Page 6 of Born in Ruin

Ishaan grinned, one mocking eyebrow rising at her ire.

“What do you want, Adajania?” her father asked brusquely. “You’ve made your point. Now, tell us, why you are here?”

“There is chatter in tech circles about that asinine article and your wild accusations in your social circles.”

“Circles that don’t include you,” Mayukhi said snidely. A childish insult, for sure, but right now she would fight withwhatever she had. To her surprise, she thought the barb had landed. She saw his body tense slightly before it relaxed again.

Ishaan sent her a mildly chiding look. “Shhh! Don’t talk while the adults are talking, darling.”

Oh, she really wanted to slap him!

“Do you want money?” Shantanu Chatterjee asked. “Is that what this is about?”

Ishaan burst out laughing, a genuinely amused sound that rolled over Mayukhi and made her want to reach for it and see if she could get it to seep into her skin.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he chortled. “I can buy and sell you ten times over.”

“Then what do you want? An apology? Okay, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, but that won’t cut it either,” Ishaan mused. “A public slander of my image and then a private apology just won’t work. I want this to be fixed. The wild accusations need to disappear, the slurs about my origins and my intelligence that have been bandied about your little clubs, and the insinuations that I would stoop to stealing from your little company, all of it needs to go away.”

“So, if an apology won’t fix it and you don’t want money, what do you want? What are you going to take to go away?”

“Your daughter,” Ishaan smiled, a smile that sent terror arcing through Mayukhi. “I’ll take your daughter.”

THREE

Ishaan

There was an incredibly hideous painting of a rakshashi or witch or a troll or some weird combination of the three on the wall behind the Chatterjees. And yet, the witch-troll thing looked more attractive than his bride to be at the moment. Her hair sat flat on her head, streaming down her shoulders in sticky tangles, and her exercise clothes looked like they were still drying the sweat off, so he didn’t want to get downwind of her, for sure.

“What?”

The word was a roar of fury. It brought him such joy! Ishaan grinned as twin flames of rage lit up Mayukhi’s eyes. She got to her feet, slowly, achingly slowly. The sleeve of her t-shirt slipped off one shoulder giving him a glimpse of her snazzy sports bra. Mayukhi shoved it back up in an irritated gesture.

“What do you mean by I’ll take your daughter?” The words were a feral growl.

“I mean you’re going to marry me, darling.”

“In your fucking dreams!” She was screeching now. Barn owls in the vicinity were going to heed her mating call soon.

“And what wonderful dreams they are.” His mouth curved in a wicked grin.

Mayukhi spluttered, nonsensical noises erupting from her.

Ishaan leaned back in his seat and watched her, a vengeful amusement swarming through him.

“What is this nonsense, Adajania?” her father asked, anger laced with wariness tinging his voice.

“Do you have any idea what it took to build my company to what it is today, Mr. Chatterjee?” His voice dropped an octave, a lethal violence coating every word. “Your daughter decided to jeopardise decades of my hard work, my blood, sweat and tears on a whim.”

“It wasn’t a whim!” Said daughter burst out. “My father told me that you’d stolen his company’s IP.”

“And was your father right?”

Mayukhi looked at her father who shrugged in defeat. “Maybe.”

“Maybe.” Ishaan drew the word out. “You tried to wreck my reputation on a maybe.”

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