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“And what constituted you being a good girl?” Agastya asked, his voice deep with suppressed anger.
“I had to keep my hair long and always braided. I had to study hard, only science subjects were acceptable. My weight had to hover between fifty to fifty-two kgs. Nothing more or less than that was okay. I could not waste time with useless pursuits like friendships. Before I blinked, I had no friends. I was told my family didn’t understand me, they didn’t like me, they were disappointed in me. I was too ugly, too unaccomplished for them. The only person who understood me, who appreciated me, was him. Along with my friends, my family faded into the background too.”
She laughed, a sad, bitter sound.
“Anna and Akka tried, they really did but, at that point, no one could reach me.” She took a deep breath. “At that point, I would have done anything he asked.”
Unable to meet anyone’s eyes now, she glanced down at the fingers she was twisting together in her lap.
“And I did,” she said softly. “I did.”
“Raashi, no Chinna,” Ram breathed.
“I gave him the papers from Nanna’s desk,” she looked at Ram, knowing instinctively that he’d understand what papers she was talking about. “I’m the reason he walked away from the partnership with such a big chunk of the pie.”
“What papers?” Agastya asked sharply.
“Our father had struck a deal with someone in power to bury a story. It was meant to cement a friendship.”
“Our father.” It was the first time Harsh had spoken since they entered the room. “Gadde Garu had a deal with Nanna, didn’t he?”
Raashi nodded, her gaze fixed on her clenched hands. “Yes,” she whispered.
“The alleged rape case. The illicit affair between our uncle and the maid.” Agastya’s voice was level and cold, freezingly cold. “That was you?”
“That was Anant,” Harsh corrected him, his hand coming to close on Raashi’s shoulder, squeezing once. She flinched away from his touch. His fingers stiffened and withdrew.
“No.” Raashi couldn’t deny her share in this whole drama. “It was me too. Nanna had left the file in his study intending to shred it. He’d spoken with your father and he agreed that extended family’s debaucheries shouldn’t impact your father’s otherwise stellar career. I think it was an olive branch, a gesture made in the hopes of building an alliance, if not a friendship.”
“It wasn’t rape,” Harsh said quietly. “It was consensual sex but it was also, a complete abuse of his position of power. There’s no denying that.”
“That was the year Nanna lost his election. The only election he’s lost in his career.” Agastya’s voice was carefully calm. He took a deep breath, his hands going to the back of his neck to grip and press, to try and ease the stress building there.
“Because that was the year, Mama decided to think with his dick,” Harsh replied calmly. “If he’d kept his little soldier in, none of this would have happened. If we need someone to blame, it’s him.”
Raashi drew in a shuddering breath. “That was also the year I turned eighteen. Anant told me he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I was over the moon. It was like God had decided to answer my every prayer.”
She looked at Agastya, eyes brimming over with tears she refused to shed. She wouldn’t cry over that man, not for one second more. Anant Madhavan did not deserve one more tear of hers.
“He told me if I loved him too, truly loved him, then I’d show him that I loved him more than my family. He said he could only love someone who put him above everyone else, even her own father. I had to prove myself.”
She looked at Ram and one tear spilled over. So much for her supposed self control. “And I did. I took those papers and I handed them over to him. I gave him the means to break both families, in one fell swoop.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?” Ram’s face bore a look of devastation that tore at her heart.
“I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong. I didn’t think he was doing anything wrong. I thought I was living through an epic love story.”
“He was more than ten years older than you. Fucking paedophile. Talk about abuse of power.” Aarush looked livid.
“Fourteen years older.” Raashi swiped at her tears, drying her cheeks. Not one more tear, she reminded herself. Not for that man.
“What happened then?” Agastya asked, his voice infinitely gentle now, his earlier shock fading.
“He used what I gave him as leverage to try and break my father. City News was the reason he even had a career, but he wasn’t above destroying it to get what he wanted.”
“And what did the asshole want?” Aarush asked.
“To be the sole owner of City News, forcing my father out of the partnership. When the story broke, your father assumed mine had reneged on their deal. Their friendship devolved into a rivalry that was a savage version of do or die. They both preferred the other drop dead. The least they would settle for was career suicide.”
