CHAPTER 139

However, the record of betrayal by Mr. Anderson had clearly paved the way for all these incidences. He had stolen everything from Varya’s family and had made her come to me, in this house, to this marriage that we have, it is not a marriage of convenience now though it started as one, it is something else, something we both never expected.

I thought back to the night I had proposed the contract. I was so blinded by the organizational requirements including the financial side I did not look at the emotional consequences.

I had convinced myself that it was just a means to an end—that by getting married to Varya, I would be securing my position and she would be getting the money she wanted. But now when I take a look at what has happened, I have to admit that I was wrong.

But the issue was not merely the money one. Money was never the main focus of it all. Somehow, fate had conspired to throw us in each other’s path and I had not been smart enough to notice.

Slowly I rise up from my chai