His Bride

5 | Trivarna ?

Dhruv's Pov

Two days had passed since I'd placed that call to Arjun. The logical part of me knew it was best to put her out of my mind, to let curiosity fade into the noise of daily responsibilities. But Arushi Mehara lingered in my thoughts, her presence haunting even the quiet moments. I kept telling myself it was just intrigue—a fascination with the mystery of her. But there was something more, something inexplicably deep that went beyond her graceful composure and her veiled history.

I was halfway through a meeting when the door to my office swung open without a knock. Only one person would walk in with that kind of confidence. I glanced up, unsurprised to find Arjun standing in the doorway, smirking with a file clutched in his hand.

"Found it," he announced with that infuriatingly smug smile.

I leaned back in my chair, folding my arms as I sized him up. "What's with the theatrics?"

Instead of answering, he strolled in and settled into the chair across from me, tapping the file against his knee with a pensive look. I knew him too well to ignore the shift in his expression. The smile was gone, replaced by something more serious.

"Tell me something," he said, his gaze steady. "Why her? You know the kind of expectations your family has for you. A single mother? With a child from a life she clearly wants to keep hidden?"

The question was as direct as Arjun himself, and it cut deeper than I expected. He knew me well enough to see through any facade. But now, under his scrutiny, I felt my own defenses slipping. He knew the burdens of my family name—the unspoken duties, the expectations, the weight of tradition.

"Look, I don't even know myself," I admitted. "She's different, Arjun. She's not looking to impress anyone. She doesn't pretend to be anything she's not."

He watched me quietly, understanding settling in his gaze. Arjun had been my friend for years. He'd seen me play the part expected of me, nodding and smiling through family obligations, carrying the weight of generations. He knew the emptiness that came with it, the longing for something real.

"Alright," he said, handing over the file, but his eyes held a warning. "But this won't be easy, Dhruv. Your family—this life—they won't accept her easily. The complications, her background... they'll tear into her for that. Question everything about her, even her motives. She'll become the talk of society, analyzed and dissected at every corner."

I glanced down at the file in my hands, but his words stayed with me. They were true—my family's scrutiny, their unbending tradition, would resist Arushi at every turn. A single mother with a past shrouded in mystery was not what they'd envisioned for me. I couldn't ignore that if I pursued this path, it would be an uphill battle. But the thought of letting her go felt hollow.

As I opened the file, I skimmed through her details, the paper listing her education, her move from London, her position at the university. But the more I read, the more I sensed a deliberate gap. Her past felt... sanitized. Her life was reduced to a few sparse details, with no hint of her family or even the child's father. She was a single mother on paper, but it didn't add up.

"Why is there nothing on her family or the father of her child?" I muttered, more to myself than to Arjun.

Arjun leaned in, a glint of caution in his gaze. "That struck me too. And there's more. Her records were wiped clean by Trivarna."

The name made me look up sharply. "Trivarna? You're saying the Trivarna, the Indian RAW agent?"

Arjun nodded grimly. "Yes. He's known for... unconventional methods. For someone to hire him, they'd need a reason—something or someone worth hiding. You don't bring in a man like Trivarna for an ordinary privacy issue, Dhruv. There's something darker, something dangerous lurking in her past."

I processed the revelation, trying to make sense of it. Trivarna was a name whispered in secret; he was a shadow in the intelligence world, a man called upon only when there was no room for error. For him to have erased her past meant she was entangled in something heavy—something she would have needed to escape from completely.

"What would she need him for?" I asked, frustration and curiosity mingling as I flipped through the remaining pages. "She's an English professor, a single mother—her life doesn't seem... significant enough for this level of secrecy."

Arjun gave me a hard look. "Dhruv, you have to realize, whatever she's hiding isn't small. If Trivarna's involved, it means she either has serious enemies or she's connected to something that could put her in danger. If you keep digging, you might uncover things better left buried."

But I was already in too deep. The more I learned, the more I felt the pieces pull me toward her. This wasn't just a passing fascination anymore. The mystery surrounding her had wrapped itself around me, a pull I couldn't shake.

"I need to know," I said, a fierce determination in my voice as I looked up at him. "Whatever she's running from, I want to understand it."

Arjun sighed, a look of reluctant understanding crossing his face. "Fine. Just be careful, Dhruv. You have no idea what you're stepping into with her."

I closed the file, gripping it tightly as I let my resolve solidify. Whatever Arushi's past held, I was already becoming a part of it. It wasn't just her mystery anymore; it was ours. And somehow, the risk only made me more certain.