Page 62 of Wicked Trap

“What’s your theory?” Bhargav asked.

Aryan frowned. He didn’t know what to think either. Girish Shetty was a corrupt, greedy bastard for sure. But something about the man made Aryan feel there was more than greed involved. It seemed personal.

“I have a feeling Ma knew Girish Shetty from before.”

“What the fuck, Aryan!” Yash looked pissed at Aryan’s speculation.

Aryan shook his head. “Relax, bro. I’m not saying Ma knew that dirtbag in a romantic sense. What I’m saying is she might have been acquainted with him.”

Bhargav was silent. “Then we should ask Ma about him.”

Aryan shook his head. “No. If we ask her about Girish Shetty, then she will know exactly what we are up to. Ma is too smart not to be able to figure it out.”

There was silence.

Aryan knew he was right. Asking their mother about Girish Shetty would make it obvious that her three sons were on a quest to avenge their father’s murder. She would immediately insist they abort the revenge and let the past go.

Aryan wasn’t willing to stop until his father’s murderers were punished and made to suffer. He knew his brothers felt the same.

“So if we are not going to ask Ma, how do you think you can pursue this?” Bhargav asked. “How will we know whether Girish Shetty had a personal grudge against Ma?”

Aryan frowned. “I’ll have to chat up the old bastard for that. Maybe I’ll accept the invite for him to host a party in my honor.”

“Won’t Shetty’s daughter be at the party?”

Aryan’s mouth twisted. “I doubt it.”

He knew Girish Shetty would not want his fiery daughter anywhere near the man she openly called ruthless and corrupt. Although the older man said his daughter would apologize, Aryan knew it was an impossible task.

His fiery pawn would rather stab herself than apologize to the man she hated.

“What’s going on between Shetty’s daughter and you?”

Aryan yanked his mind away from his pawn and focused on Bhargav’s question. “Nothing.”

His brother raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? For someone who demanded we shouldn’t get directly involved with our pawns, you sure do spend a lot of time with yours.”

“Bhargav is right,” Yash added. “During our last board meeting, your eyes were glued to the phone with camera feeds of Tanvi Shetty.”

Aryan frowned. “I’m only checking to see if she was snooping again.”

Tanvi had been playing quite the detective looking through protected shared folders to see if she could get information on him or the mall project. Unfortunately for her, she would never get the information she needed.

Bhargav shook his head in amusement. “You are a software maverick who built a billion-dollar empire in your teens. Are you telling me you need to monitor someone on cameras to see what she’s snooping on her computer?”

Aryan knew his brother was right. He could track Tanvi Shetty’s digital footprint without having to see her. He could even get signals on his phone when she left her apartment or returned home.

But he wanted to watch her live. He wanted to see every little frown and bite of her lip or her few rare smiles. He enjoyed watching her.

“What about the guy hired to woo her?” Yash asked.

Aryan was still annoyed by how Tanvi had invited Sameer to the restaurant for celebrating her job at Prism. “He’s almost getting there.”

Yash shook his head. “I doubt if he ever would. You won’t allow him or another guy to get anywhere near her.”

Aryan’s frown grew. “I was the one to hire him. He is being paid to do his job of wooing her and making her fall in love with him.”

Bhargav and Yash exchanged amused glances.

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