Page 136

The room hung heavy in stillness.

“You didn’t just walk away from a marriage, Rhea,” Nandini finished. “You dismantled someone’s trust in love. And now, after all this time, he’s finally letting someone back in. He’s trusting someone again. And I won’t let your past with him poison that.”

Rhea had no comeback. No defence. Just silence.

Nandini stepped closer. “Shaurya made a mistake, yes. But you? You committed a sin, Rhea. You betrayed him. Broke his trust. And yet, despite that, he protected your name. Your dignity. He never exposed the truth about your affair to the world. He carried the blame quietly, bore the brunt of the failure of your marriage, and let you go. Because deep down, he knew there was nothing left to fight for. You were already gone, Rhea. Maybe not physically, but emotionally, you’d walked miles away long before you ended the relationship.”

Rhea’s face had paled, and a faint sheen of cold sweat shimmered on her brow.

Nandini’s tone hardened. “Yes, he hurt you by shattering your dream of settling in Serene Meadows with Anirudh. But let’s not forget, you ripped his whole heart out and crushed it. You broke him in the worst possible way. Did you really think he wouldn’t react somehow? That he wouldn’t need to feel some sense of control or justice after everything you took from him?”

Rhea didn’t respond.

“And even now,” Nandini went on, her voice cracking with restrained anger, “you don’t waste a single opportunity to reinsert yourself into his life. A life that you walked out of. But now, for the first time in years, he’s found some peace. Some meaning. Since we’ve been together, he’s started to breathe again… to live again. AndIwill not jeopardise that. I will not let your past with him bleed into our present and infect our future.”

Rhea stood frozen, as if someone had finally held up a mirror she could no longer look away from.

Nandini let her words sink in, then softened her tone. “Maybe you two were never meant to be. You had your reasons, and he had his regrets. But it’s done now. Let it go, Rhea.”

Her gaze flicked to the framed photo on the desk—Rhea and Anirudh, smiling, seemingly at peace.

“You’ve found your real love. And Shaurya has me. Let’s respect that. Let’s not drag the past into each other’s lives. No more mud-slinging. No more hurting each other.”

She inhaled deeply, steadying herself. “Your investment offer is generous. But it doesn’t sit right with me. Not when my heart belongs to a man whose heartbreak you were once responsible for. Maybe I’m turning down the biggest deal of my career. Maybe I’ll regret it in the future.”

She paused, her voice turning resolute.

“But my love for Shaurya and his love for me is worth far more than any contract.”

Silence surrounded the room. There was nothing left to say.

Nandini straightened her shoulders and met Rhea’s stunned silence with calm. She took a deep breath and said quietly, “Goodbye, Rhea. I hope we never have to cross paths again.”

And with that, she turned and walked out of the cabin, her head high, spine tall, and a quiet relief blooming in her chest. She had honoured her love. And for the first time in days, she felt free, because she knew she’d done the right thing.

CHAPTER 25

Shaurya’s Villa – An hour later

Shaurya paced the length of his living room, phone clenched tightly in one hand, and anxiety simmering just beneath the surface. His eyes darted towards the clock for what must have been the tenth time in the last five minutes. He was waiting for Nandini’s message.

He hated not being there for her. He hated that urgent work had pulled him away from seeing her off before the most important meeting of her career. He had sworn both to himself and her, that he would never put work above their relationship again. Not after everything he had lost. And yet, today, he wasn’t by her side on the one day that mattered most. That guilt burned like acid in his chest.

What made it harder was knowing who she was meeting.

Rhea.

Her soon-to-be investor. His ex-wife.

Shaurya had spent the entire morning trying to prepare himself for what that meant. That Rhea, the woman who had once gutted his heart and walked away, would now be a permanent fixture in Nandini’s professional life. That he’d have to see her more often than he wanted to, and still stay polite and civil.

And he was willing to do all of it. For Nandini. Because she was worth it.

But tonight… tonight was the real test. In a few hours, Nandini would be flying to London with her grandfather. She’d be gone for weeks, and Shaurya had no idea what that separation would bring. What her family might say. What doubts and misconceptions they’d plant in her head against him. But he held on to his faith in her, and in their love.

Just then, as if summoned by that very thought, he felt her presence before he even saw her.

He turned, and there she was.Nandini. Standing at the entrance of his villa, framed in the golden light of the afternoon sun.