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He sighed. “What am I looking at?”
“As instructed by you, I canceled all donations to the charities started by your birth parents,” she said. “I also began looking at each of them individually. All of them checked out except for this one.”
She tapped a finger on the highlighted entries. “Paani Org. They’ve been getting substantial funding from Fortuna Pharma since a couple of months before your birth parents passed away. That funding was never stopped until, well, you did. They have no registered office and seem to be a front for various shell companies, whose directors I haven’t been able to locate still.”
His mind went on full alert as he understood what she was implying. He scanned the entries, and sure enough, for the last seventeen years and more, Paani Org. had been getting large amounts from Fortuna under the garb of charity. Were the people behind this responsible for blackmailing his parents? And if so, he didn’t want Jiya involved in this anymore.
“This is amazing, Jiya,” he said. “Leave these with me. I’ll use my contacts to find out more about this entity.”
“Are you sure? I can help.”
“I know you can, but you’ve done enough.”
She stared at him for a long moment. She was smart enough to understand his reluctance to share more with her. But how could he open up to her? Where would he even start? Telling her more about this would be like opening up a Pandora’s box. Once opened, everything would come spilling out. And he didn’t know how to confide in her…he didn’t know how to confide in anyone, really. Perhaps, he ought to make an attempt with her.
“I want to talk to you about some things… about my past. Shall we meet for dinner in two hours? We could go to the Sehgal Plaza.”
Her eyes rounded. “You want us to go on a date?”
“Yeah. I think it’s time, right?”
“Oh my God. Only you could be so casual about this.”
He frowned. “You don’t want to go on a date with me?”
She flung herself back on his lap. “No, you silly man. I want to tell the whole world about you and me. I haven’t done so only because you didn’t want to. Although I suspect Akash knows.”
“How does he know?”
“Oh please. He’s not a fool. He’s seen us make out. He sees us watching each other when we’re in the same room. I’ve made so many excuses for not meeting him for dinner that now he’s stopped asking. He knows we’re together. He’s just too dignified not to question me because I haven’t told him yet.”
Rohan laughed, something that came so easily to him now. “Well, then we can tell him and the rest of the world after tonight.”
“Really?”
He linked his hand with hers. “Yes.”
“You’re so sweet.” She grinned, kissing his mouth. “I love you.”
And then she gasped. “Oh God. Sorry. I didn’t want to blurt it out like that.”
The earth shifted under him. He began to pull his hand back, but she held on to it.
“Look, I’ve known what I feel for you for a while now, but it just came out,” she explained.
His heartbeat doubled.
Fuck. Shock couldn’t describe what he was feeling right now. No woman had told him that she loved him before her. He hadn’t been with anyone long enough to allow such feelings to develop. How was he to respond to this sudden revelation? Yes, he felt so much for her. He knew that he worried about her all the time. He knew that he wanted to see her face first thing in the morning. Her smiles, her naughty quips, her sassy replies; he lived to hear and see all that. She’d definitely brightened his life ever since she’d walked into it. But was all that love? Maybe it could…
There was a knock on his door, and Jiya scrambled from his lap and stood a distance away from him.
His PA entered. “Sir, your next meeting has already started.” She held an iPad out. “Here are the items on the agenda.”
Rohan stood, still feeling out of sorts.
“I…” Jiya gulped. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Jiya, wait,” he called out. “Meet me at the Sehgal Plaza lobby in two hours. We’ll talk more.”
