by M. V. Kasi
Sia slowly smiled. And there was zero warmth in it. “Quite touching, Manish,” she said. “But I’m not buying your bullshit. I’m asking you again. What. Do. You. Want? Or better still, who put you up to this?”
Once again Ajay was grateful about Sia being the person she was.
Sharp and analytical. Rather than soft and emotional.
Her look alone was enough to make the person in front of her cower.
The man definitely looked shaken. “I want nothing apart from having you back Sia. A-a-and no one put me up to this.”
She continued to look at him in an unnerving way. “How did you know where to find me?” she asked.
“I... uh... have been searching for a while now. I’m glad my determination paid off,” he said with a smile. Although his smile looked forced and wobbly.
“I see. And what else did your determination make you think?’ she asked.
The man looked more than uncomfortable and he squirmed in his seat. “I thought you would remember how good we were together. And... and... that you would consider getting back with me. I’m willing to sacrifice anything, Sia. Just come back with me as my wife.”
Sia scoffed at the man’s dramatics. “We were together only for a month. And if I remember correctly, we didn’t have any meaningful conversations during that time. We were eighteen and bent upon getting back at our families.”
“That one month was enough, Sia. You were my salvation at that time. I became a better man because of you.”
She was quiet. “Show me your hands,” she said.
“What?”
“I told you to show me your hands.”
The man looked uncertain, but he held his hands towards her.
Ajay barely restrained himself from lashing out at the man and beating him to a bloody pulp. He was almost expecting the man to pull out some kind of weapon.
Sia looked deeply into the man’s eyes, and then pushed back one of the sleeves of the man’s shirt. Her gaze lingered on the man’s hands and then his eyes. “Looks like your better version is still not good enough.”
There was silence.
“Sia... I... I...” The man began, looking flustered.
“Tell your determination or whoever is making you do this—that he is right in getting this desperate. His time’s definitely up.”
“I-I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m telling you the—”
“Save it,” she snapped, silencing him. “I have sufficient proof that the divorce went through.” She got up from the chair. “Get out. And if I find you trying to interfere in my life again, it won’t end well for you.”
The man looked shaken. “I-I’m still your husband. I have some rights. You owe me—”
“She owes you nothing,” said Ajay, getting up to leave with Sia.
“She does,” said the man. “There was no settlement made during our divorce. And I know that she has inherited a fortune along with Blush Enterprises. And she could be inheriting even more. She is worth a lot more than she was during our divorce.”
There was a chilling silence. “I see. But is her fortune worth your life?” Ajay asked in a lethal tone.
The man’s eyes widened in fright. But he tried to look outraged by adopting a false bravado.”Are you threatening me? Do you know who I am? My family in Boston—”
“You are nobody,” Sia replied. “You are just a weak man who is looking for a payday from a woman’s past mistake.” She laughed coldly. “My uncle must be really desperate to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get out of the situation he’ll find himself in.”
The man looked shaken again. “I’m telling you, I don’t know what—”
“I asked you to save it. And my husband wasn’t joking. We will both bury you alive if you so much as look our way or try to interfere in my life again. Now, get out.”
The man didn’t argue anymore. His eyes swept over Sia and then Ajay. When he saw the cold look on her face, and the threatening look on Ajay’s, he just got up and walked out in a hurry.
There was a loaded silence, only to be broken by their daughter’s cry, heard on the camera monitor on her phone.
They both rushed towards the house and then inside.
“Let me pick her up,” said Ajay.
Sia nodded. “I’ll get the bottle prepared,” she said softly and went out.
After a while, both of them watched Anika in silence as she fed with minimal fuss.
A few minutes later, Sia spoke into the silence. “Manish was my first husband,” she said quietly.
Ajay didn’t say anything. He just looked at Sia, as she continued to feed Anika.
Keeping her eyes on their daughter, Sia continued talking. “Manish and I met at a rehab when I was eighteen,” she said. “We were both drug addicts who came from affluent backgrounds. And while we were at the rehab, we bonded over how controlling the adults in our lives were. We both had been temporarily cut off from our inheritances. And so, to teach our parents a lesson, we came up with this really stupid idea of eloping to Vegas and getting married. We wanted to prove to them that we could be independent, and that we were adults.”
Sia looked up and saw him watching her quietly. She took a deep breath and forged on. “The moment Manish and I got married; I knew it was a mistake. And that it wasn’t worth upsetting my aunt. And so, we applied for a divorce right away. I was able to convince Manish quite easily, saying that if his family found out about the marriage, they might cut him off permanently, and that he would have no money to buy more drugs.”
Ajay had mixed feelings as he heard Sia talk about her past.
“Why did you agree to meet him?” he asked.
“Because I had to know why he was here,” she replied. “I needed to know what his motivation was.”
“I see. And have you discovered it?” he asked.
“Yes. Money. He’s still an addict. His pupil’s were dilated. And he also had needle pricks around his veins on his hand. My uncle is controlling and manipulating him using money as bait.”
“Do you realize that your uncle digging into your past is an attempt to find some kind of loophole in the will?”
“Yes.”
“What are you planning to do about it?” he asked.
“I have a plan,” she said.
He waited for her elaborate about her plan. But to his frustration she didn’t.
She patted Anika and gently put her to sleep in the cradle.
Ajay couldn’t wait anymore. He had to tell what he was up to while she was in coma.
“Sia, I’ve already send out a petition on behalf of you to claim the Naidu Estate.”
“What?” she asked in surprise, turning towards him.
“When you were in coma, I sent out the DNA test samples along with other proofs to proceed with your claim to the Naidu Estate,” he explained.
She frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” she demanded.
“I was hoping you would ask for my help first,” he replied coolly.
“I told you I can do this on my own, Ajay. And in my own way.”
“I know. But I already told you. I’m determined to help.”
“That’s not the point—”
“It is, Sia. I’m glad I did it. Because I know now how dangerous your uncle can be. He sent a man to sabotage your claim as an heir to the Naidu Estate.”
“Maybe. He was just desperate. And it was only Manish. I handled him easily,” she said.
“You only handled him for now. He could come back.”
“Even if he does, he relatively harmless,” she said.
“No one is harmless, Sia,” he said somberly, meaning it.
She didn’t say anything. And she still looked upset.
“I know you don’t trust people that easily. But I personally know the lawyers I hired to help you. I trust them enough to know they will always be on our side.”
“Is there anything else I should know about?” she asked in anger.
“Yes. If the case proceeds as planned, we’ll go to Naidu Estate in a few weeks. For you to claim it.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Sia tried calling Varun again. And this time, it got answered in a couple of rings.
“Sia?” he greeted.
“Varun, what happened? I wasn’t able to reach you last week.”
“I know. I was... away.”
She sighed in relief. She had been worried, even though she knew Varun disappeared during his ‘seclusion binges’ for days together. And during his seclusion time, he never answered his phone calls or had any sort of contact with the outside world.
“What happened Sia?” Varun asked.
“I had a visitor today,” she said and then told him briefly about Manish’s visit.
After he heard about the visit, Varun became agitated. “How did he find out about that man?” Varun asked her, referring to her uncle.
“He saw me. At the charity event,” she said, and then told him about her face off with her uncle. She deliberately avoided telling Varun about her uncle following her to the staircase, where she eventually fell. Because she knew Varun would flip, and might do something rash and dangerous. She couldn’t risk anything at this point, when they were close to trapping their prey.
“He must have begun an investigation on me as soon as he saw me at that party.”
“So we need to move quickly with rest of the plan, then.”
“Yes. About that... Ajay has already hired a lawyer, and begun the DNA tests, to start the proceedings for me to claim the Naidu Estate.”
There was a brief pause. “You told him?” Varun asked. This time ‘him’ was her husband.
Sia could make out that Varun was upset.
“I didn’t tell Ajay anything. I didn’t have to. He already knew everything about me,” she said, and told Varun about her confrontation with Ajay during the charity event. She also told him a little about Ajay’s background. But she left out the part where Ajay had an agenda against her.
“Sia, you can’t trust him or take any help from him!”
“Even if I don’t trust him, I need him for claiming the Naidu Estate.”
Varun let out a frustrated sigh.
“We don’t have a choice, Varun. So far we haven’t accomplished much with regards to catching my uncle in the act. Ajay has contacts and other help that we need. And we have to move quickly. Before my uncle lets up his guard.”
“Alright,” said Varun grudgingly.
“Take care, Varun. I’ll call you again to keep you informed.”
She ended the call.
Sighing deeply, she sat on the bed, and looked down at Anika, who was sleeping peacefully in her cradle. She felt a tug in her heart as she looked at Anika’s innocent face.
“I’m so sorry, my angel,” she whispered.
She had always known that she would be a terrible mother.
It didn’t matter if she loved Anika with all her heart. She became a horrible mother the moment she decided to bring an innocent life to the world for the sole purpose of revenge.
* * *
That night, after dinner, Sia and Ajay remained in the kitchen for a long time. Ajay briefed her with information on what he had been doing while she was in coma. He had just finished speaking when she voiced her one burning question.
“How did you know I’d every wake up from a coma?” she asked him softly.
“I knew,” he said simply.”It only frustrated me that you didn’t come out of it sooner.”
Her look softened. “You can’t bully a coma patient to wake up, you know,” she said.
“What do you mean?” he asked, looking confused.
She had a small smile on her face. “I recall having several dreams during my coma phase. Some of which were actual memories. But one thing I distinctly recall was with you. You were demanding that I fight, and return to you,” she said.
He was quiet and looked surprised. “You could hear me?” he asked.
“No. Not all of it,” she said. “I just had these dreams where I could hear you plead with me at first. And then, you became angry. And then, you shouted at me to stop escaping into the dark. Somehow I have a feeling that it actually happened.”
He was quiet, and then he replied. “It happened,” he confirmed, but didn’t elaborate.
Those two words were enough to melt her heart.
“Tell me something,” she asked. “Does it bother you that I have a past?”
This time, his response was quick. “Yes,” he replied.
She didn’t know how to feel about his frank answer. Hell, even she herself was ashamed of her past. Dr. Patel had told her several times to embrace her past, but she was never able to follow through. Then how can she expect someone else to be okay with her kind of past?
Ajay sighed. “I know I should be more modern and have forward thinking... but this afternoon I was badly tempted to bash that man’s head somewhere. I wanted to remove the memories of you,” he said, watching her face intently. “Not just from his head, but also from all the other men’s heads who knew you before.”
“I see,” she said.
“I admit I was jealous. Hell, I am still jealous.”
“What about me, then? And my head?” she asked. “You don’t want me to forget all the men from my past?”
A crooked smile appeared on Ajay’s face; bringing out a dimple, and causing all kinds of stirrings within her. “No. I want you to remember other men,” he said, reaching out and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Why?” she asked softly, her heart stirring inside.
“Because only then, will you know how awesome I am than the others from your past.”
A surprised laugh escaped out of her. God! This man, she thought. Before she could analyze her complicated feelings about him, she gave in to her need to touch him.
* * *
Ajay loved listening to the sound of laughter escaping from her. He felt the light touch of her hand on his cheek, making his heart thump and speed up. Deep within her eyes, while she watched as her warm hand touched his cheek, he found it again.
He had seen it before, several times.
Her loneliness and her longing, reaching out to him.
Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat, he turned his head sideways, and kissed her palm that lay on his cheek. “I’m going to fight for your forgiveness, Sia,” he promised. “I’m going to fight for your happiness too,” he persisted.
The expression in her eyes slowly changed from longing to wonder. And then, it was gone. It got replaced by a sad smile.
“Why?’ she asked simply, dropping her hand.
He pulled her hand back, holding it to his cheek again. “Because I love you,” he said.
She didn’t respond. He didn’t expect her to.
They sat in silence, until the events of the day crept up to her, and her eyes drooped in exhaustion.
“Let’s talk tomorrow,” he said gently, and led her to their bedroom, where she fell into an exhausted sleep. But before she fell asleep, she murmured, “Stay.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The next morning, Sia woke from sleep in the best way possible. With half of her body lying on top of Ajay.
There was a rumbling chuckle. “Our lawyer will be here in another hour. We need to get ready, and also get Anika ready,” he said huskily.
With that, reality came crashing back into her life. Her body stiffened and her heart beat faster. She wished she could stay cocooned in the bed all day with no lawyers or Private Investigators to deal with.
“Okay,” she said with great difficulty.
The next moment, his hand was at the back of her head, dragging her close. He tucked her head into the crook of his neck, and shifted her so she lay fully on top of him.
She didn’t protest. She nuzzled closer.
“It’s going to be fine, Sia,” he murmured into her hair. “We are going to fight this together. And I promise you, we will
win. Not just the property, but every other game we’ll play as well.”
“I hope so,” she whispered, trying her best to control the overwhelming paranoia that was back with a vengeance.
“It’s just meeting with a couple of lawyers. Rita Nair and her partner. They will explain to us what our options are.”
Sia didn’t answer. She just nodded.
As though he could sense she was in the verge of a panic attack, he wrapped his arms tightly around her.
“It’s going to be fine,” he repeated.
They lay that way, until Anika woke up from her sleep.
“Feed her while I fix our breakfast,” he said, kissing her forehead.
Sia pulled herself out of her self-pity. She shouldn’t have clung to him like she needed him, even though she liked it so much. There were several reasons why she shouldn’t be trusting him or his lawyers. But at that moment she couldn’t recall a single reason why.
She had lived most of her life in constant paranoia. It was quite ironic that the man who had betrayed her was also the one who made her feel safe.
She rolled away from him reluctantly.
* * *
An hour later, they met with the lawyer.
Rita Nair seemed quite young. But listening to her as she spoke to them in detail about their case, it was obvious that she felt the need to bring justice to a wronged party.
“Sia, Jay called me yesterday to inform that Jagadish Naidu sent your ex-husband to visit you, trying to claim that you were in a bigamous relationship with Ajay. That alone is enough to prove he is desperate and knows he’s going to lose everything.”
Sia nodded. “So far there has been no DNA test done on him. What if he declines to test?’ Sia asked.
“He won’t,” said the lawyer. “I have already made it very clear to his lawyer that any decision his client takes will be made public knowledge. Jagadish Naidu’s Lawyer also knows that we have the security tapes of him being with you when you fell down the stairs. So if he declines taking the test, I will release those tapes as I threatened. That alone will make him appear guilty. He left a heavily pregnant woman, bleeding and injured, without calling for help.”