Varun sprang into action ready to protect Niyati from a threat but she didn't even flinch when the door slammed back. It was almost as if she was expecting the drama that was about to unfold in front of them. He frowned when he saw Niyati's parents storm into the room. He grimaced at the anger he saw in her mother's eyes and gave Niyati a questioning look. She shook her head discretely letting him know silently to stay out of what was about happen.

He ignored her silent signal and stepped closer to her. He knew whatever took place in next few minutes is going to bring lot of pain to Niyati. The taught had barely left his mind when he saw her mother raise her arm and slap Niyati before he could step in front of her. For a moment no one moved, even Niyati's father looked too shocked to react. Varun was about to step in and move her away from her mother but she raised her arm to stop him.

"Now that you got that out of your system mother, what can I help you with?" Niyati said with the calm that he knew she was far from feeling.

"How dare you accuse my husband of stealing from your precious company." Her mother shouted as if she wasn't standing a foot away from Niyati.

"Mother, I never accused him of stealing anything. All I am asking for is justifications of some of the things billed to the company that does not make sense."

If anything, Niyati's reply only made her mother angrier. "He has full authority to run my hotel on my behalf and any expenses acquired for running the hotel is billed to the company." Her mother spat out. "And what makes you an expert on running the business? The only reason this company belongs to you know was because your grandmothers wanted to punish us for defying them."

Varun inhaled sharply at the cruel words but Niyati didn't even wince and continued as if her mother's words hadn't cut her deep.

"I have no problems authorizing payments for things that make sense but when a bill is submitted for an item purchase gets delivered to a hotel that does not belong to our company I will not authorize payment for it." Niyati reached for the files on her desk and held one out to her mother and another one to her father.

"That also goes for the payments for the company credit cards."

Her father snatched the file out of her hand and flipped through it clenching his jaw as he turned the pages in the file. Her mother only glared at her and refused to acknowledge what was obviously a proof of misuse of company funds.

Her mother's expression only grew colder as seconds ticked by. She refused to take the file from Niyati, "This is not the end of this discussion, I will get you your precious proof to justify the bills then we will see who is right." She stormed out of the office angrier than she had arrived.

Varun braced himself for her father to complete the job of cutting Niyati to shreds but he only hesitated for a moment then followed his ex-wife out of the office without saying anything to his daughter. He may not have spoken a word but the look he gave her spoke thousand words.

For a moment Varun was too shocked to say or do anything. He knew Niyati and her parents did not share a close relationship and they were indifferent to her but their behavior today was downright hateful. They hadn't even asked her how she was feeling after her accident. The more he thought about the angrier he became at her parents for treating her with such callousness and he felt helpless because he can't take away the pain that he saw in her eyes that she tried to hide from him.

He couldn't understand why she didn't stand up for herself. The girl he had known few years ago would not have put up with these types of treatment from anyone then why did she let her parents treat her like this? After she came back his sister had filled him in on Niyati's parents' marriage and divorce and he finally understood why she had lived with her grandmothers instead of her parents but he still couldn't understand why she let them treat her so cruelly, unless.... he gave her a sharp look and studied her for a moment. She avoided looking at him and busied herself rearranging the papers on her desk. She was embarrassed that he had witnessed her parents at their worst.

She blamed herself for everything!

"You know it's not your fault?"

She continued to flutter around her desk as if she hadn't heard him.

He wasn't about to let her ignore him. He purposely stepped in her space and lifted her chin. He gently caressed the red mark on her cheek and made her look at him. The pain that she tried so hard to hide from him hit him straight in the heart.

"You are not to be blamed for whatever choices they made in their lives. It wasn't your fault that they didn't stand up for themselves and let their parents railroad them into marriage to each other when they wanted someone different as life their partners. It's wrong for them to blame you and it's wrong for you to take the blame." She tried to step away from him but he wouldn't let her, instead he wrapped both of his arms around her tightly and comforted her in the best way he knew.

Niyati wanted to find a big hole and crawl into it to never come out. The last thing she wanted was for Varun to witness the way her parents treated her. Now he was aware of her place in her parents lives. She was so tired of fighting everyone and everything. She was tired of fighting herself when all she wanted was give in to her needs and let him comfort her. She so badly wanted to wrap her arms around him and place her head on his strong chest and cry until she had no tears left to shed.

And today was the final straw that broke the camel's back. She has held everything inside of her for five years and she didn't think she could take it anymore. She lifted her arms hesitantly and placed them around him, taking the comfort, he offered so freely but she held the tears back. She still couldn't bring herself to share the pain that she has held within her for years.

She didn't know how long she clung to him in desperate need but slowly awareness started seeping through the haze of pain. The strong and steady heart beating beneath her ear comforted her like nothing else but the feel of his hard chest and the tight muscle in his back brought back memories of that night when he made love to her for the first time. The one and only time she felt so loved and she wanted to feel that again but was afraid to risk her heart again.

She sighed in relief when he put a slight distance between their bodies. She didn't want to do something stupid like throw herself in his arm and kiss him senseless. She knew that could only lead to disaster.

Varun cupped her face with both of his hands and made her look him in the eye for a long moment. She couldn't read what was going on behind his intense look but it made her shiver with pleasure. He kissed her on the forehead and smiled before he stepped back and released her.

"What do you say we pick up some take out and head home before the roads get really bad out there."

She nodded absently and turned to her desk to gather files to take home with her. She needed to go through accounts of rest of the properties and see who else has been stealing from the company. In the past three days she had discovered several discrepancies in the accounts but none as big as the property outside of Baltimore. There was ton of things to do yet her mind was stuck on what it felt like to be in Varun's arms and how soon she can go back in his arms and forget all her problems.

On the drive home, the car was filled with tension and unfulfilled desires but neither tried to break the silence, each lost in their own head trying to figure out what to do to take their relationship forward.

Niyati snapped out of her thoughts when she saw that Varun had pulled up in front of an apartment building instead of her house, "Where are we?"

He turned off the car and glanced at her, "I need to pick up some mail and check on my apartment. I think we should wait out the storm here tonight, the roads are getting bad."

The truth was he wanted to give her a change of scenery. They had been holed up in her house for too long and with too many memories. The way he is feeling he is afraid he will throw caution to the wind and end up in her bed again without resolving anything between them. As much as he wanted to make love to her again he wanted to convince her to give him another chance to show her that he could be the man she always wanted.

He ignored the slight hesitation on her face and got out of the car then went around to open her door. He grabbed the food and her hand as he walked towards his building. "Be careful the side walk is slippery."

Once in his apartment he shed his coat and went straight to his dining room and placed the food on the table. He watched her as he began to take the food out of the bag.

"What happened to your old place?"

It was his turn to hesitate. He now understood her reluctance to come in to his home. He is sure she had few bad memories of his old place. "I moved here after the divorce."

At the mention of his divorce her face closed-up and she turned away from him to look out the window. "You have a nice view of the city from up here."

He let her change the subject for now but he is determined to clear the air about his marriage and divorce with her, sooner rather than later. He went to stand beside her at the window.

"Yeah, that is why I bought this condominium." He took her hand and walked her to the table. He sat her then grabbed some plates and silverware before grabbing a bottle of wine from the fridge. He poured them both a glass of wine before serving the food.

He decided to wait on the more serious discussion later and talked about the audits of the hotels while they ate. He also avoided asking her questions about her step- father.

She told Varun about her concerns about the hotel outside of Baltimore and he decided he needed look at the manager of that hotel closely. According to Niyati that hotel is showing the biggest loss and there were too many discrepancies in the accounts of that hotel. She has been unable to pin down the manager and the accountant of that hotel to discuss the issues with them since the audit started.

On the other hand, there has been no new development with the threats and her accident and it was making him restless, another reason he brought her to his condo rather than her house where she is more at ease.

After dinner Niyati wandered around his living area while Varun caught up with his emails and spoke with Shane on the phone. She was surprised at how comfortable she felt in his space. The living room was big with big with windows on one side of the wall and fabulous view of the city. Another wall held a big screen television and real wood burning fireplace which she glanced at wishfully. She would love to sit in front of it on snowy night like this.

Be truthful Niyati, you want to do more than just sit in front of that fireplace, especially on a snowy night like this.

Ignoring her inner voice, she walked toward the fireplace mantel glanced through the pictures of his family. One picture caught her attention. It seemed to be a recent addition with a new picture frame. It was picture of Varun holding a newborn Misha. She picked up the picture with trembling hand and couldn't help but run her hand over the beautiful sight in front of her. She ignored the twig of pain in her heart and the unshed tears in her eyes.

If only...she stopped the thought before it could take shape in her mind.

While she continued to gaze at the picture with sadness on her face Varun observed her silently. She was so lost for the moment she didn't hear him come in and that gave him opportunity watch her without her knowing. He frowned at the sadness and the unshed tears in her eyes. This is not the first time his seen this emotion on her face while taking in sight of him holding Misha. She had looked just as sad on the night of dinner at Nidhi's place when he was playing with Misha.

He stepped back in the kitchen as silently as he could and gave her time to compose herself. As much as wanted to know what was making her sad there are other things that needs to be handled first. The emails he just he prowled through made it more pertinent that he clears the misunderstandings before everything blows up in his face and he loses her again. Before he could take a step towards her to talk to her his phone rang and he immediately answered when he saw Shane's name flash across the screen.

"Hey Shane."

His friend started talking before he could ask him anything. He was glad he brought Niyati to his place instead of taking her home as he had originally planned after hearing what Shane had to tell him. He hung up the phone and walked into the living room to see her standing by the window gazing at the view.

Varun stopped at the fireplace and added more wood to the fire before approaching Niyati. He took her hand and pulled her towards the couch in front of the fireplace. "I need to talk to you about something."

A/N: I can't believe I haven't updated in so long. Sorry but I have been extremely busy with other things and haven't had a chance to be on Wattpad. Anyway, I really didn't edit this part so please forgive all the mistakes. Hope you enjoy it. Will continue soon.