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Marriage of Ashes

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Summary

Marriage of Ashes is the story of Aayushi Iyer and Veer Singhania, heirs to two powerful rival families bound together in a marriage neither desired. Forced to the altar to seal a business alliance and bury a bitter past, they become pawns in a game of legacy, secrets, and silent vendettas. But behind the glittering rituals and public smiles lie scars, suppressed emotions, and truths too dangerous to unveil. As the embers of forgotten memories and hidden connections begin to stir, Aayushi and Veer must decide-will they destroy each other, or rise from the ashes together?

Genre
Romance
Author
Daisy
Status
1yr ago
Chapters
25
Rating
5.0 (1 review)
Age Rating
16+

✨Prologue✨

Some Knots are tied in heaven but some are forged in fire



The first light of dawn bled across the horizon, golden and fragile. But inside the sprawling Iyer estate, beneath the shimmering crystal chandeliers and velvet drapes, two lives stood on the precipice of a storm. Today wasn’t about love. It was about legacy. A calculated truce, not a fairy tale.

Aayushi stood at the top of the marble staircase, her eyes veiled in kohl, heart wrapped in silence. She wore a lehenga of blood-red silk, studded with sequin blooms and embroidered gold vines that shimmered with every movement. Her dupatta, as fluid as falling water, draped over her shoulders and pooled onto the floor behind her like a river of fate. The soft scent of jasmine from her braided hair curled through the air. She looked like a queen—powerful, poised, untouchable.

But she wasn’t.

She was a pawn. And she knew it.

Somewhere behind the polite applause and curated smiles was the man responsible for her being here—Suhas Iyer, her father, and the architect of a plan twenty-eight years in the making. A marriage meant to end the generations-old cold war between the Singhania’s and the Iyers. A union built not on love, but on corporate ambition.

As she took a breath, a voice whispered near her ear—sharp, desperate.

"Don’t marry this guy. You have to know the truth.”

The voice disappeared into the wind, but its weight clung to her heart like smoke. She turned—no one. But something inside her stirred.

⸻

28 Years Ago

The Night It All Began

It was nearly 3:00 AM when Suhas’s phone rang. “We’re on the way. Malini bhabhi is in labor,“he told Suhas over the line. “Come to the city hospital immediately.”

“I’ll be there in half an hour,” Suhas responded coolly. “Make sure the best doctors are there. If anything happens, call me. I’m at a meeting with the Singhs.”

The line went dead.

But Suhas didn’t rush to the hospital.

Instead, he redialed a private number. Laughter echoed in his office as he discussed the Singh Group’s oversight in the recent textile deal. “Fools,” he muttered. “They’ll regret crossing me.”

A child was about to be born. And he was orchestrating a corporate takedown.

Kedar’s POV

Hours passed. Suhas hadn’t shown up.

He’d called at 11 PM, promising he was on the way. It was now 3:00 AM. I was beginning to feel the icy crawl of dread in my chest. Something wasn’t right.

Outside, tires screeched. The main doors swung open. Suhas walked in, composed, emotionless, like this was just another business meeting. The doctors met us with solemn faces—and joy.

“Girls,” Prerna Singhania announced. “Healthy.”

I was overwhelmed. My bhabhi, Malini, had given birth to beautiful daughters. Rakesh and Yogini were in tears. Radhika had already started picking out names.

But Suhas—he didn’t react the way a new father should.

He asked, “Are they....healthy?“—not with concern, but curiosity. As if weighing options.

Then, a shadow passed over his face. His smile returned—cold and measured.

“One will be the heir..and the other would be the leverage...”

I turned to him, stunned. “What are you talking about?”

“I want the girl taken for medical tests,” he continued, already walking away. “And don’t bring her back unless tests are done. I always wanted a son.”

I was speechless. This wasn’t a father. This was a businessman with a blueprint for power.

Suhas’s POV

Girls...

On paper, it should’ve been a joyous event.

But joy doesn’t build empires. Control does.

Malini had done her part. She gave me daughters—resources, not blessings. I would raise one as my heir, trained in finance, discipline, and ruthlessness. The other... well, sometimes pawns are more useful than queens.

No one would know. Only the doctors, Kedar, Radhika, and a few trusted staff. It was better this way. Cleaner. More strategic.

Malini didn’t need to know everything... tell her that one of them died during birth..

And neither would the girls.



Present Day (Continued)

Now, two decades later, the candles flickered across every hallway of the Singhania estate. Orange hues danced on polished marble floors, golden drapes, and faces etched with excitement—or calculation.

At the center of it all stood Aayushi, regal in red, walking toward a mandap that promised nothing but duty. She didn’t know yet that the voice she’d heard moments earlier might unravel everything Suhas had spent a lifetime hiding.

Meanwhile, in another wing of the mansion, Veer Singhania was adjusting the collar of his ivory sherwani. His reflection in the mirror was the image of nobility—broad-shouldered, sharp-jawed, eyes fierce with conviction.

He looked like every girl’s fantasy. But he was too smart for that.

He knew what today was.

Not a wedding, but a handshake in disguise. A formal agreement dressed in rituals and roses.

Still, as he stared at his reflection, a name surfaced in his thoughts like a prayer he’d long forgotten:

“Aayushi.”

His childhood friend. His... first memory of comfort.thoo their families never approved of it they never broke each other’s trust nor did they break their friendship ..

His phone buzzed.

Dude, why sacrifice your life for Suhas uncle’s deal?

Veer didn’t need to process anything. He knew who it was. And he knew the answer too.

Because this wasn’t just about love.

It was about image.

About silence.

And about secrets that, if spoken aloud, could burn two empires to ash.




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