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“I will,” Avi reassured him.
Avantika nodded, grateful to her family for always having her back. She’d survived and managed to stay strong all these years only because of her brothers. They were her everything. They’d protected her for the longest, and now it was her turn to protect them.
She steeled her nerves and lifted her jaw. A sense of calm washed over her. She could and would do this. She didn’t know what Dev had planned for her, but if he thought he was getting that soft, sweet, and innocent girl that he’d known in the past, he was in for a surprise. A huge one.
She was Avantika Rajpoot. She was a survivor. And yes, she might be afraid of him, but she’d never ever cower to him or bow down to him. She’d let her hate, her vengeance, her dislike and distrust of him guide her, and thus she’d make his life a living hell for the next twelve days.
2
Dev Luthra paced the length of his private jet as he waited…for her.
Her…Avantika Rajpoot.
He’d found her after twelve long fucking years. And now he’d have twelve days of seeing her breathe, and hearing her voice. This one woman had been his obsession for way too long now. An obsession that would, at least, be mildly satiated once the twelve days were over.
A strange pressure squeezed his chest. His head jerked to the side, and sure enough, he could see his black Rolls Royce arrive on the tarmac. She was here. It had been years, yet his heart knew when she was close. Excitement buzzed through him.
Calming himself, he waited at the entrance of the aircraft.
The car rolled to a stop. The driver stepped out and began to remove some bags from the boot. Dev waited with bated breath until the passenger door opened and Avantika stepped outside. She looked up, squinting against the sunlight, until finally, her wide eyes met his. And just like that, the world around him came to a standstill. Time stopped, and sounds faded as he looked at Avantika Rajpoot’s pretty face…The face from his dreams, or was it his nightmares?
She, too, continued to watch him carefully, and under her intense scrutiny, his cold, lonely heart began to beat like a drum in his chest. His pulse sped and hummed in his veins…like it used to…years ago whenevershewas around.
He blinked. Shit! How could this still happen to him? Why did he still always know when she was around? Why did this one woman still have the power to destroy his mind and shatter his rigid control despite the years that had gone by between them?
He breathed out. Hopefully, the next twelve days will answer all these questions once and for all. Perhaps after this time spent with her, he could finally go on and live the rest of his life in peace. But right now, he just wanted to drink in her classic, ethereal beauty.
Minutes passed, or was it mere seconds that they had been studying each other? He knew not, and he didn’t care. He’d searched for her for years, wondering how she was, where she was, and praying that she was…alive. And now, she stood in front of him, alone, without the protection of her brothers, and he’d finally have her to himself.
Avantika bit her lip, and even from a distance separating them, his blood thickened.
A loud screech of tires from behind her pulled her eyes away from Dev, and the moment between them shattered. He tilted his head to see who or what had caught her attention and he froze. Raw anger coursed through him as Avantika walked to the man approaching her, followed by a few armed guards. Rajiv Mehra—Dev’s nemesis.
Her smile widened on seeing Rajiv, and Dev wanted to commit murder. Rajiv Mehra, the owner of Poseidon Corp., was a businessman extraordinaire and a shipping magnate. He’d been a thorn in Dev’s side for as long as he could remember. Dev stormed down the steps of his jet and approached the two of them.
“I don’t remember inviting you here today,” Dev said, his voice icy.
Rajiv smirked. “And yet here I am.”
Dev crossed his arms over his chest. “I specifically told Aaryan that no one was to accompany Avantika.”
Avantika’s dark, angry gaze crashed with his. “What I recall is you ordering mybrothersnot to accompany me. You never mentioned I couldn’t bring a friend to see me off.”
Rajiv had helped the Rajpoot siblings at a time when they had no one to turn to. Dev knew Rajiv was their savior, while he, on the other hand, was their arch-enemy. Avantika, for certain, was well aware of the friction between Rajiv and him, yet she’d brought him along. It was a clear show of rebellion on her part. She must have anticipated that Rajiv’s presence would irk him; still she’d deliberately called him here. Her actions had the desired result, and Dev was fuming.
“So, he’s yourfriend?” Dev spat out.
“Yes, he is.” Avantika placed a hand on Rajiv’s arm and a haze of red burned through Dev’s vision.
He addressed Rajiv, his voice sharp. “Does yourwife, Sheena, isn’t it, approve of yourfriendshipwith Avantika?”
Rajiv’s gaze stormed. “Talk about my wife again, and I will kill you.” Clear violence lurked in his tone.
“Go ahead. I dare you to do it,” Dev retorted.
Rajiv took an angry step forward, but Avantika placed a hand on his chest, stopping him.
Bloody hell! She was fucking touching him again. The haze of red further darkened his vision. Time hadn’t dampened the possessiveness that he felt for this one particular woman, and the urge to rip Rajiv’s head off became stronger.
