Page 32 of Addiction

Vedant laughed, and even Mihir smiled. Just like that, the tension between and around them evaporated.

“But, honestly, Armaan,” Vedant began. “You’re playing a game with the wrong woman.”

“She knows I’m after her. She knows I don’t do serious. This is temporary.” He lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “Nothing bad is going to happen.”

Something beeped in the background. Mihir tapped on his phone and grimaced.

“Now what?” Armaan asked. “Why are you scowling into your phone?”

“Well, our social media team just sent me this photo,” Mihir said.

Armaan’s phone beeped at the same time as Vedant’s.

Armaan lifted his phone and opened the message Mihir had sent on their chat group. It was a media photo of Navya and him at the fashion show from earlier tonight. They were seated in the front row, looking lost in one another. His finger was on her lower lip, and he was looking at her like she was the most wondrous thing on the planet. His heart tripped at the memory of that intense moment between them. Bloody fucking hell.

Vedant barked out a laugh. “Are you sure it’s just casual, brother? The picture speaks otherwise.”

Mihir didn’t say a word.

“I need that picture gone, Vedant,” Armaan said. He didn’t need Navya to be in the spotlight with him. No one needed to know he was after her. She’d be hounded by God only knew who, if word spread that he had his eye on her.

“Consider it done,” his brother replied.

“Vedant, come home,” Mihir said. “I’d feel infinitely better if the three of us were in the same city.”

“My negotiation with the British bankers is at a crucial point,” Vedant said. “I’ll try and conclude that business and come to Dubai as soon as I can.”

“Alright,” Mihir agreed. “Just ensure you take your bodyguard with you everywhere you go, and that too only during the day time, don’t forget that.”

At Vedant’s nod, Mihir said, “Let’s call it a night.”

They disconnected the call. Mihir gave Armaan a speaking look, which Armaan returned with a naughty smile and a cheeky wave as they both retired to their own wings of their massive home in Arabian Palms in Dubai. They’d bought this house because it had three separate wings connected in the center by all the common rooms—the study, games room, living room, dining area, kitchen, and the huge garden that opened into the beach. Armaan stood at his bedroom window, staring at the sea as he thought through the events of the night.

He’d left the fashion show soon after Navya made her exit. It was on the way there that his team had called to inform him about Dorab. He pressed the back of his neck. The next few days were going to be rough, and they’d all have to be more careful than before. Maybe his brothers were right and this whole thing with Navya ought to be aborted. The timing was off, for sure. His phone beeped.

It was her.

“I belong to no one, and I will definitely never be yours.”

A smile spread on his face. What was he thinking? The fire between them burned both ways. She needn’t have replied to his earlier text messages. The fact that she had meant that, this late into the night, she also was thinking of him. There was no chance in hell that he’d leave her alone now. He began to type a message.

“I’m happy to know you’re awake and still thinking of me. Go to sleep and dream of us. I know I will.”

He saw her come online. She began to type a message, but then she went offline again. He grinned.

No matter how tough his next days were expected to be, they were also going to be brighter because ofher.

8

“What’s our schedule like for today?” Navya asked her assistant the second she walked into her office the next morning.

Her office wasn’t too big. It housed a cabin for her, a desk for her assistant at the entrance and a biggish conference room for all the meetings she conducted with her clients. Navya was proud of her small setup. Her office space was airy, bright, and well furnished. In her line of work, she collaborated with many people and hence didn’t need a bigger staff than her extremely capable and reliable assistant, Lavina.

Lavina tapped on her iPad, following Navya inside her cabin. “We have a meeting scheduled with a hair stylist and then the makeup artist to discuss looks for Alana Zoya, the Lebanese model.”

“Right, she has two photo shoots this week. Good. What else?

“Then, at two, we have an appointment with a new client. She’s a housewife and has expressed an interest in your work. She wants you to help her select a new wardrobe and to teach her skills to be socially adept.”

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