Bride

-Chapter 18-

When he made her the CEO of Birla Industries there was huge uproar. An inexperienced 23 year old woman was not taken seriously, but Suryakanth Birla's daughter, his heir had everyone's respect. He made sure of it. What ever she achieved was his blessing. His love. His generosity. When he lost her mother he had been heartbroken, but even then he made sure to offer her a shoulder to cry. He was her entire support system. Without him she would be lost. She was blessed to have a father like her. Vidant had told her to go home and question her father. She would never insult her father by questioning him. He would not do anything to hurt her. She knew that with every heartbeat.

"Kuch bol na beta. Aise gumsum se kyun hai? Veer se koi jhagda ho gaya? Kuch keh deya usne......."

"Maine Vivek ke saath ek bache ko dekha hai dad" She cut him off gently. She had no secrets from her father. The one secret she kept from him almost destroyed her life. She would never again make the same mistake again.

Suryakanth stiffed.

"He calls Vivek dad. He is 17. He was born seventeen years ago" Her eyes clouded again. "He is my son" Tears escaped her eyes. She wanted to sob but she held herself back and wiped her tears furiously.

"Mr. Malhotra told me to go back home and ask you what happened. He thinks he can turn this on you. How did my baby end up with Vivek dad? You already picked up a good family for him. You told me that the baby would be bought up in the lap of luxury. That he would want for nothing."

Suryakant's heart pounded in his chest. His daughter knew the truth. She would hate him for what he had done. she would leave him and go back to Vivek. She would destroy her happy life, her impending marriage, her bright future everything for the boy. Since the moment he had seen the boy he knew he was trouble. Her child's life would be destroyed and he could not do anything to help her. He felt helpless.

"Please bataye dad. How did Vikky end up with Vivek. How it is even possible....."

"Vivek ne nehi batatya?" Suryakanth questioned carefully.

Khushi shook her head as tears rolled down. Suryakanth hated those tears. They had alwyas been his weakness. Vivek had given her nothing but tears. He could not hate the boy enough. he opened his mouth to tell her the truth but then his mind whispered caution. Khushi did not know the truth. Vivek did not tell her anything. He still had a chance.

"Dad, bataye na....."

"The day I gave him the money, he asked to meet the baby one last time. I agreed." He lied cautiously. He wanted to see khushi's reaction. He did not want to go far.

"He ran away with the baby?" Khushi gasped. Suryakanth did not deny it. Vivek had opposed the adoption vehemently. He plead with khushi to wait till the last minute. he was trying to raise money from different sources but a million dollars was a big amount. Khushi did not wish to take chances. Veer promised to get the money from his father but in the last minute Mrs. Mittal convinced his father not to give the money. He had been instrumental in their decision. He wanted his child to give up the brat. He did not care to what lengths he had to go. Vivek tried till the very end to fight for his son, but he had to give in to khushi's demands. Somewhere his reluctance made it easy for khushi to believe that he had demanded money in exchange for adoption.

"He took the baby from me and ran away? He did not even tell me? He had our son all these years and he did not for once let me know. He took him so far away that i could not even see him again. He took money from you" Khushi's hand's fisted by her side. "How could he take away my child, dad. Why did you not tell me?"