Page 6 of Obsession

She’d started living again.

Avantika looked her in the eye. “I’ve been in the exact same place, Ananya. At one time, I had to force myself to get over Dev. It was nearly impossible. But I did it as best as I could for myself and for Neil. I know you keep saying that you hate Mihir. But knowing you, I know that isn’t entirely true. You have to move on, Ananya. For how long are you going to live with the hope that he will come to his senses and accept you?”

Ananya gasped. No one, not even her sisters, had ever told her this out loud. But hearing it from Avi shook something in her chest.

That night, when Mihir had announced loudly and clearly to her face that he wouldn’t attend his brothers’ weddings as long she was present was also the moment she had openly declared war on him.

From this day on, revenge has a new name for you, and it is Ananya Mehra.

She’d made that grand sweeping statement in that moment of anger and despair. She had thought that seeking revenge from him would ease the ache in her heart. Starting a gossip column in her fashion and lifestyle magazine had been the first step in her so-called revenge plan. She regularly published juicy titbits about him simply to irritate him.

Since, for some reason, Mihir had shied away from the media, she’d thought that seeing his name being splashed in the media would drive him mad—and that it would give her the joy she deserved. Also, somewhere inside her, there was a little kernel of hope that Mihir would come charging into her office and demand to talk to her. That he would ask her to stop writing about him, and she could finally get a chance to talk to him and clear the air. She’d hoped that because they still had that thread connecting them, he would come and find her at some point. But he never had, and now she finally accepted that he never would.

In the six months since she had started her gossip column that focused mainly on him, he hadn’t even blinked an eye. He continued to remain unfazed and went about his life, pretending she didn’t exist and that nothing she did mattered in the least to him. But Avi was right. Her obsession with him had to end, once and for all. She had to harden her heart against him and forget about all this revenge nonsense. She and Mihir were unfortunately related for life, thanks to their siblings. Hurting him would hurt them, and she’d never do that to her siblings and their partners.

Sadness threatened to take over her, but she pushed that emotion down. She had survived his loss in the past. And now, she would survive him rising from the dead like a proverbial phoenix who, for some reason, hated her with every breath he took. She would survivehimand his unexplainable contempt toward her. She was done being sad over him. She was done being mad at him. She was done hating him. She would move on from him. She would break that thread that connected them and walk away from him. And in order to do that, she had to stop pussyfooting around him and gather the courage to go and meet him in person. She had to end this once and for all.

She looked around the vast lawns. Rajiv was chatting with Avi’s husband, Dev, and Avi’s brothers, Aaryan, Vihaan, and Shaurya. Their wives were all standing in a group around Ananya’s parents. To the side, she saw Reina, Vedant, Navya, and Armaan huddled together. Reina was talking on the phone, looking agitated. Finally, she put her phone down and shook her head. Armaan’s and Vedant’s faces fell. Ananya knew what had happened. Mihir was most definitely not coming.

She took a large sip of her champagne, her mind made up. “I need your help, Avi.”

“Anything you want.”

Ananya told her what she wanted from her. Avi nodded. Sheena arrived with a lit birthday cake in her hands. Reina and Vedant neared her, all of their friends and family surrounding them. Reina blew out twenty-nine candles while everyone around her cheered for her.

Happiness soared in Ananya’s chest as she saw Vedant kiss Reina’s smiling mouth. Armaan ribbed Vedant from the side, his arm around Navya. She’d do anything to ensure her sisters’ happiness, even if it cost her the last remnants of her past.

2

Mihir Oshnov sped his black Bugatti down the busy Dubai roads. Even at midnight, the city was wide awake. He merged his car into the flowing traffic on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway. Five years back, when he had decided to shift base from Moscow to Dubai, he had never thought he’d grow to love this city so much. But he did. He loved every bit of it.

There was a little of everything for everyone here. From tall skyscrapers to quiet residential neighborhoods, from the vast deserts to the loud bustling streets, buzzing nightlife to quiet dining options, beach bars, lounges, or fast food—every cuisine and dining option on the planet was available here. People of every color, race, and religion lived here peacefully, and the security and safety were top-notch. Well, mostly top-notch. The problem was that if one was desperate to hurt someone, then it could be done in any city of the world. Mihir’s heart lurched thinking ofthatone night when both his brothers had been targeted. Armaan here in Dubai, and Vedant in London.

Since then, he had insisted upon having round-the-clock security for his brothers, their women, and himself. He looked through the rear-view mirror, and sure enough, his Head of Security, Chekov, was following him in a black Escalade along with a few other bodyguards.

Being as rich as they were, they had enemies galore, but the biggest threat to their lives now came from their adopted cousin, Ivan Oshnov. He was the one who had tried to kill Armaan and Vedant. Then, a couple of months back, Ivan’s men had tried to hurt Navya and then Reina. Those plots had failed, and Ivan had gone radio silent since then. However, now his silence was bothering Mihir.

In the past, Ivan had cleverly used the Oshnovs’ then head bodyguard, Vasily, to work for him. Vasily had been listening to their conversations and passing that information to Ivan. On learning the truth, Mihir and his brothers had gotten rid of Vasily after extracting whatever information they could from him. Through that, Mihir had landed this new opportunity to learn more about Ivan.

Ivan had hired an Estonian gang to try and hurt Mihir’s family. While most of the men who had attacked his brothers were all dead now, one of them, Paul Samson, still lived. Paul was now an integral part of Ivan’s crew, and finding him would thus lead Mihir to Ivan.

Mihir’s team had recently established contact with Paul’s old Estonian associates, and Mihir was now on his way to meet them. It was a dangerous move to go alone, one that his brothers would surely disapprove of. However, Mihir refused to risk their lives. They were finally happy and had something to live for, and Mihir would do everything in his power to ensure his growing family was safe always.

That’s why he was headed out in the dead of the night to the middle of nowhere, to attend this very important meeting with just three bodyguards. Taking too many would in all probability scare away the people he was meeting, and that was the last thing he needed.

Mihir stopped his car at a signal. He studied his reflection in the rear-view mirror. The sight of his scar, that long, jagged line that ran down the right side of his face, from his temple down his cheek, always bothered him. He hated it. He hated it because of whom he had got it.Anna.

He could have had the scar removed through plastic surgery, but he’d chosen not to. It stood as a stark reminder ofherbetrayal—a symbol of the pain she’d caused. It reminded him never to trust another woman and never to fall in love again. So, he’d left it as is.

A shot of sudden restless energy burst through him. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, forcing his mind to dwell on anything buther. His life had become lonely of late. Ever since Armaan and Vedant had fallen in love, the three of them didn’t spend as much time together as before.

Mihir didn’t begrudge their happiness at all. True, genuine happiness came with being in love with the right person, in seeing that person by your side day in and day out, and his brothers deserved every bit of this precious joy.

His chest constricted. At one time, he had thought he had found this joy too, but he had been disappointed and hurt by…her.

Her—Anna or Ananya Mehra—the one person he had loved above and beyond everyone and everything. But she had deceived him in the worst way possible. She had…

No, he wasn’t thinking about that orher. Already because of her, he was being forced to alienate himself from his brothers.

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