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Sanjana elbowed him. “Stop calling my brother names. Avi’s fine and standing right here in front of you. Does she look harmed?”
“He’s an asshole,” Vihaan muttered.
Sanjana cursed loudly and rapidly in French, waving a finger back and forth in front of Vihaan’s face.
Vihaan gave her a cheeky grin, looking absolutely unaffected. “Since I don’t understand a word of what you’re saying, I’ll assume they’re all good things.”
Sanjana switched to English. “You are an asshole. Not just an asshole, you’re bloody arrogant and annoying as well.”
“Stop it, both of you.” Aaryan stepped in between them, interrupting their war of words as usual. “You’re like two children fighting over a candy bar. Is this really the time and the place for your bickering?”
“Tell him to stop abusing my brother in front of me!” Sanjana fumed.
Avantika smiled at this usual and frequent scenario. Sanjana and Vihaan’s fights were legendary. He’d never back off from cursing Dev, and she never sat silently when he did that. Even now, Sanjana continued to glare at Vihaan. Aaryan put his arm around her to calm her while Tiya whispered something in Vihaan’s ears.
God! She’d missed this. It felt great to be with her family. Only one person was missing here.
“Where’s Neil?” she inquired.
“We just landed an hour ago,” Sanjana explained. “We dropped him at his friend Josh’s house. It’s close to the hospital, and we’ll take him back with us on our way home. He kept insisting on seeing Myra, but we’ve held him off with a promise to bring him in later.”
“I’ll first check on Shaurya and Myra, and then call Neil,” Avantika said with a smile.
She pivoted. And froze. Dev was walking toward her, his whiskey gaze intent on her. Her heart clenched. God! She cursed herself for suddenly feeling so much for him.
From behind her, the conversations stopped. Her brothers stilled. They moved to stand on either side of her.
Seeing that, Dev halted a little distance away.
“What do you want?” Vihaan growled.
Before Dev could respond, Sanjana rushed past them and hurled herself at Dev, wrapping him in a hug.
“Dev, you’re here! It’s been too long since I saw you,” Sanjana murmured. “I’ve missed you so much.”
Dev kissed her forehead, holding her close. “Hey, kiddo, how are you?”
Sanjana smiled. “I’m fine.”
He shifted to hold Sanjana’s arms. “You were in Switzerland, and you didn’t even tell me. Am I an outsider to you now?”
Avantika could feel Aaryan stiffen beside her. After she’d become a part of their family, Sanjana had promised to keep all their secrets, which meant keeping the details of a lot of her life from Dev. Sanjana’s dilemma and struggle were real. The man she loved saw her brother as his enemy, while her brother had decided to take a back seat in her life, so she didn’t have to ever choose between Aaryan and him. It was a tough situation to be in for anyone.
Sanjana glanced at Aaryan before facing her brother. “You are my brother, and you will never be an outsider to me. Don’t you ever forget that. I’m sorry, I didn’t inform you.”
He nodded, kissing her forehead.
Dev looked at Avantika. He held her phone aloft. “You left this in the car.”
Shit! She had forgotten her phone on the seat between them.
Dev approached her, phone in hand and his beautiful smile etched on his face. Her lips tipped up as she accepted it from him. And then, her blood turned to ice when she looked beyond him at the corner he’d just rounded.
“No!” she choked out.
At the same time, a voice called out from behind Dev. “Mom! You’re here.”
Her stomach dropped to the floor. She physically felt her world tilting on its axis.
