Page 213 of No Boss
“What financial impact…”
In the front row, Divya exhaled, her hand pressed against her chest. Vikram kissed her cheek. “And you call me dramatic.”
Raghav shook his head. “This man,” he muttered toward Ishani, “turned a wedding announcement into an economic earthquake.”
“And a love confession,” Ishani whispered back.
Sarita’s eyes stayed on Abhinav. Naina looked close to bursting with pride.
On stage, Meera struggled for breath. This man sat beside her, rearranging companies, cities, boardrooms, billion-dollar structures with the same ease another man would move a chair.
As though there had never been another option. As though loving her had already rewritten his future.
Questions kept coming. Logistics. Timelines. Corporate restructuring. Expansion plans.
Abhinav answered each one with patience.
The room understood this was more than strategy. It sounded like devotion spoken by a man powerful enough to rearrange an empire around the woman he loved.
Meera’s hand moved toward his under the table before she realised it.
His fingers closed around hers. His thumb brushed across her knuckles while he responded to a question on market adaptation.
By the end, the atmosphere had transformed. The announcement was historic. Cameras lowered. People began to rise.
Abhinav leaned closer, voice meant for her alone. “Now you know.”
Meera looked at him, eyes shining with tears. “You moved your entire life here.”
“No.” His gaze held hers completely. “I came back home.”
Chapter 39
Dawn prayers to Kuldevi had always marked the beginning of an Anand wedding.
Before the groom stepped into his role as a husband. Before the baraat. Before fire and vows. He came first to the family temple and bowed before the goddess who had watched over the Anand bloodline for generations.
It was never just a ritual.
It carried a promise.
The groom prayed for happiness in marriage, for the strength to protect the woman entering his home, for prosperity across both families, for children, for continuity, for blessings strong enough to stand against whatever life placed in their path.
Abhinav stood at the entrance while Pandit ji prepared the ritual.
Sarita came to his side, her hand resting against his back. “Are you ready?”
He nodded and they walked forward together.
Pandit ji gestured toward the place before the sacred fire meant for the groom. Abhinav sat cross-legged before the kund. Sarita settled beside him.
Four days ago, he had stood in this same courtyard and called the goddess nothing more than stone. He had threatened to tear the temple apart with his own hands if Meera was taken from him.
Then came the woman in the red saree and belief stopped being simple.
He hadn’t seen his car since. The keys lay on the table beside his bed upstairs. The proof of a night his mind still failed to understand fully.
Pandit ji began the chants.
