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“Give me your cell phones,” Raj demanded.
Avantika took a quick look at the two rough-looking men behind him and handed both their phones over. For some reason, they looked familiar.
Ignoring that vague thought, she focused on Dev’s uncle. “You won’t get away with this.”
“Go, fetch me the boy, her son,” he ordered the man standing to his left.
A shiver of dread curled down Avantika’s spine as she saw the man head in the direction of the house. Neil wasn’t home, but he’d be there soon. God! Her son. How was she going to keep him safe?
From the corner of her eye, she saw some leaves rustling, and a head popped out and went back down. Her heart fell to the floor. Neil! What was he doing here? When had he returned? If Raj Chauhan saw him, she’d be doomed. She had to get him to leave.
“We have security around the property,” she said aloud. “You may have gotten in saying you’re Dev’s uncle. But I just have to call out, and they will come.”
“Money can buy anything,” Dev’s uncle laughed, smashing each of their phones with the heel of his shoe. “And I know enough people in Shimla to find out what I want, especially when it concerns my dear nephew. Once I learnt which security firm was hired after Dev was shot, I could easily pay off some of the security guards and turn them over to my side. The five men onmypayroll must have subdued the other five by now.”
God! No wonder the two men with him looked familiar. They were the security guards she’d seen patrolling the property in the past few days.
“They may have switched to your side,” Avantika began, “but we have other staff and people around to help us. They will go and inform Dev. Someone needs to inform DEV. Immediately.”
She saw her son pop his head out from behind Raj Chauhan again. Neil nodded and disappeared into the overgrown foliage.
She trembled. Neil had to get to safety. She prayed no one found him. She prayed that he’d understood her entreaty and was getting help as she spoke.
“No one is coming to help you,” Dev’s uncle said. “You have one old butler and two servants at this hour. They must have already been subdued by my people.”
“Why are you doing this?” Sanjana asked. “You said the bullet Dev took was intended for Avantika. Why would you want to hurt her?”
“Because she’s Dev’s weakness. I’d noticed that many years ago too, and now, I can see it happening again. Once again, he’s blinded by her and is choosing her. He gave all his wealth, his assets, and properties back to her brothers…for her, I assume. Such a shame.”
“Why does it even matter to you?” Avantika asked. “I thought you cared about Dev. I know he thinks highly of you.”
“My enmity with your family began more than thirty years ago. After Pritam married my sister, Lila, he and I became friends. I was a little younger than him and began to hero-worship him. He, however, never took a real shine to me. He was completely taken in by your parents. They’d been friends since college, and he was quite close to them. I tried for years to fit in, but couldn’t edge into their tight circle. Eventually, I moved to the US, got married, and had a son of my own. My sister passed away after Sanjana was born, yet their friendship remained steadfast. One summer, after many years, I brought my son, Vikrant, with me to Shimla to meet his cousins. When I reached here, I realized nothing had changed. Pritam still couldn’t see beyond your parents, and what was worse, Dev had followed in his footsteps. He considered your brothers as his family, but he wouldn’t even look at my son.”
Avantika frowned. “From what I remember, your son was spoilt and selfish. Dev and my brothers had tried to include him that summer, but he didn’t welcome them at all.”
“Lies, all lies,” Raj growled. “My son told me that they never included him. That allofyou ignored him.”
Avantika remained silent. He was clearly not going to believe a word of what she said. She didn’t remember having many interactions with his son. It had been so long ago, and her memories of that time were sketchy at best.
“Uncle,” Sanjana began, “I don’t remember much of that summer except I don’t think Vikrant was very nice to all of us. He may have told you all this to manipulate you into thinking bad of everyone because he was into alcohol and substance abuse.”
“Lies! My son returned to the US from Shimla and took up drinking. He blamed you all for feeling insecure about himself. He was so young, a mere eighteen, and he died in a driving accident…he’d been drinking. He died because of you all.”
Avantika’s eyes widened. God! This man actually believed that. He’d probably lived with that belief for years.
“Uncle, stop it,” Sanjana said. “Why can’t you see that your son was manipulating you? He’d been lying to you all along.”
“My son was a good boy,” Raj Chauhan stormed. “He wasn’t supposed to die so early. After his death, I was so lost. But then, I realized I’d lost him all thanks to you all. So, I formulated a plan to punish everyone involved.”
Sanjana gasped. “What did you do, Uncle?”
“Money was the one weakness your dad had. He wanted more and more. But Rushabh Rajpoot was a straight arrow. I had a healthy marijuana business going on in the US. That’s what made me so rich so soon. My textile business has always only been a front to that. That year, when I came to Shimla, I’d already sowed the seed in Pritam’s head that he could make more money by smuggling marijuana. But he knew Rushabh would never agree, so he rejected the idea.”
Dev’s uncle paced as he spoke, the gun wavering in his hand. Avantika shared a worried look with Sanjana. They both understood that they were safe as long as he continued to talk.
“Once my son died, each time I called Pritam, I poisoned his mind about the Rajpoots a little bit more. He had told me in the past how he’d admired Shaira Rajpoot, and he’d crushed on her while in college. I began to point out that Rushabh was lucky to have her, and that he’d succeeded because she was by his side. And that maybe, Pritam ought to have fought harder to keep her if he had loved her then. None of these thoughts about her had even crossed his mind before I started planting those ideas in his head.”
Ice spread through Avantika’s veins. This man was pure evil. Dev’s dad may have, at one time, cared about her mother, but it hadn’t lasted. It was his uncle who had used Pritam Luthra’s fleeting crush on her mother to poison his mind against her father.
