Page 108 of Addiction

Armaan pressed his foot on the accelerator, his car flying as he tried to close the distance between Navya and him.

“Mihir, tell the team to move in,” Armaan instructed.

Mihir barked out instructions, and six cars moved one by one in front of Navya, overtaking her. Now, only Armaan and one other car were tailing her. All the six cars ahead of her began slowing down, thus slowing down Navya as well.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Vasily yelled. “Overtake them.”

“How? It’s a two-road lane,” Navya replied. “And there are cars on both sides.”

“Why are you slowing down?” Vasily shouted.

“Can’t you see there are so many cars ahead of me?” Armaan heard Navya say. “They’re all slowing down; there must be a hold-up ahead.”

The cars in front of Navya slowly started coming to a stop, forcing her to halt as well.

Armaan moved to the front and stopped his car next to hers.

Navya looked to her side. Her eyes widened when she saw him. Seeing him, Vasily pressed the gun harder into the back of her head.

Exiting his car, Armaan went to Navya. Vasily dragged her out of the car, the gun pointed at the side of her head. All of their men surrounded him and Navya, their guns pointed at Vasily.

“Drop the gun,” Armaan said. “You’re outnumbered.”

Vasily looked around and gulped. “How… how did you find us so quickly?”

When he began to look around again, Armaan looked at Navya and gave her a nod. She held Vasily’s hand and twisted it in a quick move, just like Armaan had taught her. Armaanreached her before Vasily could react and grabbed the gun from him, kicking him hard. He fell on his knees. Mihir pointed his gun at Vasily. Arlo, Chekov, and a few of their other security guards surrounded him.

Navya flew into Armaan’s arms. He held her close, breathing her in. She was safe now. She’d always be safe. He’d ensure it.

He held her by the shoulders. “Go home with Rajiv. I will meet you there.”

“But…”

He shook his head and turned to Rajiv. “Please take her home.”

Rajiv nodded. Taking Navya’s hand, he helped her into his car before taking the driver’s seat. Within seconds, they were off. Two of the security cars followed them back.

Armaan turned to Vasily. “Where is Ivan?”

Fire flared in the other man’s eyes. He laughed. “He will destroy you, one way or the other. This was just the beginning. We have so much on you now.”

“You have nothing on us,” Mihir said. “A few random conversations about our locations don’t count for anything. Some vague talk about business means nothing.”

Vasily gave a slimy grin. “Are you sure that’s all you guys spoke about? What about Karina?”

A new kind of alarm filled Armaan’s veins. Even Mihir looked visibly disturbed. Of course, they had spoken about her at length in their homes in Dubai and London. Vasily was there that night when they were torturing Dorab, and if this fucker had heard everything, then it meant…

“Yes, Ivan knows about her,” Vasily scorned. “And yes, he is looking for her. You just handed him your biggest weakness. You all failed her once, and now, you’ve failed her once again. Wherever she is, he will find her and make you pay through her.”

“So, Ivan ordered the kill on Dorab,” Mihir guessed aloud. “You knew he was waiting to talk to his boss and that we were keeping tabs on him. But Dorab didn’t know anything anyway. Why kill him then?”

“Because they wanted Dorab’s boss to return,” Armaan deduced, and seeing the surprise on Vasily’s face, he knew he had guessed right.

“Which means that they’re also waiting to question him,” Mihir said.

Armaan looked at Vasily. “Thank you. You’ve been very helpful. Now we know what to expect.”

Vasily’s face contorted with anger. “Ivan is the rightful heir to O-Corp. He would have inherited everything had you three orphans not come into the picture. You know nothing about our country. O-Corp belongs to Ivan Oshnov, and he will take it back from you at any cost. The wealth of our country belongs to one of our own and not to you outsiders.”

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