Page 111 of Right Where I Belong
He studied her for a long beat. “Do you love him, Mom?”
The calm and grown-up question caught her off guard. Her throat tightened. “What do you know about being in love?”
“It means you’re happy—like Aish is with Rithwik,” he replied matter-of-factly. “It means you have someone who wants to be with you all the time. Isn’t that right?”
Her heart clenched. God, her son’s maturity would never cease to amaze her.
She smiled. “That’s exactly right.”
“Then I want him to be with us forever,” he said, beaming. “He makes me happy too.”
Warmth flooded her chest.
“I want that too,” she whispered. “I want to marry Aditya.”
Ahaan’s grin widened. “Does that mean we’ll live in his house or he’ll live in ours? He said he has a pool. I want to live in the house with the big pool.”
Sabrina laughed, shaking her head. “I thought you were scared of water?”
“Uncle Aditya said he’d teach me, so I’m willing to try with him. So… can we stay with him?”
“I’m not sure where we’ll live yet,” she admitted, smoothing a hand over his hair. “I just know we’ll all be together.”
Ahaan clapped his hands. “This is so cool.”
Then his smile dimmed. “But what about Ma and Maya? Can they come too? We can’t leave them, Mom.”
Oh God. Her heart ached for this little boy, who was far too wise for his years. He was worrying about the very things that weighed on her.
She pulled him into a hug. “We’ll figure it all out, my darling.”
She’d called Aisha and Diya on the way from the airport and told them everything that had happened. They were both delighted for her, of course. But she still had to tell her mother-in-law everything—and she would, soon. She only hoped the older woman would be as considerate as she had promised to be.
She sighed. Aditya and she had yet to discuss living arrangements. She was certain he’d be open to Maya living with them, wherever they ended up staying. But what about her mother-in-law? What was she going to do about her? In the past, the older woman had vehemently refused to stay with Aisha even for a few days. But now?
She shook her head. And then there was Aditya’s mother. God. Why did her life have to be so complicated?
And she still had to tell Ahaan about her brothers.
“Ahaan…” she began.
The ball slipped from Ahaan’s fingers and rolled under her desk. He quickly ducked under the huge wooden desk and sat there playing with his ball. She chuckled. He still did this every time he came to her office. Her big wooden desk was like his personal hideout.
Still smiling, she moved to sit behind the desk. Out of habit, she opened the top drawer, slid her purse inside and pulled out her phone.
Suddenly, the door outside burst open with a crash. Before she could as much as gasp, two men rushed into her office—hard-eyed, broad-shouldered, each with a pistol raised.
Her breath caught. Ahaan.He was hidden beneath the desk. Panic shot through her.
“Stay where you are!” she shouted at the men. “Don’t come near me.”
A hand brushed her calf. Ahaan must have sensed the danger. Without looking down, she shifted closer to the desk and slipped her hand beneath the edge, shaking her fingers in a sharpno, praying he understood.
She then lowered her phone into the shadowed space. His hand closed around it. She flicked her fingers again, hoping he stayed hidden and didn’t make a sound.
At the same time, her other hand reached for her bag. Her fingers closed around the comforting and worn leather of her knife. Heart pounding, she eased it free and tucked it into the pocket of her jeans, never taking her eyes off the men.
Her mind spun. Who were these men? Why were they here? Nothing about this made sense. Dorab was dead. Was this a robbery attempt? Oh God, why was this happening now?
