King of Devon

by Naleighna Kai

  “Wait, did he say, gave up two of his children?” Jai asked Vikkas, who nodded but didn’t look away from his father.

  Khalil left Aashna’s side and positioned himself in front of the elders. “The only persons who believed in me were Aashna and my mother. I knew I would always come for mine when the time was right. But I had to make sure The Castle was out of your reach. No way would I allow you to even touch what I created. Especially when you hurt her this way. On this day, all of my three children will know the truth. They will know what levels you went to because you begrudged our happiness. Wanted us to pay for being in love when you all did not have that privilege. You could have let us go our own way.”

  “All of my three children,” Vikkas said, and Jai tilted his head toward the Kings who also looked at each other, probably back to doubting their own parentage again. Evidently, the geriatric club could keep secrets like no other.

  “The only important things on this earth for me are Aashna, Vikkas, Jaidev, and Mira.

  “Hold up,” Jai said, shifting his gaze to Vikkas’ sister whose shocked expression mirrored his own. “Mira?”

  “Khalil, do not do this,” Varsha warned, her fists balled at her sides.

  “Or what, the family will disown me again? Too late. They will try to force me to choose between my mission and my only love. They did that, and they failed. They’ll take yet another child from me after they took my son and daughter.”

  “Wait,” Jai said, standing in front of Khalil. “Daughter? What in the entire hell is going on?”

  “You want to tell him, or should I?” Khalil taunted Varsha, who seemed to wither under his hard glare. “Tell them how deep your deception went. Tell them the levels at which this family stooped to punish me for my spiritual journey.”

  Aashna squared her shoulders. “Both of us went into the hospital to give birth to children at the same time. Only one of us came home with a child. I was told my baby was stillborn.”

  “Only one of you gave birth,” Khalil corrected. “The other was never pregnant.”

  Gasps echoed off the walls.

  CHAPTER 25

  Jai and Vikkas shared a glance. Milan came to her husband’s side and laced her fingers with his. He pressed a kiss to her forehead then put his focus back on the family drama unfolding in the middle of his wedding reception. Jai’s gaze searched for Temple and India and he extended his hand for her to come forth and be with him. He placed an arm about her shoulders and drew her near. Mira stood by herself, trying to absorb everything and the implications. Jai reached out and guided her until she stood between the two men who were her brothers.

  Evidently, Khalil was just getting warmed up. No one had seen him this angry, and it was a sight to behold.

  “Oh, you thought I would not understand what you tried to do?” Khalil asked Varsha. “You bring me a drink and you are all sweetness and happiness, and that is certainly not your nature. And yes, I can fake like the best of them.” He winked and gave her a smile. “I was not passed out when you tried to be a wife that one night in our marriage. But I also know exactly what it takes to create a child. And you did not walk away with the goods, my dear.”

  Varsha’s complexion turned alabaster.

  “Nice try, though,” he said, then he faced the elders. “The family directed her in that deception, then took our baby girl and gave it to Varsha. Because we feared that if we didn’t keep that agreement some harm might come to her, we allowed it to happen.”

  Tears flowed down Mira’s face and she shook her head several times.

  Aashna stepped toward Mira, cupped the young woman’s face in her hands. “But I was the one to breastfeed you, and care for you at the beginning stages of your life because she could not. And we have remained close all throughout your life, despite Varsha’s efforts to keep us separated.”

  Mira’s chest heaved as she glared at Khalil. “I swear, if one more secret spills out today … I’m going to scream.”

  “That makes two of us,” Jai said and looked at Vikkas, who lowered his gaze to the carpet, processing all this new information. He now had a sister, as well as a family who was so averse to everything that Khalil represented that they tore apart a happy family to accomplish it. “To find out you have a brother is one thing. To find out that I also have another mother, is another. To find out how much evil has been part of the foundation of your life is something I still can’t wrap my mind around.”

  “And if fate would be so kind, I will spend the rest of my life enjoying your presence,” Khalil said, sweeping a gaze first to Jai, then Vikkas and Mira. “This time, no one can take that away from us. This time, it is your choice, and no amount of family pressure will ever make you choose between family and your purpose. I did everything in my power to ensure they will be in charge of their destiny.”

  Varsha released a bitter laugh, as Gaurav smirked and said, “It will be hard to have everything you want. I will not give her a divorce, unless

  “Yes, that is what it comes to. Money,” Khalil spat, then his glare landed on the elders of the Maharaj family.

  “And I would win and get paid, too,” Gaurav snarled. “Don’t think I don’t know about those early morning visits to your Castle.”

  “Uh oh,” Reno whispered.

  “Yes, what you said,” Grant chimed in as Dwayne, Dro, and Grant placed their backs against the doors, bracing for what was to come.

  “So, hold up,” Vikkas said, and the anger in those three words whipped through the room causing everyone to shift their attention to him. “All this time, you’ve been talking about ethics, integrity, and honesty, and you’ve been committing adultery … with her.” He gestured to Jai’s mother. “I don’t see how you could choose a woman who—”

  “Vikkas, my brother,” Jai snarled, moving in so there was only spitting distance between them. “Don’t say anything that I will make you regret.”

  Khalil quickly maneuvered around the Kings and came to stand between his sons. “Vikkas, it is not considered adultery if you’re making love to your wife.”

  The silence behind that seemed to last to infinity and beyond.

  “Your wife,” Najan Maharaj said with a laugh that reverberated off the walls. “That’s impossible.”

  Najan had been the family matchmaker for as many years as anyone could remember. Every union benefitted him in some way, and every business endeavor somehow had his signature placed on them. Nothing happened within Maharaj, Bhandari, Gupta, and several other families without his machinations.

  After Khalil’s admission, all gazes left the sons and were now squarely focused on the father.

  “Yes, my wife,” Khalil asserted with a smile. “My marriage to Varsha was privately annulled on the grounds that one spouse was physically incapable of having children, and that spouse—and her family—lied about it. American courts really despise that sort of thing.” Khalil’s smile brightened his face. “Then that divorce you forced onto Aashna and on me was a religious one—and only could affect our standing in our family, but it isn’t recognized by the American government or any other official agency.”

  “So, what are you trying to say?” Najan asked and a few others around him nodded, as they too, wanted to understand what Khalil asserted, in plain terms.

  “I could not commit adultery with a woman who is still, legally and completely, my wife. And has been for all of these years.”

  “Whoa,” Dwayne said, wriggling his eyebrows. “Do not rule out the geriatric crew.”

  Kaleb nodded and one side of this mouth lifted in amusement. “What he said.”

  “But you went through with a divorce with me earlier this year,” Varsha said, her gaze reflecting her confusion.

  “Because the family needed to see that and you need that outward closure. We were never married in the eyes of American law.”

  Varsha staggered backwards until she landed on Najan whose hands came up to keep her from falling.

  “And that being said,”
Khalil enunciated his words firmly as he stood in front of the elders. “We do not have any reason to keep up pretenses any longer, just to keep certain aspects of the family intact. Because the most important facets of the family are protected and made whole.”

  Guarav pointed at Khalil. “You … you … you.”

  “Yes, yes, and yes,” Khalil said, taking Aashna’s hand in his.

  “What kind of crazy family did I marry into?” Milan said, looking up at Vikkas.

  “That’s what I’m saying,” Vikkas added, meeting his wife’s eyes. “I didn’t know any of this.”

  “None of you are welcome in this family. Low caste heathens,” Najan said, with disdain dripping from his voice. “We should never have allowed you and your family anywhere near ours. You have always been beneath us, even though you put on airs like you were above everyone.”

  “So, you’re distancing us from the Maharaj family again, yes?” Khalil asked in a calm tone.

  “Of course,” Guarav spat. “There is no place for you, your … whatever she is.” He waved toward Aashna. “Whore is a better word.”

  Jai stepped forward at the same time as Khalil, but Vikkas gripped Jai’s hand and blocked Khalil on his path to dismantle Guarav.

  “Need to borrow Roscoe for a moment, Chief?” Sandy asked, stepping up beside Jai.

  His head whipped to Sandy. “You brought a .45 to my brother’s wedding?”

  “Weddings and funerals,” she replied, totally unashamed. “That’s where folks lose their natural minds. Roscoe helps ‘em find it.”

  “My kind of woman,” Cameron whispered as Daron smirked and Dro gave a nod of approval.

  “Mine, too,” Khalil said, putting his hand out. “Pass it over.”

  Sandy was only too happy to comply.

  “No, don’t do that,” Vikkas warned, gesturing for Sandy to put it away. “No one is going to jail on my wedding day.”

  “How about the morgue,” Khalil said through his teeth. “That would work for me.”

  “And your two bastards, and that little whore, too. Can’t see how we will marry her off to anyone,” Najan said and gestured to Mira as Guarav nodded vigorously. “Take them and go your way.”

  Khalil swept in and was only a few inches away from putting his fist into Guarav’s face before a quiet whoosh made everyone back away. Najan and Guarav suddenly slumped to the ground.

  Daron’s gaze narrowed on Cameron, who said, “Ooops.”

  All eyes went to the men struggling to find their bearings.

  Dro chuckled and said, “Now that’s definitely my kind of woman.”

  Mira’s chest heaved in an effort to remain calm, and Jai put his arms around her, so did Vikkas.

  She welcomed their embrace.

  Moving like a colony of confused ants, several family members moved in to scoop the fallen men from the ground and stand them up. They couldn’t remain upright on their own and two family members had to flank their sides so they wouldn’t fall down again.

  “That’s not a fast-acting agent?” Dro asked Cameron. “You didn’t try to kill them?”

  “No, but over the next give hours they’ll wish they were dead,” she quipped and Dro held back a chuckle.

  Kaleb put out his fist for a pound. Cameron glanced at Daron, who nodded before she happily obliged.

  “They will have none of their share of any monies that are coming to them,” the tallest of the elders said, bringing everyone’s focus back to the secrets that had sprinted from the closet and were now running a Chicago marathon. Somehow, it didn’t feel as though said secrets had made it to the finish line.

  “That is how you really feel,” Khalil said and the smile on his face should have been the tip-off that they were in trouble. Again.

  The consent went up from the Maharaj and Bhandari clans. All except Khalil’s mother, who inched away to put some distance between herself and his father.

  “Do you remember that set of entity and corporate documents you had the new family lawyer you hired draw up a few years ago,” Khalil asked, and the man flinched under the scrutiny of everyone in the corridor. “The ones that state that only male heirs of full Maharaj-Bhandari bloodline can inherit, and only full Maharaj-Bhandari females can receive a portion at majority?”

  Najan and several elder members of the Maharaj clan stiffened, probably feeling that another blow was coming. And they were not prepared.

  “And that it would take proper DNA testing to prove who had exactly how much of that bloodline, right? You know, availing yourself of today’s technology.”

  Najan chanced a look at the rest of the clan, who didn’t seem thrilled at hearing that bit of news.

  “Just so you are aware,” Khalil began in a voice loud enough to carry across the corridor. “As part of my marriage gift to my son, I filed the bloodwork of both Vikkas Germaine, Jaidev Maharaj, Devesh Maharaj, as the only full-blooded male heirs to the Maharaj fortune, holdings and estates, and Mira and Anaya Maharaj as the only female heirs the American and international courts can recognize.”

  The shocked gasps echoed throughout the area and the elders’ expression ranged first from confusion and ended with abject anger. As well they should. Najan, in his efforts to line his own pockets and to be seen as someone important in American culture, had effectively guided the Maharaj affairs into the American legal system, rather than East India where the power would remain with the elders.

  “Help me to understand,” Jagat said.

  “Vikkas and Jaidev, as the oldest heirs, now control every aspect of the Maharaj fortune.” Khalil let out a dramatic sigh. “And my—what did you call her? No, I won’t repeat that because it is absolutely not true, but Mira also has a controlling interest as pure blood.” He smiled. “Now, if anyone wants anything to do with that money, the properties, businesses, corporations, or the estates, they will need to put in a petition to both of them. And my daughter also has to sign off on the final approval. My children now control … everything.”

  The shocked expressions from everyone in the room was epic. The silence went on so long the buzz of conversation from inside the ballroom carried to the group.

  “Jaidev Maharaj,” Sandy said with a laugh. “Your father knows exactly how to play the long game.”

  “Indeed,” Jai said with a lingering look at his newfound father. He still didn’t know how to feel about it, but feelings wouldn’t change anything.

  “Well, on that note,” Vikkas said, hooking an arm under his brother’s and Milan’s and moving them toward the door. “The food’s getting cold.”

  “And the champagne’s getting warm,” Jai added, grasping Temple’s hand and taking her with them.

  “And we have a marriage to celebrate,” Devesh Maharaj chimed in and gestured for everyone to make tracks back into the ballroom.

  Guarav finally found his foot, and lunged forward, charging toward Aashna, fists waving in front him as he aimed to hurt the woman Khalil loved.

  Only one thing halted him.

  “You lay a hand on my beloved,” Khalil said as the Kings changed direction and circled him and the Knights put themselves around Aashna. “And I swear on whatever God you believe in, there will not be room on the planet for the both of us.”

  “Roscoe?” Sandy asked handing over the gun.

  Khalil turned up his palm to accept. “Don’t mind if I do.”

  CHAPTER 26

  “I need to leave here.”

  Jai put aside the latest summary from the Knights, then perched on the sofa, trying to wrap his mind around that unexpected statement. He let his gaze travel up her red skirt and to the simple white blouse to avoid assimilating what she’d just said. The distraction she presented didn’t help. The light from the window only highlighted her peaches and cream skin and dark wavy hair, making him want to touch her.

  “I need a clean slate,” Temple whispered, jerking him back to the present. She secured the baby in the car seat before she moved from the living room toward th
e foyer and the bags that awaited. “For me and India.”

  She was leaving him? Why? “And raise her on your own?” he asked, unable to understand why now, or at all, since he’d provided not only a place to live, but unrestricted access to the daughter she swore up and down she didn’t want.