by MV Kasi
She watched him with a torn look. “This is not love, Dev. No one falls in love within three months. Especially people who have hated each other most of their lives.”
“We both fell in love despite our hatred,” he told her firmly. “People do fall in love within a short span. My parents did as well. My father had known my mother most of his life, but it took him just a few days to fall in love with her when he saw her again after a long separation. It was the same for my grandparents as well. People and feelings can change. Our hatred disappeared before even we came together for the first time.”
She shook her head. “We are not your parents or your grandparents. I have made my decision, Dev. I’m marrying Revanth Senani.”
His anger shot up when she uttered the bastard’s name. “Why Revanth Senani? What does he have that I can’t offer you?” he demanded. “I have more money, more power, and damn bloody more sense than him. Why are you doing this? It doesn’t make any sense.”
She stayed silent.
He caught her shoulders. “You should belong to me,” he said, his panic and anguish leaking out. “I already belong to you. Don’t do this to us.”
Sabitha closed her eyes, as though shutting his face from her sight. “Dev, please leave. I’ve made my decision. I’m not going to change my mind. Please don’t go back on your word regarding our deal. We should be able to end our relationship without any arguments.”
“Fuck the bloody deal,” he said angrily.
She opened her eyes. “That’s the problem with you, Dev. You don’t think about others,” she said. “The truth is I don’t want to be with someone like you. I don’t even trust you, and you are way too unpredictable. You remind me so much of my father. He was unpredictable, too, and used to have an explosive temper at times. Everyone knows what happened as a result.”
“Bullshit!” he said. “I admit that sometimes I am selfish, impulsive, and short-tempered. I also know I can get out-of-control at times and be hard to handle, but I have never done a wrong because of it. And as far as we know, it has yet to be proven your father was responsible for the massacre. Stop deflecting from the real truth and tell me what’s happening!”
“I already did, Dev. The other main reason is that my people need peace. My marriage with Revanth Senani will bring peace within our provinces. Please don’t make me regret our… our hook-ups.”
He felt anger growing inside him as she tried to downplay what they had between them. “You know very well, what we had was more than just some random hook-ups. You wouldn’t even have been with me in the first place if you hadn’t thought I was a worthy man.”
She looked away.
The tightness in his chest grew, and he turned her towards him and held her hand. “You know damn well that you are the one for me. I know you want to throw it all away for some strong reason. But I need you to trust me and tell me whatever is bothering you.”
He felt her hand tremble within his.
“No, Dev. You are wrong. I don’t believe in things like love or belonging. I’m not that kind. I just want our thing over,” she said calmly.
“No. You are lying. I know it.”
“You don’t know much about me, Dev,” she said.
“Maybe not everything. But what I know is enough. The rest I’ll discover during our lifetime together. Just give me a chance.”
She was silent as she watched the floor, hiding her eyes from him.
He raised her hands to his lips. “Give me a chance, Sabitha,” he repeated. “A chance to prove myself to you. A chance for you to trust me completely. A chance for us to be happy together.”
Taking a deep breath, she pulled her hand away from his grasp and looked up with a determined look. Moving closer, she placed it on his chest where his heart was thumping painfully and longingly underneath. “You are right,” she said softly. “Maybe it doesn’t have to be over. We still have a lot of pent-up lust and unresolved feelings between us. So what if we marry other people? We can still keep meeting at the cottage. Nobody needs to know. And even if they do, so what? Who’s going to stop us from—”
“Shut up,” he said softly with menace.
She stopped speaking and watched him impassively.
He was slowly beginning to believe she was serious about marrying another man.
And even though that would destroy him, he still didn’t want to ruin the memories of what they had between them. He savored every moment they had spent together. It hadn’t been just about scratching an itch—it was more than just skin deep. His heart and feelings had been involved from early on. He had thought hers had been, too, at the end. But apparently he had been wrong.
CHAPTER 33
Sabitha watched as Dev angrily strode out of the room. She knew he was striding out of her life, too. The man she had known intimately and grown closer to over the past few months was a very proud man. By offering to cheat and also telling him she had chosen to marry another man, she had cheapened their relationship, ultimately distancing herself from his heart.
She tried to ignore the painful tightness within her chest.
She already knew from personal experiences that life could be cruel and unfair.
She also knew she had to do what it took to survive. But she never thought she had to hurt the person she deeply loved.
Rage grew within her, and she walked out of the room towards her aunt who was still seated in the chair, browsing through a magazine.
Seeing Neelambari behave like everything was normal, something inside her snapped. She drew out her gun and pointed it at the older woman. Her hand trembled as she pulled in every reserve of control to not press the trigger.
Neelambari’s eyes met hers but did not flinch or panic. “You know you can never press that trigger when it comes to me. And this is not the first time we have had a repeat of this scene.”
At her aunt’s soft taunt, Sabitha closed her eyes as she tried to control her instincts of pumping bullets into the heartless woman in front of her.
Slowly, she lowered the gun in defeat and opened her eyes.
Neelambari sighed. “Sabi,” she said in a gentle tone. “I know you are hurting now, my love. But like I said, Dev Singham is not meant for you. He is a high-born man with Vijay Singham’s blood running through his veins. He cannot marry a woman whose mother was a whore and a woman with your kind of past. Narmada Senani will be his wife soon. She was brought up in a sheltered and protected environment. She will be the one to carry Dev Singham’s children in her womb, ensuring the purity of Singham bloodlines.”
Neelambari rose from the chair and walked up to Sabitha. “You will find happiness, too, my love. Revanth Senani is a high-born man, and yet, he still wants you. You made a good decision to consider his proposal.”
***
Neelambari watched as her niece swept out of the room in disgust.
She knew she could only control and manipulate Sabitha so much. Eventually, her niece would break through the temporary hold she had over her. Sabitha was the kind who liked to grab control and power and demand even more.
Neelambari shuddered thinking about the day her niece would find out the truth.
Before that happened, she needed to get in touch with someone who could help her.
***
Later that night, after a long, grueling day where she took care of the Prajapati Estate issues, Sabitha went to bed.
She stared out of the window at the moonless night.
Since her childhood, the darkness had always dominated her life. She had stayed mostly indoors to avoid the loathing looks people directed her way because of who her father and mother were. Even when she took control later, she was filled with darkness in order to do some of the things she did to maintain peace and order. But after being with Dev, she had felt she could embrace the light along with happiness.
And now… she was forced to turn her back on him as well.
For the first time in six years, Sabitha Prajapati wept that night.
“Dev.”
Dev looked up from the document he had been studying when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Abhay was standing next to him in the office at the Singham Mansion.
“Yes?”
“I’ve been calling your name for a while, Dev.”
“Sorry, was busy. I need to send this out by tomorrow.”
Abhay sighed. “Dev, you are killing yourself slowly. I want you to take a break for a while.”
Dev looked at his brother for a few seconds and laughed. It sounded slightly bitter to his ears. He really must look like shit if his big brother who worked him quite hard to keep the beast at bay was saying that.
“I’m fine, Abhay.”
“You are not, Dev. You have barely slept the past two weeks.”
Dev was silent.
“Dev, tell me how I can help. I’m not able to see you like this,” Abhay said in a gentle tone.
Dev shook his head. “There is nothing anyone can do. I’m fine,” he said. And then he paused. “Or at least I will be fine soon. I’ve decided to consider the Senani’s offer. We’ll have to go there next week for the talks.”
Abhay didn’t say anything.
A week ago, the Senani head had called Dev and proposed an alliance.
“Your brother has broken the promise given to us along with the long-held tradition. We are expecting you to make the necessary reparations. Marry my granddaughter and make things right between us.”
Dev hadn’t even entertained thinking about the offer. But he knew he probably should. Because he refused to pine for a woman who threw him and their love away like it was nothing, all for the sake of duty. If she could do it, so could he.
But he still craved her. He briefly thought about considering the offer she had made to him. They were not married to other people, yet. Maybe until then, he should take her ruthlessly and fuck her till she was out of his heart and mind completely.
However, he knew that would be impossible, and it would only work against him. He would simply end up binding himself even more to her while she used him for her physical needs.
CHAPTER 35
“… She is very accomplished. She can sing like a nightingale and dance with such grace…”
“… Very well versed about the families’ histories. She’s looking forward eagerly to be a Singham bride…”
“… Sorry that her parents couldn’t make it here since this was set up in the last moment. They are out of the country currently…”
Dev only half-listened to the conversations around him. All his focus was on the couple standing behind the elders.
His hands involuntarily clenched as he noticed Revanth Senani’s hand wrapped around Sabitha’s partially exposed waist in a possessive manner. The bastard’s fingers were playing casually with her delicate waist chain. Sabitha didn’t protest or show any visible reaction. She simply looked at everyone as they conversed.
He watched as Revanth Senani bent his head to whisper something into her ear. Sabitha’s face remained impassive, and she didn’t respond in any way.
Dev was tempted to get up and rip out Revanth Senani’s hands from their sockets ordering him not to touch the woman who didn’t belong to him.
She doesn’t belong to you either, a voice inside Dev’s head reminded him.
Despite that fact, he still could not bear it. He wanted to bring death to the leering bastard. He wanted to tear the bastard’s body to pieces, organ by organ. In fact, he wanted to rip out Revanth Senani’s fucking soul.
It took a tremendous amount of control on Dev’s part to keep his beast at bay which desperately wanted to get out, to wreck havoc and claim the woman he loved.
He realized that as much as he still loved her, he also hated her with an equal amount of passion. He hated her for what she had done. For what she was doing. For the betrayal. And for giving up on them.
“…Dev. Dev?” Dev felt a hand on his shoulder and heard someone calling his name. Tearing his eyes away from Sabitha, he turned. Anika was watching him with a worried look.
“Dev, the Senanis were asking if you have any questions.”
He shook his head. “No. As long as…” He had forgotten the name of his prospective bride. “… all concerned parties are willing, I’ll think about it and make a decision soon whether or not to go ahead with this alliance.”
“Dev,” Anika said urgently. “Maybe you should also have a chat with Narmada alone somewhere before you make any decision—”
“I’m fine,” he replied. He threw another cursory look at the Senani woman whom he was supposed to consider marrying. She was pretty, he supposed. However, she kept staring and blinking at him incoherently without saying anything.
His stomach turned at the thought of touching some other woman while his heart and body still wanted only Sabitha.
He looked away, and his gaze automatically fell towards where Sabitha had stood. His heart jolted when he realized both Sabitha and Revanth Senani went missing from the room.
“Good, we’ll wait for your answer then,” said one of the Senani heads. “As soon as you confirm, we’ll start looking for an auspicious date and set up an engagement day.”
“The marriage will have to happen right after the engagement,” an old woman commented. “As you can see, our Revanth is quite impatient. He is already challenging the fact of having to wait until his sister gets married first. And also we all would prefer if the Senani heir was to arrive after the wedding has taken place.”
Everyone laughed.
“With these two marriages, we hope to bring peace to our lands and people,” Neelambari Prajapati declared.
There were murmurs of agreement.
“I’ll give you my final answer by the end of the month,” said Dev. The end of the month was barely three weeks away.
***
Sabitha felt her heart break over and over again. She just couldn’t stay and watch the man she loved committing to another woman. Even though she knew she had been the one to more or less push him away, it still hurt like hell.
He may be out of her life physically, but she knew he would always be a part of her. She wouldn’t be able to get over him even if she wanted to.
During the talks, she had felt his eyes on her. For a brief moment, she had held his stare and she flinched at what she saw in them. His eyes held betrayal while he glared at her as though he hated her and loved her and also missed her—all at the same time. She couldn’t hold his stare without breaking. So she had to look away and pretend she wasn’t affected.
“Right here,” said a male voice from next to her.
Revanth Senani was leading her towards somewhere outside the Senani Mansion. They had stopped inside what appeared to be a pool house. A pool house with a large bed.
“What is the meaning of this?” she asked him coldly. She hadn’t been paying attention to where he was leading her. She just wanted to get away from the talks.
“Nothing unusual. Just a place where I come to relax and pass the time,” he said.
She frowned. “I don’t appreciate you bringing me here.” She realized the creepy bastard had every intention of bringing her here to try to get her into bed. He had been whispering compliments into her ear and also about how he couldn’t wait for their wedding night.
“Come on, Sabitha, we are both adults here. As you already know, I want you quite badly. Let me show you how much…” he said, holding her waist and caressing her skin with his fingers.
“I am not interested. And I don’t appreciate anyone touching me without my permission,” she snapped, pushing his hands away from her. She had let the bastard paw her before because she didn’t want to create a scene or raise any suspicions.
His hands remained at his sides, but he leaned closer. “I know you like getting touched,” he whispered. “I’ve heard rumors about you letting Singham touch you. If you allowed him, then why not me? I’m offering marriage. I’m just eager to put the Senani heir into
you as soon as possible. With a mother like you, I know my son will be a born warrior.”
Sabitha shoved him away from her.
“I did not accept your proposal,” she told him coldly. “I only agreed to consider it. And what I did in my past is none of your business. Get that fact quickly through your head. Understand?”
Revanth Senani watched her with his dead eyes before smiling. The smile still creeped her out and she felt disgusted in his presence. She recalled how the maids in the Senani household had looked terrified of him. She now knew the rumors had been right. He and his late younger brother were creepy, sadistic rapists who were used to torture and hurt unwilling women. But because of their looks and money, they had always found fresh new victims easily outside of their province. A few of the victims, who did not stay quiet even after money was offered, had apparently ended up missing or dead.
“Have no doubts about it, Sabitha. We will marry. If you want to enjoy the chase, do it right now. Because I’m hungry and impatient.”
“Don’t presume to know what I want,” she said. “The only reason I stayed quiet and didn’t correct anyone who thought I’ve already accepted your proposal was due to my own personal reasons. You better come up with a plan to tell them the truth.”
CHAPTER 36
“With these signatures, we can officially close the contract.”
Sabitha sat in an office along with her team and a couple of her lawyers. Seated opposite to her was Dev Singham with his team. They were signing off the last of the handover documents for the management to take over the rest of the construction and operations.
“Sir, madam, do you have any questions?” one of the lawyers asked.