Page 33 of Born in Sin

“That was the general idea,” Cara replied. “Reinvention. I needed to shake Crestwood off.”

“And yet,” Mayukhi said, her gaze going to Ishaan, softening with a love that made Cara feel like she’d stepped into the twilight zone. “Here we are.”

“Here we are,” Cara confirmed, struggling to keep her own gaze away from Virat.

“You’re sure you want to do this?” Mayukhi asked, compassion and worry seeping through her voice. “You have a lot to lose, Cara.”

She felt him walk past her and toward Ishaan, her entire body feeling like a pile of atoms forever attuned to Virat’s existence.

“I’ve already lost everything,” she replied, keeping her gaze on Mayukhi. “There’s nothing left to lose, nothing important.”

“Cara.” Ishaan came over to slip a hand around Mayukhi’s shoulder, dropping a kiss on her hair, a casual gesture of affection that made Cara’s heart ache. “We have the burner phone for you.”

He held it out to her, a basic handheld device. She took it, the weight of it feeling ominous in the palm of her hand.

“It can’t be traced to you,” Virat’s voice sounded like crushed gravel, like a million words and emotions had died there, clogging it. “I’ve fed in the contacts of all the DD’s so you can choose whom you want to message.”

She nodded, opening up the screen. Behind her, Amay, Kabir and Dhrithi were still in the middle of an animated conversation. The sound receded as she pulled up Majid’s contact number. She stared at it for a moment, the number of the boy who’d been a friend of hers, the one who’d teased her when she’d been down, the one who’d helped her when she was late with an assignment…the one who’d tied her to a tree, who’d ignored her as she’d begged, who’d told her to shut up so it could all finish faster.

Her fingers were flying over the keypad even before her mind could catch up to the words she was forming.

Behind the Chem Lab. At nine thirty…

She sent the message before she could stop herself. It disappeared from her screen and her breath whooshed out of her.

Virat’s hand brushed against hers, his thumb hooking around her little finger and Cara’s thoughts scattered. She looked at him, the storm clouds in his eyes her lodestone. The phone in her hand vibrated and she glanced down at it.

Who is this?

A feral smile lit her face at Majid’s immediate response. Now, the game was afoot, and it was strewn with landmines. She’d have to tread carefully.

“Aren’t you going to reply?” Mayukhi asked, her face pale as she leaned into Ishaan’s side for strength. Cara remembered what Virat had told her about Mayukhi’s abduction earlier that month. Anger and shared pain flared within her, but she didn’t allow it to show. If Mayukhi was anything like her, she wouldn’t want pity, only vengeance.

“Not so soon,” Cara said. “Let him stew.”

“So, what do we do now?”

“Now,” Kabir said loudly, his arm slinging around Cara’s shoulder as he leaned down to nuzzle her hair with his face. “We plan my orgy invite.”

Virat’s hand slipped away from hers, the contact gone before she could blink, fog dissipating in the first rays of the sun. She curled her fingers into a fist, so she didn’t grab for him.

“You’re not actually going to get any action, Kabs,” she said, rolling her eyes at him, making an effort to keep her tone light.

“You’re all the action I need, love,” he replied affectionately.

She shouldn’t, she knew, but she looked at Virat on the heels of that comment. His eyes burned, an inferno that seemed to sear the skin off her body. Pain swirled in those grey depths, aged and brittle. Cara shut her eyes, unable to watch anymore.

And yet, when he spoke, he said nothing except for, “Let’s get down to figuring this out, shall we?”

Crestwood

“Virat!”

Varun’s voice cut through the crowded corridor. Virat hefted his haversack on his shoulder, watching as the Dusty Devils sauntered over to where he stood.

“We have something for you,” Varun said, his voice low enough for only Virat to hear.

Virat simply stared at him, not bothering to waste words on a boy who twisted them to his benefit.

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