Page 21 of Fixation

She rolled her eyes. She’d heard the devil came in all shapes, sizes and types. Well, this one came covered in bandages and wounds, with an attitude even bigger than Mt Everest.

But he also had abs that could cut through… She stopped that stupid thought from completing. She was not thinking of Vedant Oshnov and his stupid abs, his stupid attitude, and the stupid tingles she felt whenever she was in his presence. She lifted her jaw. No, she didn’t feel anything. It was all in her mind. He didn’t affect her in the least.

Not at all.

7

It had been a full week of having his brothers around. A week filled with laughter and conversations. Also, a week filled with lots of sleeping and recovering for him. But he did feel stronger and better.

Mihir and Armaan had spent as much time as possible with him. They even took their meals with him. One of them was always around him. It was only during the nights that he insisted on them sleeping in their own rooms. It had been a good week indeed.

But now that time too was coming to an end. His brothers had to return to Dubai. Thanks to him being stuck here like an invalid, the two of them were inundated with work. He looked to the side, where Mihir was standing against a high table, working on his laptop—his standard way of working on most days. On the other side, Armaan was relaxing on the day bed, staring out of the window, most likely thinking of Navya. The moron still refused to talk to her or about her. But that battle was for later. Right now, Vedant had more pressing concerns.

“Guys…” Vedant pocketed his glasses. He didn’t wear them as often as he did now, considering he didn’t have much to read. “I need to talk to you.”

Immediately, both of them came to him.

“What’s wrong?” Armaan asked, sounding worried. “Are you okay?”

“Are you in pain?” Mihir checked. He looked one second away from rushing to the door and calling for his doctor.

“I’m fine,” he assured them. “We need to discuss Ivan and Karina.”

When his brothers shared a glance, Vedant held a hand out. “No, you cannot leave me out. These last days, we have spoken about everything under the sun except for what’s most important. I know you’re deliberately avoiding talking about them. But that ends now. And while I appreciate your care and concern, you cannot keep me out of this. I can help you. You know I have people in place everywhere. I was handling the Ivan situation until…” he shadowed a hand down his body “…this.”

Mihir sighed. “You’re right. We just didn’t want to stress you out.”

Vedant gentled his tone. “I know that.”

Armaan spoke up, “Okay, so let’s start with Ivan. As expected, he’s disappeared after launching that attack on the two of us. Since I was targeted outside Rajiv Mehra’s club, his people managed to detain three of the men who attacked me.”

Vedant’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that. Did you interrogate them? Did they say anything?”

“Yes, we did,” Mihir replied. “We now know that their leader is one Karl Leipzig. Estonian, as were the three men. He’s missing now. We’re combing all the addresses the other three gave us, but he’s not turned up anywhere yet. However, the others had no clue of the attack on you. Looks like Ivan hired two independent groups.”

“But they had the same modus operandi here in London and there in Dubai,” Vedant said. “They attacked us both in basement parking lots.”

“Probably because not all basements have security cameras,” Mihir said. “I know because I checked both the places where you guys were attacked, and there were none at either of the places.”

“So, what now?” Vedant queried. “What are we doing with the three men who attacked Armaan?”

“They’re dead,” Armaan said.

“And now we’re being extra cautious,” Mihir continued. “You can see I’ve doubled the security here. I’ve done the same in Dubai. Also, Armaan and I are doing things out of pattern. We take the bodyguards’ cars at times. We even told the staff, including the bodyguards, that we were coming to London at the last minute.”

“Why? Do you suspect someone from our staff?”

The very thought of being betrayed by one of their own was heartbreaking and downright scary.

“We’re merely taking precautions, that’s all,” Armaan replied.

“So, we don’t have many leads on Ivan,” Vedant said. “He’s a viper, though—waiting for the right moment to strike. We cannot let our guard down. He thinks he’s the rightful heir of O-Corp, and hence he won’t stop coming for us.”

“Agreed, and that’s why the extra precautions,” Mihir said. “He will show up, and this time, we’ll be ready. I won’t allow him to harm either of you ever again.”

“Or you,” Vedant said. “You’re the majority stakeholder of O-Corp, and he’s always hated you the most.”

“He can try, but he will never get to me,” Mihir said confidently. “Unlike you both, I never take risks.”

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