Page 74 of Obsession

His eyes shone with tears when he looked at her. “That second year, when he came to Rishikesh, he’d started talking to me about the possibility of taking me to Russia with him. That he wanted me to stay with him. That he’d give me a great life. I knew what he was offering would change everything for me, but I couldn’t leave my siblings behind. They came first for me. Alexander couldn’t believe that I was rejecting his offer simply because I didn’t want to part with my siblings. My fierce rejection of leaving them behind changed his mind. He promised me that he’d take all four of us with him. You see, the adoption process in India is far too long—longer still for a foreigner. So, I told him to wait until we all were eighteen, because then we’d have to leave the orphanage anyway and fend for ourselves. We could decide for ourselves if we wanted to go to Russia with him. It would all be so much simpler.”

She nodded, and then her eyes flew to his. “Wait. You said four, Mihir. But it’s just the three of you.”

Mihir looked at her, not saying anything.

“Mihir?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “This is the reason I wanted you to conduct the interview, Anna. Armaan, Vedant, and I are finally ready to tell the world that it’s not just the three of us. We also have a sister.

She jolted a step back. “A sister?”

“Yes, we have a sister, Karina. She’s the fourth one in our quartet. However, she’s missing, and despite all our money and efforts to search for her, we haven’t been able to find her. We are hoping that once this interview goes live and the world learns we have a sister, the news will spread far and wide, and she will read it too. We’re hoping she comes looking for us.”

Ananya held her hands up. “Whoa. Wait. Let’s return to the beginning. You have a sister?”

“Yes.”

“Who all know of this, apart from the three of you?”

“Only your sisters. I still haven’t told Rajiv.”

Her throat knotted. It sucked that Mihir had never confided in her about his sister, while both his brothers had told Navya and Reina everything.

“Armaan, Vedant, Karina, and I—we were a family in the orphanage. It had always been us against the others there. That year, when we were to leave with Alexander, we had all turned eighteen, except for Karina. My brothers knew about the plan and were extremely excited. I was waiting for Karina’s birthday to tell her everything. However, you see, there was this boy at the orphanage, Dorab. He was pure evil. He’d always hated us and was envious of the bond we all shared. But Karina had a soft corner for him. She remained friends with him, despite what we told her. We didn’t want him to learn about the plan before it was time. We thought he would stop her from coming with us or make her believe that there was something foul at play. After all, a random man from Russia wanting to adopt four Indian orphans would make anyone skeptical.”

“I agree.”

“I knew it was a gamble. But I trusted Alexander and believed that he wouldn’t betray us. I wanted to go with him. He was giving us an opportunity to better our lives, and I wanted to take it. My brothers agreed. But when the time came to tell Karina, we couldn’t find her anywhere. We finally discovered that she’d run away with Dorab. We found a note addressed to us, informing us not to look for her and that she was never returning. Her betrayal destroyed us. We were so hurt. Even Alexander, with all his resources, couldn’t locate her. Still, we waited for weeks, hoping she’d miss us and return. When she didn’t, we finally gave up and went to Russia with Alexander. However, we did leave a number with Mrs. Braganza to contact us if she ever got news about our sister. It was only recently that we found new evidence that proved that Dorab may have sold her off or that she ran away from him and is now either hiding or living in fear of him and the man he’d tried to sell her to. But we will find her soon and be reunited with her one way or the other.”

She grabbed his arm. “Oh my God, that’s just awful.”

He lowered his chin.

“Mihir, I have to ask this, but are you sure she’s alive?”

“I wasn’t for the longest. But recently, I got her old picture from Mrs. Braganza, and using some very intelligent AI tools, I got an image of how she might probably look like today. Plus, Mrs. Braganza was at a mall in Mumbai recently, where she spotted Karina. But Karina ran away from her. I sent Mrs. Braganza the AI image of Karina, and she confirmed it was indeed her.”

Joy lit his face as he spoke. “She’s alive, Anna. Can you believe it? We have men searching for her, but I truly hope that when your article is published, she comes to us on her own. Ivan knows about her, and we’ve learned from the men who attacked you that he is looking for her too. We have to find her before he does.”

She caught his hand. “I hope you find her, and I hope she’s safe.”

He squeezed her fingers with his. “Thanks.”

Releasing her hand, he began to walk ahead.

“Mihir,” she called out. When he turned, she asked, “In London, you only told me about your brothers. You never once mentioned Karina. You never told me about your adoption either. Did you not trust me?”

A shutter fell over his face. His eyes were icy when they landed on her again. “I am glad I didn’t, given how things panned out.”

Her brow wrinkled. “What things? What panned out?”

“I hate it when you pretend ignorance,” Mihir barked. “You look so innocent standing here as if you don’t know anything.”

“That’s because Idon’tknow what you’re talking about.”

Mihir threw his hands in the air. “Let’s go back. We can continue later.”

He spun around, striding in the direction of the house. She stared at him, feeling absolutely and utterly confused. What did he think she had done? Why was he so hesitant to tell her? This guessing game had gone on for too long, and she was done waiting to get her answers.

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