✧ Arshiya Raizada, daughter of a multibillionaire businessman and a renowned fashion designer. Mega-rich? Check. Spoiled? Most definitely. Brat? On occasions. Rulebreaker? All the time.
✧ Roshan Singhania, son of the state chief minister. Bad boy...
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Randeep
Time to dive in.
I close the file I had been reading the past half hour. All the facts in front of me. My team has crunched the numbers and this is it. "Set it up," I instruct my right-hand man, Sanjay. For over a year now, Pratap Singhania has been hounding me to sign off on this project. The very first time I had met him at his son's birthday party, that gut feeling had told me to be wary of getting in bed with him.
I was never a politician, anyway.
It hadn't been hard to steer my way around him. Then, Aarush had returned and within weeks, I found myself crowned. A fate I had wanted to escape, but when he asked, the thought of saying no never ever crossed my mind.
Was I happy? No.
But I also knew the sacrifices he'd made. Even without that, he was more than just my cousin. He was my brother. He was my family. I was ready to kill for him. Like hell was I going to disappoint him with this.
The more I was pushed into this lifestyle, the more Mr. Singhania kept wanting me to sign off on his plans. I would have caved too, if for nothing else than to use the credibility he'd already built for himself to run my campaign. I had the people on my side, but that is not the only say in politics, was it?
It was a dirty game, and I wasn't playing around. There's a whole lot of bullshit to clean up back home and the steps were laid out. Arshiya warning me about him during her birthday bash some months back was the last nudge I needed. I evaluated from every angle. It's what I'm good at.
And now? I have my results. My decision. I just need to announce it.
After Sanjay begins typing on his laptop, sending his staff an email to get a meeting on the books, I reach for my cell that's seated at the edge of the table. I tap the screen looking for a notification that isn't there.
I had messaged Swarna daily since she missed our breakfast plans. I'd arrived at Blackstone that morning, but the security guard at her complex had informed she wasn't home. She wasn't responding back to messages either, and while I have definitely learned in the years of knowing her that she can take care of herself, I was starting to get worried now. My last text was roughly an hour ago.
"And can you also let Shiv know we're heading to Panache?"
"She's not there."
"Excuse me?"
Looking over his laptop screen at me, he bobs his head to the side taking light offense. "Give me some credit, yeah? You were set to return to Udaipur four days ago, but you've stuck around." When I open my mouth to defend – with a lie – he beats me to it. "And as much as I know you love spending time with your bhai sa, rani sa, and her little child, we both know they're not the reason you postponed."
