Page 119 of Fixation

“What if she does cross your path?” Rajiv asked.

Mihir struck Rajiv from all angles. He backed Rajiv into a corner and rained blows on his face and chest. Before Rajiv could recover, Mihir followed with a barrage of punches, driving him to the ropes. They both were sweaty and bleeding now, their white hand wraps covered in red and dirty brown.

“I’ll ask again,” Rajiv repeated. “What if she does cross your path?”

“Then I won’t be held responsible, not by you or anyone standing here,” Mihir’s words were a warning, clearly intendedfor the woman standing outside the ring, staring at him. His eyes met Ananya’s.

Ananya lifted both her hands in the air, her middle fingers raised defiantly. Mihir’s expression turned wild. Ignoring him, she flipped her hair and stormed out.

Vedant exchanged a worried look with Reina.

Thankfully, the buzzer at the end of the ring rang. Mihir held a hand out to Rajiv. He took it. The two of them faced each other once again.

“Are we done with this now?” Mihir asked.

Rajiv nodded.

They bumped fists, a gesture of camaraderie and mutual respect.

“Same time, next week,” Rajiv said, stepping out of the ring.

With a quick wave to all, Rajiv and Sheena left.

Vedant handed a towel to Mihir. He wiped his face and began scrolling through his phone.

He looked up. “Our men who had infiltrated JD’s organisation have reported that he may be returning to India. It could be any time now.”

Vedant’s pulse spiked. “Tell them to keep a watch on him the second he lands.”

“Our people are also searching through every record registered in Mumbai to find Karina,” Mihir said. “Hopefully, we should find her before JD returns.”

“We have to find her first,” Armaan said.

“Agreed,” Vedant said. “Now that all his money has been blocked, Ivan will get even more desperate. Vasily had told him what Karina meant to us, which means he must also be searching for her. If he cannot get to us, then he will try and find her.”

Reina hooked her arm through Vedant’s. She squeezed his bicep, her touch soothing him. She spoke up, “If you all, with allyour resources and AI images, haven’t been able to find her yet, then it means Ivan won’t be able to find her easily either. After all, he lacks the money to do so now, isn’t it?”

A few days back, he’d shown Reina the AI image Mihir had gotten made of Karina. He’d also updated her on all they were doing with regards to their sister.

“That is a silver lining,” Armaan said.

Mihir nodded. “Also, Rajiv got the van’s number plate via the CCTV footage fromLa Soiree. Our guys found it abandoned a little distance away from the restaurant. So, nothing moving forward there.”

Mihir’s phone beeped again.

“Fuck,” he growled.

Vedant immediately tensed. “What happened?”

“Check the latest issue of Noir,” Mihir barked.

Vedant scrolled through his phone. “It’s the article on Armaan and Navya. We were expecting that.”

“You both look great,” Reina told them.

“We do,” Navya gushed, peering into Armaan’s phone.

“Scroll to the section titledHush-Hush by Miss Butterfly.” Mihir sounded very annoyed.

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