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“He wants us to go to him; it’s as simple as that,” Shaurya stated.
Vihaan raked a hand through his overly long hair, pacing around his living room. He sipped the green tea, allowing the warm liquid to soothe him. Dev Luthra had returned to Dubai to toy with his family. He’d already tried once to destroy their credibility by threatening them to out Shaurya’s real identity to the world and declaring him, and thus,KeyStonea fraud.
Shaurya was their adopted brother. He’d been someone else in another time, someone who Dev had not known about. After joining their family, Shaurya had changed his identity to become a part of them and to start afresh.
Yet Dev had found them through him—he was that determined to get to them.
But they’d thwarted his attempts by going public about Shaurya and themselves first. Until then, the world hadn’t known that Vihaan and Aaryan also ownedKeyStone. But thanks to Dev Luthra, they’d put themselves out in the open for the first time in twelve long years. However, they’d managed to continue keeping their lives private. Vihaan and Aaryan continued to remain out of the public eye and thus, hidden from Dev.
This, however, was yet another attempt by Luthra to isolate them, to ensure that they had none other than him to depend on. He was trying to get Vihaan and Aaryan to face him.
Vihaan wouldn’t allow that. He had to find a way to keep them all safe. He would not allow Dev to get to them.
“If only we hadn’t promised Avi to not touch that bugger, I’d have confronted him long back,” Vihaan growled. “He deserves to pay for all his sins.”
“That promise to Avi to leave him alone has been our biggest weakness,” Aaryan admitted.
Years ago, Avi had made them promise to stay away from Dev Luthra. To never seek him out, to never seek retribution from him, no matter what. When they’d taken that vow, they’d been weak, they had no money and had been on the run. But now, they were stronger, wealthier and had the means to face that vile man. They also had Shaurya on their side. They could take on Dev if they wished, yet they didn’t because Avi still held them to that vow.
He ran a quick gaze over the two men who were his biggest support, his confidantes, his everything. They sat side by the side on the sofa pondering their dilemma aloud.
Shaurya was dressed in smart casuals—a light blue shirt and dark denims. He had the face of a Greek God, chiseled and sharply structured, with unmissable grey-green eyes. He was so good looking that both men and women stared at him when he walked by. Shaurya didn’t share their blood, but he was bound to them by his heart. He was their brother in every sense that mattered. Vihaan was delighted to see how peaceful he looked, now that he’d married his old love, Myra Gupta. The darkness that had haunted Shaurya’s eyes for the longest had now disappeared completely.
Vihaan smiled, focusing on his twin, his other half. Looking at Aaryan always felt like he was looking into the mirror even though Vihaan was fair and Aaryan, older by ten minutes, had a slightly darker complexion. But they both shared the same angular jawline, sharp cheekbones and the dark eyes they’d inherited from their mother.
Light and darkness, his mother used to joke. And she’d been right, because their personalities matched that analogy, till date. On the outside, Vihaan was carefree, cheerful and full of life, whereas Aaryan was careful, meticulous and too serious for his own good. And Vihaan deliberately maintained that image. Only he knew how the darkness from that night followed him everywhere. It was inside him, seeped into his blood and invaded his dreams ever so often.
While Vihaan wore his customary white t-shirt over denims, Aaryan was in full black as usual. Black denims, black shirt and a black jacket, which was casually flung over an armchair. Aaryan was the one that held their family together. He was their backbone.
Vihaan’s brothers were his everything. The three of them were bound by their oath to protect this family and to keep Avi away from the devil named Dev Luthra.
“What’s happening on our assets in Shimla?” Vihaan asked the other two. “We’ve already come out and announced we are alive to the world. Why can’t we stake a claim on what’s ours now?”
After they’d been declared dead to the world all those years ago, the Luthras had claimed all of their assets and properties in Shimla. Their house, lands, factories, everything their father had owned was taken away by the late Pritam Luthra. And now his son owned it all.
“Knowing Luthra, we will have a lengthy legal battle on hand,” Shaurya, who was a financial wiz and a lawyer, explained. “I can start the process, but I need to know if that is what you both truly want. You will have to come face to face with him to fight this battle.”
Aaryan shook his head. “Not yet then. Not unless we convince Avi to move away from Dubai. And knowing her, she won’t.”
“I agree,” Vihaan said. “We will never force her to do what she doesn’t wish to. So, once again, we have to wait to stake a claim on what’s ours.”
Shaurya nodded.
“What about his sister?” Vihaan asked. “Is she in Dubai? What do your spies say, Aaryan?”
Aaryan lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “Sanjana Luthra was in Dubai but has vanished again. Clearly, Dev’s hell bent on keeping her hidden. It’s clear she is his weakness.”
“One we ought to make use of.”
“How? And why?” Aaryan asked. “Our fight isn’t with her. It never was with her. She was but a mere fourteen or fifteen when everything went down with us. She wasn’t even involved.”
“Nonetheless, once we know where she is, we can decide how to go on from there.”
Aaryan stared at him for a long second before he changed the subject. He took the names of several cement companies they ought to be considering working with and while Vihaan discussed more options of what they ought to do, Shaurya had suddenly gone too silent. He stared into his coffee mug, saying nothing.
“What is it, Shaurya?” Vihaan checked. “Is everything okay?”
Aaryan immediately straightened. He addressed Shaurya. “What’s wrong?”
