Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter
Thirty-Three
The last time Naina had set foot in a nightclub, she’d called herself Naina Stark.
Now, here in Bangalore, the loud electronic beats and thumping bass echoed from inside.
Tejas paid the hefty entry charge (that AKC would cover, thankfully) and they flashed their IDs at the bouncer, Naina’s head already pounding.
Was there a magic switch that had flicked on when she’d turned thirty?
Because damn it, this wasn’t music, this was pure noise.
Why couldn’t Sandhya have been an introverted young woman who spent her weekends at a bookstore café?
They entered the cramped nightclub, full of writhing, dancing, horny people, and a memory flashed through Naina’s head—Tejas’s neon-painted hands all over her, his lips on her neck.
She blinked the dangerous memory away. There was no room in her mind for anything except the case. Her heart, on the other hand…
No. Shut up, she commanded herself. Think about something else. Anything else.
A drunk man shoved past her, pushing Naina backward into Tejas. She gasped at the proximity, at Tejas’s heady scent invading her nostrils amid the stench of smoke and liquor in the room. “You okay?” Tejas said, his lips near her ear.
She nodded against his shoulder, her breathing still shaky, and he wrapped a muscular arm around her. “Stay close to me, okay?” he said, leading her to the bar, where it was thankfully quiet.
Naina flagged down a bartender and ordered two bottles of ginger ale.
No way would they risk getting drunk when the stakes were this high.
They sipped their drinks and surveyed the place.
Naina scrunched her eyes to see past the pulsating red and blue and green lights.
Everyone in the crowd seemed so…young. Presumably, they were all rich kids with millionaire parents, trust funds, and hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers.
But Sandhya Gowda was nowhere in sight. Nor were her influencer besties, all of whose faces and names Naina had memorized earlier that evening.
“She might be on the dance floor,” Tejas said. “Let’s head there?”
Naina took a big gulp of ginger ale and stared up at him.
Dancing with Tejas wasn’t just risky; it was dangerous.
She might have been entirely in her senses, but just standing next to him, looking at his tensed muscles beneath his shirt and the slight pout of his full lips, with that goddamn cologne in the air—it took everything in her not to pull him in, touch her mouth to his, and re-create that moment in Goa.
But they needed to find Sandhya, and fast. Naina swallowed back her fears and nodded, setting her bottle down.
She let him pull her through the crowd to the dance floor until all she could sense was bright lights, torturously loud music, and…
Tejas’s broad chest brushing against hers.
His hands rested near her waist, barely grazing her skin beneath her crop top, his mouth in a hard line, his eyes fixed on a spot one foot over her head.
He was maintaining his distance, and rightfully so.
Naina had set her boundaries, and Tejas had set his own. And she would respect them.
No matter how irresistible he looked tonight in that collared yellow shirt and the same blue jeans she’d peeled off him only last night, his curly hair begging to be tousled and gripped—
Tejas took Naina’s hand and spun her so she was facing away from him.
Her lips parted when he pulled her taut against his hips, his fingers resting firmly on her skin now.
Naina closed her eyes, trying to quell the agony that throbbed low in her belly, but Tejas’s rumbly voice in her ear jarred her back to the present moment. “There she is.”
Naina sucked in a breath. Sandhya stood mere feet away from them, swaying unsteadily to the electronic music with some friends, a pink cocktail in her hand. Clearly, that wasn’t her first drink of the night.
“Should we…” Naina said, jutting her head forward.
“No. You see those three dudes there?”
That was when Naina noticed the burly men in unassuming T-shirts and jeans standing close to Sandhya and the girls, their faces grim. Bodyguards, Naina realized with a lurch.
Tejas turned her around so they were facing each other again, then he bit his lip. “The only way we could intercept Sandhya is if she went to the ladies’ room.”
“She’s way too drunk,” Naina argued, leaning closer so she was audible. “They wouldn’t let her go anywhere alone. But maybe if the bodyguards were distracted?”
“So what’s our plan?” he said testily. He spun her around again, and Naina noticed two of the girls looking at her—no, at Tejas—before he pulled her back into his arms.
Slowly but surely, an idea formed in Naina’s head, one that made her stomach squirm. She didn’t know if it would work, or if it was even plausible, given how closely she’d been dancing with Tejas for the past five minutes, but she had to try. They had to try.
“You have to go up to the girls,” Naina whispered in Tejas’s ear. “Act flirty, dance with them, distract the bodyguards while I talk to Sandhya.”
Tejas’s face went green, and he jerked his head back like he was revolted. “They’re kids, Naina.”
“They’re old enough to drink, and besides, you’re only acting. Please,” she added when Tejas still looked dubious. “Those girls have been checking you out since we got here. This is our best chance.”
His mouth puckered as he considered the plan. Then he nodded. “Fine. I’ll do it. Wish me luck.”
Naina stepped away from him, giving him a tense smile, and walked to the periphery of the dance floor. She leaned against the rather sticky wall—ugh, gross—half out of sight from the dance floor, as Tejas made eye contact with one of the girls, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
Tejas was a pretty good actor, Naina surmised from his easygoing, carefree stature when he approached the group of girls.
The way he winked at one of them who had pink hair, then laughed when she said something to him.
Naina noticed Sandhya’s body stiffen at the sight of him.
Sandhya must have recognized him from that day at the Jagan Mansion.
To Tejas’s credit, he only briefly smiled at her before returning to the girl he was talking to, who was now twirling a lock of her hair around her finger.
Wow, she’s really playing up her charm, Naina thought bitterly, folding her arms as the young woman swatted Tejas’s biceps, giggling, before letting him spin her around.
Tejas must have sensed Naina staring at him from across the dance floor, because their gazes met. His expression softened, and he flashed his dimple for a split second, until the woman put her arms around him and he resumed dancing with her, pretend-laughing again.
A trickle of heat ran down Naina’s back as Tejas shuffled closer to two more of the girls.
They flanked him, throwing their hands in the air giddily, and the three bodyguards stepped into the circle, wearing matching glares.
Sandhya, meanwhile, was on the edge of the group, her brow knit.
She was probably wondering why the hell Preethi’s lawyer was flirting with her twenty-one-year-old friends.
It was showtime. Naina caught Sandhya’s eye while the bodyguards weren’t looking, then subtly tipped her head toward the bathroom in the corner. Sandhya’s mouth fell open, then she whispered something to the bodyguard closest to her. He nodded, folding his hands behind his back.
Sandhya moved forward in the direction of the bathroom, her bodyguard on her heels. You’ve got this, Naina told herself, then walked over to the ladies’ room, pushing the door open and stepping inside.
With this being a high-end celebrity nightclub, the bathroom was massive, with a mirror hanging over each of the four sinks, five stalls, two of which were occupied, and an attendant who stood in the corner, bowing her head when Naina smiled at her.
Damn, there were too many people here for them to have a proper conversation.
Naina washed her hands at the sink glumly.
So much for this plan. She was thinking she probably ought to get Tejas away from the girls before one of the bodyguards lost his cool, when the door swung open and Sandhya walked in.
Wordlessly, she took the basin next to Naina’s, fluffing up her hair and retouching her lipstick. Their eyes met in the mirror, and Naina opened her mouth, wondering how to broach the topic as two more women entered the bathroom.
“I like your lipstick,” Naina said quickly. “Which shade is that?”
Sandhya paused. She looked at the other women, all minding their own business, then said, “Lady Danger, from MAC. But honestly, it would look horrible with your skin tone.”
Naina sucked on her teeth. Wow. She hadn’t expected that. “Um, thanks, I guess?”
“This other shade will suit you,” Sandhya said.
She reached for a paper towel from the box, and then, with trembling hands, she wrote something on it with the lipstick.
“It’s exclusive to the MAC store at the Nexus Mall.
Here’s their info.” She folded the tissue, then gave it to Naina and left the bathroom without another word.
Naina’s hands shook as she smoothed out the paper.
It said: Tues 4 a.m. behind Nexus Mall. Sandhya unfortunately hadn’t listed her phone number underneath, but this was still progress.
Naina held herself back from pumping her fist in the air.
She slipped the tissue into the pocket of her jeans and returned to the dance floor.
Tejas was dancing by himself in the corner, his eyes anywhere but on the young girls, and he looked positively disgusted. “Hey,” he said hurriedly when she tapped him on the shoulder. “Did it work?”
Naina tugged on his arm. “Yes. Let’s get out of here.”
They paid for their ginger ales, and when the cold November breeze ruffled Naina’s hair, she nearly melted into the street with relief. “Thank fucking God,” she said, letting her eyes close. “That was terrifying.”
Tejas chuckled weakly beside her.
“You okay?” Naina asked, frowning at him.
He tugged on his collar, his face still greenish. “While you were gone, that pink-haired girl I was dancing with got a little too close for comfort. She grabbed my face and tried to kiss me.”
Jealousy pounded through Naina’s veins. “Oh,” she said, her voice high-pitched. She cleared her throat and added, “I’m surprised the bouncers didn’t rough you up.”
Tejas gave her a weird look. “I pushed her away before anything could happen. I don’t want to kiss anyone but y—” His chest heaved, rising and falling, and then he ran his fingers through his curls. “Never mind. What did Sandhya say?”
Naina ignored the fluttering in her belly and showed him the note. “It’s an odd hour of the morning, but maybe that’s the only time she can sneak out to meet us?”
“Tuesday, four a.m….” Tejas rubbed his chin. “That’ll be the third day of the trial. Unless the judge makes her decision by Monday.”
“She won’t,” Naina insisted, grabbing his arm to emphasize her point.
“We’re going to win this. We’re so close to winning it, I can…
” She paused when Tejas’s molten eyes fell to her hand curving around his forearm.
His mouth parted, his tongue flicking out to lick his lower lip, and he met her gaze.
Just as Naina thought he would close the distance between them and kiss her, putting an end to the unbearable tension from the dance floor, he took two steps back, and she released his arm from her hold.
“It’s late,” Tejas said sharply. “I’ll call an Uber. You have your car?”
“Parked across the street,” Naina said. “I could drop you home—”
“No, I…” He lifted his head up to the night sky, his eyes scrunching. “I need to be alone. Let’s touch base tomorrow. We still have to figure out if the hate account is linked to the real killer.”
“Yeah, all right.” Naina shuffled her feet and let out a silent sigh. “I’d better get going.”
Tejas walked her to her car, and once she was behind the wheel with her seat belt fastened, he waved his fingers at her. “Get home safe,” she called out through the open window.
“You too,” he said. “Text me when you’re home.”
With a nod, Naina pulled onto the main road, her thoughts scrambled.
Thank God they’d managed to get to Sandhya without raising any alarms. Naina’s plan had worked well, although the mental image of Tejas spinning that girl around still made her nauseous.
They were close to a breakthrough in the case; Naina could feel it.
All that remained was why Sandhya had tried to visit Preethi in jail—and what her father might have to do with the murder.