Page 44 of Obsession

“He still calls you Anna,” Devina remarked.

She shrugged. “Force of habit, I suppose.”

Zeeshan studied her. “Fuck, we need to talk. Does Asha know?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t mentioned him to anyone, and like you said, we’re all not really in touch. Anyway, how come you’re both here? I thought we were meeting at Zuma.”

“Didn’t you read your messages? We both ended up reaching early. They needed time to give us a table, so instead of waiting there, we thought of coming to your office instead.”

Ananya smiled at her friends, noticing the people they’d become. Zeeshan was smartly dressed in dark brown trousers and a matching jacket, with a green shirt on the inside. Devina was wearing a smart blue blazer dress with gold buttons.

“Look at you both,” Ananya gushed. “I’m so proud of you. Zeeshan, you’ve changed from this wild party boy to this serious humanitarian soul. And, you Devina, you are a businesswoman. And the ease with which you shuffle between Mumbai and here, it’s amazing.”

Devina shrugged. “Well, my business is not as successful as what you’ve created with Noir.”

Zeeshan gave Ananya a smile. “Life teaches you so much. It was time to change and become better. But you tell us about Mihir. I have so many questions.”

“Yeah, me too,” Devina said.

Ananya grabbed her bag and wound her arm with Zeeshan’s. “Come on, let’s walk to Zuma. We can talk on the way.”

Zeeshan, Asha, and Devina had been her good friends at one time. Asha and Zeeshan were the ones who had told her about Mihir’s death. They had heard in college that Mihir’s brothers had informed the college faculty of his death. That they had collected his post-graduation degree from the dean and informed him how Mihir had died in a fire while visiting a house in Kent—the same house they had honeymooned in. Ananya never knew what to feel about leaving that house just a few minutes before Mihir had returned to it. Just a few minutes… but it had managed to upturn her world and her life as she knew it.

Devina had been the one to force her sisters to take Ananya back to Dubai so she could heal with her family around her. When she’d been too devastated to think, her friends had been her rocks. She owed them some explanation, for old times’ sake. The realization made her grateful they’d not sensed the tension between Mihir and her for what it was, or she’d have a whole lot of different explaining to do.

Her cheeks still burned thinking of how she’d taunted Mihir into reacting to her. She sighed. It had been a bad idea, but damn, these bad ideas felt so damn good. The way her body still burned where Mihir had laid hands on her was a testament to this. God, she had to stop thinking about Mihir. At once.

The three of them reached the ground floor and exited the Poseidon building, talking in soft tones.

“Navya and Reina are dating Mihir’s brothers? That’s some news!” Zeeshan looked at her in disbelief.

“Yes.”

“Sweet,” he replied.

“But Mihir and you are not together?” Devina asked, looking confused, perhaps at how the dynamics had changed.

“Yes.”

“Let’s go via this alley. It’s a shorter route,” Devina said, steering them down the small lane.

“How are you really feeling about all this?” Zeeshan asked.

“To be honest, I was shattered at one time. But I’m better now.” She shifted to the side, allowing the people to pass. “I can’t help it if he blames me for whatever happened to him in London and that he refuses to talk to me about it.”

Zeeshan halted in the middle of the alleyway, looking stunned. She stopped beside him. More people went past them.

“Fuck, Ananya. I…,” he paused, and looked away for a moment.

Before she could ask him to continue, a man bumped into her. Ananya gasped as she felt a sharp, searing pain through her side. It felt hot and wet beneath her ribs. Her breath caught in her throat, and she looked down. A dark stain was spreading across the fabric of her beige dress.

Zeeshan and Devina screamed. She heard the sound of running footsteps from somewhere close. Cold; she felt cold. A high-pitched ringing began in her ears before she crumpled to the ground and her vision went dark.

12

Mihir entered his office, angry and irritable. He tossed his car keys on his desk. He’d deliberately gotten into work calls the whole car drive from Poseidon to the tower that housed O-Corp’s offices to keep himself occupied. He stood at his desk, powering up his laptop.

He let out a heavy breath. His mind, however, kept returning toherand the way he had lost control aroundher, again. Anna knew how to push his buttons, and he’d reacted to her exactly as she’d wanted. She knew how to break his resistance and to rile him up. She knew how to make him forget the world until the only thing on his mind was her.

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