Beneath The Lies

by Sapna Bhog

  “I have so many fond memories of that special place. We used to visit so often. It was Damien’s favorite place in the forest.”

  I look at her as I address Damien. “How long ago was this Damien?”

  “I guess about six, seven years back, perhaps more,” he replies nonchalantly.

  A cat like smile curves my lips. “Then I’m pretty sure you have new favorites now.”

  “Yes, I do, in fact.”

  I clasp his hand. “Take me to those alright.”

  He grins and lifts my hand to his mouth. “Of course, sweetheart. Anything you say.”

  The look that crosses Celia’s face is priceless and humorous.

  I exchange a warm glance with Damien while she seethes in front of me.

  “How is Gabe?” Celia asks me, attempting to make conversation again. “Is he expected here as well? Aren’t you both quite close?”

  I release a frustrated breath at her feeble attempt to try and put a twist on my relationship with Gabe. “Gabe was fine the last time I spoke to him. And no, he isn’t expected to visit here anytime soon. And yes, we are close—he’s one of my closest friends.”

  “And yet I haven’t seen you with him before.”

  Damien responds before I can. “Why are you so interested in whom Gabe is friends with?”

  Celia laughs. “Oh well, Gabe sure took his time to introduce Miss Singh to all of us, considering they’re such close friends. I’m just curious, that’s all.”

  She looks at me. “Isn’t this your first trip to London, Miss Singh? Why haven’t you visited before if you claim to be close friends with Gabe?”

  What is she trying to prove? Or is she just behaving obnoxious because she can?

  I’m unable to hide the scorn from my voice when I speak. “Since when does being friends with someone require you to visit them in their city? Besides, Gabe has visited India several times in the last few years so it was enough to keep our friendship alive.”

  “Interesting!” Celia comments dryly.

  She gives me a hard, calculating look and then her lips twist in a cruel smile. It makes the hair on my arms rise. My sixth sense warns me to be careful about her. I ignore her and concentrate on finishing the dessert in front of me.

  Damien touches my hand bringing my attention back to him. “Aaliya, if you are done, perhaps you could retire upstairs. I need to talk to Celia in private.”

  My face falls at his dismissal. A quick glance at Celia and she’s grinning in delight. I toss my napkin on the table and stand up.

  Damien

  Aaliya’s expression saddens as she rises and I regret asking her to leave. But I’m done with Celia’s innuendoes. I need to talk to her and I can’t do that in front of Aaliya.

  “Aaliya, wait.”

  She pauses and her posture is rigid as she turns.

  Walking up to her, I hold her face and kiss her surprised mouth. Well aware I have Celia as an audience, I take my time as I kiss her, ensuring Aaliya is breathless when I release her.

  “I’ll be up shortly. Wait for me okay,” I say, loud enough for Celia to hear.

  “I will,” she says, giving me a smile over her shoulder. My eyes follow her until she leaves. Only then do I turn and look at Celia.

  “Follow me, please,” I proclaim before going to the study.

  I lean against the desk with my arms crossed and wait for Celia to stand in front of me. She reaches to close the door behind her but I halt her. “Leave the door open, Celia.”

  She narrows her eyes at me, but does as she is told.

  We stare at each other in silence for several minutes until I finally speak. “Why are you here?”

  “I didn’t know I needed your permission to visit,” she snaps.

  Twice in the space of a few hours, two people have told me the exact same thing. It’s time to set things straight.

  “Do not take me for granted, ever.” My tone is ice cold. “In the future, I’d like a prior intimation if you decide to visit.”

  “Why? This would have been my home. I’ve always visited when I wanted to.”

  “You could have in the past. But let’s get this clear and out of the way once and for all now. This is my home now and I do things differently. So, the next time you arrive unannounced you will be turned out. Am I understood?”

  Her eyes flare and then a tear rolls down her cheek. “Why are you behaving like this?”

  “Your tears will never ever affect me again. So, drop the act.”

  “Damien, please…”

  I raise a hand to stop her. “Enough! Let us not pretend that you’re here to visit on a whim. It’s clear as day to me that you have spies working for you here, giving you information about my whereabouts and who I bring into this house. Believe me when I say I will rain hell on them when I do indeed catch them and rest assured I will find out who is reporting to you.”

  She flicks off a tear from her face and throws me a nasty glower. “So this is about her, isn’t it?” Celia rasps. “A girl you barely know.”

  “What I do is none of your concern. And throwing our ages old history in her face was a disgusting move on your part.”

  Celia laughs. The sound is shrill and evil to my ears.

  “Oh, Damien!” she rasps. “You and I are meant to be. I have patience in spades and I will wait for you to come to your senses about this girl. You will come back to me. All this will be ours and we will be glorious together.”

  “Fuck! You are delusional.” I stand up straight, looking down at her. “I want you gone, Celia. First thing in the morning, I want you out of my house.”

  And with that statement I leave her there.

  I’m convinced I left and disappeared because of this darkness and unhappiness that people like Celia, my brother and my parents brought to my life. I ascend the stairs to my room, the need to be with Aaliya beating a tempo inside me.

  I open the door to my dimly lit bedroom and find Aaliya sprawled on my bed on her stomach wearing a short beige satin nightgown, her hair cascading like a waterfall down her back. Her legs are crossed behind her as she scrolls on her phone. She paints a pretty picture with her skin glowing incandescent in the gleam of the fire from the fireplace. She swings her legs back and forth behind her, oblivious to my entry. I capture a foot to stop that tantalizing motion and kiss her sole. She wriggles as she turns. I lay down beside her and both of us stare silently up at the ceiling. Her hand reaches for mine and she clasps it, twining her hands together.

  After several moments I say, “I’m sorry Aaliya. I had hoped to give you a better first day here.”

  She squeezes my hand in understanding.

  I sigh. “Celia will be gone in the morning.”

  “Good. She’s a viper and I don’t like her one bit,” Aaliya declares.

  “About Celia and my history…” I start to say, but Aaliya cuts me off.

  She raises herself on an elbow and looks down into my face. “Do you feel anything for her now?”

  “God! No! It was over a long time ago.”

  Aaliya slumps back on the bed and drags our joined hands to her chest. “Then I don’t want to know anything. If Celia is an example of the people you were living around, I can understand why you chose to disappear.”

  I don’t reply because this is exactly what I’d been thinking of a few minutes ago. “Aaliya, you need to know about what had happened between Celia and me so Celia can never wield it as a weapon against you.”

  And so, I tell Aaliya everything.

  “Nasty woman. I don’t want to talk about her anymore,” she huffs out, once I’m done recounting my sordid past with Celia.

  She turns to me. “I didn’t ask earlier, but why were you disturbed when you entered the music room? When you touched that violin, something came over you.”

  I shift to look at her. I was certain she would have figured something had bothered me about the music room and the subsequent interaction with Gellar and Mrs. Wells regarding the violin. But I
didn’t expect her to bring that up right now.

  When I keep silent, she twists to her side. “Will you tell me, please?”

  I raise a brow. “You don’t give up, do you?”

  She chuckles. “Never!”

  I pull her towards me and tuck her in the crook of my shoulder. “David used to play the piano and me, the violin. When I was sixteen, the Queen was invited to spend a few days at Heaven’s Gate for a hunting party during summer.”

  “The Q…Queen?” Aaliya gulps, raising her herself on her elbow to stare at me in awe. “You mean the Queen of England?”

  I laugh at her shocked expression before dragging her back into my arms. “Of course, it’s the Queen of England. Though if I remember correctly, the Queen of Sweden has also visited here.”

  Her hand flies to her mouth. “How is talking like this so normal for you?”

  “What can I say? My father was an important politician and member of the House of Lords. He regularly interacted with royalty from across the world.” I shrug. “Anyway, to celebrate the Queen at Heaven’s Gate, a lot of entertainment was planned and one of them included David playing the piano for her. I was banned from attending because the spotlight had to be on the heir and the future Duke. So there I was, alone in my room, playing the violin at the exact same time David was to play the piano for the Queen. And guess what, my old room was exactly above the music room.”

  “NO!” She turns to me. “Please tell me you didn’t do that purposely.”

  I cock a brow and grin. “No doubt David was good at the piano, but I was good at the violin as well. And I was tired of being left out.”

  “Unbelievable!” Aaliya snorts. “And you thought I was defiant!”

  I capture her wrist, stroking her silken skin. “Unfortunately for everyone, the Queen heard me and she demanded I be brought down to play for her. In one easy sweep, I had taken the attention away from David and onto myself. I played for the Queen that evening and she praised my talent. She left the next day and David and me got into a fight because of my intentional rebellion. My father found us rolling in the library, knocking punches at one another. He was pissed off at me as usual and locked me in my room again, this time with no food or water until I swore I would never play the violin again.”

  She gives me a sad smile. “Did you swear it? Is that why you don’t play?”

  “Actually, I didn’t. I ran away instead.”

  “What?” Aaliya sputters, sitting up on her knees. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah!” I flutter my hand in dismissal. “I was done with the lot of them. So, I climbed down a tree near my room window and I made my way to Scotland to Sylvie’s house in Inverness. I anyway spent all my Christmas holidays with her, so living with her made sense to me. She welcomed me with open arms and I lived with her right up until she passed away. I owe my success to her. She gave me a stable home when I needed it the most.”

  “My goodness, you actually ran away?” Aaliya exclaims, putting both her hands on her head. “And they never came for you?”

  I sit up to face her. “They did, eventually, when my father had calmed down. But I refused to return. You see, my living away was bad for the optics and my parents’ need to always portray the perfect family was getting marred. They gave me an ultimatum at eighteen to return home else he would cut me off. My Dad was pissed off when I chose the latter. Eventually, he coerced Sylvie to convince me to visit during some holidays and when someone important was visiting. So I did, but it was always forced and awkward when we were all in the same room. I preferred visiting here when none of them were in residence. I had the entire place to myself then and like you know already, I love it here.”

  Aaliya gives me a questioning look. “I still don’t understand why you stopped playing.”

  I lift my right hand up and curl it into a fist. “Because David broke my hand that night before I ran away and instead of tending to me, my father decided to let me be in pain as a punishment. What he didn’t expect was my resilience. I refused to bow to them and hence I ran away. Mrs. Wells found me trying to escape and she helped me. She took me to a hospital, got my hand treated and gave me money to reach Scotland.”

  Aaliya’s mouth gapes open. I kiss her parted lips and she inhales. She holds my right hand in both of her smaller ones and rubs it between her palms.

  “I’m so sorry,” she says.

  “It’s all in the past, Aaliya and I guess all this made me who I am. Anyway, I never played after that night.”

  She looks deep into my eyes, while she raises my hand to her lips. “Promise me that you will play. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but you will play at some point soon.”

  “I can’t promise you that right now, but I do promise to think about it.”

  “Damien, you have to find a way to let go of the demons of your past. Don’t let your history or your accident destroy your future. You get to choose whether you want to be happy or not.”

  She’s right. I need to decide whether I let the past and my broken memories ravage me slowly or whether I take it all in my stride and move forward, stronger now for being given a new chance at life. I stare at this clever, insightful girl who has come like a gift into my life and thank my stars for sending her to me.

  I draw her towards me until she’s sitting on my lap and capture her lips.

  “Will you be there in my future, Aaliya?”

  Her eyes glimmer in delight as she nods.

  “Well then, the future looks good,” I say, rolling her below me and sealing my mouth to hers.

  Aaliya

  It’s been two weeks since Damien and I returned to London after spending five blissful days at Heaven’s Gate. True to his word, Celia left the next morning even before we arose. But thinking of her makes the hair on my arms rise. Every time I think of her, my instincts scream that she’s going to be a problem. But so far, there has been only silence from her side. Thank God for that!

  I’m back to working on Jonathan’s renovation project from the office here in London. Damien’s busy working either here at Gamma Inc. or at Annette & Co. or with his various Ducal duties. It’s phenomenal the amount of hours he puts in. Several times he works from home late into the night or early in the morning. I’ve started spending all my nights at his place and we have formed a comfortable routine.

  We are happy and the only thing that stands in the way of my complete and utter happiness is that I still have to tell him the truth about Rian and me. My whole situation with him is a deception and I wake up many nights unable to fall back asleep, convincing myself that I have to confess everything to him and praying that it will all work out.

  No one knows that we are together except for Gabe and Jonathan, who now knows the entire truth and is quite supportive. I’m thankful I’ve found another good friend in him. He truly cares about Damien and me. Damien has reconciled with Jonathan, sort of at least, but it’s a start. The only time I’ve seen him completely relax and be at ease is when he’s with me or with his two friends. He needs them and I’m glad that he has them. So far, we’ve managed to stay away from the public eye completely, choosing to meet Gabe and Jonathan at Damien’s home or at either of theirs.

  But we can’t remain sequestered forever. And once we decide to step out publicly then the media only has to dig into my background and figure out we’re married. The last thing I want is for Damien to find out that way.

  My cellphone rings on my desk and I lift it with a smile as I see Jasmine’s face light up my screen. I shut the door of my office and give a small wave to Leo, my new bodyguard. Damien hired him on Mike’s recommendation and he is with me all the time. Even now, he stands at attention right outside my office.

  “Hey, Aaliya,” Jasmine says as soon as I answer the call.

  “Hi Jasmine. How are you? How’s my baby?” I ask her.

  “Rian’s here. Wait, talk to him.” Jasmine shifts the screen of her phone and I see my baby’s beautiful face. It’s been more than a month now sin
ce I’ve seen Rian and his absence slices through my heart. Seeing him like this daily reminds me that my deadline to tell Damien is drawing closer. The days are flying and I can’t stay away any longer from Rian.

  “Hi, baby,” I tell him.

  “Mommy…” he says pointing at the screen. “I want Mommy…”

  “My darling baby. Mommy will be there soon. I miss you sweetheart.”

  “No…mommy now. Rian want mommy now.” He sneezes once then twice and then his face crumbles.

  My heart squeezes inside my chest as I watch my baby cry on the screen of my phone, miles away from me. Jasmine tries to soothe him, but he doesn’t settle. Finally, she calls out to my mom who takes him out of the room.

  “This is hell Jasmine! I don’t know what to do,” I tell her when she returns to the screen.

  “Hang in there, sweetie. We’re all here for him. He’s a kid and today doesn’t seem to be a good day for him. He’s been cranky the whole morning. I think your mom and I will take him to the park to distract him.”

  “I can’t thank you all enough for doing this for me. It means so much.”

  “Hey, stop it already. I’d do anything for you,” Jasmine says. “So, tell me how are things? You both are safe, right? No more threats?”

  “Yeah, we’re okay Jas. Damien’s increased the security measures around us. So, we’re as safe as we can be under the circumstances.”

  The last two weeks have been quiet, with nothing out of the ordinary happening. Although everything is calm, something about this situation doesn’t sit well with me. I can’t point it out yet, but it’s just a vague sensation inside me whispering that I’m missing an important detail here.

  “Aaliya?”

  “Yes, I’m here, Jas.” I exhale. “Damien wants me to move in with him. He wants me to release the house I’ve rented. I anyway spend most of the day at work with him here in the office and the nights at his house.”

  “Cool, so what is the problem then?”

  “The problem,” I tell her, “is that I can’t keep him in the dark anymore. I can’t continue to lie to him. So, having my own space gives me a sense of comfort because I honestly don’t know how he will react when I tell him.”