Page 51 of Lawfully Yours

And just when he was about to take that step, just when he had convinced himself that Kamya might be the perfect companion to his ordered life, Raj Verma called him in.

The man who had shaped his career. The man who had picked him out of a crowd of hungry, half-broken lawyers and put him in the fast lane to success. Who had trusted him, backed him, made him what he was today. Raj Verma didn’t ask forthings. He merely stated them, with the kind of gravity that felt impossible to refuse.

That day, he asked for one thing.

To marry his niece.

Arundhati.

It wasn’t a demand. It was a proposal veiled in legacy.

“I see you as my heir, Kushal. Not just in the firm, but in this family. And Arundhati… well, she’s not just my niece. She’s a woman who needs someone who won’t just match her, but challenge her. I see that in you.”

That one sentence had detonated whatever world he had begun to build with Kamya.

All his life, he had worked for this. To become something. To mean something. And here was the man who had mentored him, trusting him with the one person he considered his own flesh and blood.

How could he say no?

He chose the firm. He chose Arundhati.

Even though he hadn’t even met her yet.

What did that make him?

Strategic. Calculating. Practical.

But also, cowardly. Maybe even cruel.

He remembered how his colleagues were stunned. How Kamya had smiled too tightly for days before pretending like it never mattered. How he never once sat down to explain anything to her. Because deep down, he knew he didn’t owe her more than what had existed between them—an almost.

And then he met Arundhati, who had intrigued him from the moment he heard about her. A part of him had known, even back then, that it wasn’t just about the position. That Arundhati wasn’t just a pawn in his climb.

But what he hadn’t predicted was how Arundhati would become so much more than the name he had said yes to.

Especially when he saw her that night at that party, dressed in a blue cocktail gown, eyes like rebellion and lips like defiance. It was atthattime that he’d known.

Yes, Kamya was the right choice.

But Arundhati was the one he couldn’t walk away from.

And now, here he was. Married to a woman who couldn’t see past his ambition. Standing on a balcony, smoking his frustration into the sky, trying to quiet the guilt that never really went away.

She thought he didn’t have a heart.

But what she didn’t know, what no one knew, was that somewhere along the way, he had started making decisions with that very thing.His heart beat for her.

Even if it was too late to convince her of that now.

He took one final drag of his cigarette, crushed the stub in the ashtray fixed along the railing, and then walked back inside to continue his day.

Chapter 9

Raj Verma’s Villa, Delhi – Birthday Party

By the time Arundhati reached her uncle’s villa, the celebration was already alive with soft music, warm lights, and a growing cluster of guests exchanging pleasantries over glasses of wine. The large garden had been tastefully decorated with elegant fairy lights.

It was just past 10:00 p.m. when she stepped inside, slightly breathless, her work satchel slung over her shoulder, and the fatigue of the day still clinging to her like a second skin.