d always wanted. She’d make sure of it. But it also meant allowing him into her personal space. Living with him day in and day out.
Her stomach clenched. She took a sip of water to steady herself, but it did nothing for the sudden heat rising in her chest. The almost-kiss in his office from the week before resurfaced in her mind, sending a traitorous tingle sliding down her spine at the memory. And then the night in the Maldives followed close behind, the moment when things between them had come dangerously close to going much further. Again. Her heart stuttered.
God. They’d been at war for far too long, and yet the chemistry between them refused to die. If she married him, what would that mean for an attraction that had never truly gone away?
She looked around the room, at couples who had married for love. Even now, their love was visible in the way they looked at each other, the way they subconsciously touched one another.
She’d always believed that she too would marry for love. Marrying Akash meant setting that dream aside, at least for now. She chewed her lip. But marrying him also meant that she wouldn’t be marrying without love altogether. She would be marrying for something she loved just as fiercely: Sehgal Media. And perhaps that was the best outcome for her.
And if she negotiated her terms carefully, then she could have everything she’d always wanted: the freedom to run SehgalMedia, albeit by his side. But it was still better than what she had currently. As Creative Director, she’d never be the one shaping the future of the company or making all the corporate decisions. But by marrying him, she could.
“Shauna?” Someone tugged her knee. Shauna looked up and saw Rhea staring at her, her eyes filled with concern.
“Are you okay?” her twin asked.
Shauna nodded. “Yes, just preoccupied.”
“With what?” Sameer asked.
“Just work.”
“I heard you’ve been working again,” Sameer said, his tone careful. Everyone around them quietened to hear her response.
“From home,” Rishi added. “It’s good, isn’t it?”
He gave her a hopeful look, one she refused to let affect her.
“I haven’t decided what I want to do yet,” she replied. “Until then, I couldn’t simply let my teams flounder.”
Sameer raised his chin. “Look, I’ve given you space. We all have. But don’t you think it’s time we talked about everything that has happened. We’re all here, Shauna, and we want to clear the air.”
She stood. “I’m not ready to talk about it. Perhaps I never will be. So just forget it, okay?”
“Sit down, Shauna,” her father’s voice cut through the silence.
The command startled her. She hesitated, then sank back onto the sofa reluctantly, her pulse quickening.
“This has gone on long enough,” he said, anger threading through his words.
Her father, Jai Sehgal, was always kind, patient, and endlessly calm. But not right now. She stared at him, stunned. This tone belonged not to the gentle man who’d always been there for her and her siblings, but to the sharp, brilliant lawyer he was—the one who had deliberately stepped away from thefamily business to carve his own path. A strategist. One of the highest-paid lawyers in the country. A man who very rarely raised his voice.
“You cannot keep refusing to communicate with your family,” he continued evenly, “and continue believing that we all betrayed you.”
Shauna’s breath caught. Her hands curled into fists in her lap and a sharp ache rose in her chest. Her gaze swept the room, meeting her twin’s eyes for a brief second. Rhea gave her an encouraging nod.
