Chapter 33
33
Our very own Miss Butterfly has witnessed a firsthand altercation between this enigmatic Russian billionaire and an old flame. Fireworks, heated arguments, and the works. Looks like it’s curtains down on this relationship.
C urtains down? Nonsense. Mihir shut his phone. There were no ‘curtains down’ on his relationship with Anna. He entered his house, quickly changed, and went straight to his home gym. Working out always made him think better, and that was what he needed to do right now. He needed to think about how he could convince Anna that he really loved her and wanted to be with her. He wanted to make her understand that he wanted to be a part of their baby’s life.
He’d been born an orphan, without a father and mother. There was no way he’d let even a shadow of that fate touch his child. Initially, he’d been shocked to learn about Anna’s pregnancy. However, once the news had settled in, he felt ecstatic. He already loved this baby with all his heart. Now, only if she could understand that, then everything could be so much easier.
Anna was his. She always had been. Despite the misunderstandings between them, he had never stopped loving her. But how was he going to convince her of this irrefutable fact when Anna was so angry with him? And she’d cried. God, the sight of her tears had broken something inside him. He stretched his neck from side to side. He needed to resolve everything with her, and soon. He needed her by his side so that he could look after her and care for her.
His entire reality had changed in the last few days. That fucker Zeeshan was finally out of their lives for good. It was frustrating that Zeeshan had given them no valuable information about Ivan or the people who had ordered the attack on him. Putting this out of his mind for now, Mihir focused on his workout.
Half an hour later, his brothers entered their home gym. He dropped his weights. Dressed in their formal suits, they looked like they had come straight from work.
“Hi guys,” he greeted.
Mihir did not see Vedant’s fist flying his way. His face snapped to the right as pain erupted down his face.
“What the fuck was that for?” Mihir touched his jaw. “Are you out of your mind?”
Vedant swung his fist again. Mihir ducked right on time. But Armaan’s punch met his shoulder, sending him back a few steps.
“What is wrong with you both?” Mihir yelled.
“You got her pregnant?” Vedant shot back furiously. “And you’re married to her?”
They knew? He sighed. Of course, after the big reveal at Komobay, everyone must know.
“Was this your grand revenge plan all along?” Armaan roared. “We know that you stayed married to her for revenge, so don’t you dare deny it.”
“I’m not—” Mihir ducked as Vedant tried to strike him again. “Enough. Let me explain.”
“Explain?” Armaan shook his head. “The time for explanation is long over, brother. Do you know how mad Navya and Reina are? Do you know how mad we are?”
Tension crackled in the air as both his brothers advanced on him, their eyes narrowed to slits.
He held his hands up. “What happened to You’re the best brother we could have ever asked for ? You told me that only a few days back, and now you’re trying to punch me?”
“Exactly that. We never expected such cruelty from you ,” Vedant said. “I couldn’t believe my ears when Reina told me everything. I’m so ashamed of you.”
Armaan lunged at him. Mihir sidestepped the attack, his fist connecting with Armaan’s jaw. Armaan staggered back, his face contorting with rage.
“Will you just listen?” Mihir said.
“Fucking asshole!” Vedant charged at him. But Mihir was ready. He stretched his foot out, tripping Vedant. His brother fell face-down on the ground, but leapt back to his feet immediately.
“Can we stop this nonsense?” Mihir addressed both of them. “You guys need to let me explain.”
Armaan rushed at him at the same time as Vedant. But Mihir was prepared. He’d trained with both of them for years. He knew their moves, their weaknesses. He knew when to block; he knew when to strike. But they weren’t giving up. They were mad, so mad at him.
“Guys, please, let’s stop,” Mihir said. “I know you’re mad. But if you’ll just listen…”
Armaan’s punch hit his jaw, snapping Mihir’s head back, while Vedant’s fist connected with his torso. Armaan raised his fist to strike again.
“I love her,” Mihir yelled.
Armaan’s fist halted mid-air. He exchanged a look with Vedant. They both charged at him, all three of them going down on the mats in a tangle of flying limbs and fists. The sounds of fists slapping flesh, loud grunts, groans, and abuses echoed through the gym.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Rajiv’s loud voice multiplied the tension.
Mihir looked up, flinging Armaan to the side and pushing Vedant’s legs off of him. The three of them stood to face Anna’s fuming brother. Mihir wiped the blood from his upper lip, while Armaan straightened his tie and Vedant pushed his foot back into his shoe. So fucking embarrassing.
A loud chuckle from the entrance made Mihir look up. His blood boiled as his gaze zoomed in on Dev Luthra, watching Mihir and his disheveled brothers, looking highly entertained. Fucking bastard.
“Who the fuck invited you?” Mihir growled at Dev.
Dev arched a brow.
Rajiv answered, “I did.”
“He’s not on the approved guest list.”
Rajiv’s mouth tightened. “Are you saying I cannot bring a guest to your house? Dev was there when Ananya and you were arguing in his restaurant. He’s my friend, and so he called me, concerned.”
“Concerned?” Mihir scoffed. “Your friends are welcome with you, Rajiv. Just not the ones who call her Anna .”
“Is that relevant right now?” Rajiv asked. “Or can we address the fact that you married my sister seven years ago, got her pregnant now, and didn’t even have the decency to tell me either of these things? Where is your fucking honor?”
“Clearly, he has none,” Dev said.
“Shut up, Dev,” Armaan and Vedant said at the same time.
“You’re our friend, sure,” Armaan said. “But he’s our brother.”
“Of course, that explains why you were all brawling like fucking toddlers,” Dev commented.
“None of your business,” Armaan snapped.
“Stay out of it,” Vedant shot out.
“Enough.” Rajiv took a menacing step closer. Immediately, Armaan and Vedant stepped in front of Mihir, blocking Rajiv.
His chest filled with pride and love. Despite being mad at him, his brothers still had his back.
Rajiv glared at Armaan and Vedant. “Back off, or this will get ugly.”
“Please, let’s not make it ugly.” Armaan raised his hands to placate his brother-in-law. “I know you’re mad at him. So are we. But can we all talk like adults?”
Mihir pushed past his brothers to stand in front of Rajiv. When they tried to shove him behind, he said, “He has a right to be angry. So do you.”
“I made a mistake by sending Ananya to Moscow,” Rajiv stormed. “I had hoped that you both would clear the air. I expected Ananya to return either with the closure she deserved, or that the two of you would get back together again. Which scenario did you think I was hoping for?”
Rajiv’s revelation warmed his heart. His closest friend had hoped that he and Anna would reconcile. Really, he was lucky to have Rajiv as a friend.
Rajiv continued, “Don’t look so surprised. I wanted you both to get back together for her sake. She’s my sister, and I know that she has only ever loved you. She’s never even looked at another man after you, even in the years she thought you were dead. My parents recently suggested she try for an arranged marriage, but she resisted the idea.”
Mihir’s eyes went wide. “Your parents want her to get?—”
Rajiv’s answering glare was enough to shut him up. Anna’s parents only wanted her to be happy. But the thought of Anna with another man hurt. It felt like acid was being poured down his heart. He wouldn’t let it happen.
Rajiv took another step closer, a vein ticking in his jaw. “I trusted you not to hurt her. Yet, you sent her back from Moscow pregnant, and blamed her for something she never did. Now, I hear that you both have been married all along! And that you didn’t sign the divorce papers that you gave her. Why?”
“I love her…” Mihir said. “I’ve always loved only her.”
“Why should I believe that?” Rajiv asked. “For all I know, you’re staying married to her so that, once the baby is born, you’ll probably have the right to take the baby away from her, just because you’re the father.”
Shock made Mihir go still. “How could you think that of me?”
“It’s not me who thinks that,” Rajiv said. “Ananya does. That’s what she told Sheena and my sisters.”
A sting crawled down his throat. How could she even think he’d hurt her like that? How could she think he’d be so cruel? A loud voice in his head told him that he deserved this censure.
“Mihir wouldn’t do that,” Armaan said in Mihir’s defense. “Besides, that’s not even legally plausible.”
“Of course, I know that,” Rajiv said. “But Ananya is too distraught to think otherwise.”
“I swear I will make it up to her,” Mihir said. “I made a mistake. Let me explain.”
All the men stood silently, their gazes fixed on him as he told them everything, from where it all began, to where it all ended in Moscow, and then all the revelations from that asshole, Zeeshan.
By the time he was done, the silence had gotten heavier.
“If you loved her as much as you claim to,” Rajiv began, “then you should have trusted her not to hurt you.”
“In retrospect, yes, that is what I should have done. But the messages were from her phone, Rajiv,” Mihir said. “Would you not have been suspicious? I was injured and in hospital for days. When I finally came to, I was so damn angry. This fucking scar on my face—it was worse then—it made me angrier each time I saw it. I thought Anna had deceived me, that she had betrayed me.”
“We saw how the attack impacted him,” Armaan added. “Mihir was already not very outgoing, but after that incident and the scar, he refused to go out and interact with people.”
Vedant continued, “Once Mihir was slightly better, health-wise, our father announced that he’d adopted us. The media went crazy. Armaan and I stepped into the limelight to protect him. We forced him to go to therapy because he couldn’t stay secluded forever. It took him months to feel strong enough to go for a public outing. We suspected Mihir was involved with some girl in London, but he denied it outright when we asked him after the accident. Neither of us knew a thing about Ananya.”
Sadness crossed Armaan’s face. “Our father tried for a very long time to find out who had hurt Mihir. But Mihir never once told him or us anything about Ananya or what had actually happened on that fateful day. Mihir knew that if he so much as hinted at Ananya’s name, then Alexander wouldn’t have even waited to hear her out. He would have hurt her. So Mihir protected her, even though he had enough proof to believe that she had betrayed him in the worst possible way. We only got to know it was Ananya after she gatecrashed our yacht party four years ago.”
Rajiv shook his head. “You’re his brothers, and so, of course, you will defend him. But I know how devastated my sister was when she returned to Dubai after she heard she’d lost Mihir. She wouldn’t eat or sleep; she wept for weeks. Like him, she, too, had to seek therapy simply so she could move on and get back to some form of normalcy in her life. And then, when she heard you were alive, her world crashed all over again. So, I’m afraid, nothing you say will justify the fact that all this could have been prevented, if only Mihir had had the courage to speak to her.”
He pointed an angry finger at Mihir. “You hurt her, and you rejected her over and over. So now, if she wants to stay away from you, then you will leave her the fuck alone. Am I clear?”
“I’m afraid even you cannot make me do that,” Mihir replied. “She’s mine , and she’s carrying my baby. No one can keep me away from her.”
“Absolutely not,” Rajiv growled.
Dev, who’d been silent all along, placed a hand on Rajiv’s shoulder. “You cannot stop him, Rajiv. If he loves her, then he has to go after her.”
That vein ticking in Rajiv’s jaw jumped. “Are you siding with him too?”
Dev shook his head. “I understand where he’s coming from. You know my history with Avantika. You know I did what I did to protect her and her brothers all those years ago. They perceived everything I did to be wrong. They hated me for years, never once believing that I could have been on their side. But could you blame them? The situation back then was also the same as Mihir’s. He believed in his heart that the woman he loved had wronged him; let’s not forget he had proof too. All that happened afterward stemmed from that belief and those proofs. It’s very easy to say that he ought to have spoken to Ananya and clarified everything. But in reality, it isn’t. He was hurting. Regardless of everything, you must also consider that he couldn’t bring himself to sign the divorce papers and that he intended to fix things with her before he even knew the whole truth.”
To say Dev’s little monologue shocked Mihir was an understatement. The other man was actually defending him, without even knowing him. Against his initial annoyance with the man, he felt a tinge of respect for him.
“Thank you for your kindness,” Mihir said.
Dev nodded and continued to address Rajiv. “For twelve years, I lived not knowing that I have a son. But Avantika and I resolved our differences because we loved each other, despite everything. I think he, too, deserves a chance to make things work with the woman he loves.”
Rajiv sighed. The tension left his shoulders, and then, suddenly, he swung a fist and slammed it into Mihir’s jaw. Mihir staggered a step behind. Bloody hell, that hurt like the devil.
“What the fuck?” Armaan yelled.
“That was for getting my sister pregnant,” Rajiv stated.
“Did you really have to do that?” Mihir asked, rubbing his aching jaw.
“Yes. Thanks to you, I have the difficult task to explain to my parents about your situation with her, especially the marriage and the pregnancy.”
“No, I will talk to your parents,” Mihir said. “I created this situation; I will fix it.”
“Good, but you will do that only after Ananya tells them her news,” Rajiv said. “Am I clear?”
“Yes.”
“Now, we can talk about how you’re going to win Ananya back.”
“Yes,” Armaan chimed in. “We’ve all done stupid things before our women accepted us back into their lives. I’m pretty sure we can all come up with a way for you to get your Anna back.”
“Sure, on one condition, though,” Mihir said. “None of you calls her Anna.”
Vedant laughed. “Welcome to the club, brother. I was waiting for you to finally accept that you love her.”
Mihir managed a chuckle. They all went to the living room, where Armaan poured drinks for all the men. Mihir looked around the happy room. The men were all telling tales about how they’d made fools of themselves with their women and what they’d done to appease them. Seeing him silent, Dev raised his martini glass in a toast. Mihir lowered his chin in acknowledgement.
He was grateful to this man. Thanks to him, Rajiv and his brothers understood him better now. Hopefully, one day, Dev and he could even become friends, just like how Rajiv had once told him. But all that was for later. Right now, he needed to ensure Anna was back in his life, forever.