A marriage for revenge

Chapter 7

5 Years Later

Vinoth stared out of the huge floor to wall-sized window of his office. He watched the cars on the streets zoom past the building till they disappeared into the street but he couldn't hear any of the sounds they made. His tie and suit jacket were carelessly thrown on one of the arms of his chair while he stood there in his dress pants and shirt with both his hands tucked inside the pockets.

The continuous flickering of light on his huge desk caught his attention. Straightening his stance he trudged to his leather chair with a slight hobble. As it is, nobody would notice it but anybody who knew the old Vinoth and the energetic young guy from the past could easily tell that he now walked with an almost nonexistent limp.

Considering his fatal injuries, doctors had given up all hopes that he would ever walk but his strong willpower along with therapy and years of practice made it possible for Vinoth to stand on his legs once again.

In spite of his disabilities, he perched on his leather chair like a ruler. And he considered himself one because people who worked for him, called him Yama, the ruler of the underworld. He was a nightmare for many of them.

Vinoth Sethupathi was famous for two things, his hostile glares, and callous persona, something which he developed over the past five years. After all the mess that life threw at him, he proved his innocence to this world, not that he had to. The day he woke up, he had zero intention to prove anything to anybody but later he got to know that all the accusations were lifted off of him by a simple letter. from her.

Just the thought of her made his jaw tighten, his blood boil, and his palms clench.

In the existing circumstance, he hated everybody around him but if there was anybody whom he loathed to the core of the earth and back, it was her. If he could, he would hunt her down and serve her the right punishments for her immoral acts but she had disappeared from the face of the earth in a single night.

The evil woman had not only destroyed his life but also Vikram and Anjali's, not that he cared about them anymore. They were dead to him the moment they denied to believe him. Vinoth had isolated himself from his whole family, including his mother.

Now he had nobody to call his family but he was happy that way.

After he was cleared of all allegations, people started treating him like how they used to, with respect and adoration but he remained cold, stoic and detached from everyone.

The constant flickering of the visual alert light reminded him that he hadn't answered the door yet. Leaning back on his chair, he called in the person.

"Good evening, Sir.." His secretary peaked in through the slit of the door and signed with his hands.

"What is it, Ajay?" Vinoth asked, dragging his eyes to his assistant's lips.

"Sir, your brother is here again.." The poor guy covered in front of him to deliver the news and caused him to stutter a few times making it difficult for Vinoth to understand what he was saying. However, a little narrowing of his eyes helped him in learning what the man in front of him wanted to convey.

Ajay noticed the sudden rigidness around Vinoth's jaw. He was obviously aware of how angry it made his boss when someone entered this office room to convey the arrival of one of his family members but the other man waiting outside was also equally intimidating to him to refuse entry inside. There was nothing much the helpless guy could do except to pray for the brothers to work on their relationship.

For once his boss stopped tapping on the keys and snapped his cold, malignant eyes shut before coming to stand in front of him. Ajay himself was a tall guy but he was nothing in comparison to Vinoth's six feet four height.

"The next time you come here announcing his arrival, consider yourself fired" He sneered, making the younger guy quiver visibly.

"Boss, but.." Before he could finish, Vinoth turned away clearly dismissing him.

"Ask him to get out of here and if it doesn't work just tell the guards to throw him out of here.." His gaze once again met with the brightly lit screen.

However before Ajay could turn around to take his leave, the door to the office room was loudly thrown open startling him momentarily but the giant man named Vikram Sethupathi settled on the chair, hardly bothered about it.

It took a few seconds for Vinoth to realize the presence of a third person in the room. Shutting the laptop with an annoyed sigh, he leaned back on his chair and raised his eyebrows at the intruder with irritation brimming his obsidian eyes. He hated his audacity to enter his room with so much arrogance.

"Close the door on your way.." Vikram commanded and the secretary blindly obeyed it without taking another look back at the brothers. He was thankful for the dismissal as he could not handle the pressure any longer.

"What does it take for you to understand that you are not welcome here?" Vinoth gritted out at his elder brother louder than he intended to.

"Amma is dying, you damn it.." Vikram signed in action as he leaned on the desk to come face to face with his brother so he doesn't miss out on his words. For a moment there he thought he saw his eyes softening but it vanished as soon as he could recognize it making Vikram doubt himself if he really saw it in those emotional eyes.

"So..?" Vinoth c****d his eyebrows and his indifference to the news sent chills under Vikram's skin. He wondered how his brother became this heartless brute but he had to remind that he himself had a greater part in his change. If only he had supported him in his darkest days, he wouldn't have had to see this day.

Letting down his angry mask, he sighed, "She wants you to come back home, Vinoth. Please.." He spelled the words slowly and clearly.

Vinoth didn't take his eyes off his brother's lips despite Vikram's attempt at making the sign language which was futile according to Vinoth.

"If I remember correctly, I was to never enter that house again.." Vinoth smirked viciously thinking back to that night when they all decided to give up on him.

Vikram's throat clogged with regret and guilt for not being there was his little brother. For that, he blamed and hated the woman he once loved. He wished he wasn't so blindly in love with her to have believed her so much.

"I am sorry, Vinoth. We all are. Okay? Please forgive us and even if you can't, please just come visit mom once. She is really serious.." He gave up on signing with his hands when he found his brother lip-reading and not bothering to follow his hand gestures. Vikram took it upon himself to learn the sign language for the deaf when he learned that his brother has lost his ability as a result of his suicide attempt, one of his other disabilities.

He saw something close to sorrow in Vinoth's eyes before he tactfully concealed it. Their mom too did not believe him but nonetheless, she was his mom and it was depressing to hear that she was on her deathbed. "I will come.."

His promising words made Vikram nod his head with a light smile. "Thanks for agreeing. We will be waiting for you.."

Without another word spoken, Vinoth disregarded his brother's presence by turning back to his work making the smile falter on Vikram's face.

~

Post lunch, Vinoth immersed himself in work. They were opening yet another branch of Nērtti in the city soon and so far none of the designs that the designers had presented for the advertisement banners were appealing to him.

"Take these s**t and get lost.." He screamed at the group of people in front of him who one by one grabbed their work from the table

and walked out with heads hanging low. They were some of the top designers in the world yet nobody could impress Vinoth Sethupathi.

"Sir, there's only one last left.." His secretary informed before placing the tab on his desk.

"Take it away and call better groups of designers next time.." He declared with the least interest, deciding for himself that this one wasn't going to be anything special either.

But just as his secretary was about to move the tab away, he stopped him by holding a finger out.

To his surprise his intuition was wrong. The work was actually more than just impressive. It was a delicate neckpiece, a couple's jewelry with half heart pendant for each partner which could be put together into one single piece if they are joined. It was simple yet what he was exactly looking for.

They were launching this branch on the occasion of Valentine's day. As it is, he had no interest or belief in all those bullshit as he had lost hope in love a long time back but this was purely for business purposes as he knew there were crazy people out there who did silly things in the name of love. And this design was going to be his trump card.

"May I ask where is the designer?" He probed further when he noticed the absence of the creator of this stunning piece of work.

"The work was submitted by Vairam Jewellers Inc., sir. There are no specific details about the designer.."

Vinoth nodded, "Contact the owner and get in touch with the designer as soon as possible. He or she will be an employee of Nērtti henceforth."

He announced and made his way out of his office. His personal guard, Nelson threw the cigarette butt down before crushing it with his shoe when he noticed his boss exiting the building. He hurriedly readied the car and waited for him to sit inside the passenger seat.

Vinoth being a car maniac was brutally forced to stop driving after his hearing impairment and it pained his heart physically every time to see his car collections in his garage, only to realize that he will never be able to drive any of them. Since then, Nelson's been his personal guard and driver.

Within a span of twenty minutes, he reached one of his nightclubs on the outskirts of the city. His old self would have stopped him from owning a bar and nightclub but now he didn't give a damn about useless morals and principles. All he wanted to do was earn lots of money and be a high-octane businessman who could never be questioned or accused in life for anything again, even if he really committed a crime this time.

He strode straight to the VIP area of the bar and ordered a whiskey large. Sensing his presence, a woman in her late twenties approached him. Instantly he knew she was one of the high-class women whose husband was out of the country for a business trip oblivious to the whereabouts of his slutty wife.

He smirked when she perched next to him and seductively ran her hands up and down his muscled arm. "I am lonely tonight and desperately looking for company.." She purred in his ear and he didn't bother turning to face her as he didn't f*****g care what she was whispering in his ear because, in the end, all they both wanted was the same thing. A good night's f**k.

Without uttering a word, he got up and started walking to his room which he solely used for this sinful purpose only. Opening the room, he moved aside to let her in and as she was getting used to the darkness inside, he shoved her onto the bed.

Before she knew it they both got naked but much to her disappointment, the gorgeous man in front of her did not let her turn on the lights in the room. She would have enjoyed this even more if she got to see his sculpted muscles however the feel of it was enough for her at the moment. And she didn't even want to begin talking about the animalistic grunts and powerful pounds as he took her like a savage.

When the deed was done and they both got down from their high, he quickly pulled himself up from the bed, making her whine with the loss of his weight and warmth on her.

"Get out.."

She was still reveling in the feeling of her last orgasm when he stunned her with his words.

"What?" Her eyes were fixed on the dark shadow of the man lurking in front of her. When she didn't get a sound in reply she leaped forward to turn on the bedside lamp, flooding the room with warm yellow light.

"What did you say?" She was standing butt naked but that didn't stop her from asking him again. The lights helped him to read her lips this time.

"I said get out.." He repeated before pinning her with his derogatory look and throwing her dress in her face.

"You crazy bastard.." She cursed as she hurriedly got dressed before slipping out of the room with a last look of incredulity but he didn't feel sorry for her. This is how such women should be treated. He hated these nameless women but they were his only source of pleasure as he didn't want to get into another serious relationship.

Once completely dressed, he decided to go home not quite comfortable sleeping on the bed that he just shared with a nameless woman. Nelson drove him back to his huge but lifeless apartment.

Shrugging off his clothes, he needed a shower to remove the last ounce of the woman's scent from his body that was making him want to nauseate.

When he stepped out of the en suite, he noticed his phone light up with a text message.

Good evening, Sir! The designer is a twenty-two-year-old woman. She is only a part-time employee of the company. She does most of her work online as she isn't willing to quit her job at the children's orphanage.

Still drying his wet hair with a towel, he sighed when he read the message. Once he felt the need to reply back, he carelessly throw the damp fabric on the foot of his bed and began to type.

I don't know what you do or what it takes, but bring the woman in front of me. You have two days.