Page 136 of Obsession

Armaan almost dropped his glass. “What?”

“Bloody hell,” Vedant cursed.

“The good news is that JD refused.”

Armaan glared at Mihir. “You purposely did that to work us up.”

Mihir chuckled.

“You sure look happier now, you know,” Vedant pointed out.

“I am mostly happy,” Mihir said. “I just wish I could convince Anna to forgive me sooner. Then she’d be here with me and all would be well. But I don’t want to push her.”

Vedant nodded. “She’ll come around. Reina mentioned that Ananya looks happier as well.”

He was relieved to hear that. It gave him hope that things were progressing in the right direction. But then, why hadn’t she called or texted him today?

Armaan scowled. “Can we not discuss Mihir’s love life and focus on what Mihir was talking about earlier?”

Mihir threw him a glower. “Seriously? You’re always interested in my love life, and now that I have one, well, sort of, you don’t want to probe?”

“You’re here, and Ananya isn’t,” Armaan said. “As per me, that indicates no love life.”

“Asshole,” Mihir muttered.

“Let’s get back to JD,” Armaan said flatly.

“Yes. Why did he refuse to speak to Ivan?” Vedant wondered. “I’m sure Ivan must have told him about us and how rich we are. He could find Karina and then use her to extort money from us. It would be so simple.”

“I agree,” Mihir said. “However, our men said that JD clearly told Ivan that he wasn’t keen on spending resources on a woman who’d never meant anything to him. Nor was he keen on working with Ivan. Apparently, the news of Ivan having no money has reached JD. He taunted Ivan as such and cut the call.”

“That’s good to know,” Armaan said. “And a relief.”

“Absolutely,” Vedant said.

“Well, my worry is that JD knows who we are, and that we’d be willing to pay anything for her. What if he tries to look for her himself? Although, as of now, he hasn’t made any move in that direction.”

“Let’s cross our fingers that situation stays that way then,” Armaan said. “I’m honestly relieved to know that Ivan can’t use her to get to us.”

“But that also means he’s out of options now,” Vedant said. “We need to be prepared at all times.”

“I’m hoping with my interview out now, Karina gets in touch with us herself,” Mihir said. “I hope she reads it and learns that we are looking for her.”

Armaan pointed at the latest issue of Noir that lay on the coffee table between them. “What didyouthink about it?”

Mihir picked up the magazine and smiled. He did look good. Anna’s friend Avantika had photographed him very well. His scar was unmistakable in the picture Anna had selected, standing out boldly for the world to see. He’d read his interview and cover story multiple times already. Anna had brilliantly narrated his story to the world, portraying him as someone who was blessed and grateful for everything he’d gotten. She’d painted him to be a philanthropist, a family man, and someone extremely dedicated to his work.

“So?” Vedant queried him. “What did you think?”

“I think she’s done a brilliant job,” Mihir said. “She’s captured the essence of our story and brought it out beautifully.”

“She has, indeed,” Armaan concurred. “To be honest, we liked it at once, but we were quite worried about your reaction.”

Mihir frowned. “Why?”

“Because you’ve stayed out of the spotlight for years,” Vedant explained. “And now, suddenly, you’re all over in a magazine. Our PR team has informed me that you’re trending. They’ve received numerous requests from various news and media outlets to interview you.”

“And the news of us having a sister is storming the internet,” Armaan said. “Our PR team is inundated with emails from thousands of women claiming to be Karina. Now, we have the arduous task of filtering those emails.”

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