Page 120 of The Ex Factor

He grinned again. “I’ll also be here for you, Lady Boss.”

That made me laugh. “And I hope to support you and Afra just as much.”

His smile turned shy at the mention of her. “Thank you, Lady Boss.” He grinned. “I should get going.”

“Good night, Imran.”

“Good night, Ms. Aarti.”

SUJIT

Iknew Aarti wouldn’t willingly meet with Manoj. Which meant he had something on her. He had either blackmailed or threatened her. I trusted Aarti to hold her own, and I saw her walk away without a look of worry on her face. That knowledge did little to calm the feeling of restlessness and unease inside me.

I was furious that Manoj had the guts to put Aarti in this position. And I was irked that Aarti had chosen to deal with him without confiding in me. She had clearly voiced her mistrust for him on our last night in St. Martin. She should have trusted me and told me about this.

I was so consumed with Aarti that I forgot why I was at the restaurant with Kitty. I tried to be present at the table, nodding to her chatter and laughing at her jokes. But my mind remained occupied with Aarti, and I knew Devi saw it too. She didn’t mention anything, though.

When we dropped them back home, I promptly instructed Imran to drive me to Aarti’s. I needed to make sure she’d emerged out of her dinner meeting unscathed. I also had to finally confess how I felt about her. A sudden, unexpectedfeeling churned my stomach, and Imran saw it as I readjusted myself in the backseat.

“Everything will be okay, Boss,” he said with his usual silly grin. “Today’s the day.”

“Whatever you think is going to happen, Imran, I assure you it isn’t,” I teased back with a straight face.

“Oh yeah, it’s happening.” That wide grin again. “Should I wait or leave, Boss?” he teased as we entered the portico of her magnificent building.

“Depends,” I said as I opened the door to step out. “I’ll let you know.”

Ignoring the anxiety and anticipation coursing through me, I rode the elevator to her floor. I couldn’t wait any longer without telling her what she meant to me.

I rang the doorbell, and I knew she saw me on the camera. But instead of unlocking the door with her phone like she usually did, she answered it in person this time, in a mini satin cami dress and a short robe.

“Sujit,” she said. “I wasn’t sure you were coming tonight.”

“I said I would,” I reminded her. “Can I come in?”

“Yes.” She drew the robe close over her thin camisole and stepped aside.

“I had to make sure you were okay.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she said without inflection.

“I saw you with Manoj.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. Or him.” She sighed and continued, “He called me yesterday, saying he had pictures of me from the party.”

I opened my mouth to express my displeasure, but she quickly added, “He wanted to meet and blackmail me into being seen with him. Or ending my friendship with you?—”

“He—”

“I don’t know what he wanted. I never let him finish. But he’s finished, believe me. He doesn’t have the means to hurt me in any way. Nor the balls.”

I smirked. “That means he’s worried.”

She frowned. “Worried about what?”

“His entire life is unraveling before him. It has begun, and he’s running scared. That’s the reason he contacted you. You were his last hope. That column in the tabloid was his way of using you to irk me. Now that his hands are tied, he was trying to use you to get me to help him.”

“Yeah, little did he know that this house cat is actually a tigress in the wild.”

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