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Rajiv looked into his mug. “It will never be enough. I owe it to you.”
Aaryan put a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t owe us anything. Yet you continue to feel guilty for a sin you didn’t commit. ”
“I didn’t commit the sin, you’re right,” Rajiv concurred. “But I could have prevented it. Maybe if I had paid more attention, I could have found out what was happening and warned you. Maybe…”
“The past cannot be changed because of maybes,” Aaryan said. “But the future can definitely be changed by amaybe. Maybe this girl, Sheena, is the right one for you. It sure is the first time you’ve shown this much interest in a woman. How will you know unless you don’t take a chance on her?”
“Yes,” Vihaan seconded his twin. “You haven’t been in a steady relationship ever. And we all know none of your one-night stands ever meant anything to you.”
“They were definitely not important enough to elicit this much of a conversation,” Aaryan added. “We all want the best for you, including our sister.”
“But Avantika…” Rajiv shook his head. “No. Years ago, I made a promise to protect her. I asked her then to marry me, and she refused. She’s rejected me every single time I’ve asked her over the years. However, I will continue to ask her until she accepts me and the protection and security that I can provide her and thus, you all. That has been the plan all along, and you both know it.”
Vihaan gave him an annoyed look. “You’re an idiot, and so damn pig-headed when you’ve made up your mind on something. Plans can change, you know. You sound bloody clinical when you talk of marrying Avantika. When are you going to get thatshedoesn’t want to marry you? That maybe,youare not inherplan.”
Aaryan chuckled. “Sometimes the best laid plans go awry when your heart becomes involved.”
“Then, luckily for me, my heart isn’t involved,” Rajiv announced, putting an end to the debate.
Yes, Sheena Sehgal was gorgeous and bold. Just thinking of her made his blood rush a little faster, yes. But she was not meant for him.
Avantika and he didn’t have a formal arrangement. They weren’t committed to one another, and they had decided long back that despite him asking her to marry him every year on her birthday, they each could and would see other people until the day Avantika accepted his hand in marriage. Which she would. One day, soon. He’d ensure that. He’d promised himself that he’d look after Avantika Rajpoot and her brothers. He was their ticket to stepping out of the shadows, and thus living a full and free life. If only they could see it, too. Until then he would continue protecting them in the only way he knew how to. Besides, getting a woman involved with him meant telling her about the Rajpoots. They were his biggest responsibility and his greatest secret, one he couldn’t trust anyone else with. Hence, he would have to stay alone in life, unless Avantika decided to accept him. That would be the easiest for all of them.
5
Dubai was always a good idea. However, August was still too damn hot, the sun sharp and scorching overhead. October, November onwards, the weather would get better. The Dubai scenery passed by her in a blur as the cab whisked her to the hotel where she was going to meet her mentor, Ajay Shetty, for the first time, to plan her mentoring sessions with him. Her grandfather had organized everything for her, and she couldn’t wait to start working on her PhD curriculum with her mentor. She’d exchanged emails with the professor and even spoken to him on the phone, and now, she was excited to meet him in person.
Sheena looked out the window, her heart feeling light. For the first time in years, she was all by herself. She’d landed in this city two days ago and had set up the apartment she’d already booked on Airbnb for a month. It was a delightful little two-bedroom with fabulous views of the Dubai skyline, especially the mammoth Burj Khalifa. It also had a good security system, which was important for her to feel safe.
She’d left Mumbai with mixed feelings about how she’d manage alone when she’d always had her mother, her friends, or her grandfather to depend on. But even though it had been only two days, she was enjoying the freedomandthe confidence that came with relying on no one but herself. She was finally beginning to understand why Keya and Raashi valued their independence so much. They both had lived alone and fended for themselves for years. Now, if only she could learn to cook beyond the breakfast eggs she could make. Perhaps this could be her chance to learn. She grinned as she thought of the endless possibilities that lay ahead of her.
The cab stopped in front of the Sehgal Plaza Hotel in Dubai, and she breezed inside without a single person acknowledging who she was. She didn’t know anonymity could feel so liberating. She loved it.
She waited at the elevator bank. Her mentor was to speak at an event here today and he’d specifically requested her to attend the event, post which they were to discuss her path forward in achieving her PhD.
An empty elevator car opened in front of her. She stepped inside and checked herself in the mirror opposite her. Just as the doors were shutting behind her, a large hand came in between the closing doors, and a man entered the lift behind her. The doors shut again. She swung around…and froze. Just as she recognized him, the lights went out, and the lift came to a sudden halt.
Sheena gasped.
“Hello, Princess.” His deep, amused voice echoed in the darkness surrounding her, making a shiver run down her spine.Hewas here. How? Why? The questions flooding her mind entangled and knotted with the sudden emotions flowing in her chest, leaving her dumbstruck.
A soft transient light flicked on overhead, and she stared into Rajiv Mehra’s face—the last person on the whole planet she’d expected to run into, ever. Moving here to Dubai had been her way for a new start in life, which had included locking him and his incessant thoughts away in a tight box in the corner of her mind, never to be opened again. After all, if she never met him again, then his memories would disappear and fade. However, one look at him and every confusing emotion she had for him came rushing to the surface.
Anticipation buzzed under her skin, shivers started down her spine, and her heart began to gallop as her gaze crashed with his. His amber eyes swirled with gold flecks in the soft light as he watched her. No,watchingwas too mild a word for the heated intensity in his eyes. Absorbing. He wasabsorbingevery inch of her, as if committing her to memory. His appraisal was all-consuming, extreme, and penetrating. And it made her breath hitch.
He tilted his head. “What is it with the lights going out whenever I meet you?”
His rich, husky drawl reached her ears, gluing her tongue to her mouth. She still couldn’t believe he was here, standing in front of her. She gulped, but still, no sound came out of her mouth. What was wrong with her? She was behaving ridiculously.
His lips quirked, and his eyes sparkled as if he understood his impact on her. “Couldn’t stay away for too long, could you? I like that you missed me so much to take such an effort to find me.”
His arrogant response made her snap out of whatever voodoo had taken hold of her.
“There’s a word calledcoincidence, Asshole.” She glared at him. “Google it if you don’t know the meaning.”
“Your lips are too pretty for foul words, Princess.”
His words annoyed her even more. Ignoring him, she pressed some buttons on the lift console, but nothing worked. She banged on the door.
