Chapter 23 Chapter twenty-three
DEV
I sat at the table long after Aanya left, staring at her barely touched Guinness, hating myself with an intensity that felt almost physical.
What had I done? Why had I attacked her like that? She had been trying. Genuinely trying. And I had torn into her about coffee money and pub drinks and not understanding struggle fast enough, as if any of that actually mattered.
The server appeared, started clearing glasses. "Your girlfriend all right?"
"She is not my girlfriend," I said automatically. "And no, she is probably not all right."
"You were pretty brutal with her."
"You do not know the situation."
"I know what I saw. She walked in here nervous but determined. Ordered something she clearly did not want because she was trying to fit in. And you spent twenty minutes telling her she would never belong. So yeah, maybe I do not know the full situation. But I know what cruel looks like, and that was cruel."
She walked away, leaving me alone with my thoughts and my guilt.
I pulled out my phone, started to text Aanya, then stopped. What would I even say? Sorry I questioned your entire existence? Sorry I implied you were performative and insincere? Sorry I pushed you away because I am terrified of how much I am starting to care about you?
A news alert flashed across my screen. I clicked it reflexively, then felt my stomach drop as I read the headline.
"Crown Estate Files £2M Defamation Lawsuit Against Former Princess Aanya"
I read the article quickly, horror building with every paragraph. Crown Estate was suing her for two million pounds. Demanding a full retraction of all statements made at the forum. Claiming her allegations had caused measurable financial and reputational damage. She had seven days to retain counsel or face default judgment.
The article also mentioned that palace sources indicated willingness to provide legal support if Aanya issued an appropriate public correction acknowledging she had been misled.
The palace was offering her a way out. Apologize, retract, come back. They would make the lawsuit disappear.
And I had spent the evening telling her she did not belong in my world, practically pushing her toward that exit.
I tried calling her. The call went straight to voicemail. I tried again. Same result. Either her phone was off or she was declining my calls.
I texted: Aanya, I am so sorry. I was completely out of line. I saw the news about the lawsuit. Please call me. Let me help.
No response.
I paid for both drinks, left money for a tip I could not really afford, and headed out of the pub toward Priya's flat. Maybe Aanya had made it back. Maybe I could apologize in person. Maybe I could somehow fix the damage I had just done.
My phone rang. Giulia.
"Did you see the news?" she asked without preamble.
"About the lawsuit? Yes."
"Dev, this is catastrophic. Two million pounds. She has no money, no lawyers, no resources to fight this. Crown Estate is trying to destroy her completely."
"I know."
"Where is she? Is she all right?"
"I do not know. We had a fight. She left the pub. I cannot reach her."
Silence. Then: "Please tell me you did not have a fight with her tonight. The same night she gets sued for two million pounds."
"The fight was before I knew about the lawsuit."
"What did you fight about?"
I did not want to say it out loud. Did not want to admit how badly I had sabotaged things. "Her privilege. How she does not understand real struggle yet. How I am not sure she will stay when things get genuinely difficult."
"Are you completely out of your mind?" Giulia's voice went sharp with anger. "She gave up everything to validate your research. She lost her title, her family, her entire life. And you went after her for not understanding poverty quickly enough? While she is being sued for two million pounds?"
"I did not know about the lawsuit when we fought."
"That does not make it better! What is wrong with you?"
"I was scared."
"Of what?"
"That she would leave. That this would get too hard and she would go back to her family. That I would fall for her and then watch her walk away when she realized what my life actually entails."
"So you pushed her away first. Sabotaged things before she could hurt you. Classic Dev Marchetti self-protection. Because God forbid you actually let yourself be vulnerable with someone who might care about you."
"I know. I messed up."
"You think? She is probably alone right now, processing a two-million-pound lawsuit, believing that the one person she thought understood her actually thinks she is just playing at being normal. And meanwhile, the palace is offering her safety and legal protection if she just says you manipulated her. Which probably seems pretty reasonable right now after you spent the evening tearing her down."
I felt sick. "What do I do?"
"Fix it. Now. Before she makes a decision you will both regret."
"She will not answer my calls."
"Then go to Priya's flat. Camp out on the doorstep if you have to. Apologize. Grovel. Make her understand that you were wrong and scared and stupid. Because if she takes the palace's deal, if she retracts everything she said, that is on you."
She hung up.
I was already walking faster, nearly running toward Priya's building. I had to fix this. Had to explain. Had to make Aanya understand that I had lashed out because I was falling for her and terrified she would leave, not because I actually believed she was insincere.
I called Priya. She answered on the second ring.
"What did you do?" No greeting, just accusation.
"Is she there?"
"She just got back. She is in the bathroom. She will not talk to me. But I heard enough to know you said some genuinely horrible things about her not belonging and her sacrifice not counting and her romanticizing poverty. So I will ask again: what the hell did you do?"
"I was an idiot. I was scared and I attacked her. Can I come up? I need to apologize."
"She does not want to see you."
"Priya, please. She just got sued for two million pounds. The palace is offering to make it go away if she retracts everything. She needs to know that I was wrong, that I do not actually believe what I said, that I was just terrified of how much I am starting to care about her."
"Then you should have said that at the pub instead of attacking her. You hurt her, Dev. Really, genuinely hurt her. And now she is sitting in my bathroom with lawsuit papers, trying to decide whether to take her family's offer. Whether to admit you were right and she does not belong here. Whether to go back to safety or stay in a world where even you do not think she fits."
"I never said she does not fit."
"Yes, you did. Maybe not in those exact words, but that was the message. That she is playing at being normal. That she will leave when it gets hard. That her sacrifice does not count because she had privilege to begin with. You basically gave her every reason to believe you do not think she belongs in your life."
"That is not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
"I meant that I am terrified she will leave. That this life will break her and she will go back to her family and I will be left here having fallen for someone who was never actually going to stay. So I pushed her away first. Tested her. Tried to make her prove she was serious. And instead I just hurt her and gave her every reason to take the easy way out."
"Then tell her that. Not me. Her."
"She will not see me."
"Give her tonight. Let her process the lawsuit and make her own decision. If you show up now, it will just be more pressure. She needs space to figure out what she actually wants without you or her family or anyone else telling her what to do. Tomorrow, if she will see you, you can grovel. But tonight, Dev, you need to let her make this choice on her own."
"What if she chooses to go back?"
"Then that is her choice. And you will have to live with knowing you pushed her toward it."
Priya hung up.
I stood outside her building, looking up at the lit windows, knowing Aanya was somewhere inside. Making the biggest decision of her life. Deciding whether to stay exiled and fight the lawsuit with no resources, or go back to safety by admitting she had been wrong.
And after tonight, after everything I had said, I could not even blame her if she chose her family.
I had given her every reason to believe I did not want her here.
When the truth was that I wanted her here more than I had wanted anything in a very long time.
And I was terrified that wanting her was going to destroy us both.