Page 73 of Addiction

“Only if he finds her first,” Vedant said. “Which means we need to find her before them.”

“I’ll talk to one of our old caretakers and see if anyone has any pictures of her,” Mihir said. “With all this new AI technology, I’m sure if we feed in one of her old pictures, then we can get a rough idea of what she may look like now.”

“That is a really good idea,” Armaan said. “We’ll have to search high and low, through towns, cities and routes going out of Delhi. We’ll need to search through all the local databases to get a match on her.”

“We need to even consider that she may have tried to return to Rishikesh, but we’d already left by then,” Vedant said. “We need to talk to more people whom we know from that time. Plus, we’ll have to be discreet. No one can know that we are looking for her. She cannot become a bargaining tool for our enemies.”

“Correct,” Armaan said. “It may take a lot of time, but we will find her.”

Hope bloomed in Armaan’s chest, replacing the sadness he’d been feeling ever since he’d gotten this update from his team in India. Now that they had some confirmation that, in all likelihood, Karina had escaped, then he had to be positive that she was alive and well. He couldn’t even fathom thinking otherwise.

“Alright, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you both in a few hours,” Vedant said, disconnecting the line.

Armaan, too, turned to leave, but Mihir caught his shoulder. “Believe me when I say that I don’t have a good feeling about Ivan. Just… don’t go out. Stay at home, please, for my sake,da?”

Armaan let go of his anger. Mihir only meant well, as always.

“Yes, okay. I’ll stay.”

“Thank you.”

As soon as Mihir left, Armaan sank into an armchair. He pulled out his phone and typed a text.

I can’t make it tonight, baby.

Oh no. Is everything okay?

Let’s meet tomorrow in the morning and talk. Come home. Same time. I’ll wait for you.

He needed to tell her about the latest threat on their lives. He had to ensure her safety as well. If Ivan ever learned how important she was to him, then… Fuck, he couldn’t and wouldn’t imagine a scenario in which Navya was hurt. He would protect her with all he had.

Her reply came quick.

Okay. I’ll see you soon. In the meanwhile, miss me…

That was a given. He smiled. It was getting more and more impossible to stay without her. However, it wasn’t enough. He needed long nights and longer days with her, and he could do that only when he’d told her what he truly felt about her. Once that was done, there would be no going back. He was willing to wait for her to accept him for however long it took.

Navya was going to be his forever. He’d ensure it.

20

Navya reread the last few messages she’d exchanged with Armaan.

Armaan, I’m going to Cub Poseidon with Ananya. I miss you. I wish you were here with me.

I wish I was there too. Miss you…

Why have we never gone out at night? Why haven’t we gone on a real date ever?

You want to go out on a date?

Yes.

Why?

Of course, he’d ask her that. She hadn’t given him too much confidence after she’d told him she would think about his proposal. He’d looked so lost after she’d asked him for moretime. She breathed out. What was wrong with her? It’s not like she wasn’t already invested in him. She was. But the words—commitment, long-term, and promises—made everything more real, thus increasing the possibility of her getting hurt. After all, didn’t all the problems in a relationship start once you got committed.

She quickly put her phone in her bag. From beside her, Ananya was ordering their drinks at the bar. They were upstairs, in the private section of Club Poseidon. She assembled her thoughts while waiting for Ananya to get free.

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