Chapter 26
26
I t was early morning when they entered the gates of their London home. Leaving the car at the portico with Vasily and the rest of their security team, Armaan rushed up the stairs, his heart pounding. Mihir followed. This urge to check on Vedant and ensure he was fine had gotten stronger with every passing second as they drew closer to his brother.
Both of them exhaled a sigh of relief when they entered the room and found Vedant fast asleep on a care bed. This room had been specially converted into a hospital room. Vedant was sleeping on his back, his one hand connected to an IV drip. A monitor on his right beeped, displaying his vitals. His right leg was in a cast and, his torso and face were splattered with a criss-cross of purplish-blue bruises. His chest was heavily bandaged. Armaan’s feet faltered. Agony constricted his heart. Fuck. Ivan’s men had managed to hurt Vedant badly.
His eyes blurred. He wiped the tears with the back of his hand. From beside him, Mihir pressed a fist to his mouth, struggling to control his emotions.
“You fuckers! Stop looking at me like I’m dead,” Vedant said in Russian, his voice hoarse.
“Oh God!” Armaan rushed to him, Mihir following close.
“How are you?” Mihir asked. “Do you feel better?”
“No better than when we spoke last,” Vedant replied. “When was that? Yesterday? Today? I’ve lost track of time. I’ve been sleeping a lot.”
“That’s good,” Armaan sighed, studying him again.
“Why do you look like shit?” Vedant queried, assessing Armaan and the bruises marring his face. His eyes widened in understanding, and he jolted upright. He flinched, his right hand pressing against his chest. His face paled, and he shut his eyes, clearly in a lot of discomfort.
Armaan helped him down. “No, don’t get up.”
“Do you want something?” Mihir asked. “Should I call the doctor?”
“Please, she’s the last thing I need,” Vedant grumbled. “She’ll just increase the dosage of my painkillers and sedate me again. I hate not being in control and these medications make me feel woozy in the head.”
Armaan nodded. “Do you want some water?”
At his nod, Armaan poured water into a glass from a jug nearby. Mihir pressed a button on a remote, and the bed reclined at an angle. Once Vedant was comfortable, Armaan handed him the glass. He took a few sips and studied Armaan again.
“They got to you as well, right?” Vedant asked.
“Yeah.” Armaan told him what he remembered, with Mihir filling in the blank spots of his memory. Mihir also didn’t hesitate to update Vedant on the situation between Navya and Armaan.
Vedant studied Armaan. “I agree with Mihir. You should talk to her.”
“Not discussing that right now. My love life is not important; you are. You were almost killed.”
“And so were you,” Vedant stressed. “We got a second chance at life. Why don’t you live it fully with the woman you love by your side? You know we have the money and means to protect her.”
“None of that protected us,” Armaan gritted out.
“Because neither of you followed the protocol of taking your fucking security guards along with you.” Mihir crossed his arms over his chest, looking incensed. “Just because I’ve been worried sick about the two of you doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten how blatantly irresponsible the two of you behaved.”
Mihir’s volume rose with every word coming from his mouth. His eyes latched on Vedant. “I told you to cancel that bloody meeting, and still you went ahead, without Tyrion. Ivan’s men were waiting for that one chance to attack you, and you handed it to them on a platter.”
Mihir faced Armaan, looking madder. “And you? You assured me that you wouldn’t go out that night. But you did, and that too by yourself. Do you think you are fucking Superman? Do you both think that? In one single night, they got to both of you, the two most important people in my life. How do you think I would have survived if I had lost either of you?”
Armaan shared a concerned look with Vedant. Neither of them had ever seen Mihir so enraged.
“Sorry…” Vedant rasped out. “It was stupid and reckless to do what I did. What we both did. You’d been warning us for weeks to be careful, and one break in protocol was all that was needed for them to get to us.”
“I’m sorry too,” Armaan said.
“I don’t want either of your fucking apologies!” Mihir fumed. “I want you both alive, which means no more risks till we find Ivan.”
“Agreed.” Vedant held a hand out. “Can we now stop with all the depressing talk? I’ve been to hell’s door and back. The last days have been so hard, but you both are here now, and I already feel so much better.”
The tension between them immediately faded. Armaan put his arms around Vedant, holding him close. Vedant was alive, and he was going to be fine. When it was Mihir’s turn, he took his time to release Vedant as well.
“It’s always been us against the world,” Mihir said, his tone calmer now. “We have no one but each another, and I never want to see either of you hurt ever again.”
Armaan nodded, as did Vedant.
Mihir addressed Armaan, “What I was trying to say before I got all emotional is that if you decide to be with Navya, then we can keep her safe.”
Armaan pinched his forehead. “Still not discussing this.”
“Fucking stubborn asshole,” Vedant swore.
A knock on the door distracted all of them. A slim, bespectacled woman wearing a white doctor’s coat entered, followed by a nurse carrying a tray.
“Can’t you see we’re busy?” Vedant growled. “Come later.”
The doctor, a severe-looking woman in a tight bun and thick glasses continued forward.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she replied, not sounding sorry in the least, “but, it’s time for his medication.”
Mihir’s phone rang. He went outside to answer it, while the doctor and the nurse went to work on Vedant.
Vedant scowled at the doctor. She threw him a dark look and continued to check his vitals on the screen, before moving to the IV bag connected to his hand. Detaching the empty IV bag, she administered some injections to him through the IV cannula on his hand.
“That fucking hurt,” Vedant grumbled. “I hate needles.”
The doctor didn’t respond. She lifted the second injection and went to work with that.
“You’re such a baby!” Armaan snorted.
“Shut up,” Vedant retorted, his eyes on the doctor.
“How many times a day are you going to keep injecting me?” Vedant questioned her.
“As long as needed,” the doctor replied.
“Can you not shift me on pills? And I want to get out of the room,” Vedant said. “I don’t like being stuck here.”
Ignoring him, she attached the new IV bag to the stand, connected the pipe to the cannula on his hand and turned to leave.
“Wait,” Vedant said.
She spoke a few words to the nurse who headed out. Once alone with them, the doctor faced Vedant. “Yes?”
“I asked you a question, doctor,” he said. “When can I step out of this fucking room? I need you to do your job and get me on my feet. Oh, and enough of the damn needles.”
“Vedant,” Armaan said in a gentle warning, “Take it easy.”
Vedant was always the calmest, and to see him so agitated was quite surprising.
The woman’s jaw lifted. The action seemed strangely familiar. She took a few steps and stood in front of Vedant.
“Mr. Oshnov?—”
His brother cut her off. “Call me Vedant. How many more times do I need to tell you that?”
She glared at him, then breathed out, her expression clearing.
“Mr. Oshnov,” she began again, “Like I have been telling you daily , you need to rest and sleep as much as you can. You went through two very delicate surgeries, and you need to give your body time to recover. And for that, your medication has to continue as is for now.”
“I’ve been stuck here for days,” Vedant complained. “You refuse to give me access to my laptop. You don’t let me out of this damn room. I have someone who comes and bathes me here on the fucking bed. I am sick of it all.”
The doctor walked to Vedant and pressed a finger on his shoulder. A shout escaped his mouth.
“What the fuck?” Vedant growled.
“I will give you your laptop when that stops paining,” she said.
Taking his right leg in her hand, she lifted it slightly. Vedant gritted his teeth, clearly in a lot of agony.
“I will let you move when this,” she said, putting his leg down gently, “stops paining. And while you are unable to even move this leg and have a cast on it, pray tell me how will you reach the bathroom to take a bath?”
She faced Vedant, who looked tired and exhausted now.
“Mr. Oshnov, I’ve been locked inside your house like a bloody hostage for almost a week, but you don’t see me complaining. I am doing my job, aren’t I? But if you are doubting my capability, I am happy to leave, and you can find someone else to take my place.”
“It’s fine, doctor,” Armaan said. “Vedant doesn’t like being sick. He is being a grouch because of that.”
She finally turned to look at Armaan, and the look she gave him was of pure fury. She didn’t even mask it.
Strange.
Mihir entered. Sensing the tension in the room, he asked, “What have I missed?”
With a slight nod at Mihir, the doctor walked out, leaving them alone.
“Vedant’s behaving difficult with the doctor,” Armaan explained.
Mihir went to Vedant. “That woman saved your life, you know. It won’t hurt to be nice to her.”
“Yeah, whatever…” Vedant grumbled. “She just rubs me the wrong way. There’s something about her that I can’t put a finger on…”
Sudden realization dawned on Armaan.
“I’ll be back,” he said.
He left the room and went in search of the doctor. He found her in the kitchen, chatting happily with the nurse. She’d removed her glasses and released her hair from its tight knot. Seeing him, she wore her glasses again.
He looked at the nurse. “I need to have a word with the doctor.”
The nurse left immediately. Armaan studied the woman in front of him.
“Hello, Dr. Singh,” he said, reading the tag on her jacket pocket. “Or should I say, Dr. Reina Mehra?”
Her eyes widened.
“I suppose you know who I am,” Armaan said.
“Of course, I know you,” Reina said, pocketing her glasses. With her hair loose and those monstrous glasses no longer on her face, she looked young and pretty. A lot like Navya. His heart twisted. Navya. How he missed her...
Seeing Navya’s youngest sister assessing him, he asked, “Why the name Dr. Singh?”
“You asking me that means Navya hasn’t told you about our history.”
He jolted back. What history had Navya not shared with him? Was this further proof that she could never trust him? That her words to her elder sister had been true?
“I won’t love him. I am not in love with him.”
The memory of her words haunted him, making his chest hurt each time he thought of them, or her.
“Does she know that you’re treating my brother?” Armaan asked.
Reina put her hands in her coat’s pockets. “What do you think?”
“Shit. She will be mad when she finds out.”
“They all will be,” Reina replied. “Mihir gave me no choice when it came to treating Vedant. You see, I was the emergency doctor on call the night Vedant was brought in. His pulse was low, and he was losing a lot of blood. We didn’t even have time to wait for a senior surgeon. I took a call to operate on him, and I suppose it was the right call.”
“You saved his life.”
“Yes, which Mihir understood the second he reached the hospital. He brought me and a few others from the hospital here and has held us captive since then. We aren’t allowed to step outside the grounds. We are given our phones only twice a day, and we can only make calls to our immediate family to assure them we are alright. We are allowed to speak to them only in the presence of your guards. Yes, you can argue that we can roam the grounds freely and make use of your numerous in-house facilities like the gym, spa, sauna, pool, etc, but it still doesn’t compare to being free. I’ve been forced to lie to my family. They continue to believe that I’m staying at my apartment and that I have a tough few work weeks ahead.”
“I’m so sorry,” Armaan said.
Her gaze jumped to his. “You are apologizing? To me? Why?”
“Because you’re her sister. And because Mihir only had Vedant’s best interests at heart when he gave these instructions. Trust me, it is safer for you too,” he explained. “Do my brothers know who you are?”
“No.”
Armaan thought through everything for a moment. “Mihir knows.”
“What?”
“My brother wouldn’t have allowed you or your team to set foot inside this house and entrusted Vedant’s care to you all without doing a background check on everyone. He knows. I’m sure of it. What he doesn’t know is that I also know who you are.”
“As long as Vedant doesn’t know, it’s fine.”
“Why?”
“Because, as you’ve witnessed, Vedant already behaves difficult with me. I’d rather not have him know I’m related to the women who share a not-so-great history with his brothers. He’d probably make my life more difficult.”
“He won’t, and he’s really not that bad, you know,” Armaan said.
“Thus far, he’s not done a single thing that makes me believe differently. He’s rude, annoying, and thinks he can get everything with the click of a finger.”
Armaan laughed. “Like I said, he’s acting up because he hates being ill.”
She rolled her eyes, the action so similar to Navya.
Armaan lowered his chin. “Alright, I won’t talk to my brothers regarding who you are. Now, tell me about Vedant and how do you plan to make him better?”
It was too early in the morning, and as their regular staff wasn’t up, Reina buzzed around the kitchen, fixing a cup of coffee as she told him about Vedant’s recovery plan. He took a cup and settled himself next to her on the kitchen table.
Vedant’s recovery was going to be long and hard. But Reina promised him that he would be fine. Her confidence eased his fear and concern. She seemed capable and very dedicated to her work.
“I’m going to stay here for a few days,” Armaan informed her. “Is there anything you need?”
“Yes, I’d like my phone back, and I want to be able to leave the grounds when I want to.”
He grimaced. “Reina, I can speak to Mihir about returning your phone to you. Unfortunately, Vedant’s safety comes first, so until he’s fully recovered, none of you can go out. We have enemies, as you must have already guessed, and we cannot allow them to use anyone working for us in order to get to us. I can’t risk Vedant’s safety or yours, especially now that I know you’re the one treating him. But anything else you need, you just say the word, and I will organize it for you.”
“Okay. And Armaan,” she began, “Vedant is my patient, which means he is my responsibility for now. That was the only reason I agreed to succumb to Mihir’s demands that day, despite them being immoral and wrong on so many accounts. But…”
“Wait, didn’t my brother agree to pay you all a fuckload of money for this inconvenience? Then why are you complaining now?”
She lifted her jaw. “In which world do you think I need the fucking money? You do know who my brother is, right?”
Navya’s younger sister was a firecracker, and he liked her attitude and confidence.
“Point accepted,” Armaan said. “What exactly are you trying to tell me here?”
“I will stay here and care for Vedant. However, the day I feel he has fully recovered, I need you to promise me that, on that day, my team and I will be free to go home.”
“I can promise you that,” Armaan said. He pressed a hand to the back of his head, where a dull ache had started again. Taking out a few pills from his pocket, he swallowed them.
She watched him carefully. “How are you?”
He shrugged. “Better than Vedant, for sure.”
“Navya’s worried about you,” Reina said, her tone sharp. “Why won’t you speak to her? Or was your love for her all a lie?”
Now, the angry look she’d thrown his way in Vedant’s room earlier made sense.
“I suppose you know… everything.”
“Of course I do. She’s my sister, and your silence and rejection is hurting her.”
“I could say that she hurt me as well, but you won’t believe me.”
“Actually, I do believe you.” She ran a finger along the rim of her cup. “Navya and my lives were very different at one time. Because of that, she doesn’t trust men. Both of us don’t. We promised each other a long time ago that we wouldn’t fall in love, that it only brings pain. Her behavior with you is a result of our past.”
She stood up. “Talk to her. She’s sad and miserable without you. If, by even the remotest of chances, you feel the same way for her, then you need to fix it. Only you can.”
With a last speaking look, she walked out of the kitchen, leaving him with more questions than before. He rubbed the back of his head, looking out of the kitchen window. What had happened in Navya’s past? Why had she never spoken to him about it? Had these girls been hurt? By whom? And how could Rajiv Mehra have allowed it? From what he knew of the man, he was extremely protective of his family. And Navya always spoke so warmly about her parents. Curiosity rose inside him, but he pushed it down.
Choosing to listen to Navya and sort everything with her now came at a cost—that of her safety. His chest twitched in pain. He loved her so much.
It had been too long since he had seen her. Staying away from Navya was so bloody hard, but being with her, would be harder.
More than double of the usual armed security guards paroled the grounds of his property as of this minute. It was the same in Dubai. This was his life now—unsafe, unpredictable, and dangerous. Navya was better off away from him. Safer, and one day, happier too, he hoped.