Chapter 28
28
Four weeks later
Dubai
A nanya parked her car outside La Soiree and studied her reflection in the rear-view mirror. She was meeting her sisters at the restaurant in the next few minutes for lunch, and she didn’t want them to know that she hadn’t been sleeping or eating well, or that she was physically and emotionally exhausted.
She reapplied a fresh coat of red lipstick. She looked fine—the dark circles under her eyes were carefully hidden with concealer; the paleness of her skin was brightened by HD foundation and blush. Her sisters wouldn’t find anything to worry about. Not that she had given anyone a reason to be concerned about her.
Her family didn’t know anything about the disastrous trip she’d had. As per them, she’d successfully conducted the interview. She hadn’t said anything more. Her work had been the perfect excuse to avoid long, probing conversations with all of them about her time in Moscow with Mihir. Everyone at home knew she was inundated with work on Noir’s anniversary edition. Hence, she’d barely spent time with any of them. She checked the time. She was already late.
A soft breeze blew her hair as she quickly stepped out of the car. The sun was shining brightly, but it wasn’t too harsh. As always, December in Dubai was the best time of the year.
She waved at Anton, Lenin, and Adam as she crossed them. They followed her quietly. They were her safety nets, and she truly felt safe going about her life thanks to them. After her attack, she’d promised herself never to take them for granted again.
Ananya entered La Soiree and halted. Something tugged in her chest, and she turned to the right. She let out a weary sigh when she spotted not only her sisters but their other halves as well, seated at a corner table. With him .
She studied him from afar. Dark stubble lined his cheeks, and his hair looked mussed up. The dark green shirt, its sleeves folded up, stretched beautifully across his chest. He looked good, dressed casually as he was. She forced her gaze away from him to look at her siblings.
Her heart lurched painfully in her chest. It had been four weeks since she’d finally ended things with him. And now, he was here, and she’d have to sit through a whole lunch with him.
She’d assumed she was catching up with her sisters for lunch.
Fuck, why had her sisters not told her the plan fully? Armaan and Vedant didn’t let Navya and Reina out of their sight easily, so it made sense that they’d also decided to join them. But why was he here? She hadn’t even known he was back in town.
That last day in Moscow, she’d walked in on Mihir’s call with his brothers. For sure, his brothers knew that he’d suspected she was working with Ivan, yet the one short time she’d met Armaan and Vedant on her return, they had been absolutely normal with her. Thank God, at least they didn’t share their brother’s vile suspicions.
Something in her chest hurt. Even thinking about Mihir’s accusations hurt and angered her at the same time. How could he… She stopped the thought from forming. There was no point in dwelling on that anymore. She’d gone over that enough times already. There was no fighting that reality.
She chewed her lip, hesitating at the entrance, wondering whether to go inside or return to her car and message an excuse to the girls.
Mihir turned, and his eyes swept through the crowd until his gaze landed on her. Even through the distance, she could feel the intensity of his eyes as he studied her from top to toe. She hated that his scrutiny still made her feel hot and bothered. Sensing Mihir’s attention elsewhere, Armaan turned, and seeing her, he waved.
Caught now, she walked ahead. All of them stood as she arrived. Her sisters gave her a tight hug each, and Armaan and Vedant kissed her cheeks. She turned to Mihir.
“Hi,” he said.
She gave him a nod and sat beside him on the only chair free on the table. The other four on the table were all watching them, and she wasn’t going to show in action or voice that Mihir and she were at war again.
“You’re late,” Reina grumbled, diffusing the tension. “I ordered you a seafood pasta. Hope that’s okay.”
“It’s perfect, Rei,” Ananya said. “Sorry, I got late. I was working.”
“You work too much!” Navya complained.
“What will you drink?” Armaan asked, cheerfully changing the subject. “We’re all having white wine. It’s a nice vintage.”
“Sure.”
Armaan poured her a glass. She lifted it to her nose, and her stomach rebelled at the strong smell. Since everyone was watching her, she took a tiny sip.
“Have you finished working on Mihir’s interview?” Vedant asked.
“Yes.” She turned to Mihir. “I’ll have someone from the team send it to you for a review.”
He shrugged. “It’s fine. You don’t need to send it to me.”
“Don’t you want to read it once?” she queried. “To ensure I haven’t mentioned anything you don’t want me to.”
“I’m good with whatever you publish.”
She stared at him, unable to understand what he was up to now. He’d repeatedly shown that he didn’t trust her, and now he was okay with giving her a go-ahead to publish the interview without even looking at it?
Why was he suddenly so… so amenable and accommodating? Finding her gaze on him, he arched a brow, and a corner of his mouth kicked up. And now he was smiling. What was wrong with him? She rolled her eyes and turned to everyone else on the table instead.
“We’re quite excited about the interview,” Vedant said. “We hope we can find our sister through it.”
“I’m sure you will,” she replied gently. She looked at her sisters. “I thought it was a sisters’ lunch. But since they’re all here, are we expecting Rajiv and Sheena to join as well?”
“Um, no,” Navya pushed a plate of chicken skewers in Ananya’s direction. “Actually, we all have an announcement to make. We already told Mom, Dad, Rajiv, and Sheena last night.”
“Last night?” Ananya frowned. “Where was I?”
“Working late, as usual,” Reina reminded her.
“So, what’s the announcement?” And then she gasped. “Wait, let me guess. You’ve decided on a wedding date?!”
“Yes!” her sisters squealed in delight. Armaan and Vedant looked jubilant too.
“Oh my God, that is amazing,” Ananya said.
From her side, she heard Mihir say, “Congratulations. I’m happy for all of you.”
He raised his wine glass in a toast. “ Za schastlivyye vremena . To happy times.”
His brothers repeated the toast in Russian as they all clinked their glasses together. Ananya took a sip of the wine. It made her stomach roil.
She put her glass down. “So, when’s the big day?”
She was so delighted for her sisters.
“Well,” Vedant began, “Reina and I want to get married at the house in London. We want a small wedding. Just family and a few close friends. We’re thinking after two months.”
“And Armaan and I want to get married here, on the yacht where we met for the first time,” Navya beamed. “We too want a quiet celebration. We’re thinking a month after them.”
“Yeah,” Armaan concurred. “Same set of people, all of us in the family, the girls’ parents’ closest friends, Sheena’s brother, Kabier Sehgal, and a few in their circle who we all know now closely, and also the Rajpoots and the Luthras. So about sixty of us. We still have to plan the guest list.”
“And here I was, thinking I’d get to plan two loud, fancy weddings,” Ananya said. “But it’s fine. Whatever makes you guys happy.”
Navya took her hand in hers. “Thank you. We know you’ve been wanting to start covering weddings in Noir, and we wanted to ask if you’ll cover both our weddings.”
“It will be my absolute pleasure,” Ananya said. “This will be so much fun. I’m so excited for you all.”
Armaan looked at Mihir. “You haven’t said anything, brother.”
Mihir leaned forward. His musky, leathery scent reached her nose, and her heart tripped. No. She wasn’t reacting to him like that again.
“What about the board?” Mihir asked. “A small wedding is fine. But the board members will expect an invite. Have you thought of that?”
“Yes,” Armaan replied. “Navya and I are happy to hold a formal reception in Moscow after our wedding. We will have to make it exclusive, though.”
“That’s good,” Mihir said. He looked at Vedant. “What about you?”
“Since our weddings are so close, it’s enough that Armaan invites the board to his,” Vedant said.
Mihir shook his head. “It won’t do, Vedant. The board will create a problem, and that’s the last thing I want. You will have to organize a reception to which they all are invited.”
“We already have Ivan’s threat hanging on our heads,” Vedant explained. “Two public receptions will be risky.”
Of course, in the excitement of the weddings, she’d forgotten the danger looming on all their lives. On Mihir’s life.
“Can you all not postpone the receptions to later?” she blurted out. “Let things settle a bit, and then do larger gatherings. Hopefully, you guys will find Ivan by then.”
Mihir turned to face her. “That’s a good suggestion. We’ll have to figure out a suitable excuse to tell the board for postponing the receptions. But good idea.”
She blinked. A few weeks ago, Mihir had blamed her for canoodling with his enemy. Now, he was agreeing with her. It didn’t make sense.
The three men got into a discussion in rapid Russian, while Navya and Reina talked amongst themselves.
Mihir lifted his hand to pick up his wineglass, and she noticed he wasn’t wearing his ring. She looked at his other hand, and the ring wasn’t there either. But it no longer mattered to her what he did with the ring. It had never been hers in the first place.
She took a bite of the chicken skewer and grimaced. It wasn’t settling well with her. She pushed her plate away, annoyed with herself. She really ought to take better care of her health. The one thing she’d promised herself on the flight back from Moscow was that she would get over Mihir. She wouldn’t let him ruin her life again. And here she was, once again feeling sick because she hadn’t been looking after herself well enough. That stopped now.
A server placed their plates in front of them. Ananya lifted her fork to eat her pasta. She swallowed the first bite, and her stomach churned. Nausea clawed at her throat. Oh God, she was going to be sick.
Dropping her fork, she jumped out of her seat. “Sorry, I’m…”
Slapping a palm over her mouth, she ran to the restroom. She’d barely made it inside the small cubicle before she was violently ill, her stomach giving up all its contents.
There was a knock on the door.
“It’s us,” Reina said. “Are you okay?”
Another bout of nausea assailed her, and she threw up again. Several minutes later, she stepped out of the cubicle. Her sisters were waiting outside for her, looking worried. Ananya washed her mouth, gargling several times.
Reina pulled some mint from her purse. “Take this. You will feel better.”
She took a step toward her sister, and a wave of dizziness assaulted her. Reina quickly caught her arm, pushing her onto the couch in the restroom.
“Get me some water for her,” Reina ordered Navya.
The dizziness passed almost immediately.
“I’m fine,” Ananya said. “I think I’ve got a stomach bug.”
Navya reappeared and offered her a bottle of water. Ananya took a sip. “Girls, I’m really better.”
“Look at me, Ananya,” Reina said, lifting each of her eyelids, shining her phone’s flashlight into them.
“I’m fine,” Ananya stressed.
“I’m the doctor here,” her youngest sister said. “Can I be the judge of that?”
“Okay, doctor!” Ananya smiled.
Reina asked her several questions. When and what was the last thing she’d eaten? Was she feeling acidic? Heartburn? Was she sleeping well? Did anything hurt? The barrage of questions went on for a bit.
Ananya answered honestly, confessing to her sister how she was tired all the time and how she hadn’t been eating or sleeping well.
“You have to stop working so much,” Navya complained. “Mom told me that you leave first thing in the morning, come home late, and then you’re working again. You’ve hardly spent time with anyone at home. You really don’t take enough care of yourself.”
Reina looked at Ananya, a tiny wrinkle on her forehead.
“What?” Ananya asked. “Have I answered all your questions? I told you it’s just exhaustion. Am I good to go now?”
“One last question,” Reina said. “When was your last period?”
Stunned, Ananya checked the period tracker app on her phone. She scrolled through it, going back and back... Her eyes widened a little more with each scroll.
“How late are you?” Reina asked.
“What?” Navya gasped. “Is she… Oh my God.”
Reina glared at Navya. “Be quiet, and let her answer.”
“More than six weeks.” Ananya caught Reina’s hand. “Please tell me that I’m only late. Please don’t tell me I’m?—”
“—pregnant. I think you may be,” Reina said, her face somber. “At least that’s what all your symptoms say. But we’ll have to do a test to confirm.”
Ananya slapped her palms to her face. “Oh. God.”
Her mind was swirling and whirling. Lifting her face, she looked at her sisters. They were both watching her quietly. They had questions, of course, but it was sweet that they were giving her space right now.
“I’m sure there’s a pharmacy close by,” Ananya said. “Can one of you get a test for me? I can’t sort the thoughts in my head without knowing for sure.”
Navya quickly texted on her phone and said, “I’ve messaged Armaan that you’re unwell and I need to get you some medicine. Wait here, you two; I’ll be right back.”
Ananya sighed when she saw the way Reina was looking at her. “Aren’t you going to ask the obvious question?”
“Your whole reaction right now proves that a baby is a possibility, quite a definite one.” Reina sat on the sofa next to her and put an arm around her. “I have questions, but I will keep them for after we know for sure. Ananya, no matter what you say, just remember I won’t judge, neither will Navya.”
“Oh God,” Ananya groaned.
A baby would change everything. She counted the days in her head backwards. All the times in Moscow they’d had sex without a condom, she’d assumed it was the wrong time of the month. Could her body clock have changed because of all the medication she’d taken after her attack? An attack of that intensity was bound to have taken a physical and psychological toll on her body. She was never late. Her periods were always on time. Which meant… Oh God, it most likely meant…
She pushed those thoughts aside, counting the minutes till Navya returned. She wasn’t going to think of anything until she did the test.
Reina squeezed her shoulder. A few women entered and left, but Reina remained by her side, a silent force in the storm that was going to erupt in her life.
* * *
The two pink lines on the test wouldn’t change no matter which way she looked at them. This was her third test. Navya had gotten three different brands for her. All of them said the same thing.
She was pregnant.
A knock on the cubicle door startled her.
“Are you okay?” Navya asked.
Stepping out of the stall, she showed the test results to her sisters before tossing them in the bin.
Washing her hands, she studied herself in the mirror. She pressed a palm to her fluttering belly.
Bloody fucking hell. She was pregnant. With Mihir Oshnov’s child.
Life had thrown many curveballs her way, but this one surpassed everything. She was pregnant. Oh God.
She was pregnant.
Panicked breaths escaped her mouth. She could hear the frantic beating of her heart. Her sisters were immediately by her side, helping her to the couch, hugging her from the side. A lady entered the restroom.
“NO!” Both her sisters yelled in unison, driving the poor woman away.
Her sisters were so protective of her. Ananya found herself smiling, despite her situation.
“We are right here, Ananya,” Navya said. “Anything you need, you only have to ask.”
She gulped.
“It’s his, right?” Reina asked quietly. “Mihir’s?”
Her sisters knew her too well, and they could do the math. Four weeks back, she’d been in Moscow, and she wasn’t the type to casually sleep around with a total stranger.
Hence, there was no point denying it. “Yes.”
“Have you two patched things up?” Reina asked.
“No, they’ve gotten worse, in fact. He’s finally told me what he blames me for. But his version of the past definitely doesn’t align with mine, and he won’t believe anything I say. In fact, he suspects I’m somehow involved in abetting Ivan’s attacks.”
“What?” Anger flashed in Reina’s eyes. “How dare he?”
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” Navya roared. “Why the hell did he sleep with you if he doesn’t trust you? Asshole.”
She began to rise, but Ananya held her hand, shaking her head. “He didn’t force me into anything, Navya. I knew what I was getting into with him.”
Which was the absolute truth. And now, as a consequence of her actions, she was going to have Mihir’s child—the man who hadn’t trusted her for years, had rejected her and dismissed her from his life, over and over again. Her fist curved over her belly. What was she going to do? God, what did she want to do?
“Do you want to talk about everything?” Navya asked gently, even though she looked mad.
“I will, but not right now. I need some time to process this.”
“Then take all the time you need,” Reina said.
Reina’s phone pinged. She frowned as she read it. “Mihir’s asking if you’re okay.”
“Why does he even care?” Navya snapped.
Ananya’s breath caught. Why did he even care? It didn’t make sense. No, she wasn’t going to think of him right now. She had to think of herself and this baby, and what she was going to do next.
“Armaan’s also texting me,” Navya said.
“We all need to leave, else they’ll come here knocking,” Ananya said. “Will it be alright if I excuse myself from lunch? I’m sorry to have ruined it like this.”
“Don’t you dare say that,” Navya said.
“Do you want us to drive you home?” Reina asked.
Ananya shook her head. “I’ll be fine.”
Right now, she needed time to sort everything inside her own head before she fully confided in anyone. Too many lives would change because of her situation. There were so many questions plaguing her mind, but the one thing she was absolutely certain of was that she was keeping this baby. Her heart clenched in possessiveness for the baby growing inside her. This one decision of hers would change everything.
Rising, she said, “Can you both promise me not to breathe a word of this to anyone? Not even to Armaan and Vedant. And definitely not to Rajiv or Sheena or our parents.”
Her sisters nodded.
She was grateful to them and their acceptance.
She didn’t want Mihir to know a thing before she had enough time to process it for herself. Her hand reached for the ring on her chain, but it caught air instead. She no longer had the ring. She’d left it for him, along with the signed divorce papers. Mihir and she were divorced now.
The divorce was supposed to finish everything between them. But now, this baby… It would never allow her to be fully finished with Mihir. It would forever link the two of them together. A stone lodged in her stomach.
Oh God, she’d have to tell him at some point. Knowing him, he’d blame her for this too… this time, for tricking him.
Her eyes burned. She hardened her heart. She swore that from this day on, she wouldn’t cry over Mihir again. No matter how he reacted to this news, she wouldn’t cry. She would be strong for the sake of her baby.
Confusion and uncertainty swamped her. She was eager to be alone, to figure out what her next steps would be.