Chapter 2
2
M ihir Oshnov sped his black Bugatti down the busy Dubai roads. Even at midnight, the city was wide awake. He merged his car into the flowing traffic on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway. Five years back, when he had decided to shift base from Moscow to Dubai, he had never thought he’d grow to love this city so much. But he did. He loved every bit of it.
There was a little of everything for everyone here. From tall skyscrapers to quiet residential neighborhoods, from the vast deserts to the loud bustling streets, buzzing nightlife to quiet dining options, beach bars, lounges, or fast food—every cuisine and dining option on the planet was available here. People of every color, race, and religion lived here peacefully, and the security and safety were top-notch. Well, mostly top-notch. The problem was that if one was desperate to hurt someone, then it could be done in any city of the world. Mihir’s heart lurched thinking of that one night when both his brothers had been targeted. Armaan here in Dubai, and Vedant in London.
Since then, he had insisted upon having round-the-clock security for his brothers, their women, and himself. He looked through the rear-view mirror, and sure enough, his Head of Security, Chekov, was following him in a black Escalade along with a few other bodyguards.
Being as rich as they were, they had enemies galore, but the biggest threat to their lives now came from their adopted cousin, Ivan Oshnov. He was the one who had tried to kill Armaan and Vedant. Then, a couple of months back, Ivan’s men had tried to hurt Navya and then Reina. Those plots had failed, and Ivan had gone radio silent since then. However, now his silence was bothering Mihir.
In the past, Ivan had cleverly used the Oshnovs’ then head bodyguard, Vasily, to work for him. Vasily had been listening to their conversations and passing that information to Ivan. On learning the truth, Mihir and his brothers had gotten rid of Vasily after extracting whatever information they could from him. Through that, Mihir had landed this new opportunity to learn more about Ivan.
Ivan had hired an Estonian gang to try and hurt Mihir’s family. While most of the men who had attacked his brothers were all dead now, one of them, Paul Samson, still lived. Paul was now an integral part of Ivan’s crew, and finding him would thus lead Mihir to Ivan.
Mihir’s team had recently established contact with Paul’s old Estonian associates, and Mihir was now on his way to meet them. It was a dangerous move to go alone, one that his brothers would surely disapprove of. However, Mihir refused to risk their lives. They were finally happy and had something to live for, and Mihir would do everything in his power to ensure his growing family was safe always.
That’s why he was headed out in the dead of the night to the middle of nowhere, to attend this very important meeting with just three bodyguards. Taking too many would in all probability scare away the people he was meeting, and that was the last thing he needed.
Mihir stopped his car at a signal. He studied his reflection in the rear-view mirror. The sight of his scar, that long, jagged line that ran down the right side of his face, from his temple down his cheek, always bothered him. He hated it. He hated it because of whom he had got it. Anna .
He could have had the scar removed through plastic surgery, but he’d chosen not to. It stood as a stark reminder of her betrayal—a symbol of the pain she’d caused. It reminded him never to trust another woman and never to fall in love again. So, he’d left it as is.
A shot of sudden restless energy burst through him. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, forcing his mind to dwell on anything but her . His life had become lonely of late. Ever since Armaan and Vedant had fallen in love, the three of them didn’t spend as much time together as before.
Mihir didn’t begrudge their happiness at all. True, genuine happiness came with being in love with the right person, in seeing that person by your side day in and day out, and his brothers deserved every bit of this precious joy.
His chest constricted. At one time, he had thought he had found this joy too, but he had been disappointed and hurt by… her .
Her—Anna or Ananya Mehra—the one person he had loved above and beyond everyone and everything. But she had deceived him in the worst way possible. She had…
No, he wasn’t thinking about that or her . Already because of her, he was being forced to alienate himself from his brothers.
Ever since they’d begun dating her sisters, Armaan and Vedant spent a lot of their time with Anna’s family. What made the situation even more difficult for him was Anna’s elder brother Rajiv. He was a great guy, and he had slowly become a very good friend to Mihir However, despite all these close connections, Mihir still chose not to participate fully in that part of his brothers’ lives because of her .
Thanks to her, he had to reject Reina’s request to attend her birthday party. Reina had even called him a few minutes back, pleading with him to come, but he had once again refused her. He hated that he had to offend her as such. But there was no choice. Despite all these years, it still hurt too damn much to be in the same room as Anna. Even now, that familiar pain burned through his chest, turning his mood sour.
The signal turned green, and he merged his car into the traffic. He had to really stop thinking of her. She was nothing but trouble and he had a very important meeting he was heading to. A meeting that could, in all probability, provide him some clue as to the whereabouts of his nasty cousin.
Being the only living blood relative of Alexander Oshnov, Ivan considered himself to be the true heir of O-Corp. He’d taken an immediate dislike to Mihir and his brothers from the moment Alexander had brought them to Russia. He had especially hated Mihir and the close bond he’d shared with Alexander.
Ivan’s hate and fury toward them had only multiplied after Alexander had passed away, and they all had learned that Alexander had willed O-Corp and every single asset he owned to Mihir, Armaan, and Vedant, with Mihir holding the majority shares. Alexander had left only some minor shares of the company to Ivan. Those shares were enough for Ivan to live like a millionaire and not work for the rest of his life. But Ivan had become greedy, and he was eyeing the entire O-Corp. However, he couldn’t stake a claim on anything as long as Mihir and his brothers were alive. And so, he had tried to eliminate Armaan and Vedant, knowing that that would destroy Mihir. Fortunately, his brothers had both survived and come out stronger.
Armaan and Vedant meant the world to Mihir. They’d been with each other through thick and thin. They were his everything. From being three orphaned boys in a nondescript orphanage in Rishikesh to being the rich, powerful, and successful owners of O-Corp, their lives had changed drastically. And they’d been there, the three of them, with each other through every curve and bend.
A sharp pain stabbed at his chest, reminding him of the fourth one in their quartet—their sister, Karina. Thanks to their naivete, they had lost her a long time ago. Fourteen years had passed since they had assumed she’d betrayed them and run away with another boy, Dorab, from their orphanage. Despite finding a note from her telling them that she was leaving of her own will and never returning, they had tried unsuccessfully for weeks to locate her. In the end, disappointed and dejected, the three of them had left India and moved to Russia.
Now, they knew differently. They’d found Dorab and managed to lure him to London. Through him they had learned that Karina had never written that note. However, even under the threat of death, Dorab had only told them that Karina had run away from him.
All those years back, the fucker, Dorab, had overheard their plans to move to Russia and enticed Karina to go to Delhi with him, where he’d tried to sell her to some local goon named JD, who he’d started working for. Once she’d understood the situation, Karina had injured the two of them with a knife Mihir had given her and had run away.
In order to find Karina, they had released Dorab, and like the weasel he was, he’d gone running back to JD.
Mihir had further learned that JD no longer lived in India and was based in Bangkok. Mihir had gotten some of his own men to infiltrate Dorab’s organization to keep an eye on Dorab and await JD’s return.
However, thanks to Vasily—that traitorous bastard—Ivan knew about Karina and had gotten Dorab killed. Mihir suspected it was done to get JD back into action in India, most probably so that Ivan could get in touch with him and find out from him about Karina. But so far, JD remained in Bangkok, which was a relief.
Mihir’s fists curled. He wouldn’t fail Karina again. He would find her and ensure she was safe. He wouldn’t let Ivan or JD use her as a bargaining chip.
He turned his car into a dark, empty lane by the side of the highway. His cell phone rang. He tapped a button on the steering and answered. “ Da ?”
“Sir, we have a problem,” Chekov spoke in rapid Russian. “Ms. Ananya Mehra is following us.”
Mihir’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?” He scanned the cars behind him through the rear-view mirror, but he couldn’t spot her. “Where is she?”
“A few cars behind us. Anton is on her tail.”
“Fuck,” Mihir cursed. “Why didn’t Anton tell us earlier?”
“She left her home from the party about half an hour back. Anton reported that she’d managed to ditch Adam, her other bodyguard, and was on the way to the house.”
“My house?”
“Yes, sir. But then she suddenly changed directions and started down the highway. Anton was simply following her, thinking she’d changed her mind, and then he saw our cars up ahead. He only realized much later that she’s been following you all along.”
Fuck. Anton was an idiot not to have figured this out before. But Anna was too damn smart. She was deliberately keeping a distance from Mihir’s car to not attract any attention. But how the fuck had she managed to evade the bodyguard Rajiv had in place for her?
Thank God he had Anton following her at all times. Just because Mihir was mad at her and didn’t want anything to do with her didn’t mean he would leave her to her own devices. There were people who knew what she meant to him at one time. If Ivan ever learned of this…
No, he would always keep her safe, irrespective of everything else.
He slowed his car, seeing the turn up ahead to his destination. The warehouse that was the designated rendezvous point for this meeting loomed ahead in the distance to his right. He checked his watch. He had no time to even ponder why Anna had planned to come to his house or why she’d decided to follow him. As per him, the Estonians would be here in a few minutes, and she couldn’t be anywhere near them. His heartrate turned frantic.
“Cancel the meeting,” Mihir ordered.
“I’ll try, sir. But they’re a dodgy lot. We may not get an opportunity to meet them again.”
“I know that. Just fucking do it.” Mihir disconnected the line. A moment later Chekov texted: Meeting canceled .
His heart finally returned to beating normally again. He sped the car toward the warehouse, knowing she was behind him. He had to give her a piece of his mind. This reckless behavior was unacceptable, especially in the current volatile situation they were living in.
He already had too much on his plate, and once again, Anna was forcing him to focus on her rather than on everything else that needed priority. She was becoming a pain. Ever since he’d announced that he wouldn’t be in the same room as her, she’d declared war on him. And her weapon of choice was her magazine, Noir.
He exhaled deeply. For the last couple of months, Anna routinely published scandalous gossip about him in Noir. She never named him directly, but her hints were rather too loud.
Until now, he had ignored that rubbish and her. But she simply wouldn’t give up. He looked in the rear-view mirror and finally spotted her Lamborghini Urus. She was quite a distance behind, but on this empty stretch of road, her car was easily visible. Fuck. What was she thinking following him like this?
She and he had been heading for a confrontation for months now. He’d been avoiding it for the longest. But it was time to face her once and for all and put an end to all her nonsense.