C10 10

Two days later...

Shravan was going through some files when the door opened, and one of his best friends and business partners came in.

"Mithran! How is the construction going on?" Shravan asked. Mithran had been out of the city for a surprise inspection on one of their new resort construction sites.

Mithran managed the construction wing of SM while Shravan managed the business wing.

Mithran Yadav is the "M" in SM Industries.

"Good evening to you too. I'm good, and the journey was comfortable. Thank you for asking," Mithran said sarcastically, and Shravan sighed.

"Sorry, man! This Malhotra deal has been giving me a headache for a while."

"As I said before, I think it's better to look for some other site for the new resort," Isha said, coming into his cabin.

"Good evening, sweetheart," Mithran wished Isha with a flirtatious smile, only to get a stink eye in return.

"Isha! You know I don't back down when I want something," Shravan said.

"I know, but D Love is very special for the Malhotras. I don't think they will sell," Isha said.

"And there's another news, Shravan," Mithran said.

"What?"

"Vedant Khoda wants D Love," Mithran said, and Shravan cursed under his breath.

"Damn him! He got to know I have my eyes on the island, and now he wants that."

Vedant Khoda is his business rival, and they have been competing against each other for the past few years everywhere. In fact, they have been competing against each other since their Harvard days.

"This has got nothing to do with you, Shravan. This is more personal," Mithran said.

"What do you mean?"

"D Love belonged to the Khoda family before Vihaan Malhotra bought it ten years ago. They had to sell it because of some business losses caused by VK's father. Now VK has rebuilt their business, and he wants the island back. Rumors are that VK's great-grandparents got married on that island, so the place holds emotional significance to the Khoda family."

"VK and emotions? Since when?" Shravan asked in astonishment.

It's a well-known fact that Vedant Khoda is heartless, ruthless, and downright mean.

"And I also heard that Vedant Khoda is going to propose Vihaan Malhotra's daughter's hand in marriage so that they could keep the island in both their families," Mithran shared the information he had collected.

"You are wrong. It's impossible," Isha said.

"Why is it impossible?"

"Because Vihaan Malhotra got married only ten years ago. So he wouldn't have a daughter old enough for VK to marry," Isha said.

"It's not necessary to be married to have children. You know what I mean?" Mithran winked at her, earning an eye roll in return.

"Are you sure?" Shravan asked, ignoring Mithran's flirting.

"I'm sure that Vihaan Malhotra got married only ten years ago. But there are no articles on the internet about the Malhotra family. Vihaan Malhotra safeguards his family's privacy like a hawk," Isha said.

"What's the next step?"

Shravan's phone rang at that moment. It was his mother, and he picked up the call.

"Yes, Mom."

"How are you, Shravu? How's Drishti? Are you taking care of her?"

"I'm good, Mom. She's good too, I guess," Shravan said.

"You guess? What do you mean by you guess? Give the phone to her. Let me talk to her."

"I'm at the office, Mom."

"Give me her number then. I will call and talk to her," Anuradha said, and Shravan groaned mentally.

"I don't have her number, Mom."

"Shravan Maheswari. What kind of an irresponsible man are you? You have left your new bride at home and gone to the office without even taking her number. What if she gets into any trouble?"

"Please, Mom. Stop yelling. I'm really busy now."

"I don't want to hear anything. Just shut up and go home." And Anuradha hung up the call.

Shravan groaned loudly.

"What's happening? Who's this girl you were talking about?"

"My wife," Shravan said, and Mithran gaped at him.

"Wife? What wife?" Mithran asked, and Shravan gave him a shortened version of the story.

"Damn! Is this a wedding week? Everyone is getting married out of the blue."

"Who else got married?"

"Abhay. He just called a while ago. He said you didn't pick up his phone call."

"Abhay got married?"

"Yes."

"Great. Now I need to go home and check on Drishti, or else my mom would come here directly to strangle me," Shravan said and got up from his chair.

"I don't know why you guys are fussing about that gold digger," Isha said angrily.

"Stop it, Isha. You are going overboard with this. Don't forget that she is my wife," Shravan said angrily.

"Wow. She has already succeeded in bewitching you."

"What's going on, guys?" Mithran asked. He had never seen Isha acting so bitchy.

"Hell if I knew," Shravan said.

"She had trapped Shravan in a wedding."

"For God's sake, it happened. She didn't plan to trap me."

"She did. I heard her talking on the phone. She was talking about how much money she's going to get by marrying you," Isha said, revealing the phone conversation she heard on the wedding day.

Shravan froze.

"You must have misunderstood," Shravan said.

"I heard it, Shravan. She was telling how smart she was to fool you."

"We will talk about this later," Shravan said and strode out of his office.

Was it true?

Isha doesn't have any reason to lie, and he doesn't know anything about Drishti.

He hadn't even seen her properly for the last two days. By the time he reaches, she would already be asleep. And she would still be sleeping when he leaves for the office in the morning.

He had left his credit card on the bedside table with a note mentioning the PIN, asking her to go shopping for clothes. That's it. Nothing after that.

As he drove towards his penthouse, various thoughts plagued his mind.

What if Isha was right?

He knows nothing about Drishti.

What is her background?

Where is she from?

What is she doing?

And what she told about Kiara? Was it the truth? Is Kiara safe?

How could he be such a fool to blindly trust her?

And god knows what she had been doing here in Bangalore for the last two days.

He rubbed his forehead with his fingers. He could feel the start of a headache.

As he entered the penthouse suite, he found it empty.

Now, where had she gone? Does she know anyone here? How could she be so careless? He wondered.

He walked into the room and found the vanity table full of ladies' products.

Why hadn't he noticed it before? Was it there the last two days?

He had been coming home close to midnight, and he was too tired to even notice anything.

He walked towards it and found a dozen lipsticks of different shades.

Then he saw another dozen of nail polishes and various other unidentifiable beauty products.

He shook his head and walked into the walk-in closet.

He should take a shower first and then wait for her to come back from wherever she has gone wandering.

As he came out of the shower and opened the cupboard, a bundle of clothes fell off the cupboard.

"What the fuck!" he cursed as he saw a heap of women's clothing lying on the floor.