Page 162 of Claimed By the Maharaja
“Thank you, bhai,” she said. “Don't worry about this. Tell Ma I'll call her soon.”
She ended the call.
Yamini stood still while her brother's words settled in her mind.
Her family hadn't known. Hadn't sent the photos. And hadn't intervened.
Which meant it wasn't them.
There was only one family she knew with that kind of reach.
Her heart began to beat faster.
Bharat Jogra’s family.
He didn’t just operate in one city or one industry. Steel. Shipping. Infrastructure. Media. Security. Politics. They operated across states. Across borders. International contracts could be redirected with a phone call. Investors could be quietly steered away. Careers could simply stop.
She thought back.
The environmental event. Bharat had been the chief guest.
Then, barely days later, the offer had arrived. A PR photography project. Unusually well-paid. The kind of number that didn't make sense for a standard contract.
The client had been Bharat Jogra's steel factories.
She had told herself it was a coincidence. Irony. Fate.
Her stomach tightened.
But I proposed to him.
She desperately held onto that thought.
She had barged into his office. Said the words herself. It had been impulsive, reckless, half-challenge and half-frustration.
He had agreed immediately.
No hesitation. No time requested. No discussion.
Bharat Jogra, the most methodical, controlled man she had ever met, had agreed on the spot.
Her breath shortened.
The contract had arrived within two hours. A hundred pages. Drafted, structured, and airtight.
She had assumed it had been prepared for a faceless bride to fulfill an heir clause. She was even sure it was Tina Mehta.
But what if it hadn't been written for a faceless bride or Tina Mehta?
What if it had been waiting for her specifically?
The thought moved through her slowly and coldly.
The photography event, the project offer, the speed of the divorce, the systematic collapse of Rahul's business — none of it sat neatly.
What if none of it was a coincidence?
What if she had walked into something already planned?
