Page 67 of The Promise of a Traitor

“There was never a happy ever after for us, was there?” she asked finally, her heart slowly breaking in a million, different pieces.

“No,” Advik replied. “There wasn’t.”

He held his hand out to her and this time she placed hers in it. For the second time that night, Advik slid her engagement ring on to her finger. The beautiful diamond ring, a solitaire encircled with smaller diamonds, sat on her finger like a rock, a big, heavy rock that now reminded her of everything she owed this man.

“Thank you for loving me,” he said tonelessly. “It was ruinous while it lasted.”

“You shouldn’t have tried to help me,” she whispered.

“I know.”

She glanced at his granite profile, searching for the softness that usually lit him up from within when he looked at her. She found none.

“Where do we go from here, Adi?”

“I don’t know, Aastha.”

Chapter Forty-One

Advik

“Why the fuck are you in office at 6 AM the day after your engagement?”

Advik raised tired, gritty eyes to view Manish leaning against his doorframe. “Why the fuck are you in office this early?”

“You first, dulhe raja.” Manish sauntered in and plopped into the chair in front of Advik’s guest. His bloodshot eyes met Advik’s, stale whiskey fumes emanating from his skin, his crumpled shirt telling Advik that Manish hadn’t gone home either.

“I came here around midnight,” Advik said, reaching for an unopened bottle of water and sliding it across to Manish who took it gratefully. “Didn’t feel like going home.”

Manish chugged the whole bottle of water before crumpling it and tossing it in the trash. “Do you want me to leave?” he asked, abruptly.

“Why would I want that?” Advik could feel the dull throb of a migraine begin at the base of his skull.

“I don’t know man.” Manish shrugged. “Can’t be comfortable to work alongside your wife’s ex.”

Advik stared at his clenched fist resting on the tabletop. The dull roar of his pounding heartbeat sounded in his ears as he considered Manish’s statement.

“Aastha, no,” he corrected himself, “Aashika Agarwal has already cost me a lot in life. I won’t let her take from me, my friend and the best damn CTO this company could have.”

Manish blinked, his eyes suspiciously shiny. He looked away and cleared his throat before saying, “It’s going to get messy.”

“It’s already messy.” Advik consciously unclenched his fingers. He took a deep breath, forcing his rigid control back into place. “We’ll make it work.”

Manish nodded. “We’ll make it work,” he echoed. “But Adi, I don’t think Aashika and I can ever be friends.”

Advik inclined his head in agreement. “Understood.” He looked out of the window, at the bright morning sunlight streaming through it. It hurt his sleep deprived, hungover eyes but he forced himself to look straight into it. No matter how dark the night was, the sun still rose the next day. No matter how bad things got, there would always be another way. He’d make it work, he thought in unconscious echo of his previous words to Manish.

“How did you end up engaged to her anyway?” Manish asked now, his voice still holding undertones of anger and bitterness.

“Our mothers are friends. They set us up a couple of weeks ago.”

Manish’s eyebrows shot up. “And you agreed to get engaged in two weeks? That’s some spell she had you under.”

“We knew each other from before,” Adi said absently, the well-worn words stumbling out of his tired mouth. “I knew her or,” he caught himself, “I thought I did.”

“From before?” Manish stilled on the other side of the table, a crystal paperweight in his hands. “From New York?”

Adi nodded, his gaze still on the sun drenched view outside his window.