Page 84 of Fixation

“Absolutely not,” Ananya said.

Vedant didn’t even look at her sister as he replied, “I wasn’t asking you,Anna.”

“Careful, brother.” Mihir’s voice was low, almost like a snarl.

Vedant looked at him, his lips tipped in mischief. “Control your woman while I talk to mine.”

“Notyourwoman,” Reina hissed.

“Nothiswoman,” Ananya spat out.

Mihir pinched his forehead. “Fuck, you’re more trouble than Armaan ever was.”

Vedant raised his hands in the air. “Look, I’m not leaving here until I talk to Reina, and I am willing to create a scene to do it.” He faced Reina. “The choice is yours,krasivyy.”

“Fuck,” she breathed out. She looked at the security. “It’s alright. We know these men.”

Once the two security guards backed away, Ananya addressed her. “Reina, no.”

“I don’t have a choice. We promised each other four years ago after that fucking mess intheiryacht that none of us would do anything to jeopardise Rajiv’s happiness and his peace of mind. And this fucker has clearly understood that, and that’s why he’s threatening to create a scene.”

Vedant raised a hand up. “Sorry, I come only in peace.”

“Shut up,” Reina, Ananya, and Mihir said in unison.

Vedant grinned, looking completely unaffected, as if he wasn’t the one responsible for ruining her night, taking awayherpeace of mind, and giving her a headache in the process.

“You have ten minutes, Reina,” Ananya warned.

Reina lowered her chin in a nod.

“Come with me,” she told Vedant.

“I’ll follow you anywhere you go,moya milaya,” he said.

Moya milaya.My darling. She’d spent enough time around Armaan and Navya to know what it meant.

She shut her eyes, praying for strength to deal with him. Vedant had shown up out of the blue and was behaving as if everything was alright between them. It wasn’t. She needed toremind him of how things had ended between them. She’d listen to whatever the fuck he wanted to talk to her about and then close his chapter from her life once and for all.

She was going to get over him, even if it was the toughest thing she ever did.

29

Victory blazed through Vedant as he followed Reina up the stairs. At least she’d agreed to speak to him. It was one step accomplished. As for the rest… he’d grovel and beg her if he had to. But he would win her back. Reina opened the same steel door through which Mihir had gotten him inside. She finally exited into the parking lot and faced him.

“What do you want?” she asked.

He looked around, his eyes scanning the security cameras everywhere.

“It’s safe here now,” Reina told him, reading his thoughts.

“I tried searching for you for weeks,” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me who you really were?”

“And how would that have made a difference?”

He nodded. “You’re right. It wouldn’t have made a difference in the way things panned out between us. I wanted you as Reina Singh and I want you as Reina Mehra. That hasn’t changed at all.”

Her lips tightened. “In the end, you didn’t deserve to know me, the real me. I was right not to have confided in you. You turned out to be a jerk like most men are.”

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