Page 94 of Addiction

“What’s going on?” Armaan asked.

“Nothing. Sit.” Mihir pointed to the sofas in the corner of his office.

Once seated, Mihir said, “I have an update for you. I requested Rajiv to look into the background of his employees on duty that night of your attack at Club Poseidon. He reverted that they were all vouched for. I’d also requested him to check the surveillance footage from inside Club Poseidon as well. Again, he found nothing suspicious. Anyway, I’ve asked him to forward the footage to me so we can scan it and see if we recognize anyone from that night. He’ll send it across soon.”

“That’s great.”

“One more thing,” Mihir added. “The security team that you insisted to be put behind Navya reported that there was a car following her yesterday to work and back.”

“What?” Fear exploded inside him. Armaan shot up on his feet. “What happened? Is she safe?”

“Yes. Her brother’s security team tried to intercept the car, but it got away. It was a standard black Toyota sedan with tinted glasses. The license plates were fake.”

Armaan sat down slowly. “Does she know?”

“No, but I’ve spoken to her brother. He’s chosen not to tell her. But now he knows that we also have security following her.”

Armaan frowned. “How come you are so much in touch with Rajiv Mehra?”

“We talk when it concerns the safety of the people we care about. And Navya is important to you, right?”

Armaan didn’t respond. Fear still stabbed at him. It had become a constant companion now. Navya was being followed, and most likely because of him.

“She needs to be told Mihir. She needs to know that maybe she’s unsafe. Rajiv shouldn’t keep it from her.”

Mihir leaned back against the sofa. “Well, then you tell her.”

“No.”

“What do you mean no?”

“Not many people knew that she and I were together. Our enemies can only assume she’s important to me since Navya was with me that night in the parking lot, and she helped me fight those men. All the more reason I need to stay away from her. Once sufficient time has passed, and no one sees her visiting our house or meeting me, they will understand that we are not together and that she’s not important to me. She will then be safe forever.”

“You sound ridiculous, you know that,” Mihir remarked. “You can keep her safe. Just talk to her.”

When Armaan stayed silent, Mihir stood up. He went to the tall corner table in his office. Muttering something inaudible, he poured a shot of vodka into a glass and downed it in one go. Turning, he returned back with two glasses.

“You’re being stubborn, Armaan,” Mihir said, handing him a glass.

“Na zdorovye,” Armaan said, clinking his glass with Mihir’s. He drank his shot at the same time as Mihir.

“So, what’s going on?” Mihir asked, once he was seated again. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Our team in Delhi called. Dorab was found dead in his apartment. His throat was slit.”

“Fuck,” Mihir swore. “How the hell did that happen? Where were our guys?”

“They followed Dorab through the day and were keeping vigil in the car as was usual for them at night. When he didn’t come out till afternoon, they went inside and realized the door of his house was open. They found him lying there in a pool of his own blood. Apparently, he was tortured before being killed. They hightailed it out of there and called the cops.”

“Fuck. Did they see anyone enter the house? What have they learned?”

Armaan pressed a hand to his head. It was starting to ache again. “Last night, they only saw the ice cream delivery guy. It was only later they realized that they were so used to Dorab’s daily ice cream deliveries that they hadn’t seen the guy enter. They only saw him leave.”

“Which means he was already waiting inside when Dorab entered his house.”

“Yes,” Armaan replied, yawning. “They’re looking into who possibly could have killed him. Knowing Dorab, it could have been anyone who held a grudge against him.”

“And now we have zero links to Karina,” Mihir sighed. “Fucking hell.”

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