Page 106 of Right Where I Belong
Vedant laughed. “Alexander, it turns out, was a multi-billionaire.”
She gasped. “What?”
He nodded.
“Good God. When Alexander used to come visit us in Rishikesh, he used to have armed men with him. I’d assumed he was rich to support us the way he did, and to visit from Russia as often as he did. But multi-billionaire…” She shook her head. “I hadn’t expectedthat.”
Armaan took over from Vedant. “We were devastated after you left. We felt betrayed and hurt that you could leave us with just a note. And that too for Dorab!” He shook his head. “The note said we needn’t look for you, but we searched for you for weeks before we gave up and finally left with Alexander.”
“Dorab changed the note I’d written for you. My original note said I’d be back in the evening… Anyway, please tell me more about Alexander. I still cannot believe he was so rich.”
“Honestly, even we didn’t know how rich he was until we reached his home,” Mihir said.
Armaan continued his story. He told her how their lives had changed from that day on. How Alexander had adopted them, cared for them, given them an education, and taught them to survive in the world. And on his death, he’d left them his entire estate and all his material possessions. Now, they all ran Alexander’s huge business, O-Corp, together. Armaan ran O-Diamonds and Vedant headed O-Oil. Mihir was in charge of O-Energy, and was also the Managing Director of the O-Corp group. They were who they were thanks to Alexander. He then filled her in on their problems with Alexander’s nephew, Ivan—how he had tried to hurt all of them, including the women they loved, and how they had finally taken him down. Sabrina was overjoyed and filled with relief for her brothers.
Mihir squeezed her fingers. “We never gave up on finding you, you know? We left our contact details with the staff in the orphanage, requesting them to reach out in case you ever called or returned.”
Her chest filled with warmth. They hadn’t given up on her even when they believed she’d betrayed them.
“A few months back,” Mihir continued, “our old caretaker from Rishikesh contacted us and told us that Dorab had returned to Rishikesh without you. He also told us that Dorab was telling people that he hadn’t seen you in years. We knew then that he had tricked you or hurt you. Luckily for us, Dorab was broke and desperate for quick money. That made it easy for us to draw him out. We spread the word that the orphanage had a wealthy benefactor willing to leave a million dollars to a deserving orphan. We made sure the rumor reached him.”
Mihir’s expression hardened. “Like a dog chasing a bone, he went straight to the orphanage management—exactly as we’d planned. The condition was simple: to claim the money, he’dhave to come to London. We even arranged the funds for his travel. And he believed every word. That’s how we got him to us. He told us how he’d lured you to Delhi and sold you to his boss. We also learned that you’d run away.”
“But we couldn’t trust that evil bastard,” Armaan said. “He refused to tell us who his boss was. And we weren’t sure whether you were still with his boss or you’d truly escaped. So, we let him return to Delhi and kept our people on his tail. Sure enough, he returned to Delhi, and that’s when we learned about JD, and that you’d actually escaped them.”
“We’ve been searching for you ever since,” Vedant said quietly. “We got an old picture of you from Mrs. Braganza and used AI to generate an image of how you’d look today. We’ve been searching for you for months now.”
“And then Aditya came to Dubai,” Armaan said. “He told Ananya about you. He showed your picture to her. Ananya recognized you when Mihir showed her the AI image. And here we are.”
She smiled. Aditya was the reason she was reunited with her brothers. He truly was a gift that she’d ignored for too long. But not anymore. A question lingered in her mind, though.
“About Dorab…” she began. “Where is he? You said on the phone that he won’t be a problem anymore. What does that mean?”
“He’s dead,” Mihir said, flatly. “As is Mrs. Braganza.”
Her jaw dropped. “Oh God.”
“Unfortunately for us,” Mihir sighed, “Ivan also learned about you and that we were searching for you. He killed Mrs. Braganza because he figured she was important to us. He got Dorab killed, and then he tried to get in touch with JD to get information about you. We learned that JD apparently isn’t interested in you, and he refused to work with Ivan.”
She exhaled a heavy sigh of relief. Dorab was no more. He could never find her and hurt her again.
“For too long, I’ve lived in fear that Dorab would find me and hurt me or Ahaan. I’m so glad he’s gone now,” Sabrina said. She looked at her brothers. “However, I ran into JD at a cricket stadium recently. He literally bumped into me, but he didn’t seem to recognize me. Imagine the coincidence and my shock at seeing him. I was so paralyzed by fear that I didn’t even stop to think that perhaps JD would never recognize me. I mean, he met me for fifteen minutes tops, fourteen years ago. He’s a dangerous man and runs a pleasure den. He must have met enough women over the years. Why would he remember a simple girl like me?”
The weight of all the fears she’d carried for too long fell away, making her feel lighter than she ever had. “Dorab was the only one who could have identified me. But he’s gone now. And since JD didn’t recognize me, I doubt he even remembers who I am. I can finally live my life freely without hiding.”
Her brothers smiled at her.
“Still, we need to be careful,” Mihir said. “Once you return to India, we want to put some security around Ahaan and you, for some time at least.”
She agreed immediately.
“Tell us about Ahaan now,” Armaan said. “Show us a picture.”
Grinning, she showed them pictures of him on her phone. They were so curious about him and promised to come to India soon to meet him. Sabrina thanked her brothers again, her heart full with the feeling of freedom after all the years of hiding.
Armaan gave her a wide smile. “My only regret in this whole thing is that I didn’t kill Dorab myself. Torturing him wasn’t enough.”
Her eyes widened. Mihir said something in a different language to Armaan. It sounded like he was admonishing him. Armaan immediately looked contrite and replied to him in the same language. It sounded like...
