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Bharath let out a sigh. “You can do whatever you want with your life, but if you proceed with the plan, you will be disowned by the Devaraya family. We are royals, not politicians.” He shook his head and walked toward the door, and added, looking at Sanjana, “Please knock some sense into your husband.”
A strange silence fell over them as he walked over to where she stood, still processing Bharath’s words. “Jai, what’s going on? What is Bharath talking about?” She had never seen Jai look so upset, and it got her worried sick.
He took her into his arms. “We can talk later about this. Why don’t you freshen up, and I will get some food brought here?”
“Jai, what was that he said about politicians? And why was he so agitated? What happened?” She hated the look on his face as she could not decipher it, but that made her heart twist painfully like it knew it was something her mind could not process.
“I promise to tell you everything. It’s—” he started to say, and she suddenly stepped away from him, fighting back the skepticism forming in her mind.
“Jai, I have a bad feeling about this, and I want to know what this was all about. And why am I hearing about it now when we talk about everything every day?” She was disappointed that he kept something from her.
“Sanjana, it had to be kept under wraps for your protection.” His voice was soft, and she wanted to believe everything he said, but her mind revolted and demanded an explanation.
He took in a deep breath and said, “Earlier today, a political party by the name of ‘Lok Shakthi’ was formed in our state. The members will contest in the upcoming elections and form a government that will work for the people.”
Her heart dropped when she heard the name of the political party. It was the exact same name as her father’s non-government organization he started with his friends to do good for the people. “Why does it…” As she asked the first of the million questions, everything fell into place in her mind.
The question she had been asking herself—why was it she was the one who was offered the marriage contract—she had her answer in front of her, crystal clear. She was a means to an end, and that was to gain political power. She could not process the fact that he not only used her but her father’s reputation to gain the leverage to establish the political party. “Oh my God. I don’t believe this.”
Sanjana started to shake uncontrollably as she thought about the last few months. Everything he had done from marrying her with such an urgency, showing up at her grandparents’ village, attending family events with her family, showing up at rallies, and most of all, drugging her with his charm, she had not realized what she was getting into. “You are sick,” she yelled and wiggled her hand away when he held it. “Don’t you dare touch me.” She sobbed as tears rolled down her eyes. “Like you didn’t get enough, you had to make me believe you loved me while all along you have been using me in every possible way,” she gritted out the last few words.
“Baby, please, give me some time, and I will explain everything.” The look in his eyes wanted her to believe what he was saying, but she was too hurt to take a chance.
“You are a good actor, and you had me fooled, Jaidhev Devaraya, and politics will suit you well,” she barked. She turned to leave, and he stepped in front of her, holding her to him.
“Sanjana, I love you, and I would die for you, but I cannot give up the mission I am on. You’ll know soon why this is so important.” His voice was weak, his words deliberate, but it didn’t change anything for Sanjana. She could see that he was a good actor.
“Stop. Stop with the lies. I’ve had enough, and I don’t care for any fucking contract. Do what you want to do. I’m leaving tomorrow morning. If you try to talk to me, I’ll leave in the middle of the night.” With those words and no other thought, she walked past him straight into the bathroom and collapsed to the floor, tears rolling down her cheeks.
How did she end up in such a mess? How did she not see the façade?
Chapter 26
Sanjana woke up sometime in the middle of the night with painful drilling in her head and feeling cold. The man who had held her and enveloped her in warmth not only broke her heart but left her pining for what she could never have. She wiped away the tears that welled as she sat up slowly. It was the third night in a row she was spending at her parents’ place under the pretext of wanting to plan her father’s events ahead of time.
The night she found out about his master scheme—his grand plan to get into politics by leveraging her father’s hard work—she went to bed not wanting to see or talk to him. It was disgusting to even think about how he played everyone and used her in every possible way. She felt manipulated and chastised herself for falling for his charm and believing the words he said.
“Lies,” she spat as she looked at their picture taken at the wedding on the side table. The clock on the bedside table showed it was three in the morning. She had a restless night just at the thought of seeing him at the event planned for that day. She had managed to ignore his calls and shut him out for a few days, but that morning, everything was going to come to a head.
Sanjana was the main speaker at the event announcing the plan for the rest of the year, including where her father would be meeting and what topics would be discussed with the people.
She had detailed notes written down for the announcements so she wasn’t relying on her memory when she had to deal with his presence in the room. She told herself she needed to learn to get over him, shut him out of her life, and focus on making her father successful as that would be the best way to give back to the people.
Unable to fall back asleep, she headed to the kitchen to make herself some tea and give her notes one last read. She stepped out of her room and saw her father was at the dining table sipping his tea. She smiled when he looked up and walked over to hug him. “You couldn’t sleep either?”
“Have some tea with me.” Her father patted the seat next to him, reached for the kettle, and poured a mug of hot water for her. She reached for her favorite tea bag and settled next to him, facing him.
She took a few sips of the warm liquid and let out a sigh. She was glad her headache seemed to respond to the tea. “Why are you up so early, Papa?” She managed to keep her voice cheerful when all she could think of doing was crying her heart out and telling her father everything.
“I’m a bit nervous and a lot more excited about the event today. We will be giving our people a huge commitment.” Her father’s words made her stomach twist further. The betrayal coming his way would be hard to deal with when he was so invested in what he was doing, but she couldn’t figure out when would be a good time to tell him everything.
She didn’t know for sure if and when the political party would be announced by her fake husband. Maybe his brother talked him out of it as it is against their family rules to be involved in politics. She decided not to let that worry her. Instead, she had gotten in touch with a lawyer through her friend to file lawsuit when the political party announcement happened, with the same name of her father’s organization. All she could do was prepare not to let her fake husband take away what her father had poured his blood, sweat, and tears into over the last couple of years.
She leaned her head on her father’s head. “You’ll do great, Papa. We are doing what needs to be done for the people.” She was glad her face was turned away, giving her a chance to bat away the tears that surfaced, and her father nodded. “It’s great that you are able to spend time on our events but make sure you don’t ignore your husband and his family. You’ve been away from them for almost a week now.”
Her heart dropped, wondering if her father picked up on anything that happened between her and Jai. She quickly wiped away the moisture and looked at her father. “Papa, don’t worry about it. Jai and I both talked about it, and he is very supportive of what you are doing. He won’t mind me staying here at all.”He had turned her into a liar too.
Her father laughed. “I’m lucky that way. My daughters both have supportive husbands.” She couldn’t take it anymore. She quickly drank her tea and went into the kitchen to hide her tears. She was shivering all over, controlling her sobs from escaping when she excused herself and ran into the bathroom.
