Page 100 of Addiction

She shared a confused look with Armaan. They followed Mihir down to the water’s edge.

“What did you remember?” Armaan asked.

“I actually remembered two things,” Navya said.

“That night, just before that man hit you on the back of your head, you were looking behind me at someone or something.”

“What?” Armaan frowned. “Fuck, I don’t remember that at all.”

“Could it be that you saw someone?” Mihir asked.

“I don’t fucking remember, Mihir.” Armaan looked extremely agitated.

Navya gripped his arm. “Relax, I didn’t tell you this to beat yourself over it. It’s not your fault that you’ve forgotten it.”

He exhaled. “What was the other thing you remembered?”

“Rehana was there at Club Poseidon that night,” Navya began.

“Who’s Rehana?” Mihir asked. Then he looked at Armaan. “Is it that hot model who had a thing for you?”

“Yes.” Navya made a face. “The same one. Armaan got her to work with me. I’ve been her stylist for weeks now. She assumed that Armaan and I were dating, and I never corrected her.”

Armaan grinned. “Of course, you didn’t.”

“Can you be serious for one freaking second?” Mihir growled. “She’s trying to say something. It could be important.”

“Exactly!” Navya glared at Armaan. “She’d been talking about this new man in her life for a while before that night. Rehana insisted I get an entry for her, her boyfriend, and a few other friends for that particular night at Club Poseidon. She had, in fact, asked me to bring you along as well so we could double date with her and her new beau. I passed her details to the manager at the club, and then I completely forgot about it.”

Armaan’s face tightened. “So, she was expecting me to be there.”

“Yes. In fact, I met her that night before you showed up and she categorically asked me where you were.”

Armaan shared a look with Mihir before addressing her, “Go on. What else?”

“Well, I think her boyfriend is one of your bodyguards.”

“What?” Armaan shook his head. “Why would you assume that?”

“Just now I saw a beam of white light falling on that group of bodyguards, and I remembered that she’d been dancing with a guy. He turned and seemed familiar. It was dark that night, but I’m pretty sure it’s one of your guards.”

“Why are you not able to pinpoint on one of the guards in particular?” Armaan asked.

“Because they are all tall, blonde, and huge. I wouldn’t be able to identify who I saw that night even if you lined them up in front of me. But my gut says it was someone from your crew. Also, Rehana had specifically insisted that I get her and her group VIP clearance, which means…”

“…that those men could have entered as a part of her group,” Armaan completed for her.

“Yes, exactly,” Navya said.

When both Armaan and Mihir were silent for longer than a minute, she asked, “What are you two thinking?”

“Let’s not jump ahead,” Mihir began to pace, “The simplest assumption could be that Rehana is dating a Russian or European man with no connection to us, and everything is one huge coincidence.”

“Or, and I am being the devil’s advocate here, and this is the link we’ve been missing,” Armaan said. “How else would someone know where to attack Vedant and me on the same night unless they knew we were going to be there? Apart from our security, no one knows our schedules. Perhaps, they knew I’d step out that night because they had orchestrated it. Rehana was expecting me that night, and in the end, to their luck, I did show up.”

Mihir’s eyes took on a dangerous look.

“Fucking hell,” he swore. He began to speak in rapid Russian to Armaan.

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