The Unwanted Royal Marriage

31. I'm a married man

Adhyay's pov

I should've known better than to wander into that café. But then again, I hadn't expected to see her here, meeting with someone like him. Omkar Sethi. RR Industries. The man had a reputation in the business world, but that wasn't what caught my attention. It was Meera. Sitting across from him with the kind of poised, professional smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

Something didn't sit right with me. I'd been in and out of meetings all morning, trying to wrap up work before the awards ceremony later, but as soon as I walked in and saw Meera at that table, my gut twisted. She looked so... at ease. A little too at ease. As if she belonged there, talking to someone like Omkar Sethi, someone I knew had ties to people and businesses that were less than clean.

I couldn't put my finger on it, but the pieces weren't adding up. She'd been so secretive lately, and that secretive smile of hers, the one that hid everything, had me second-guessing everything I thought I knew.

And then, when she noticed me standing in the doorway, her expression shifted ever so slightly. She smiled, but I could see it in her eyes—the uncertainty. The hesitation. I hadn't expected to see her with him, but I couldn't exactly place why I was feeling like this.

"Adhyay," she said, and my name on her lips was a reminder of everything I had to lose. "This is Omkar Sethi, CEO of the Sethi Industries. We were just having a lunch meeting."

The smile on her face was practised, and it set something off in me. I didn't know what it was—whether it was the fact that she was sitting so comfortably with him or the way she called it a "lunch meeting" with a businessman I barely knew, or the one who has been the Mafia rival for us.

I gave Omkar a tight smile and a nod, not extending my hand just yet. I had no reason to like him, but right now, my focus was entirely on her.

I hadn't told her about the awards or the things I'd been keeping busy with lately, but I'd expected our time together to be more—open, unguarded. To see her here, this composed, with someone like Omkar, I felt an overwhelming need to protect her from whatever was going on. But I couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't the one who needed protection.

My eyes flicked back to her, searching for any sign of discomfort, but her expression was as cool as ever. She wasn't giving anything away.

I was about to say something—anything—to break the tension when Omkar extended his hand toward me, his grin a little too wide. "Mr. Ranawat, I've heard quite a lot about you. It's an honour."

I stared at his hand for a moment before finally taking it, not sure if I was still seeing things clearly or if the world had just shifted beneath me. What was she doing here with him? Why hadn't she mentioned it? And more importantly, why did I feel like I was walking into something I wasn't supposed to see?

Meera was quick to speak again, as if nothing had changed, as if I wasn't sitting here with a million questions. "This is a pleasant surprise," she said, her voice calm and controlled. "I didn't expect to run into you here, Adhyay."

I didn't miss the way she spoke, that careful tone that almost seemed like a warning. "I was just in the area," I said, keeping my response short, my gaze flicking between her and Omkar. "I didn't know you were meeting with... Mr. Sethi."

She responded smoothly, still in control, her smile not wavering. "Well, business meetings are always full of surprises. Mr. Sethi was just telling me about some of his exciting ventures."

I tried to focus on her words, but it was hard. All I could think about was how she'd kept this hidden from me. There was no mention of this meeting, no heads-up that she'd be having lunch with someone like Omkar. It wasn't the first time she'd been secretive, but it felt like more this time—like there was something bigger I didn't know.