Page 74 of Born in Grief

“I’m going to take their image, their reputation, their peace of mind, and their sense of invincibility.” Dhrithi’s voice rang out cutting off his venomous outburst. “I’m going to take everything from them. Just like they took everything from me.”

“You think you can stop me?” she asked, stepping forward and out of the shelter of Amay’s bulk. “You think you can stop us? Do your worst,” she taunted. “We’ll do our best. Let’s see who wins.”

“News alert, it won’t be you,” Ishaan added helpfully, still grinning at everyone like a murderous clown.

“And on that note,” Amay said cheerfully. “Get out of my house. And in case it wasn’t already obvious, don’t come back.”

“This isn’t over,” Majid warned as they walked to the front door.

“We’re banking on it.” Ishaan wiggled his fingers at them.

“Ash.” Virat’s quiet voice stopped the four men near the door.

“What?” he blustered through his swollen, starting to bruise, jaw.

Virat walked over to stand right in front of them, his superior height forcing them to tip their heads back to meet his gaze. “You better fucking bleach her memory from your brain. Or,” his voice dropped an octave, fear a live current arcing through everyone in the room in response. “I’ll do it for you. And I, my friend, won’t be gentle.”

Amay doubted they’d have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed but he could practically hear the fear and worry that mixed with bolstered bravado in their jittery bodies and confused gazes. They had no clue what level of threat the three of them were and they wouldn’t be able to find out even if they tried.

Unlike the ‘Dusty Devils,’ Amay and his friends were low key, minimally visible and yet, lethally dangerous.

“Get out,” Amay said now, tired of the posturing and idle threats. “Get the fuck out and stay out.”

“Or what?”

Amay strode forward, getting right in Ashish’s face, savage pleasure coursing through him as the other man flinched, his hand going to cradle his jaw.

“Or I’ll show you what happens to people who come for me and mine.”

Chapter Forty-Three

DHRITHI

She found Amay in the kitchen, icing his hand. She was still a little shellshocked from the confrontation with Varun’s friends. She felt like there were large gaps in her knowledge of the past and she was groping around in the dark trying to fill it. It didn’t help that Amay seemed intent on avoiding her, moving away from her space and into any room or conversation that didn’t include her. Tired of it, she’d left Virat and Ishaan to their conversation in the drawing room and come looking for Amay.

“Are you okay? Does your hand hurt?” she asked, now, as he swapped the melting ice in the cloth with fresh ice.

Amay nodded. “I’m fine. I’m not scheduled for surgery tomorrow, but I need to be careful just in case. I can’t afford to have bruised hands.” He flexed his fingers and wrapped them with the ice again.

Guilt wormed its way through Dhrithi’s heart. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I never meant to bring trouble to your doorstep.”

“You didn’t.” He opened the fridge door and looked for something, she had no idea what. “I invited you to stay here.”

He had and she’d accepted when she’d known he meant it. Now…she didn’t know what had changed but something had. Dhrithi had lived most of her adult life as the unwanted appendage in people’s lives. She didn’t want to do it anymore. She wanted to be wanted, especially by this man.

She cleared her throat to get his attention. He continued to stare into the fridge like it held the secrets of the Universe.

“I’m leaving,” she said baldly. He stiffened, slowly shutting the fridge door and straightening. Now, finally, he looked at her. “I was already leaving before they came but then they turned up and it all got messy and delayed. Anyway, point is, I’ll be out of your space, and you can go back to…” She waved a hand at the fridge. “Searching for the mustard or whatever.”

She waited but Amay didn’t say anything. He just continued to look at her like he couldn’t understand a word of what she was saying.

“So.” She hovered by the kitchen platform, uncertain and lost, her teeth worrying at her lower lip. “I wanted to say goodbye and thank you.”

He still didn’t say anything, his eyes burning with an emotion she couldn’t decipher, one she wasn’t sure she wanted to.

“I’ll be going now.”

She walked out of the kitchen, her heart heavy and her stride a little off balance. She didn’t know what to make of anything, but she did know she owed these men everything. She’d caused them more problems in return but…

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