Chapter 176 - 175. She is family...

"I thought you said she was just a figurehead used as bait by someone above? And that she was an arrogant bitch with no real brain to back it up??" Naren flared by seeing the headline news in the papers.

It had been a month since they had kidnapped Shreya. And back then, Dharsh came back injured and told everyone how they were ambushed by someone above Shreya and how they had used Shreya as a bait to get to them and how he had escaped barely bringing Vicky with him.

And Shreya had actually sent all the other guys with them to a completely different corner of the country and Vicky was unconscious for the whole of the second half of the conversation between Shreya and himself that day… And on top of it, Vicky being the c.o.c.ky jerk he was, actually looked down on Shreya. So it had been easy to convince Naren that Shreya was just a paper tiger being used by someone else to deal with them. But all that story became highly suspicious when a story broke out in the papers today morning.

But Dharsh was not fazed by it. He was neither bothered by the news nor by being interrogated by Naren. He just stood in front of him unhurriedly and replied with a straight face, "It is true. She is not all that brainy. Trust me…"

"Then how do you explain this?" Naren asked angrily throwing the newspaper at Dharsh's face.

The headlines in it read in clear black bold letter…

'THE REAL BRAINS BEHIND SRI CORP. REVEALED TO BE MS. SHREYA SRIVASTAV WHO IS SUPPOSEDLY IN DEEP DEPRESSION DUE TO DIVORCE.'

Dharsh's eyes swept over the paper but they did not even twitch as he said, "She is just a scapegoat. Someone is just pushing her into our eyes and lying behind to deal with her to buy themselves some time. And we should be chasing him and not Shreya." His face did not show even the slightest of distress or nervousness as he lied through his teeth.

Since Naren did not have any evidence to refute it, he just stormed out of the living room to closed the doors to his study quite harshly leaving Dharsh alone in the room.

Dharsh's eyes darkened behind his back. He took his phone and typed away.

'Watch your back- D'

He encrypted it and sent it to Shreya. He knew she was smart enough to understand and went back to his own work.

'Somebody is worried… don't worry. He is not my match' Reply came right away.

Dharsh's lips twitched uncontrollably before going out of the house. Naren really was not her match. Shreya could probably eat him for breakfast with the slightest effort if only she was not morally bound.

......…..

Anand was sitting at his office and he looked at the papers with gloom. After being gloomy for a long time, he called up Shreya straight up.

"Hi, uncle… Are you missing me already?" Shreya's perky voice came through the phone.

Anand's lips twitched warmly, "How are you kiddo? Are you having fun?"

"How can I have fun without you?" Shreya reply making a dramatic aggrieved pout acting extremely cute.

Anand laughed out loud at her antics.

After the light bantering between uncle and niece, Anand asked seriously, "You saw the news?"

There was a pause before she answered.

"Yup, Pritham showed me…" Shreya said shrugging her shoulders.

"I think it is Susmitha… I fired her yesterday…" Anand said solemnly.

"I know… You don't have to worry about it. Even I would have done the same if I were there. I will handle everything." Shreya said once again unsurprised. She had already gotten the information about Susmitha causing a ruckus in her department. And one could only guess so much when the news pops up the very next day.

"What are you going to do?" Anand asked resigned. After all this time, it still surprised him how well informed Shreya was.

"Nothing. I am not going to do anything. Just let things go as is. It's not a big deal." Shreya said shrugging her shoulders as if it was not a big deal.

But Anand had been with Shreya for so long. He had seen her grow up. SO he needn't even have to be in front of her to know what she was thinking.

If the same had happened to someone else, she would have flipped the whole damn country before she was satisfied. But since this was something that put herself in harm's way, she did not care much.

Even if it had been done by someone else other than Susmitha, Shreya would have taken some action. But then Susmitha was family… so all she can do is calmly let it go.

"You do not need to be so sympathetic for someone so unsympathetic towards you, Shreya. With a few careless actions, she had pushed you straight into the eye of the storm…" Anand said irritated. If possible he really wanted to protect Shreya with all his might… but how she grew up and spread her wings and flew up beyond his reach… he never knew. And now, the little girl he had watched grow up was protecting him and everyone under her wings like an angel. Anand couldn't help but feel pained by this knowledge. He even felt slightly ashamed… after all, Adithya had given him the responsibility of protecting his little girl and somehow that little girl was the one protecting him in a matter of few years.

Shreya, on the other hand, stayed quiet for the longest moment before whispering, "She is family… I don't know how to be cruel to her. Don't follow up on Susmitha. Anyways she is out of the company now."

Anand let out a resigned grunt.

"You don't have to worry. I can manage… I promise. I will be fine…" Shreya reassured for a long time before cutting the call.

Just as she turned back, she met with Bhavna's blazing eyes.

"What did that bitch do?" she roared without giving Shreya any chance to say anything.

"Bhavna!!" Shreya said sternly. Her tone was strict and overbearing… something she rarely used on Bhavna.

"They do not treat you like family, Shreya… so why do you have to do it? Why do you put up with their shit!?" Bhavna exclaimed without backing down. She was really pissed, so she did not even notice Shreya's change in tone.

Shreya's eyes softened. She knew Bhavna was so pissed mainly because Susmitha had plotted against Shreya. If it had been someone else, Bhavna wouldn't flare up so much.

"Bhavna, I can handle myself okay? Don't worry… Now tell me, why did you come looking for me?" Shreya asked changing the subject tactfully.

And Bhavna being the fickled person she was, was quickly got distracted and a gleaming smile adore her face as she started to talk excitedly but then stopped for a second and looked at Shreya and asked, "You… I will tell you. But you first promise me one thing. You should not interfere with this?? Then only I will tell you…"

Shreya gave her an amused smile. Because Bhavna was studying abroad… away from all the vengeance, her security is not that stringent. So there are things she did not know about Bhavna.

"Okay, fine. I won't interfere. Now tell me what is it?" Shreya asked.

"I got scouted by an agency. I am officially a model!!!" Bhavna said proudly.

Shreya's brows frowned slightly as she asked, "Which company?"

"You… you don't go around buying the company again? You promised just now remember. It's embarrassing enough in the university. I do not want the same happening at work. I want to do it on my own!" Bhavna said sternly looking at Shreya.

Shreya just shrugged and gave her an innocent look.

"Don't give me that innocent look. I might not know how much… but I know you spend a lot of money at my university. Do you even know how embarrassing it is when your principal finds you before each semester exam and wishes you good luck so politely as if he was greeting a Queen?" Bhavna complained venting.

"He is the principal… why is it embarrassing to wish his student good luck?" Shreya asked once again keeping the same innocent face.

"Yea… he does that with a 90` bow!" Bhavan rolled her eyes.

The whole university treats her as if she was some Empress or something because of it.

Shreya did not comment but still reassured her, "Okay. This time I won't interfere too much…"

"Define 'not too much first'" Bhavna asked suspiciously.

"I won't buy the company or anything… I will just check on things around you okay? The rest is up to you… I won't interfere with the jobs you get or how you deal with it." Shreya said.

Bhavna compromised reluctantly. After all… she knew Shreya used her maximum restraint to promise her this much. And Shreya always does what she promised. She was too lazy a person to go behind someone back and do something sneakily.

"And don't swear!" Shreya reminded before Bhavna closed the doors behind her leaving Shreya alone in her room.