Page 95 of Obsession

“How can you be so careless, Mihir?” She zipped the gym bag. “You should be wearing it all the time.”

“I’m trying, Anna. It’s hard getting used to it on my finger!” He raked a hand through his hair. “Fuck, I don’t remember when or where I removed it.”

She checked the time on her watch. “I have to go home now. I have to get the house ready before I leave to pick up my sisters. Zeeshan is also moving out today. I want to meet him before he leaves.”

“I’m so glad he finally found his own place. He was living for free under your roof for far too long.”

She reached up and kissed his mouth. “See you tomorrow then?”

He made a face. “In case you change your mind and miss me, I’ll be right here.”

She laughed, and with a last flying kiss, she left his house.

His phone beeped a few minutes later.

Find the ring, Mihir. Look for it.

He smiled, reading her message. God, she made him so happy.

Little had he known that it would be the last time he’d be happy in a long time.

The present

The ping of his cell phone jolted him out of the painful memories of his past. His brothers were video calling him. He joined the call from his phone and then pressed a button on the TV remote.

His brothers’ faces appeared on the TV screen. They were seated together in the study at their home in Dubai.

“Hello, brother,” Armaan said. “You’ve had quite an eventful time in Moscow, we hear.”

Mihir’s mind immediately leapt to Anna and to all the times he’d been moving inside her. Fuck. He’d never get over how he felt when he was with her—when it was just him and her, with no talk of the past between them. Those times felt perfect, peaceful, precious, and so damn special.

“Why are you smiling?” Vedant asked. “Did we get Ivan? He was there at the party last night, right?”

Mihir shook his head, focusing on his siblings. He’d texted them some time ago telling them that Ivan had been there at the party. That was the reason they’d video called him.

“I was at the UK embassy, Vedant,” Mihir said. “I couldn’t get him just like that. You do know that bodyguards are not allowed inside. Everyone had to wait outside.”

“The fucker knew that,” Armaan said. “That’s why he was bold enough to show up.”

“Do we know who invited him?” Vedant asked.

Mihir nodded. “Chekov found out that he was the UK ambassador’s daughter’s friend’s date.”

He updated his brothers on all that had happened last night, leaving out the part about Anna hitting Ivan. He still couldn’t believe she’d done that. He’d been absolutely conflicted ever since he’d heard her threat to Ivan.

Touch Mihir or anyone else I love, and see how I destroy you.

What was he to make of those words? Despite warning himself several times not to pay heed to them, they’d continued to haunt him. He checked the time. It had been an hour since he had left Anna in her room. He’d left instructions for his staff to tell her to meet him here in his study once she’d finished breakfast. He’d needed some time away from her to think and to sort through the various questions swirling in his head.

“Mihir?” Armaan’s voice shook him out of his thoughts. “What are you thinking about?”

“Ivan will show up and create trouble again if he can. One thing I realized last night was that he definitely doesn’t have enough resources at his disposal. Ever since we cut off his funding, he’s desperate. I also got the impression that he doesn’t know where Karina is.”

“I hope that’s true,” Vedant said.

“Thankfully, there’s not much he can do about it,” Armaan commented.

“We cannot rule out anything. We need to get to him,” Mihir said. “And soon. I’ll ask Chekov to start looking for him around Russia again. He ought to search through all of Ivan’s old hangouts and residences. He needs to investigate all the people who were his friends and acquaintances, especially this new woman he’s seeing now. I’ll get on this right away.”

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