“Abhimanyu, go do this by yourself. I’m not going with you.” Akshara held Inara to her standing at the main door.
“Really, after all that pep talk, you are going to do this again?”
Abhimanyu laughed. It was over a week since she saw Vikrant at Abhimanyu’s office, and he was invited back to the office with his father under the pretext of discussing their biggest deal.
“I don’t need to see them. I’d rather be with my baby,” Akshara said adamantly.
Abhimanyu moved his eyes away from Akshara to look at Seema, who stood behind her. “Give us a few minutes, Seema.”
Seema nodded and left them alone. “Baby, Inara will be fine, you know that. We’ve left her with Seema before, and when you have the opportunity to give back every piece of crap those bastards gave you, you want to miss that?”
“I know you’ll do it for me.”
“Yes, I will, but I want you to see it happen. I want all that scarring on the inside to be wiped out. Those bastards don’t get to leave a scratch on my dear wife. I won’t tolerate it.” His breath hitched with anger.
Akshara smiled at him and then looked at the baby in her arms. “Baby, Daddy and I are going out for a bit. Please be a good girl and take a nap after your breakfast.”
Abhimanyu smiled reaching down to kiss Inara and brushed his lips over Akshara’s lips taking her by surprise.
“Seema, you are in charge,” Abhimanyu called out, and the young woman came running back to take the baby into her arms smiling at them.
Abhimanyu smiled as Akshara gave Seema her instructions, the same instructions she gave every time they went out even if it was for a fifteen minute ice cream date that they had from time to time.
When she started repeating her instructions again, he reached out to take her hand pulling her away from Seema and wrapping his arm around her.
“Let’s go,” Abhimanyu urged, laughing at her annoyed expression.
“We still have time,” she whined.
“Yes, I want to stop and get my wife coffee before I bust some balls.” He gritted making her laugh.
Thirty minutes later, he pulled the car into the underground parking of his office building.
“Why did you invite his father?”
“Isn’t it easier just to take care of this in one shot, don’t you think?”
He raised a cocky eyebrow.
“What do you mean by ‘taking care’?”
“Well, it means you get back everything that’s yours, they come clean with everything they have done with the fake marriage, and then apologize to my beautiful wife for putting her through crap,” he teased.
“Right… you do realize Vikrant’s father is a very powerful man. He is into politics.”
“I give a shit. They will look you in the eye and beg you for your forgiveness,” Abhimanyu said in all seriousness, but she couldn’t help but laugh.
“I would really like for them to ask… beg me for my forgiveness, but all I need is for them to stop lying about me being married to Vikrant.”
She scrunched her nose.
“Whatever you wish for, baby. You should never have to wipe out memories because of pricks like them,” he said, holding the elevator door for her as she stepped inside.
The elevator doors closed, and the next moment she felt her back crash into the metal wall as his body melded into hers. He held her hands to her sides, his breath warm on her cheek. “I will give you everything you ever dreamed of, and all I want is for you to be mine, forever. I want that smile to be pasted on your lips, never a tear unless they are happy ones, and if you cry, that will only be because you can’t handle the pleasure I give you. I want to be the one who gives you everything that makes you happy, only me.”
Akshara felt delectable thrills pass through her, and she smiled slowly looking up at him. “I’m yours and will be yours even if you don’t want me.”
“That’ll never happen,” he growled, nipping on her ear.
“What happens when I get fat with babies?” She laughed.
“I will enjoy every curve of yours and lick every inch of that hot, soft body.” Abhimanyu pushed into her, and she felt his hard desire press into her belly.
“I love you, Abhimanyu. Don’t ever let me go.”
“Never… I will love you, cherish everything about you, kiss you like I can’t help myself, and cuddle up with you after I’ve pounded the hell out of you,” Abhimanyu growled, and she pushed him away, laughing.
“Oh my God, you couldn’t say all this when we are in our bedroom.”
“Why in the bedroom, let’s misbehave. Who says we can’t do anything here.” He crooned making her shudder with pleasure.
“Abhimanyu, this is your office, and we are in the elevator,” she whispered.
“Promise me you will let me have you tonight… my way.”
Akshara smiled, blushing. Their intimacy had gone to a new level in the past few days. She experienced the beauty of make-up sex, the thrill of surrendering to his possessiveness, all while he made her soar through the skies like a shooting star.
Akshara gently kissed him moving her lips along his jawline. “I’m yours; you’ll just need to wait till we get home.”
“What do I do with my hands until then? I can’t keep them off you,” he said making her laugh, and the elevator dinged open at the same time.
“Stop saying such cheesy stuff.”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t like it,” he whispered nodding at his co-workers as they walked toward his office.
“I like it but not just anywhere.” She rolled her eyes at him.
“Fine, I’ll be sure to set up time on your calendar to say everything I want to say to you,” he taunted.
“Abhimanyu, what are you trying to do?” It was at that moment she realized he was up to something.
“Nothing.” He shrugged, taking off his suit jacket.
Akshara smiled. “Leave your jacket on. I like it when you wear the full suit just like at our wedding.”
Abhimanyu smiled and walked over to her cupping her cheek with his hand. “When all this mess is cleared up, I want to get married to you, again.”
Akshara fought happy tears. “I love you. I want the traditional wedding this time. I want the silk, the flowers, the chaos, and our children at our wedding, the most important guests.”
Abhimanyu smiled, pulling her into his embrace. “Consider it done.”
“Okay, now I want all this mess cleared out. Where are Vikrant and his father?” she demanded.
“They are in the conference room. We can go when you’re ready.”
Abhimanyu’s voice was calm.
“Let’s go talk to them, Abhimanyu. I’m done being scared.” She stood up to walk toward the door.
“If that’s what you want.” Abhimanyu chuckled following her out of his office.
Akshara stopped after taking a few steps and looked at Abhimanyu. “Does the conference room have cameras?”
“Every angle and inch of the room is covered by the cameras in case you want to watch their expressions again on tape.” He winked.
“You know me too well,” she said, smiling.
“If you are ready, let’s get started.” Abhimanyu looked at her, as they walked down the hallway to the conference room. Akshara stayed silent biting her lip.
“Baby, you don’t need to say a word if you don’t want to. I’ll do all the talking.” His voice was soft but assuring.
Akshara felt relief sweep over her, and she smiled placing her hand in his. “I really don’t want to talk to them. I spent too much time thinking about how to get back at them and finally resigned myself to the fact that I could do nothing and, at best, get a portion of what’s mine. Just…”
Abhimanyu placed his finger on her lips. “I got this. I will take care of it all. You just need to sit next to me and smile.”
Akshara laughed, holding his hand. “I won’t lie. I’m still very nervous in spite of all that distraction you created in the elevator.”
“It might have been to distract you, but I meant every word I said,” he said taking a step ahead of her as they walked down the long hallway. Abhimanyu came to a stop outside a door and let go of her hand.
“Lead the way. I want to see their expression when they see you.”
Akshara took a deep breath, wiggled her shoulders, and pushed the door open to the conference room. She had worn a beautiful magenta colored silk dress that hit her ankles, the heels adding grace and command to her stride. She looked down at the three men sitting at the table, two of them overly familiar to her but not the expressions they had on their faces.
Vikrant looked pale, and his father was slightly more composed as they took in the sight in front of them. She averted her eyes from the two men who looked at her like she was a ghost and smiled at Abhimanyu’s lawyer.
“It’s good to see you, Mr Singh.”
Akshara took a seat next to Mr Singh and looked around at the men who stood behind Vikrant and his father in dark uniforms and semi-automatic weapons. She was shaking on the inside to be facing them but one glance at Abhimanyu gave her the confidence she needed to look at the two men who ruined her future in their eyes and return their glare.
Abhimanyu cleared his throat, and that made the men look away from Akshara. “I suppose we need no introductions, and I suppose you know why Akshara is here.”
“What are you doing here?” Vikrant demanded.
“It’s my land that’s being discussed, why wouldn’t I be here?”
Akshara said, surprised by the sarcasm in her voice.
“Mr Birla. Don’t waste our time. I have better things to do.”
Vikrant’s father got up, and Abhimanyu held up his hand gesturing him to sit down, and he did.
“Trust me when I say this is where you want to be if you want to be able to do what you do,” Abhimanyu said, his tone cold.
“Who do you think I am, Mr Birla? I am only here because my son told me you have grand development plans for our region.”
“Yes, I absolutely do, and it requires you to come clean with everything you have done so far with Akshara’s ancestral property.”
Abhimanyu’s voice held a command over the conversation.
“What do you mean ‘come clean?’ Don’t make it sound like we did something wrong. This woman was the one who agreed to marry my son and then abandoned him,” Vikrant’s father barked.
Abhimanyu placed his hand on her knee under the table and patted it gently. “Abandoned? Why do you think she left?”
“Ask her,” Vikrant growled.
“It was not even a real marriage. I was convinced to do it just so my grandma could see me get married and die happily. I was told I could go back to my life.” Akshara gathered the strength to speak up even though her legs shook with anger.
“That is what your grandmother asked us to tell you. How could we break the promise of a wonderful woman like your grandmother,” Vikrant’s father said in his standard sleazy tone that made Akshara’s skin crawl.
“I don’t want to hear the same crap you have told me in the past every time I told you I had no interest in staying married to your son. You ruined my career by keeping all my inheritance. I wanted to be a doctor and open a hospital just as my grandmother wanted, and you two ruined it all and don’t tell me about how wonderful my grandmother is. Don’t give me that!” Akshara let out a sob, and Abhimanyu put his arms around her making the two men go dead silent.
“Mr Kota, Vikrant… I know you have had these conversations before, but I want to put this argument to rest before I invest money in your region,” Abhimanyu said patting Akshara’s hand.
“How do you know her?” Vikrant asked looking at them.
Abhimanyu looked at Akshara and smiled.
“Vikrant, this is Abhimanyu Birla, my husband,” Akshara said, her eyes locked with her husband’s loving ones.