Chapter 2
Dev
What the hell!
When I stepped into the guest house to drag Veer out of whatever drunken mess he’d created this time, I didn’t expect her—the woman who would knock the breath right out of my lungs.
I don’t know what the fuck set my heartbeat off.
Whether it was the way she glared at me with those brown eyes, or the way her soft brown hair framed her face, lending innocence to every delicate feature on her beautiful face.
And her skin… it catches the light as if kissed by the sun: warm, smooth, tugging at something deep beneath my ribs, enough to make my hands itch.
And when my gaze drops to her lips, it only makes my dilemma worse as I notice how pink and kissable they are.
Dammit. I’ve had my share of women. Stunning ones. Confident ones. The kind whose beauty turns heads. But none of them have ever made my pulse race the way she does.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
I’ve always prided myself on control. Over my emotions, over people, over every situation that would make others falter. So why the hell am I standing here, staring at a woman I’ve known for all of five minutes, feeling something that comes dangerously close to weakness?
“Bro!” Veer’s voice snaps me back to reality, and I forcibly drag my gaze away from her and look at my brother.
“This asshole dared to put his hands on me!” Veer hisses, his hand pressing against his split lip.
A cold surge of anger rips through me as I glare at the man who thought it was a good idea to touch my brother. But the bastard has the nerve to glare right back at me. My hands curl into fists at my sides. He needs to get the message. Nobody lays a hand on my loved ones and walks away easily.
“Yes,” the asshole says coolly, “and you deserved it because you hurt my friend.”
Friend?
My eyes flick back to her instinctively.
Just the thought of Veer laying a hand on her sends my pulse into overdrive, fury crashing through me so hard I forget he’s the one bleeding.
Logic slips away, drowned out by the blind, irrational feeling of protectiveness for her.
I open my mouth, but before I can say a damn word, Veer scoffs.
“Your friend was the one who made a move on me. What happened between us was consensual, not forceful.”
My jaw tightens, but my eyes refuse to leave her.
She’s involved with my brother?
That thought twists something dark and primal in my chest. Jealousy… possessiveness… whatever the hell it is, I don’t understand it. All I know is that it shouldn’t exist.
She’s supposed to be just another notch on my brother’s list, I tell myself, forcing my gaze away from her and back to the bastard. I take a slow step forward, planting myself squarely in front of him.
“Touch my brother again, and you’ll find out exactly how short your life can get,” I grit out, each word measured.
“Didn’t you hear me? Your brother hurt my friend,” he snaps back.
“And didn’t you hear the part where my brother said it was consensual and not forceful? Something your friend hasn’t denied.” I level him with a glare. “You fucking have no idea what you’ve started. So I suggest you get the hell off my property before I make you pay.”
Before the asshole can open his mouth, the woman who has my heart twisted into knots steps between us.
“Don’t you dare threaten us,” she says sharply. “One call, and the cops will be here.”
Standing at five-foot-three, looking so small before me, she awakens another alien emotion, but I push it aside and smirk down at her.
“Go on, call them. And make sure you pass along my regards. Every cop in this city knows exactly who the Rathores are, and none of them would be stupid enough to mess with us.”
And that’s the truth. We run half the city, and everyone bows to us. The police. The politicians. They listen without question, barely daring to argue when we give an order. Even our rivals think twice before crossing us.
“You’re right,” she shoots back. “Criminals like you are very good at using power to silence the police. But all that power, your fearmongering, your intimidation, only proves how truly pathetic you are.”
Fucking daring. It would take me a second, one damn second, to show her exactly what she’s messing with. Instead, I let out a slow breath and say evenly, “Careful. Your friend already did enough damage by raising his hand on my brother, and your mouth isn’t helping your case.”
“Well, I get that threats are a Rathore family trait. But let me make something very clear. They mean nothing to me. I’m not scared of you.
” She holds my gaze and adds, “Your brother hurt my friend. ‘Consensual’ or not, that doesn’t give him the right to use her and destroy her life like she’s a disposable commodity. ”
I blink, the words ‘my friend’ hitting me like a splash of cold water. For a second, everything inside me stills. The heat that had been raging through my veins drains away, and my heart finally steadies until it almost feels normal again.
She’s not the one involved with my brother.
My gaze shifts, and that’s when I finally see another girl standing just behind her, pale and shaken. How the hell did I not notice her before?
“Meera, let me handle this,” the asshole says from behind her, and she turns to him.
“No, Samarth. I’m doing this.” She spins back towards me, her eyes blazing.
“Do you even know what it felt like for my friend to walk into that hospital alone to get an abortion?” Her hands ball into fists.
“Do you know the shame your brother forced her to carry? Do you have any idea what it’s like to have a piece of yourself ripped away from you, to have your body go through hell, while for a man it’s nothing more than a game?
” Her voice cracks, then hardens. “So don’t you dare stand there and threaten us.
Your brother owes my friend more than an apology. ”
Her words slam into me like a punch straight to the gut.
Abortion?
Yeah, Veer and I… we’ve both lived recklessly. We both enjoy our time with women. And we’re no saints in other areas of life. Our hands are dirty with illegal things, and we bend the law. But getting a woman pregnant and walking away?
That’s not me.
It’s a line I’ve never crossed. A sacred rule drilled by my mother: always respect a woman. And it’s something I expect from my brother too.
My jaw ticks as my gaze snaps to Veer. He knows exactly what’s running through my head.
“She’s lying, bro,” Veer blurts, stepping up beside me.
His shoulders square, but there’s a flicker of panic in his eyes.
“Yeah, we hooked up a couple of times. I won’t deny that.
But that—” He jabs a finger towards the other girl.
“—I didn’t get her pregnant. She’s just trying to blackmail me for money. ”
I pull my gaze away from him and turn back to Meera. Her chest rises and falls, fury flashing in those stormy eyes.
“You heard my brother. You’ve got a misunderstanding here,” I say, defending my brother.
“A misunderstanding?” She laughs, a short, bitter sound that has no humour in it.
“You think this is some petty misunderstanding, Mr. Dev Rathore?” She steps closer, until her face is level with mine.
“Your brother got my friend pregnant.” Her mouth curves into a cold smirk.
“And you’re calling it a misunderstanding?
You Rathores are really fucking good at scrubbing your sins clean.
” She crosses her arms. “Tell me, Mr. Dev Rathore, how do you sleep at night after causing other people pain? How do you even live without a conscience?”
“Watch it,” I warn, my voice dropping into that low, lethal tone that usually makes people step back.
But she doesn’t. Instead, she lifts her chin.
“No one talks to me like that,” I say, tilting my head just a bit, letting her feel every ounce of the danger she’s provoking. “And before you start throwing accusations around like you’re some angel of justice…” I meet her glare head-on. “… make sure you’ve got the damn truth.”
“Oh, I know the truth,” she fires back, leaning in just a fraction. “What you can’t stand is that someone finally has the guts to call out your sins to your face.”
“Call it truth if you want, but your friend’s motivation is cash. Nothing more. Don’t dress it up as justice,” I reply with a deadly calm.
“My friend is not a liar. And she’s sure as hell not some mercenary,” she says, daring me to say otherwise.
“And if you don’t make your brother apologise, I swear, I will expose you all.
” Her voice doesn’t tremble. If anything, it sharpens.
“I’ll drag your names into the daylight and print every rotten thing you think you’ve hidden.
And I’ll make your brother wish he had never treated her like she was disposable.
” She lifts her chin a little higher. “Try me.”
“My brother will not apologise for something he hasn’t done.” My fists clench at my sides, the restraint in my muscles tighter than steel. “And if you think you can drag our name through the mud, then you’ve picked the wrong family to provoke. Try to expose us, and we’ll see who pays the price.”
The woman who’s been standing silently all this while finally steps forward. “Please, let’s go. I don’t want any apology, Meera. Please.”
Meera turns towards her, eyes softening for a moment. But before she can say anything, the woman gives her a small, pleading shake of her head.
“Let’s go, Meera,” Samarth adds quietly.
Meera glares at me one last time, then walks past me. Samarth follows close behind, and the other woman trails after them, her shoulders hunched.
I turn as they retreat, expecting that familiar rush, the satisfaction, the cold triumph that usually follows after I’ve handled a situation well. But it doesn’t hit. Instead, watching her walk away fills me with a hollow ache I can’t shake.
“You handled that well, bro,” Veer says from beside me.
I whip around so fast he almost flinches, the cocky smirk slipping right off his face.
I hold his gaze, my voice dropping low enough to scrape bone.
“I hope you’ve told me the truth. I trusted you when you said you didn’t get her pregnant.
Don’t make me regret that. Because if you’re lying, if there’s even a grain of truth in what she said, I swear to God, Veer, I’ll tear you apart myself. ”
“I didn’t lie, bro,” he says quickly, his hands coming up in defence. “I swear, I didn’t get her pregnant. She knew what it was. I used protection. She’s just trying to squeeze money out of me. You know how these women are. And you know me better than that, bro.”
“I do,” I nod after a beat, my eyes still on him. “Let’s go home.”
Veer exhales, his shoulders sagging in relief as he moves towards the door. I follow a step behind, but my mind, and my fucking heart, aren’t done. A tide of desire, dark and uncontrollable, churns inside me, and I can’t stop it from consuming every thought, every beat of my pulse.
Every part of me is fixed on her. Meera.