Page 31 of Married in Deceit

How was it possible to miss someone so acutely when they’d been on the periphery of his life for years? He certainly hadn’t missed her then. Years he’d known her. Years!

Years when he had gone about his life without once giving her a second thought. Until recently, when he’d been aware of her physically. And now, in a matter of days, she was all he could think of. If this wasn’t madness, he didn’t know what was.

What else was madness was that it was his wedding day and he was working…in his room, dressed in his wedding finery and working. Honest to God, he could do better than this on a normal day, but his life seemed to have descended into a special kind of madness off late. Madness brought on by his conscience roaring to life and jabbing at him with poisoned spears.

Sweat dripped from his brow, trickling down his temples and slipping on to the slope of his neck. Agastya paced the length of his room, the phone to his ear, a nasal voice coming through it and irritating him.

“What do you mean you can’t find it? Documents, important documents, do not vanish into thin air.”

In the corner of the room, Naresh shifted on his feet, an unconscious reaction to the stress emanating from Agastya.

“Get Ganesh,” he growled at his bodyguard and the other man disappeared with alacrity to do his bidding.

He disconnected the call, cutting off the caller’s whiny excuses. Tossing the phone on his bed, he scrubbed his face with his hands, exhaling hard.

“Sir.” Ganesh stepped in, his expression tight and worried.

“How the fuck did this happen? Why is the file on the pandemic fund missing key documents? How is that possible?”

For a second the other man didn’t answer but then he said, “I have a suspicion. If I may?”

Agastya waved a hand in the air granting permission. Ganesh didn’t need it, but he still asked for it. Ten years they’d worked together and Ganesh was still acutely conscious of the power dynamic in their relationship. Friends they might be but when it came to work, he never forgot who was the boss.

“I think they’ve been destroyed,” Ganesh said quietly now, the words dropping like stones into the conversation.

Agastya stilled. “Do you realise what you’re insinuating?”

Ganesh didn’t answer, his expression wary but resolute. Before either of them could continue the conversation, someone banged on the door.

“Agastya Anna?” One of the helpers called out hesitantly, speaking in Telugu. “Pedamma is calling you.”

“Tell her I’m coming,” he yelled back.

“It’s your wedding day,” Ganesh said softly. “The rituals are about to start in an hour. You should go down. It’s time to leave.”

“We haven’t resolved this,” Agastya snarled.

“It’s not going to be resolved anytime soon.” Ganesh looked exhausted suddenly. “Go, get married, Sir. This will wait until after that.”

“My father is not a thief.”

Ganesh didn’t respond. His gaze moving to a spot on the floor.

The banging on the door started again. “Go away!” Agastya shouted and the banging ceased. He heard footsteps receding, moving away from the door at a fast clip.

“My father is not a thief,” he repeated slowly.

Ganesh nodded stiffly. “Yes Sir.”

Agastya stared at this man who was his personal assistant. This man who had somewhere along the way become a friend too. How could he doubt Agastya and his family? Hadn’t he learned anything about them in the last ten years?

“What are you thinking?” he asked Ganesh, his mind a jumble of thoughts and emotions. He wanted Ganesh to spell it out.

“Your father is not a thief,” Ganesh acknowledged. “But he is ambitious.”

“There is nothing wrong with ambition.” Agastya ran a hand through his hair and turned away from Ganesh, staring at his reflection in the floor length mirror on his wall. His bloodshot, tired eyes stared back. “I am ambitious.”

“Yes,” Ganesh agreed quietly. “But you are always aware of where the line is.”

---