Chapter 5
SAMRAT
I barked out a laugh at the dire warning. The Rani Ma of Mirpur was a die-hard matchmaker, but she must be out of her mind if she thought I was a willing victim in her schemes. Well, she’d find out soon enough, I thought, as I threw back my whiskey neat and slammed the glass on the table.
The next morning, I was surprised to see Nilanjana at the breakfast table.
“Good morning, Sam,” she cooed, and I gritted my teeth in irritation.
“What the hell do you want at this hour?” I growled, and her smile faltered a little before she steadied it.
“Well, I couldn’t stay away from my little family, could I? You and Navya are all I have left now.”
I waited for her to drag out her loving mother act until she got bored of it and get to the point. After she pushed Navya’s sticky hands away from her pristine outfit the third time, Nilanjana turned to the nanny with a shudder.
“I think it’s time for the princess to take a shower,” she said firmly, ignoring Navya’s protests.
She waited till the door shut behind Navya and the nanny before she turned to me with a rapacious look in her eyes.
“I hear you’re attending the Mirpur gala,” she said.
I nodded in response without taking my eyes off my newspaper.
“Sam, I was thinking…maybe we could attend the party together,” she said demurely. “Put up a joint front. For Navya’s sake. After all, you don’t need the meddlesome Rani Ma trying to find you a wife, of all things, when you have bigger issues on your plate.”
She was right. I didn’t need that at all.
But I also didn’t need what she had in mind.
The very thought of going anywhere with her made me want to projectile vomit right into her lap.
As for putting up a joint front, I knew what she was after.
And she was never getting it. As far as I was concerned, she was my brother’s wife. And that’s all she’d ever be.
“Actually, I quite like the idea,” I said, as I lowered the newspaper to smile at her sweetly.
“Hain?”
“I do need an heir, and if the Rani Ma can introduce me to a nice woman, well…why the hell not?”
It was wonderful to see her complexion turn an ugly shade of white as her mouth twisted in anger.
“Wonderful,” she said, with a sneer. “I look forward to seeing what kind of woman she picks out for you.”
I merely smiled in response as Nilanjana rose abruptly and stomped out of the room in anger. Too bad I had forgotten her habit of playing dirty.
I walked downstairs on the evening of the party to find Nilanjana gone and Hira Singh looking very worried as he barked orders at his minions.
“What’s going on?” I asked absently as I fastened a gold cuff link.
“Hukum, I…I…” I looked up sharply because, for the first time in forever, Hira Singh was at a loss for words.
“Spit it out, man,” I snapped.
“Hukum, I don’t know how this happened, but there isn’t a single car available to take you to the party.”
“What do you mean?” I growled. “There’s a fleet of very expensive cars in the garage, all in prime working condition.”
“Sadly, Hukum, all their tyres are punctured. As are all the spares in the garage. And it’s too late to get new tyres.”
“Nilanjana,” I snarled, and Hira Singh nodded in reply.
She was doing her best to ensure I didn’t attend the party, just so I wouldn’t meet whatever woman the Rani Ma wanted to fix me up with. I wanted to slam my fist into the wall in frustration, but I knew it would only injure my fist since these walls were made to last centuries.
“This is ridiculous, Hira Singh. Call me a cab, then.”
“Hukum, this isn’t Jaipur. This is Deorangir. We don’t have Uber. The only taxi available belongs to Doda Khan, who is currently on Hajj.”
I blew out a frustrated breath and wondered how my life had turned into such a nightmare. But one thing was for sure. I wasn’t going to let Nilanjana mess with my plans so easily.
“Hira Singh. Choose your next words very carefully,” I growled. “Do you mean to tell me there is no vehicle in the garage that can take me to Mirpur tonight?”
“Well…Hukum…I’m not suggesting you take it, but your brother did get your great-grandfather’s favourite car restored. And as far as I know, it is fully functional,” said Hira Singh doubtfully.
“Then why didn’t you say so earlier?” I demanded wrathfully.
Ten minutes later, as my great-grandfather’s favourite car drew up outside the front door, I understood Hira Singh’s reluctance to mention it.
It was a swan. It was a fucking white swan!
“What the hell is this?” I roared as the valet hopped out of the driver’s seat with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Hukum yeh badak chalaayenge?” he asked.
“You just do as you’re told, kanjar,” snapped Hira Singh, before he took a deep breath and turned to me. “Don’t do it, Hukum. I’ll call Mirpur Palace and make your excuses. Please don’t show up to the party in this swan.”
That’s exactly what Nilanjana wanted, wasn’t it? She wanted me to miss the party. Well, she could go hang because I had a job to do, and I wasn’t letting Nilanjana’s games get in the way of that.
“Get out of the way, Hira Singh,” I said grimly, as I made for the swan.
He let out a loud gurgle of dismay, but stepped aside nonetheless.
The car was literally in the shape of a swan.
I didn’t know how or why my great-grandfather commissioned this monstrosity.
I had seen it lying at the back of the garage for years, but I always thought it was some kind of chariot.
I had no idea there was a working engine in the heart of the swan.
Bhai Sa’s restorer had done a good job because the engine was quite powerful and the car started smoothly.
I put it in gear and pulled out of the driveway with an angry screech of the tyres.
I knew I was making a spectacle of myself by arriving in this vehicle, but it did play into the narrative I was creating, that I was urgently in need of money.
If this didn’t get people to think I was poor, nothing would.
Still, I was fuming by the time I entered Mirpur because of the weird looks I got on the road.
I was honked at and catcalled all the way, and I cursed my dead brother under my breath.
Of all the cars he had to restore, why did it have to be this one?
It was as if he were playing a giant, cosmic joke on me from the afterlife.
I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw Mirpur Palace looming up ahead.
One more turn and I’d be there. I knew this road like the back of my hand.
It was a blind turn, with another road leading into it a little ahead.
You had to honk loudly as you took the turn because there was no way for anyone coming up that road to know if another vehicle was around the corner.
But as I hit the horn, I realised it had suddenly stopped working.
Great! Just fucking great! All the way from Deorangir to Mirpur, this car had honked like an angry goose, provoking jeers and laughter from everyone I passed, but right now, when I needed it the most, its horn had given out.
I held my breath and took the turn, hoping nobody was coming up the other road.
Just as I thought I had made it safely, there was a loud crunch, and something hit the beak of the swan hard, and sent me spinning to the right.
I managed to hit the brakes before I plowed into a tree, and jumped out of the car as soon as it came to a stop.
Fuck it! It was as if my re-entry into society was jinxed!
I turned around the corner of the swan angrily, ready to rip the other driver a new one, but froze in my tracks when I saw the woman who leapt out of the black Range Rover to march over to me.
She looked livid. But she also looked beautiful.
God, was she even more beautiful now than she was eight years ago!
Her fury and her beauty were like a punch to my gut.
Bathed in the bright headlights of both our cars, I stared at the treacherous face of my ex-girlfriend, Princess Meher Rathore.