(Vedant POV)

I walked into the office, my mind still preoccupied with last night's events. The moment I stepped inside, I caught the sound of chatter from one of the cabins.

"The cabin should be ready by tomorrow. Prisha ma'am will be joining soon."

My steps faltered for a fraction of a second. That brat is joining the office? My jaw tightened at the thought. I recalled our first meeting. Arrogant, sharp-tongued, and annoyingly confident. The idea of seeing her every day, working under the same roof, irritated me more than it should have. I didn't like unnecessary distractions, and she was exactly that.

Shaking off the thought, I walked toward my desk, where Harsh was already waiting for me. He leaned against the table with his usual smirk, watching me like he knew something I didn’t.

"So, you heard the news?" Harsh asked, amusement lacing his voice.

I gave him a look but didn’t answer.

"Prisha Solanki is joining the office soon," he continued, crossing his arms. "Jitendra Solanki isn’t the kind of man to involve his family unless he’s planning something big. And now, he’s using his own daughter. That means something is coming."

I didn’t react, but his words made sense. Jitendra wasn't sentimental. If Prisha was stepping into the business, there was a bigger reason behind it.

"Also," Harsh added, lowering his voice, "I saw Bali with the tech team yesterday. They were working on that HDD you retrieved. It looks like some of the data is lost, and they’re trying to recover it."

A smirk tugged at the corner of my lips, but I quickly masked it. They wouldn’t find anything useful. The virus had done its job.

"That so?" I muttered.

Harsh observed me carefully. "You seem oddly pleased. You wouldn’t know anything about it, would you?"

I gave him a blank look. "You think too much."

Harsh chuckled but let it go.

Before we could continue, my phone buzzed. Ketan’s name flashed on the screen. I picked up.

"Meeting hall. Now," Ketan’s voice was sharp and to the point.

I sighed, ending the call and making my way toward the hall.

Inside, Ketan stood near the table, scrolling through his phone. When he saw me, he didn’t waste time.

"A political party chief is arriving tomorrow. You’ll be picking him up from the airport," he stated.

I gave a short nod.

"And one more thing," Ketan added. "This evening, go to City Mall. You need to pick up Prisha and Siya."

I stilled for a second.

"Why me?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

Ketan smirked. "Because I said so. Be there on time."

I didn’t argue further. Just gave a curt nod and turned to leave. I had a job to do. Whether I liked it or not.

(Prisha POV)

The bustling mall was crowded with shoppers, but I barely noticed them as I adjusted the heavy shopping bags in my hands. Siya, Sneha, and Naira stood beside me, equally burdened with their own bags. We had spent hours hopping from one store to another, and now, exhausted, we waited for the driver to pick us up.

"From tomorrow, I’ll be joining the office. So, I won’t be able to spend much time with you guys. Work comes first." I spoke.

"Wait, what?" Siya pouted. "No more long shopping trips? No late-night plans?"

"Not exactly. Just less often."

Sneha nudged me. "Oh, so you’ll be seeing Vedant every day at work now, huh?" She wiggled her eyebrows teasingly.

I crossed my arms. "So what? He’s just another employee there."

Sneha, however, seemed to have energy left to chatter. "I still can't get over Vedant yesterday. I mean, did you see those muscles? He looked like he was carved out of stone!" She sighed dreamily.

Naira giggled, nudging Siya. "I swear, if he wasn’t so intimidating, I’d have asked him for a gym routine."

I rolled my eyes, pretending not to care. "You guys are acting like you've never seen a man before."

Siya smirked. "Not a man like that, Prisha. And he’s always around you now. Lucky girl."

"Lucky?" I scoffed. "I’d rather spend time with my enemies."

"Uh-huh. But what if he’s in charge of something important? Imagine having to follow his orders," Naira teased.

"That will never happen," I stated firmly. "I’m a Solanki. He works for my family. End of story."

As I spoke, I spotted Vedant entering the mall, his usual cold and indifferent expression in place. I immediately signaled him to come over.

Vedant strode toward us, his presence alone making my friends go silent. I noticed how their eyes shamelessly roamed over his tall, muscular form, and that only fueled my irritation.

"Take the bags to the car," I ordered him, watching his reaction carefully.

He stood still for a second, his dark eyes narrowing slightly as he stared at me. For a moment, I thought he would refuse, but then, without a word, he stepped forward and grabbed two of the heaviest bags. Without bothering to acknowledge me or the others, he turned and walked toward the car.

I waited, expecting him to return for the remaining bags. But instead, he simply placed the ones he carried inside the trunk and then slid into the driver’s seat, acting as if the rest of the bags didn’t exist.

Sneha giggled. "Damn, he really doesn’t care. That’s kind of hot."

My irritation turned into anger. "That arrogant beast!" I muttered under my breath, snatching up the remaining bags myself, threw the bags into the backseat before getting into the passenger seat.

Vedant didn’t even spare me a glance as he started the engine and drove off. The car ride was filled with silence, except for the occasional amused whispers from Sneha and Naira in the back. I fumed quietly, glaring out of the window.

After dropping Siya at her house, we continued toward Solanki Mansion. The entire ride, Vedant remained unbothered, his focus solely on the road. His lack of reaction to my irritation only made my mood worse.

As we arrived at the Solanki mansion, I stepped out of the car, expecting Vedant to follow suit and carry my shopping bags to my room.

Without looking at him, I commanded, "Vedant, bring these bags upstairs."

To my surprise, he responded calmly, "No."

I turned to face him, disbelief evident on my face. Before I could retort, Vedant signaled to the staff members outside the mansion.

"Please assist Madam by taking these bags to her room," he instructed them.

The staff hurried to comply, but his blatant defiance fueled my anger. I stepped closer to him, my voice low and threatening.

"You are just a servant here, Vedant. Don't overstep your boundaries. I've given you enough chances to behave. Know your place, or I will remind you of it."

Without waiting for his response, I turned on my heel and marched into the mansion, determined to teach Vedant a lesson soon enough.