AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No,” he screamed, “Leave her alone. She hasn’t done anything.”
The man advanced forward. Vihaan recognized him to be one of the bodyguards who followed Pritam Luthra everywhere. He took a menacing step toward Avi and she shrunk back, shaking her head, struggling against the men holding her.
“Dev…stop him please,” Avi begged. “Please don’t…”
The man removed a knife and Vihaan’s entire body went cold.
“Dev.” Pritam beckoned him with a finger and he went to his father. The bastard just left Avi alone at that awful man’s mercy.
“Hold her still,” the man ordered and Avi’s captors tightened their hold on her, now making it difficult for her to even struggle.
Horror pulsed through Vihaan. He twisted against the ropes binding his hands, but he couldn’t move. The man nicked the side of Avi’s neck and she screamed.
Aaryan yelled along with her. Tears fell down Vihaan’s cheeks as he helplessly watched Avi’s skin being sliced open.
He promised himself that if, by some stroke of luck, they survived the next few minutes then he’d make it his mission to get his siblings out of here. But one thing he knew now beyond doubt.
For the rest of his life, if they survived, none of them would ever be the same again. They would carry the burden of this day and this moment forever.
But first, they had to get out alive.
1
12 years later
Dubai
Vihaan Rajpoot ran on the treadmill, his steps light and quick. He gazed down the floor-to-ceiling window in front of him, staring at the beautiful landscape of Dubai city spread below, glittering under the morning sun. To his right, the majestic Burj Khalifa rose as a gigantic mammoth, its glass façade reflecting like a huge mirror. This view never failed to impress upon him that this was his reality now.
He increased the speed, running faster. Sweat poured off every inch of his skin, running in rivulets down his overly long hair, his calves burning with the fast pace, but he welcomed the pain.
The pain reminded him that he was alive. That his family and he had gotten out alive from the ordeal they’d all suffered. They’d survived. They’d escaped from India and found salvation in Dubai, the city they now called home.
They’d been safe for years, hiding, untilhehad found them again.
Dev Luthra—his family’s worst nightmare and his sister, Avi’s sinner—had recently moved base to Dubai. Dev was hunting for Avi, as Vihaan well knew. But now it had been two months since Vihaan or his brothers had heard anything about him. Dev had gone radio silent. He hadn’t been seen or heard of in weeks. Aaryan, Vihaan’s twin and older to him by ten minutes, had been keeping a discreet eye out on Dev. Aaryan had spies everywhere but so far, no one had anything to report on Dev or his whereabouts.
Even their younger brother, Shaurya, had heard zilch. Shaurya’s wife, Myra, used to work with Dev at one time as his head legal consul. Even though she’d explicitly cut off all ties with Dev now, she’d also tried to find out about his whereabouts through some old colleagues but had found nothing. Her ex-colleagues had been too tight-lipped, adding to the mystery.
Was Dev in town or had he left? And if he had, then why? It made no sense. Vihaan’s instincts had been tingling since days, roaring at him that something was afoot and that most likely, Dev was behind it. But what?
A hand pushed the emergency stop button on his treadmill and the machine came to a sudden standstill.
Vihaan grabbed a hold of the sidebars, breathing hard. He looked sideways and found his brothers standing next to the treadmill, watching him.
“What the hell, guys?” Vihaan sputtered, gasping for breath. “Can’t you see I was working out?”
Aaryan threw a towel at him.
“Get dressed. We need to talk,” he announced. He pivoted to walk out of the room before he returned and glared at him. “Cut your hair. It’s beginning to annoy the life out of me.”
Vihaan pushed his long hair off his forehead. Aaryan was right; his hair had grown too long. It framed the sides of his face, touching his jaw and falling into a straight line at his nape.
Finding Aaryan’s annoyed gaze on him, Vihaan smirked. “Not happening. I love my long locks.”
Aaryan looked heavenward before exiting.
“Don’t you just love testing his patience,” Shaurya said.
