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“I wouldn’t have had to run away at all if you hadn’t held me hostage, Your Highness,” snapped Diya. And why are you suddenly acting like the vidhaata of Trikhera? Keeping me safe is not your responsibility. My father will come down here with a police escort and he’ll get me home safely.”
“Do you even understand what is at stake here, Diya? Ayush Goel is not your garden-variety criminal. He is the heir to the multi-billion dollar Goel empire. If he goes to jail on a murder charge, their shares will crash overnight and the empire will come crashing down because the investigation will blow open all the dirty secrets about how they make their money. They aren’t going to let you put their very existence at risk,” I explained as patiently as I could. “And a police escort means nothing. They run the local cops like errand boys. And Ayush’s father has more dirt on every cop in the state than they have on him. If you’re not careful, your police escort will gun down your entire family on the drive back to Jadhwal and blame it on highway bandits.”
She drew in a sharp breath as the gravity of the situation finally got to her.
“Isn’t there anything you can do, beta?” asked Ma worriedly.
“I’m trying my best, Ma. I’ve told Kirori Ji to make it clear to the Goels that Diya is under my protection.”
“But why should I need your protection at all? We live in a civilised country. Are you telling me there isn’t one agency in the whole country that can keep me safe?”
“People like the Goels operate a parallel, underground ecosystem in the country, Diya. They have cops, lawyers, judges and politicians on a monthly payroll. You cannot win against them so easily. The only thing that can scare them off is someone even more powerful than them,” said Nandini Devi.
Diya turned to her in disbelief.
“Your Highness, are you trying to tell me that the Goels will be scared of Dheer? But why?”
“Because they know what I’m capable of doing to them,” I said quietly.
“And what is that?” she demanded.
“I’ve had a few run-ins with the Goels before this, Diya. They know I will hunt them down if they touch what is mine.”
“So now we just have to convince them that you belong to Dheer,” said Nandini Devi happily.
“Excuse me?” sputtered Diya. “I’m a person, not a possession. And I belong to no one.”
“If you’re as smart as you like to think you are, you will see sense in what the Rani Ma is suggesting,” snapped Diya’s mother.
“Dheer and I haven’t set eyes on each other in nine years, Ma,” argued Diya.
“Uff! None of that will matter once you’re married. You have the rest of your lives to get to know each other,” said Nandini Devi smugly.
Diya and I turned to stare at each other in horror, and then at her.
“What?” we yelled in unison.
“It’s the perfect solution. And the only way to keep her safe, Randheer. You have to marry her!”
CHAPTER 9
DIYA
Nandini Devi exchanged a smug smile with my mother, and I growled under my breath.
Trust my mother to push her beti-bhagao agenda even in such circumstances. Was I such a burden to her that she’d force me to marry the man who broke my heart?
“Enough is enough,” I hissed. “I will not be bullied into marrying a man I cannot stand. If I’m such a burden to you, Ma, I’ll leave the country and make a new life for myself in Europe. I’ve been planning to move to Paris for a bit anyway because I’m tired of all the travelling.”
“Over my dead body,” cried my mother. “You will leave our house only when you’re married, Diya. And don’t forget that the Goels can find you wherever you hide.”
“But I don’t want to marry Dheer,” I wailed.
“Well, I don’t want to marry you either,” he pointed out mildly. “It’s out of the question, Your Highness. We will have to find another way to keep Diya safe.”
I turned around to skewer him with a venomous look. I wouldn’t marry him even if he were the last man on earth, but it hurt to know that he felt the same about me. I had good reason to hate him. He had betrayed and humiliated me in public. He had broken my heart. But I had done nothing to him. Nothing except love and hero-worship him for years. He’d be fucking lucky to marry me, I thought furiously.
“I’d rather die at Ayush’s hands than marry you, Your Highness,” I declared.
