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His eyes widened. “You thought I looked like a bad boy?”
She lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “Looked, thought, believed in it too.”
“Why?”
“Please! You give off bad boy vibes all the time. What with all your sexy good looks, that confidence coming off you in waves, the string of women waiting to get a piece of you, and that attitude that screams,‘I have money and thus I can do what I want’. Yes, you’re definitely a bad boy.”
“You think I’m sexy and good looking?” he teased.
She rolled her eyes. “Me and all the women who are your regulars,Vi.”
He chuckled. “Yet you like me despite all that. Like bad boys, do you?”
“Well, since you’re clearly off limits, I suppose I’ll have to find myself another bad boy.”
“What?”
“I mean after we end this fake relationship,” she clarified. “I wasn’t going to find someone while being with you.”
“I know that,” he said quietly.
Heaviness settled in his chest because what she said was true. She couldn’t have him, which meant someday soon she’d actually find someone else. Some lucky bastard would get to listen to her funny cuss words and her entertaining chatter. God! How he wished things were different. But they weren’t. He was who he was and he was bound by his oath to put his family first always.
He stood and she lifted a broom to clean the mass of hair from the floor.
“I need to meet your dad,” he told her. “My brothers are after me to talk to him.”
She looked up. “Yeah, I understand. I’ll set up a dinner soon.”
“Message me, then?”
“Sure, I’ll figure out something.”
Before he could say anything else, she busied herself cleaning the floor. He walked out, picking up his jacket from the lawn. He turned around and saw Tiya through the window, her head resting against the long broom handle, looking defeated.
Sadness drenched him. This was the way it had to be. She was tough. She was bold and fearless. She’d get over this and him too. Looking away from her, he lifted his hand to hail a cab to his office. Just then, he spotted the same black car, which had been trailing Shaurya and Myra, parked behind Tiya’s car.
Since Vihaan had employed so much deception to move from one place to the other, he knew that no one was following him. However, they were clearly followingherto get to him.
Fuck! Rage flooded his mind. This was exactly why he needed to win the bet with Dev at all costs. He had to get that monster to go away, once and for all. Only then could everyone he cared for be safe.
18
Vihaan reached the stilt parking of his office building, fury still brimming in his veins. Even while he’d been in the cab, he’d tracked the car following behind him. He’d detoured to thePoseidonbuilding where he’d left his bike. The car had followed him right till he’d entered the lobby. Seeing the black car still parked outside when he’d zipped off on his bike had felt like a grand fuck-you to Luthra.
But for how long could he continue this deception? It was taxing as hell. He took off his helmet as he swiped his card on the elevator for the top floor where his office was.
While the location ofKeyStonewas public knowledge, no one knew which office space Aaryan and Vihaan worked from. For a long time now, Shaurya had been the face ofKeyStoneand hence he was the one who worked in the main offices, while the twins worked from a smaller office a few floors above, with a minimal and trusted staff.
They all had deliberately chosen this tower in Dubai Media City for their headquarters because it housed more than a hundred different offices, restaurants and even had a hotel in the premises. Even if Dev had people looking for them here, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack, especially considering the number of cars that made their way in and out of this building on any given day, including weekends.
Reaching his cabin, he turned on his laptop and began to work. Minutes later, he lost focus as thoughts of Tiya flooded his mind. The numbers on the screen swam in front of his eyes as he remembered the forlorn look on her face. He rubbed a palm across his jaw. Shit! This was a mess, and the sooner he met her father, bought his company and figured whether he had a hand in their past, the sooner he could free Tiya from this quandary.
“You cut your hair?!” Aaryan’s surprised whisper snapped him out of his thoughts.
He looked up to see both his brothers staring down at him.
“Looking good, brother,” Shaurya said, studying him. “How come?”
