Chapter 30
30
M ihir was waiting for her when she stepped out of her car. Ananya looked up at the tall glass facade of O-Corp’s Dubai tower. She thanked her stars that he’d got Zeeshan here, to his office, and not to some shady warehouse in the middle of nowhere. She wouldn’t have been able to stomach that.
Anticipation had eaten at her throughout the drive here. She’d racked her brain, trying to recall the events of that awful day seven years ago. Even so, she wasn’t entirely certain, though she suspected what might have happened. However, she needed a solid confirmation.
She pressed a hand to her aching neck. What a day this was turning out to be. Her mind was all over the place with all the revelations. She was tired and stressed, and while she wanted to know about the past, what she really wanted was to go home and process the life-altering fact that she was carrying Mihir’s baby.
“Are you alright?” Mihir asked.
She dropped her hand from her neck. “Yes.”
Mihir splayed a hand out, and she followed him into the opulent lobby. A woman in a suit handed him a passkey, which he passed to Ananya. She followed him down a turnstile and into a waiting elevator. But instead of taking the elevator upstairs, he led her down to the second basement. She exited the lift into a narrow glass foyer that opened into a busy workspace. Dozens of security personnel were seated in front of huge screens lit up with images. Her eyes widened when she saw that the screens showed images of her house, the Oshnovs’ Dubai home, their estates in Moscow and London, and every corner of the planet that had anything to do with the Oshnovs.
She looked around. This was, she realized, the security hub of O-Corp.
Mihir led her down the corridor. Ahead of them, Zeeshan was being led blindfolded into a conference room. Her stomach fluttered. Mihir was trusting her into a very sacred space, one from where he ensured the safety of everyone he cared about.
She recalled his strange behavior from earlier. Why was he pretending as if all was okay between them when it clearly wasn’t? She watched him silently walking beside her, a pensive look on his face. At the conference room’s entrance, he gestured for her to enter.
She walked inside and saw Zeeshan already seated there, with Chekov and Anton both standing a step behind him. Mihir pulled a chair for her to sit and stood right behind her.
“Shall we begin?” Mihir said, his voice a stoic reminder of why he was considered one of the most dangerous men on the planet.
He pressed a button on a remote, and the screen across from them came to life. A tap on his phone, and the text messages he’d claimed had come to him from her phone were displayed on the screen.
“Do you remember these?” Mihir asked.
Zeeshan gulped. Seeing the despair on his face, Ananya felt her heart break all over again. He’d been one of her closest friends.
“That day,” she began, her eyes fixed on Zeeshan, “I returned from my mini vacation with Mihir, and I remember you were planning on moving out of my house. I must have surely mentioned to you that my sisters were running late, didn’t I?”
“Ananya…” Zeeshan began.
“I’m not done talking,” she snapped.
Zeeshan’s eyes filled with remorse. It didn’t affect her. What he had done to her was unforgivable.
“I remember going for my Pilates class, and then I turned around, took my car, and went to Kent myself to look for Mihir’s ring. What I don’t remember is leaving my phone behind, though it makes the most sense.” She looked at Mihir. “Do you remember how it annoyed you when I did that?”
Mihir nodded. “And you did it so often. I hated not being able to contact you.”
She turned to Zeeshan. “What I am getting surer of is that you took my phone and sent those messages to Mihir. Which means you must have known my passcode. It also means you must have been reading all my conversations each time I left my phone behind. What I don’t understand is why you were snooping into my life?”
Zeeshan stayed silent, not saying anything.
“Why, Zeeshan?” she asked. “Why did you do it? You were one of the most important people in my life. You know how much I doted on you, and I trusted you.”
The other man continued to stare at her, not saying anything.
“Answer her,” Mihir ordered, his tone harsh, his face brutal.
Zeeshan looked down at his hands. “You had an easy passcode—1209, your birthdate. You never bothered being discreet every time you unlocked your phone. But I swear I never snooped into your phone before.”
“I don’t believe you,” Ananya said, feeling tired.
“No, that was the only time I took your phone,” Zeeshan stressed. “I was desperate.”
“Why?” Ananya asked. “You lived rent-free in my house for weeks. You ate my food for free. Why the fuck were you desperate?”
“Because I owed money to some people…” Zeeshan said. “I… I used to go to those parties…”
“Which ones?” Ananya squinted. “We partied together all the time.”
“The ones you refused to come to,” he said. “I started doing drugs with the crowd there. Eventually, I developed an addiction, and soon, I couldn’t pay for my drug habit.” He looked at Mihir. “The people I owed money to started hounding me. The day before you returned from your break, they found me at a party and hurt me badly.”
Ananya frowned. “I don’t recall you having any wounds.”
Mihir touched her shoulder. “There are hundreds of ways to hurt someone without making it visible.”
Her jaw fell. Mihir squeezed her shoulder, and she shrugged his hand off her. She didn’t want comfort from him.
She turned to Zeeshan. “Go on.”
Zeeshan rubbed a shaking hand down his face. “The next morning, before you got home, the same people called me and told me that they knew someone willing to pay off my debts as long as I did something for them.”
Ananya narrowed her eyes at him. “They wanted you to get Mihir and me to break up?”
“No, actually they wanted me to ensure that Mihir reached some place alone. I told them that he would never listen to me. I begged them to let me off, but they were relentless.” He looked at Mihir. “I knew you weren’t fond of me. But they didn’t give me a choice. Either I did as they said, or they’d kill me.”
Zeeshan looked at his hands, then back at Mihir. “Ananya came home that day looking so happy. She told me she was going to introduce you to her family, and she was so excited. Then she got a call that her sisters were running late. So, she went for her Pilates class and I realized she’d left her phone behind. It felt like a sign. I took the phone and opened her messages to you.”
Ananya gasped. “Oh God.”
She knew exactly what had happened next.
“Finish it.” She slapped her hand on the table. “I want you to look me in the eye and tell me how you ruined my life.”
He gulped. “I learned how the two of you had gotten married a few days back. That the Kent house was where you’d honeymooned. I read how Mihir was looking for his ring, and I got just what I needed. I messaged him from your phone, telling him to go to Kent to look for the ring. In his previous messages, he had even sent you a location pin to the house. I forwarded it to those men and ensured Mihir reached there at the time they wanted him to. Then I deleted all the messages from your phone. But then, Mihir sent a text saying that he’d crossed your car near the house in Kent. I was so afraid my plan would backfire. So, I replied to him from your phone again, telling him to go ahead and wait in the house. I didn’t know that they would hurt Mihir. I didn’t know…”
“You didn’t know?” she yelled. “You knew exactly what you were doing. We were friends . You could have told me about your money problems. I would have helped you. We could have figured things out. You needn’t have done what you did. I thought Mihir had died. You saw how devastated I was! You consoled me, and yet you kept quiet . How could you? ”
“I could never have told you, Ananya,” Zeeshan said. “You were quite a straight arrow. You would never have been friends with me or allowed me to stay in your house if you knew I was into drugs.”
From beside her, she could see Mihir’s fists clenching and unclenching. The actions of this one man had changed the entire course of their lives.
Mihir addressed Zeeshan, “That’s why you wanted her to go to those parties with you, isn’t it? You were already doing drugs, and she was a rich girl. You were hoping to entice her into joining you. Getting her hooked on drugs would have fed your habit too, isn’t it? You were a fucking free loader, after all.”
Her heart clenched with pain.
Zeeshan’s face filled with guilt. “I tried, but she never agreed to come. And then she met you and stopped hanging out with us. She was always with you.”
A thought suddenly crossed her mind. “What about Devina? Was she also involved in this? I remember she was always at those parties with you.”
Zeeshan shook his head. “She did drugs very occasionally. She wasn’t addicted like I was. The months she was late in paying her rent was because she’d spent more on drugs the previous month. She’s innocent in all this.”
“My instincts kept warning me about Devina and you,” Mihir said. “I wish I had acted upon them then. If I had, then…”
Ananya cut him off to ask, “Why did you send Mihir those messages saying my sisters were being held captive?”
“Because he resented me!” Zeeshan yelled. “He almost never spoke to me, and when he did, he was rude and condescending. I had a suspicion why those men were calling him there. It was obvious they had a bone to pick with him and needed him to be off his guard. It was my only chance to take advantage of his vulnerability. I figured those men were going to hurt him physically, and I decided to hurt him emotionally.”
“Oh God.” Ananya stood on shaky legs and leaned on the table. “Mihir has hated me for years because he thought I sent him to die. Because he thought I chose my sisters over him. Your lies destroyed us.”
Violence raged through her. She wanted to kill Zeeshan for what he’d done to them. Seeing her shaking, Mihir pushed her back into the chair. He leaned forward to look at her.
“I’m fine,” she snapped. Turning to Zeeshan, she said. “You’re a fucking monster.”
Zeeshan shut his mouth, looking down at his hands.
“I always knew you were a loser. I never imagined you’d be so vile,” Mihir said. “I wish I’d managed to convince her to get rid of you.”
Zeeshan alternated his gaze between Mihir and her. “When I saw him at your office, Ananya, I hoped that you both were back together. Even after you told me that wasn’t the case, I hoped you would reconcile.”
“Sure, that’s easy for you to say,” Ananya stormed. “You’re not the one who’s lived with the trauma and uncertainty for seven long years.”
“I’m sorry, Ananya,” Zeeshan whispered. “I’m really sorry. After I heard that Mihir had died, I mended my ways. I blamed myself for what happened to him. I got better. I’ve been clean for years now.”
“None of that matters anymore,” Ananya said tiredly. Her head was starting to hurt now.
“What do you want to do with him?” Mihir asked Ananya. “I can make him disappear. I can hurt him for hurting you.”
“Us… he hurt us .”
Zeeshan shrank in fear. “Please, I really didn’t mean to?—”
“—Shut up!” Ananya snarled.
She looked at Mihir. His expression was stern; his eyes hard. She knew he meant what he said. One word from her, and the world would forget that Zeeshan ever existed.
She shook her head. “Let him go. I don’t care.”
Mihir shook his head. “No evil deed goes unpunished, Anna. Either you choose his punishment, or I will.”
She stared at Zeeshan. He was trembling now. She caught Mihir’s hand. “Just let him go, Mihir. I’ve had enough.”
Mihir’s fingers wrapped around hers, warming her tired heart. Annoyed with herself, she tugged her hand out of his.
Mihir spoke in rapid Russian to his men. She heard him say Ivan’s name a couple of times. Of course, he’d want to find out how Ivan had been involved in the attack on him. Perhaps Zeeshan could give those long-sought answers. Right now, however, she just wanted to go home.
Mihir faced Zeeshan. “My men will ask you some questions about who contacted you and who your suppliers were in London. Answer them truthfully, and they will let you go, because that’s what she wants. But I want you out of Dubai. You have twenty-four hours to pack up and leave. I don’t want you living in the same city as her.”
Ananya stood. Without giving Zeeshan a chance to say a word, she walked out of the conference room. Visuals from the past flashed through her mind at a dizzying speed. At one time, Zeeshan was such an integral part of her life. So were Asha and Devina. And while Zeeshan had insisted that Devina was innocent, Ananya did not trust him any more to let her off the hook. She decided that, at some point, she would talk to Devina. She needed to confront her about the past, and how she’d abused Ananya’s friendship. Just not today. Her mind was already full to the brim after the news of her pregnancy and Zeeshan’s admission.
Mihir followed her into the elevator. Her head was all over the place. Exhaustion fell heavily upon her. The truth of the past was finally out, its turbulences finally laid to rest.
Now, she had to think about the future. Her hand curved protectively over her belly. This baby was her future, and she needed to think what was best for the baby first.