Chapter 20
SAMRAT
D heer, Ranveer, and Ranvijay had insisted on coming with me when I ran down the stairs to go after Nilanjana. From what the nanny said, she had seemed very disturbed, and in that state, I didn’t know what she’d do to my niece.
My blood ran cold at the thought of something happening to Navya or to Meher, who had gone after them without a second thought. Why the hell hadn’t she waited for me?
I had barely driven for ten minutes when we came upon both Meher’s jeep and Nilanjana’s car. Unfortunately, both were empty.
I held a finger to my lips, and the guys stayed quiet.
“I’m going to try and track them,” I whispered, and began to examine the damp, muddy ground for footprints.
There were two sets of smallish adult footprints going in the same direction, which I hoped were Nilanjana and Meher’s. I walked soft-footed, careful not to step on any twigs, and the guys followed me just as silently.
Just then, I heard Meher’s voice. And Nilanjana’s. But there was also a third voice that I didn’t recognise. We crept closer to the voices, and I pointed to spots where the guys could position themselves to wait for my signal.
Once they were in place, I moved ahead until I came upon a little clearing. I could see Meher clearly, and she was calling out to Nilanjana, who was walking away with Navya.
Suddenly, Meher screamed my name, and it took every bit of control I had to not run to her. But I had to go after Nilanjana before she disappeared with my niece. Just as I had taken one step in that direction, the man whose voice I’d heard came into view, and my blood turned to ice.
Nadeem-fucking-Qureshi.
Finally!
I was torn between going after Navya and staying and fighting Qureshi. But the decision was taken out of my hand when he leveled a gun at Meher.
Without a second thought, I ran out of the bushes and leapt on him. He let out a roar of rage, but before he could do anything more, I dropkicked him to the ground and began to punch the asshole in the face.
I had a small advantage because I had taken him by surprise, but that didn’t last, and he began to fight back. Just then, my friends leapt out of the bushes and began to hit him, as well.
Such was Qureshi’s steroidal rage that he was more than a match for all of us.
Just when he tried rolling over towards his gun, I kicked it across to Meher.
“Pick it up and keep him in your sights, Meher,” I grunted.
She picked up the gun without hesitation, but as usual, she ignored the rest of my instructions. Instead of aiming the gun at Qureshi, she ran in the direction where Nilanjana had taken Navya.
Fuck it! Did Meher even know how to handle a gun? I had no idea.
Qureshi landed me a jaw-rattling punch, but Dheer grabbed him with an arm around the neck from behind. Qureshi fought him off, but I got him in a chokehold and held him down until he passed out.
“Quick, he’ll come around any minute. Get me some rope from the jeep. There’s a coil under the back seat,” I ordered, as I sat on him.
Dheer held his arms down, and Ranvijay held his legs down, while Ranveer ran to the jeep.