Page 42 of The Promise of a Traitor

“Figured that,” Vikram drawled.

“And then she dumped me.”

“Figured that too.”

“Do you want to hear this story?” Advik glared at him.

“Yes.” Vikram grinned. “But sometime in this century would be nice.”

“Ass,” Advik muttered. “I woke up one morning and she was gone.”

“Gone?”

“Gone gone.”

“Repeating the same word isn’t clarifying shit, man.” Vikram’s brow creased into a frown.

“She left. Without a word. No conversation, no text, no call. Nothing. She didn’t just leave me. She left New York. She’d been planning to leave for weeks. Weeks when she’d spent time with me, every free second…we were together. And she said nothing. She was just…gone.”

“That’s brutal,” Vikram said after a second. “Did she have a reason?”

“She says family issues.”

Vikram’s frown deepened. “What family issues? And why couldn’t she share them with you?”

“I didn’t really get any details. She said it wasn’t something that she could bring me into. It sounded like she was trying to protect me.”

“Would you like to order something more?” A server appeared at the table, smiling cheerfully. That smile faded as she took in their expressions. “I’ll come back later,” she said, disappearing in a flash.

“That’s it?” Vikram asked. “That’s all she told you?”

Advik shrugged. “Yeah.”

“And you’re going to marry her?”

Was he going to marry her? All he’d planned on doing was leading her on and dumping her. Exactly like she’d done to him. But now…watching Aastha, spending time with her, everything was muddled in his head.

Did he still want revenge? Or did he now want a do-over?

The door he’d been obsessively watching opened and Rehaan strutted out a tray in his hands.

“Eat it and weep, ladies,” he said with a grand flourish, setting it down on their table.

There in the middle of the pretty blue and white ceramic plate sat the perfect dark chocolate and mint souffles. If that tasted as good as it looked, then for once Rehaan had put his money where his big, fat mouth usually was.

“Go ahead, taste it.” Rehaan beamed.

Advik shoved the plate towards Vikram. “You first.”

“Fucker,” Vik muttered but bravely picked up a spoon and pointed it at Rehaan. “Remember who loves you more.” With that he scooped up a mouthful and shoved it in his mouth before he could change his mind. For one second, they all watched Vikram chew before he smiled, his mouth still too full to form proper words. He swallowed hard before saying, “This is incredible, Reh!”

“Told you guys I could bake,” Rehaan muttered.

“He can’t just bake,” Aastha said from behind him. “He’s bloody brilliant. Rehaan, if you can spare us the time, we would be very grateful for your help. And we’ll pay you of course.”

“I don’t need the money,” Rehaan replied, grinning back at her. “I’m happy to help my future sister-in-law out. And especially when there are so many pretty girls around for company.” He winked at some of the giggling girls at the next table and they practically swooned.

“Female footfalls are going to increase,” Aastha murmured. “Win-win, I guess.”