“For starters,” he says, “Damien thinks that he was in Scotland for the last five years. That he chose to disappear there. We have an office in Edinburgh and he did keep an apartment on hand there.”

“And he bought that?”

“Yes! He knows he left London for five years. I just haven’t told him he was in India. I did that to protect Rian and you. Besides, five years back when he chose to disappear, Scotland was anyway going to be our ruse in case anyone asked too many questions about him. No one knew he was in India and so as per his plan I kept the apartment in Edinburgh and maintained it. And now I’m using this very story as a ruse for him to believe that he actually lived in Edinburgh. The staff there knows what to say to continue this belief and so he believes it too.”

My mind has been unable to wrap around the fact that Damien had actually wanted to disappear from his life. And he did it so completely. There is so much I didn’t know about Damien and in the space of two months there is so much I have learned from the Internet and yet there is so much unanswered.

“Why Gabe? Why did he do it? Why did he leave everything behind?”

Gabe shrugs. “He refused to give me details. But it was something concerning his father and brother. He wanted them out of his life or he wanted to get out of theirs. I’m not entirely certain.”

“It doesn’t make sense.” I run my hands through my hair. “What had his father and brother done to him, Gabe? Did they threaten him to leave?”

“I honestly don’t know, Aaliya. He came to me one day, five years ago, distraught and exhausted. He wanted to leave London for good and go to a place where they’d never find him, never be able to control him again. We chose India together. We had been thinking of expanding our business to Asia for a while and Mumbai made sense. No one would ever think of looking for him there. Name change, a new identity, a new look, new bank accounts and even a new passport with the new name; no stone was left unturned. And thus, Damien Alexander Talbot became Damien Alexander, the man you’ve known for the last five years. Damien moved to Mumbai and we opened Alpha Arc in India. The rest you know.”

“Yes, the rest is my history with Damien.” I smile. “I was the first designer he hired. We fell in love so fast and got married even faster.”