Page 7 of Obsession

Ever since they’d begun dating her sisters, Armaan and Vedant spent a lot of their time with Anna’s family. What made the situation even more difficult for him was Anna’s elder brother Rajiv. He was a great guy, and he had slowly become a very good friend to Mihir However, despite all these close connections, Mihir still chose not to participate fully in that part of his brothers’ lives because ofher.

Thanks to her, he had to reject Reina’s request to attend her birthday party. Reina had even called him a few minutes back, pleading with him to come, but he had once again refused her. He hated that he had to offend her as such. But there was no choice. Despite all these years, it still hurt too damn much to be in the same room as Anna. Even now, that familiar pain burned through his chest, turning his mood sour.

The signal turned green, and he merged his car into the traffic. He had to really stop thinking of her. She was nothing but trouble and he had a very important meeting he was heading to. A meeting that could, in all probability, provide him some clue as to the whereabouts of his nasty cousin.

Being the only living blood relative of Alexander Oshnov, Ivan considered himself to be the true heir of O-Corp. He’d taken an immediate dislike to Mihir and his brothers from the moment Alexander had brought them to Russia. He had especially hated Mihir and the close bond he’d shared with Alexander.

Ivan’s hate and fury toward them had only multiplied after Alexander had passed away, and they all had learned that Alexander had willed O-Corp and every single asset he owned to Mihir, Armaan, and Vedant, with Mihir holding the majority shares. Alexander had left only some minor shares of the company to Ivan. Those shares were enough for Ivan to live like a millionaire and not work for the rest of his life. But Ivan had become greedy, and he was eyeing the entire O-Corp. However, he couldn’t stake a claim on anything as long as Mihir and his brothers were alive. And so, he had tried to eliminate Armaan and Vedant, knowing that that would destroy Mihir. Fortunately, his brothers had both survived and come out stronger.

Armaan and Vedant meant the world to Mihir. They’d been with each other through thick and thin. They were his everything. From being three orphaned boys in a nondescript orphanage in Rishikesh to being the rich, powerful, and successful owners of O-Corp, their lives had changed drastically. And they’d been there, the three of them, with each other through every curve and bend.

A sharp pain stabbed at his chest, reminding him of the fourth one in their quartet—their sister, Karina. Thanks to their naivete, they had lost her a long time ago. Fourteen years had passed since they had assumed she’d betrayed them and run away with another boy, Dorab, from their orphanage. Despite finding a note from her telling them that she was leaving of her own will and never returning, they had tried unsuccessfully for weeks to locate her. In the end, disappointed and dejected, the three of them had left India and moved to Russia.

Now, they knew differently. They’d found Dorab and managed to lure him to London. Through him they had learned that Karina had never written that note. However, even under the threat of death, Dorab had only told them that Karina had run away from him.

All those years back, the fucker, Dorab, had overheard their plans to move to Russia and enticed Karina to go to Delhi with him, where he’d tried to sell her to some local goon named JD, who he’d started working for. Once she’d understood the situation, Karina had injured the two of them with a knife Mihir had given her and had run away.

In order to find Karina, they had released Dorab, and like the weasel he was, he’d gone running back to JD.

Mihir had further learned that JD no longer lived in India and was based in Bangkok. Mihir had gotten some of his own men to infiltrate Dorab’s organization to keep an eye on Dorab and await JD’s return.

However, thanks to Vasily—that traitorous bastard—Ivan knew about Karina and had gotten Dorab killed. Mihir suspected it was done to get JD back into action in India, most probably so that Ivan could get in touch with him and find out from him about Karina. But so far, JD remained in Bangkok, which was a relief.

Mihir’s fists curled. He wouldn’t fail Karina again. He would find her and ensure she was safe. He wouldn’t let Ivan or JD use her as a bargaining chip.

He turned his car into a dark, empty lane by the side of the highway. His cell phone rang. He tapped a button on the steering and answered. “Da?”

“Sir, we have a problem,” Chekov spoke in rapid Russian. “Ms. Ananya Mehra is following us.”

Mihir’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?” He scanned the cars behind him through the rear-view mirror, but he couldn’t spot her. “Where is she?”

“A few cars behind us. Anton is on her tail.”

“Fuck,” Mihir cursed. “Why didn’t Anton tell us earlier?”

“She left her home from the party about half an hour back. Anton reported that she’d managed to ditch Adam, her other bodyguard, and was on the way to the house.”

“My house?”

“Yes, sir. But then she suddenly changed directions and started down the highway. Anton was simply following her, thinking she’d changed her mind, and then he saw our cars up ahead. He only realized much later that she’s been following you all along.”

Fuck. Anton was an idiot not to have figured this out before. But Anna was too damn smart. She was deliberately keeping a distance from Mihir’s car to not attract any attention. But how the fuck had she managed to evade the bodyguard Rajiv had in place for her?

Thank God he had Anton following her at all times. Just because Mihir was mad at her and didn’t want anything to do with her didn’t mean he would leave her to her own devices. There were people who knew what she meant to him at one time. If Ivan ever learned of this…

No, he would always keep her safe, irrespective of everything else.

He slowed his car, seeing the turn up ahead to his destination. The warehouse that was the designated rendezvous point for this meeting loomed ahead in the distance to his right. He checked his watch. He had no time to even ponder why Anna had planned to come to his house or why she’d decided to follow him. As per him, the Estonians would be here in a few minutes, andshecouldn’t be anywhere near them. His heartrate turned frantic.

“Cancel the meeting,” Mihir ordered.

“I’ll try, sir. But they’re a dodgy lot. We may not get an opportunity to meet them again.”

“I know that. Just fucking do it.” Mihir disconnected the line. A moment later Chekov texted:Meeting canceled.

His heart finally returned to beating normally again. He sped the car toward the warehouse, knowing she was behind him. He had to give her a piece of his mind. This reckless behavior was unacceptable, especially in the current volatile situation they were living in.

He already had too much on his plate, and once again, Anna was forcing him to focus on her rather than on everything else that needed priority. She was becoming a pain. Ever since he’d announced that he wouldn’t be in the same room as her, she’d declared war on him. And her weapon of choice was her magazine, Noir.

---