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Vihaan looked like he was going to protest some more, but Aaryan held his shoulder, quietening him.
“When?” Dev asked her.
She looked sideways at Aaryan. “When does Myra get discharged?”
“Day after morning,” Aaryan replied.
Avantika lifted her jaw. “I’ll meet you in two days then.”
Dev focused on Avantika. “With Neil?”
“First, we’ll talk. After that, yes.”
He had two options here. He could either bulldoze his way into his son’s life right now or listen to his son’s mother, and believe her when she said she would bring Neil to meet him in two days. He stared at Avantika for a long beat. She was biting her lower lip anxiously, waiting for him to respond.
“Fine,” Dev breathed out, choosing the second option. His emotions were too high right now, and he needed to be calm when he met Neil for the first time. “Where do we meet?”
She exhaled. “Come toLa Soireeat seven in the evening, two days from now.”
Dev nodded.La Soireewas one of the restaurants the Rajpoots owned. Avantika pivoted and went inside the room Neil had just entered.
Dev turned to leave. Sanjana stepped in his path.
“Wait, please,” she implored.
He swept past her, ignoring her.
“Dev, I’m sorry,” she whispered to his back.
He returned to her. “While I can understand their hesitation to keep me from my son, I cannot accept that you didn’t tell me about him. I won’t forgive you for this.”
She rocked back. Her eyes pooled with tears, and she shook her head. “I wanted to tell you. I swear I did. But…”
He held a hand out, stopping her. “The fact that you didn’t, speaks more.”
Sanjana was weeping now, and for the first time in his life, he couldn’t care about that. He’d done so much, sacrificed so much for her, and she’d known about his son and hadn’t told him. It hurt. Her deception hurt the most.
Aaryan pulled Sanjana to his chest. He glared at Dev. “She didn’t tell you because we made her promise not to. Leave her out of it.”
“With pleasure. I want nothing to do with her henceforth. Keep her away from me.”
Sanjana’s tortured gasp was the last thing he heard as he walked away from the hospital ward. His heart was heavy as he climbed inside his car. His son was separated from him by just a few walls, and even though Dev desperately wanted to meet him, he would wait for two days to be introduced to him properly. He would give his son’s mother the time she needed. Two days was all he could wait, however.
After that, he’d burn down anyone or anything that came between his son and him.
18
Avantika paced inside Aaryan’s office in their restaurant,La Soiree. She checked her watch for the nth time. Dev would be here in a few minutes. There was so much she needed to talk to him about, but her brothers were refusing to give her the privacy she needed to have a discussion with him.
All three of her brothers were present tonight. Aaryan was seated behind the desk, while Vihaan and Shaurya leaned against the opposite wall.
She stopped her pacing and faced them all. “I’ve told you over and over again that Dev won’t hurt me, yet you refuse to let me meet him alone. Have you guys forgotten that I still have six days of my bargain left to finish with him?”
“You needn’t go back to him, you know,” Aaryan said softly. “He knows everything now, and we have enough wealth of our own. We don’t need our assets back from him. I’m tired of battling him constantly. Let him just keep everything and let us get on with our lives. This battle is draining all of us.”
“Let me finish this, Aaryan. All our family’s assets will return to us. Our house…all that is our legacy,” Avantika stated. “Besides, I made him a promise. One that I intend to keep.”
“Why?” Vihaan queried angrily.
