Chapter 19
19
A rmaan leaned against the railing on his bedroom terrace, looking at the moon. It was a huge silver orb, its pale light adding a glow to the sea crashing ahead of him. He’d just finished talking to the men he’d put behind Dorab. At least the news he’d gotten wasn’t entirely bad. There was some hope now. He had to update his brothers, and he would. But he wanted a few moments to himself first. He twirled his ring, gazing into the distance, not seeing anything in particular, his mind still on Navya and the disappointing conversation they’d had a few short hours ago.
He’d been so dejected after she’d left this evening from the yacht. Albeit indirectly, he had offered her his heart. But she hadn’t accepted it and him. He thought that the last few weeks with her had endeared him to her. That maybe she was beginning to fall for him too. Like a fool, he’d been certain about her, when she clearly wasn’t ready to accept him wholly into her life.
It had both saddened and frustrated him to know that the woman he loved didn’t love him back. God, he loved her. He’d realized it that first time he’d made her his. It had been too soon to tell her anything then. But even now, weeks later, it felt like she wasn’t as committed to this relationship as much as he was. That was the only reason she possibly needed time to accept his proposal of taking their relationship beyond their temporary arrangement. He, however, knew that he had no choice but to allow her that time and that he’d have to accept her decision, whatever it may be. The question was, would he be able to let her go if she rejected him?
Sighing, he returned inside his bedroom to call his brothers when his phone beeped twice.
Armaan, I want to meet you. It’s the weekend; let’s stay on the yacht tonight.
I miss you. Meet me in an hour.
Hope warmed his chest as he read Navya’s messages.
This was the first time she was asking to spend the night with him. Excitement and anticipation buzzed through him. Perhaps, the mistake he made earlier was that he hadn’t told her that he loved her. He thought she wasn’t ready to hear those words from him. But tonight, he’d show her and give her the words he so desperately wanted to tell her. Maybe that would alleviate her fears and push her to choose him too.
He exhaled. Navya made him so happy. He thought he’d found happiness after Alexander had adopted his brothers and him, but he hadn’t understood the true meaning of the word, until Navya had walked into his life. Her smiles lit up his days. Simply talking to her put his heart at ease, and having her in his arms made him feel complete.
His mind made up, he quickly showered and changed. He met Mihir at the bottom of the stairs as he was leaving.
“We need to talk,” Mihir announced.
“Can it wait till tomorrow?” Armaan asked. “I’ve got to be somewhere right now.”
“I thought we agreed no night scenes until we have more information on Ivan’s whereabouts,” Mihir countered. “Besides, Arlo is on leave.”
“That doesn’t matter. I’ll take someone else with me.” Armaan clucked his tongue. “We haven’t even heard anything about Ivan in weeks. I cannot live in hiding forever.”
“This is about her, isn’t it?” Mihir threw him a dark look. “She’s asked you to meet her at night, and you’re running to her, knowing it may be unsafe.”
“I’m just going to our yacht for fucks sake. It’s safe, and we have security on board.”
“Nonetheless, I don’t like this. You’re clearly in over your head with her. She has you wrapped around her little finger, and thus you’re taking risks which otherwise you wouldn’t.”
His temper sparked. He was tired of Mihir’s warnings about Navya. His brother was wrong about her, and Armaan had to tell him the truth.
Armaan lifted his jaw. “I love her, Mihir.”
Mihir rocked back, and then he shook his head. “No. Fuck. No.”
“You getting annoyed is not going to change how I feel about her. You’re going to have to accept this, and her, in my life.”
“Does she know? Does she reciprocate your feelings?”
“Well, if you move out of my way, then I will go and get the answers to those very questions.”
“You’re an idiot!” Mihir fumed. “You don’t even know what you mean to her. What if this is only one-sided?”
Armaan’s temper flared. However, before he could say something nasty to his brother, both their phones rang. It was Vedant.
“We’ll take it in the study,” Mihir growled.
Armaan followed him.
“Vedant, hi,” Mihir said, putting the phone on speaker. “Armaan is here with me. What’s happening?”
“Hi, guys,” Vedant said. “I’m at home, finishing some last-minute things. I’m getting on a plane tomorrow to come to Dubai.”
“Thank God!” Mihir exhaled.
“Yeah, I can’t wait to be with you both,” Vedant said.
“I’ll definitely sleep a lot better knowing all three of us are under one roof,” Mihir said.
“Why is Armaan so bloody quiet? What is going on?” Vedant asked.
“I’m here, brother,” Armaan said.
“What’s up with you? Is everything okay?”
Armaan let out a sigh. Among his brothers, Vedant had always been the most attuned to Mihir and him. He knew and understood them without even being around.
“I’m fine,” Armaan said.
“Really?” Mihir queried. “You’re nowhere near fine if you think you’re in love with Navya Mehra.”
“What the fuck?” Vedant swore. “Back up and fill me in. What have I missed, and why the fuck have I been kept out of the loop?”
“Armaan’s been meeting Navya since the past few weeks. They used to meet at home first, but now, they only meet on the yacht.”
Armaan’s jaw dropped. How the hell did?—?
Mihir silenced his question with a glare.
“I will always know what my brothers are up to,” Mihir said. “Of course, I know you’re sleeping with her and that the damn yacht is now your love nest.”
“What the hell?” Vedant sputtered. “Is this true, Armaan? Wait, are you in love with her?”
“Yes to both your questions,” Armaan replied honestly. “And the last thing I need is for you two to be patronizing or judging me. I need your understanding and acceptance.” He looked at Mihir as he said, “She’s the one.”
“Well then,” Vedant said, “Armaan, you have my support.”
“Thanks, brother.”
Mihir’s lips pursed. Of course, he didn’t like the situation. Well, tough luck. Armaan wasn’t letting go of Navya. Not even for Mihir. Mihir had no choice but to come to terms with the animosity he harbored for Ananya. They both would have to suck it up for Armaan and Navya’s sake.
“So, guys, I have some news on Ivan,” Vedant said, cutting into the thickening tension between Mihir and Armaan.
“What?” Mihir’s brow marred.
“First, I organized for someone to be there at the cemetery where Ivan’s mother is buried. He never showed up. Can you believe it?”
“This feels very out of character for him,” Armaan said. “His mother was very dear to him, and he has never missed visiting her grave on her death anniversary ever.”
“Why do I feel like he knew we’d be waiting for him there?” Mihir queried.
“But how?” Armaan asked.
“I don’t know…” Mihir shrugged. “It’s just instinct.”
“Anyway,” Vedant continued, “I also learned that Ivan is working with the Estonians, and he’s paying them a fuckton of money to get them to eliminate us.”
“What?” Armaan gasped. “Is this news verified?”
“Absolutely. My source got this detail from someone from Ivan’s team. Ivan’s definitely not in Russia any more, and that’s why he wasn’t at the shareholder meet last month. I found out that he might be on his way to London or to Dubai, so we all need to be very careful, especially you, Mihir. You’re the head of O-Corp. He may try and get to you first.”
“So, that bastard took the money we gave him and is now using it to get us killed. Fucking great!” Armaan scoffed. “He’s taken our benevolence for granted. We should have let him live with his minimal means as Alexander had intended.”
“We need to find him and teach him a lesson,” Vedant said aloud. “I’ll continue looking for him and see where he lands up.”
“The Estonians are dangerous…” Mihir mused aloud. “Perhaps, I ought to increase the security around all of us. I’ll talk to Vasily.”
“Let them come,” Armaan said. “I’m not afraid of them, and we already have enough security.”
“I’m not negotiating with you,” Mihir snapped. “I’m telling you what is going to happen. Come tomorrow, all of us will have a car following us wherever we are going. So tonight, all of us need to stay put wherever we are. I will need time to organize this.”
“Mihir,” Vedant began, “I cannot miss the dinner appointment I have in a few hours. I’m taking the jet right after.”
“I know that your bodyguard, Tyrion, is on sick leave, and I don’t want you going anywhere without him. Cancel that meeting,” Mihir ordered. “And no, don’t even tell me that we will lose money or a client. I don’t fucking care. I only care about both of you. Am I clear, da ?”
“Okay,” Vedant accepted.
Armaan sighed. “Fine.”
He knew when his elder brother was ticked off, and now was not the time to annoy him further.
Mihir crossed his arms. “Good. Vedant, I need you to message me when you are on the plane.”
“Got it,” Vedant said. “I’ve got to go now.”
“Wait, Vedant, I also have some news,” Armaan said. “It’s about Dorab. Since we are all together, I might as well update you both. Our team reverted that he has been working for a man named JD for several years now. JD is some underworld don in North India, based out of Delhi, known for the severe torture tactics he unleashes on anyone who crosses him. Dorab is shit scared of him even though he has worked for him for years; he’s like an under don in that crime organization. But JD’s been in Bangkok for the last couple of months. One of our guys managed to infiltrate that gang and is now working for them. He overheard Dorab talking to someone about how he was held captive by us and that he didn’t know where Karina was.”
“So, he was telling the truth?” Mihir asked.
“Unfortunately, yes. He doesn’t know what happened to her. Which most likely means she’d actually managed to run away. Although our guy did mention that Dorab has been trying to talk to this JD fellow, but JD isn’t taking Dorab’s calls.”
“So, she could be safe. At least we hope that she is,” Vedant said.
“Or this other guy may know where she is,” Mihir put forth.
“Seems like that,” Armaan said. “Our guys are still following Dorab around. I’ve told them to wait until this JD guy returns, which could take a week, a month or even more, they have no clue. I want to see if they launch a search for her once JD returns. My biggest fear is that now, since Dorab knows we are looking for her, he might use her as leverage against us.”
“Only if he finds her first,” Vedant said. “Which means we need to find her before them.”
“I’ll talk to one of our old caretakers and see if anyone has any pictures of her,” Mihir said. “With all this new AI technology, I’m sure if we feed in one of her old pictures, then we can get a rough idea of what she may look like now.”
“That is a really good idea,” Armaan said. “We’ll have to search high and low, through towns, cities and routes going out of Delhi. We’ll need to search through all the local databases to get a match on her.”
“We need to even consider that she may have tried to return to Rishikesh, but we’d already left by then,” Vedant said. “We need to talk to more people whom we know from that time. Plus, we’ll have to be discreet. No one can know that we are looking for her. She cannot become a bargaining tool for our enemies.”
“Correct,” Armaan said. “It may take a lot of time, but we will find her.”
Hope bloomed in Armaan’s chest, replacing the sadness he’d been feeling ever since he’d gotten this update from his team in India. Now that they had some confirmation that, in all likelihood, Karina had escaped, then he had to be positive that she was alive and well. He couldn’t even fathom thinking otherwise.
“Alright, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you both in a few hours,” Vedant said, disconnecting the line.
Armaan, too, turned to leave, but Mihir caught his shoulder. “Believe me when I say that I don’t have a good feeling about Ivan. Just… don’t go out. Stay at home, please, for my sake, da ?”
Armaan let go of his anger. Mihir only meant well, as always.
“Yes, okay. I’ll stay.”
“Thank you.”
As soon as Mihir left, Armaan sank into an armchair. He pulled out his phone and typed a text.
I can’t make it tonight, baby.
Oh no. Is everything okay?
Let’s meet tomorrow in the morning and talk. Come home. Same time. I’ll wait for you.
He needed to tell her about the latest threat on their lives. He had to ensure her safety as well. If Ivan ever learned how important she was to him, then… Fuck, he couldn’t and wouldn’t imagine a scenario in which Navya was hurt. He would protect her with all he had.
Her reply came quick.
Okay. I’ll see you soon. In the meanwhile, miss me…
That was a given. He smiled. It was getting more and more impossible to stay without her. However, it wasn’t enough. He needed long nights and longer days with her, and he could do that only when he’d told her what he truly felt about her. Once that was done, there would be no going back. He was willing to wait for her to accept him for however long it took.
Navya was going to be his forever. He’d ensure it.