Page 22 of Fixation

“Actually, you should take risks; you should live a little, brother,” Vedant said. When Mihir threw him a glower, Vedantclarified, “I don’t mean with regards to Ivan and our safety. I mean in life in general, Mihir. You’re only working all the time. You barely go out except when it is to entertain clients. You don’t date at all, you’re so damn serious, and you always look hassled. You need to unwind.”

Armaan groaned. “He doesn’t know how to unwind.”

“You need to loosen up, Mihir,” Vedant said. “Go out with a woman. Spend a night with a willing one. Have fun.”

“I bet he’s forgotten how to even charm a woman, much less bed her.” Armaan gave Mihir a naughty look. “Do you even remember how to fuck? Shall I teach you? Send you some videos of?—”

“Shut up, you,” Mihir growled. “Why do all our conversations eventually end up with a discussion on my sex life?”

“Non-existent sex life,” Armaan coughed out.

Vedant laughed. “Mihir, find a woman you like and go out with her. It will improve your disposition.”

“He won’t do that,” Armaan said, “because he’s still pining overAnna—isn’t that what you call her?”

Mihir’s fists clenched and his face hardened. “I’m not talking abouther.”

Ananya Mehra was Mihir’s Achilles heel. She was a sore point with him. Till date, Mihir believed she’d deceived him in the worst way possible.

“Don’t you think you should talk to her?” Vedant thought aloud. “You should have spoken to her on that yacht four years ago. We all know she gate-crashed our party foryou. But instead of clearing things with her, you wanted to hold her captive. I don’t even know why. Just because she escaped, you decided to hold Navya and Sheena captive instead, hoping she’d return to bargain for them. But she chickened out and sent her brother instead. The whole thing was a fucking headache. Armaan added to it, because he got obsessed with Navya. And now that shewants him in her life, he’s ignoring her and refusing to clear the air with her. You both are fucking fools.”

“I’m not talking about Navya to you,” Armaan said firmly. The idiot.

Mihir’s jaw clenched. “And I never want to talk toherever. I don’t even want to talk abouther. She doesn’t deserve it. Not after she left me dying all those years ago.”

“It could be a misunderstanding,” Vedant pointed out. “Do you want to live the rest of your life not knowing if it is?”

“It isn’t,” Mihir snapped. “I lived her betrayal in real, and then I relived it in my head over and over for months. She deceived me, and I will never forgive her for that.”

Vedant studied him. Along with the anger vibrating through Mihir, there was so much hurt and angst. Sadness and shadows surrounded his brother like an aura. Vedant hated that he couldn’t help him. Even now, years later, Mihir didn’t really date much. Women swarmed over him because he oozed danger and darkness—a potent combination. And that scar running down one side of his face made his pull even stronger. Women wanted to learn his secrets and be the ones who erased his darkness. But he gave no one a chance. Vedant wasn’t even certain if he’d bedded any of the few women he’d dated over the years. He was practically a monk.

Yes, Mihir was definitely pining over Ananya Mehra. Four years back, he had decided to shift O-Corp’s headquarters from Moscow to Dubai. He could have moved to London; they already had a home and an office here. It would have been easier, but he’d chosen Dubai, and while Dubai definitely had several business benefits, Vedant suspected he’d done so because Ananya Mehra lived there.

All that meant Mihir still had unresolved feelings for Ananya Mehra, but he was too damn stubborn to accept it.

“She’s Navya’s sister,” Vedant stressed. “She may become an extended part of our lives once Armaan gets his head out of the sand and decides to patch up with Navya.”

“That is not happening,” Armaan said, his tone sharp. “Navya needs to stay away from me. It’s safer for her.”

“And you need to allow her to decide that,” Mihir replied.

“Like I said, I’m not talking about her,” Armaan declared with a finality.

Mihir focused on Armaan. “Even if you patch up with Navya, hersisterwill never be in my life, ever. Am I clear?”

“Ok, enough. Let’s discuss Karina,” Armaan deflected.

Vedant sighed. His brothers were so damn stubborn. Thank God, he never would fall in love. It just caused pain and heartbreak as was clear.

“What about Karina? Do we have news?” he asked Armaan.

“Unfortunately, not,” Armaan sighed.

“Now that we’re all finally together, let’s reiterate everything we know so that we’re certain we haven’t missed out on anything,” Mihir said.

Armaan began, “Our men have been following Dorab since he returned to India. We now know that he’s been working for an underworld don named JD for several years now. JD is some big crime boss in North India, based out of Delhi. He’s known for the severe torture tactics he unleashes on anyone who crosses him. Dorab is shit scared of him even though he has worked for him for years. Dorab’s like an under don in that crime organisation. However, JD has been living in Bangkok for the last couple of months. One of our men has managed to infiltrate that gang and is now working for them. He overheard Dorab telling someone about how he was held captive by us and that he didn’t know where Karina was.”

“Which probably means that he might actually not know,” Mihir added. “This also gives us hope that she managed to runaway. Our guy also mentioned that Dorab has been trying to talk to this JD fellow, but JD isn’t taking Dorab’s calls.”

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