Page 130 of Entangled Vows

He growled low in his throat. “Don’t send me into your brother’s office with a hard-on.”

She grinned as she retreated. “Fine. Go easy on your minions today, sir.”

This time, he let her go with a wink that sent warmth rushing through her chest.

The moment she stepped out of the elevator, Ishan looked up from his desk with a laugh. “We thought he was never going to let you out.”

Mahika’s cheeks burned when she realised every pair of eyes in the room was fixed on her. “Twenty minutes,” she snapped, brushing off their grins.

“You got it, boss,” Ishan replied, throwing her a mock salute.

She marched into her office, shut the door, and leaned against it. Suddenly her eyes stung with exhaustion and her muscles ached, but none of it dulled the fire still humming in her veins from the way Vikram had looked at her.

Shucks! He was sweeping her into his world completely. And though she was finally beginning to admit it to herself, it didn’t make the intensity of it any less terrifying.

Sighing, Mahika walked over to her desk and placed her bag on the side table before heading towards the coffee machine. Her mornings didn’t begin until she had her second cup of coffee. Once the coffee was ready, she picked up the mug and returned to her desk. She switched on her laptop, lifted the cup to her nose, and breathed in the familiar aroma. But the comfort she usually felt didn’t come.

Her stomach gave a strange lurch. The scent that usually calmed her now felt overpowering. She took one careful sip, but the moment the hot liquid slid down her throat, a wave of queasiness rose in her chest. Her nose scrunched, and sheplaced the cup down quickly, swallowing hard as a sour taste filled her mouth.

Her brows drew together in confusion. She loved coffee. It was never a problem. Maybe it was acidity, she thought. She hadn’t eaten properly last night.

Just then, her phone buzzed on the desk. It was a notification from the FLO app.

Has your period started? Track your cycle now.

She froze, the words on the screen blurring for a second. Her thoughts came to a screeching halt. Only one question raced through her mind.Where the hell were her periods?

Panic prickled at the edge of her skin as a chill ran down her spine.

“Shit,” she whispered.

Her fingers trembled as she tapped open the tracker app and flipped through the dates. And there it was… the small red heart she always marked on her expected day. Her stomach dropped. It had already passed. Ten days ago.

She blinked, hoping she had counted wrong. Hoping the dates were off. But the app was precise just as her body cycle. Her heart thudded in her chest, each beat louder than the last.

Ten days.

Her lips parted, but no sound came out. A strange buzzing filled her ears, growing louder by the second, until it drowned out everything else. Her mouth had gone dry, yet the bitter aftertaste of coffee lingered like a warning. She just stared blankly at the screen.

This can’t be happening.

Her stomach churned violently. A sudden wave of nausea hit her without warning. Her hands shot to the edge of the desk as she steadied herself. She barely had time to push back herchair. Slapping a hand over her mouth, Mahika bolted from her seat. The bathroom attached to her cabin blurred around her as she stumbled towards it in her heels.

She reached the sink just in time. Her body convulsed as she lost her breakfast, the sour burn stinging her throat. Tears streamed down her cheeks, a mix of sickness and panic. When it finally stopped, she gripped the edge of the counter, her hands shaking, her breath coming in shallow gasps. Her face was pale, damp, and when she dared to look up, the girl in the mirror looked back at her with wide eyes rimmed with fear.

Mahika didn’t know what was happening. She didn’t even want to guess. But her heart was already pounding with one possibility she was too scared to say out loud. And that terrified her.

43

It had to be stress and exhaustion.

Mahika had told herself that for the five-thousandth time. The whirlwind of everything she’d been juggling over these past few weeks—no months—was bound to take its toll. Her body was just responding to the overload and nothing more. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself. That’s what sheneededto believe.

But with her head spinning and panic simmering just beneath the surface, Mahika barely made it through her morning meetings. She slipped a clove and cardamom pod into her mouth to suppress the nausea and nodded along, pretending to listen. But not a single word reached her… no sentences, no presentation slides, no decisions.

By noon, she was a complete wreck.

She wanted to trust her own logic. It had to be the stress. It had to be the long hours and emotional drain. But as her fingers trembled and her stomach turned, she realised something didn’t add up. This exhaustion felt different. Her body felt foreign.