Page 72 of A Royal Deception

I got into the car and drove away without looking back.

CHAPTER 27

RANVIJAY

Isha came running up to me and glared at me like a pint-sized dictator.

“Stop her, RV! What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Stay out of my personal life, shortcake,” I said curtly, wincing at the ravaged sound of my voice.

I was doing what I had to do, and even if it hurt like I’d cut my heart out, I had to see it through.

“You can’t end your marriage over this, man. Wake up,” said Veer, shaking me by the shoulder roughly.

I shrugged his hand off.

“Can you guys please stop romanticising my marriage? It is a marriage of convenience. Shivina and I never promised each other eternity. We knew going in that this marriage was going to end someday. Well, that someday came up sooner than we expected, but that’s life for you,” I said, trying to shut down the storm that was swirling inside me. “Let’s go in and see if Kuhu isokay. Then we need to come up with a plan to take Ayush Goel out of the game for good.”

“Is that all this is to you? A game?” asked Isha in disgust. “What about Shivina’s feelings?

“Let’s leave my wife’s feelings out of this, please,” I said coldly.

I had no right to call her my wife. Not after the way I had treated her. When I convinced her to stay married to me, I should have anticipated that there was a chance she would be a casualty to our battle with the Goels. I should have warned her about it.

Instead, I had made the rookie mistake of believing the mafia operated with any degree of ethics and that they’d leave our families alone. Well, they had proved that they wouldn’t. Families were acceptable collateral damage in their battles. And I was not about to let either Shivina or Zarna become collateral damage in a battle that was not theirs.

What was her fault in all of this? That she had hitched her star to that of a man who believed in vigilante justice? I was too deeply entrenched to pull out of this fight, but I could make sure she and Zarna stayed safe.

And the only way to keep them safe was to cut them out of my life. Because I would readily give my very soul to keep Shivina alive. As I’d heard gunshots raining in her direction earlier, I had realised that she was all that mattered in this wicked world.

It didn’t matter that I’d sworn to stay away from love. Love had woven itself into my soul in the shape of a delectably curvy woman with a head full of glorious curls, the biggest and warmest brown eyes I had ever seen, and a smile to die for.

And I knew that if I loved Shivina, then I had to let her go. For her sake. And for Zarna’s. Because just like Shivina had slowly become my whole world, she was also all that Zarnahad, and I couldn’t deprive that little girl of the most important person in her life.

I also knew that Shivina was too loyal to walk away from me. She’d rave and rant at me, but she’d never leave me of her own accord. I had to drive her away. With coldness. And a reminder of the original nature of our marriage.

And that was why I stood there and allowed the love of my life to walk out for good.

There was a sticky moment when I realised that I’d be messing with Zarna’s exams if they moved out of the palace immediately. I could never do that to her. Luckily, Shivina saw the wisdom in staying on until Zarna finished her exams. I just had to stay out of her way until then. That wasn’t too difficult. I could stay at Trikhera Palace. Dheer wouldn’t be happy about it, but he wouldn’t throw me out.

I couldn’t help myself and turned around to catch one last glimpse of Shivina. When the car drove out of the parking lot, I took a deep breath and walked into the ER, ignoring the burning at the back of my eyes.

CHAPTER 28

SHIVINA

Rani Ma was waiting for me in the sitting room when I got home.

“Are you all right, beta?” she asked worriedly, giving me a tight hug. “I heard what happened.”

I opened my mouth to reply to her but burst into tears instead. She held me tightly and just let me cry.

When my sobs became softer, she patted my head gently.

“It must have been very scary to be shot at from all sides,” she said.

I shook my head and wiped my eyes.

---