Chapter 38 #2
Armaan continued his story. He told her how their lives had changed from that day on.
How Alexander had adopted them, cared for them, given them an education, and taught them to survive in the world.
And on his death, he’d left them his entire estate and all his material possessions.
Now, they all ran Alexander’s huge business, O-Corp, together.
Armaan ran O-Diamonds and Vedant headed O-Oil.
Mihir was in charge of O-Energy, and was also the Managing Director of the O-Corp group.
They were who they were thanks to Alexander.
He then filled her in on their problems with Alexander’s nephew, Ivan—how he had tried to hurt all of them, including the women they loved, and how they had finally taken him down.
Sabrina was overjoyed and filled with relief for her brothers.
Mihir squeezed her fingers. “We never gave up on finding you, you know? We left our contact details with the staff in the orphanage, requesting them to reach out in case you ever called or returned.”
Her chest filled with warmth. They hadn’t given up on her even when they believed she’d betrayed them.
“A few months back,” Mihir continued, “our old caretaker from Rishikesh contacted us and told us that Dorab had returned to Rishikesh without you. He also told us that Dorab was telling people that he hadn’t seen you in years.
We knew then that he had tricked you or hurt you.
Luckily for us, Dorab was broke and desperate for quick money.
That made it easy for us to draw him out.
We spread the word that the orphanage had a wealthy benefactor willing to leave a million dollars to a deserving orphan. We made sure the rumor reached him.”
Mihir’s expression hardened. “Like a dog chasing a bone, he went straight to the orphanage management—exactly as we’d planned.
The condition was simple: to claim the money, he’d have to come to London.
We even arranged the funds for his travel.
And he believed every word. That’s how we got him to us.
He told us how he’d lured you to Delhi and sold you to his boss. We also learned that you’d run away.”
“But we couldn’t trust that evil bastard,” Armaan said.
“He refused to tell us who his boss was. And we weren’t sure whether you were still with his boss or you’d truly escaped.
So, we let him return to Delhi and kept our people on his tail.
Sure enough, he returned to Delhi, and that’s when we learned about JD, and that you’d actually escaped them. ”
“We’ve been searching for you ever since,” Vedant said quietly. “We got an old picture of you from Mrs. Braganza and used AI to generate an image of how you’d look today. We’ve been searching for you for months now.”
“And then Aditya came to Dubai,” Armaan said. “He told Ananya about you. He showed your picture to her. Ananya recognized you when Mihir showed her the AI image. And here we are.”
She smiled. Aditya was the reason she was reunited with her brothers. He truly was a gift that she’d ignored for too long. But not anymore. A question lingered in her mind, though.
“About Dorab…” she began. “Where is he? You said on the phone that he won’t be a problem anymore. What does that mean?”
“He’s dead,” Mihir said, flatly. “As is Mrs. Braganza.”
Her jaw dropped. “Oh God.”
“Unfortunately for us,” Mihir sighed, “Ivan also learned about you and that we were searching for you. He killed Mrs. Braganza because he figured she was important to us. He got Dorab killed, and then he tried to get in touch with JD to get information about you. We learned that JD apparently isn’t interested in you, and he refused to work with Ivan. ”
She exhaled a heavy sigh of relief. Dorab was no more. He could never find her and hurt her again.
“For too long, I’ve lived in fear that Dorab would find me and hurt me or Ahaan.
I’m so glad he’s gone now,” Sabrina said.
She looked at her brothers. “However, I ran into JD at a cricket stadium recently. He literally bumped into me, but he didn’t seem to recognize me.
Imagine the coincidence and my shock at seeing him.
I was so paralyzed by fear that I didn’t even stop to think that perhaps JD would never recognize me.
I mean, he met me for fifteen minutes tops, fourteen years ago.
He’s a dangerous man and runs a pleasure den.
He must have met enough women over the years.
Why would he remember a simple girl like me? ”
The weight of all the fears she’d carried for too long fell away, making her feel lighter than she ever had.
“Dorab was the only one who could have identified me. But he’s gone now.
And since JD didn’t recognize me, I doubt he even remembers who I am.
I can finally live my life freely without hiding. ”
Her brothers smiled at her.
“Still, we need to be careful,” Mihir said. “Once you return to India, we want to put some security around Ahaan and you, for some time at least.”
She agreed immediately.
“Tell us about Ahaan now,” Armaan said. “Show us a picture.”
Grinning, she showed them pictures of him on her phone. They were so curious about him and promised to come to India soon to meet him. Sabrina thanked her brothers again, her heart full with the feeling of freedom after all the years of hiding.
Armaan gave her a wide smile. “My only regret in this whole thing is that I didn’t kill Dorab myself. Torturing him wasn’t enough.”
Her eyes widened. Mihir said something in a different language to Armaan. It sounded like he was admonishing him. Armaan immediately looked contrite and replied to him in the same language. It sounded like...
“You speak Russian?” she gasped. “That’s amazing.”
“Is that the first thing you’re going to say after Armaan’s outburst?” Vedant asked, studying her carefully.
She frowned, and then her brow cleared. “Oh, you mean what he said about torturing and killing Dorab?”
Armaan looked at his hands. She lifted his jaw up. “I’m never going to judge you for what you’ve done in life to reach where you have. That was your journey, and the path you had to walk. And I’m glad you hurt that bastard. I wish you’d hurt him more.”
They all laughed.
She studied each of their faces. “We’ve been apart for so long. Let’s not spend the remainder of our lives hiding behind careful words or walls. You don’t need to hold anything back from me, ever. I love you all, no matter what.”
“You’re still as kind as ever,” Vedant said.
“And you’re still as quiet as ever,” she said softly.
Vedant had been too quiet as a child, too, and she could see that hadn’t changed about him. He’d stayed silent throughout her conversation with her brothers.
“Oh, he only likes to talk to Reina,” Mihir said. “He’s talking nonstop to her always. It’s a side of him he hides from us.”
“I’m sure Reina will tire of him in a few years,” Armaan said with a devilish smile.
Vedant glared at him. “Fucker, why don’t you tell her how you’re always tongue-tied around Navya?” His bespectacled gaze landed on Mihir, and he pointed a finger at him. “And you? We just have to address Ananya as Anna, and that’s all it takes to get you all worked up.”
“Anna?” Sabrina queried.
Mihir immediately stiffened. Her brows shot up. Armaan and Vedant laughed. Sabrina stared at them, not quite understanding what was going on.
“The thing is…” Armaan began. “Only Mihir is allowed to call her Anna. And he’s fucking mental about it.”
She laughed. “I’m so glad you all are okay and happy.”
“And we are so glad you’re finally with us,” Mihir said.
“Today is a good day indeed,” Vedant said.
“Okay, enough sad talk!” Armaan raised a hand. “We need to address the elephant in the room. Aditya and you. Is it serious?”
“We’re friends…” she said, her words careful.
“Friends with benefits, you mean,” Vedant stated.
She blinked, feeling flustered.
“Don’t forget, we saw you wearing his shirt on the video call,” Armaan intoned naughtily.
Her throat worked, but she stayed silent.
“You can talk to us, you know…” Mihir said.
She couldn’t tell her brothers what she truly felt about Aditya, not until she’d told him first. He needed to hear that she loved him before she explained her feelings to her brothers.
Besides, they still had to talk about his mother.
With everything that had been going on, they hadn’t touched upon that concern yet, and that’s where all her hesitation lay.
Seeing her brothers waiting, she said, “This… Aditya and I… it’s too new.
I don’t know where we are headed. Somewhere good, I hope.
Besides, I have my son to think of. It’s not easy for a man to be with a woman who already has a child.
I mean, it won’t be easy for his family to accept us, and Ahaan is the most important person in my life. ”
Apart from accepting her, Aditya’s mother needed to accept Ahaan too. And while Aditya already loved Ahaan and her, he loved his mother as well.
“I’d rather not talk about Aditya and me at all, right now,” she said. “But when I’m ready, I will talk to you about it.”
“Why him, though?” Armaan groaned.
“Why not him?” she countered.
“He’s annoying!” Vedant muttered.
She glared at him. “He’s not. He’s great, actually.”
“You just said it’s too new,” Mihir said.
“Well, it’s new because we’ve finally worked through some things. I’ve told him about my past, all of it,” Sabrina said. “But we have a lot more to resolve.”
“Just remember, we’re here for you,” Mihir assured her.
“And we know how to make people disappear!” Armaan winked.
She chuckled. “It still amazes me how powerful my brothers have become. I’d never imagined you all like this when we were younger.”
“Yes…” Mihir sighed. “We’ve all had a very different journey than what we all imagined at one time.”
A tear escaped her eye and slipped down her cheek. “But we’re here now, exactly as we were meant to be.”