Page 64 of His Smile
"Before I go,though," Roman let his words trail off watching as Dev who was ahead ofhim slide open the living room doors revealing his men and the youngest Choprason standing in the hall waiting. Roman waited until Dev turned around incuriosity. He enjoyed the look of surprise on the man’s face at Roman’sproximity to him, though Roman enjoyed it even more so as it slowly mutatedinto confused horror as Roman palmed the man’s narrow head into the side of thedoor’s frame. The thudding force of his head hitting the wall brought gasps ofhorrified surprise from the room’s occupants around them.
Leaning his weight on thestruggling man, Roman grinned at Mrs. Chopra over his shoulder and offered anassuring wink before focusing back on Dev. "If I ever hear your name againMr. Gorshal, I will come to your house, the white brick one at five twenty-twoMullen Lane. I will pass by your parents’ room and walk to the back and openthe door on the left and enter your room while you are sleeping,” he explainedwith slow precision, feeling the struggling man still under his crushingpressure to his skull. Looking down at his pained face, Roman tilted his headso that he could get a better look at him. Injured pride, pain, but mostly fearswirled in the man’s dark eyes as Dev reluctantly met the chaotic gaze beforehim. “I will then proceed to mutilate you, Mr. Gorshal, I will cut off yourballs and dick and feed them to my dogs. That is what I will do if Ihearyour name so, you can imagine what I will do if Iseeyou, Mr. Gorshal.Nod if you understand.” The man managed a frantic nod under the pressure ofRoman’s hand. “Good,” Roman continued. “Now, who does Rahina Chopra belongto?"
"Y…you,” he stammered.
Shaking his head, Romanincreased the pressure on the man's head and ignored his pained moan. Turningto look over his shoulder, Roman watched as Amin and Amit watched him back withwide eyes and frozen postures. Mrs. Chopra had gathered herself and her shocksomewhere along the way, her eyes were back to the stern disapproving starewith the only sign of her stress being the wringing of her hands. Looking backto Dev, Roman clarified. "My name, Mr. Gorshal, say my name."
"You, Roman Mashir!”Dev’s voice was half cough and half choking sound.
"That is correct,"he growled. "I suggest you find another girl to turn your attentionto."
Releasing the man with ashove Roman straightened. "Now if we are done here, I now have to go homeand do some consoling.”
Not waiting, he turned andwalked out the living room and past the pale traumatized looking Riaz who stoodfrozen in the middle of the foyer. Seeing Sergei come down the stairs withquick steps, Sergei quickly stepped in line behind Roman as they walked out.Standing next to Rahina’s yellow roadster, Maksim, one of his enforcers held upthe keys signaling he would be the one to take the car. Running past him,Sergei went to open the door to the second black SUV parked in front of thehouse.
Roman stopped when he heardthe footsteps behind him and turned around to see Deeya Chopra walkingpurposely towards him.
"Mrs. Chopra?" heraised a brow at the approaching women.
"Now for my ownterms," she informed him, lifting her chin to a haughty angle as shecontinued. "I never wanted Rahina to dance for two reasons; one, I fearedno one would take her seriously in that all white world,” looking away brieflyshe stared out unseeingly into the night. “But she proved me wrong."
"She proved the worldwrong, not just you,” he stated.
Shaking her head as if shedidn’t want to hear him, Deeya pressed on. "And secondly, when she firststarted at that company her cousin Piya, became pregnant and while we allrejoiced the news, Rahina laughed when asked when would she be next and saidshe would never allow herself to get pregnant and that her dance career wouldalways come first."
Roman said nothing to that,he simply waited for the woman to get to the point.
Deeya Chopra stood silently,simply staring back at him with expectation that confounded him. Narrowing his gazeat her, he thought of her words again and froze.
"Mrs. Chopra areyou…" Roman couldn’t finish the question, for the first time in yearsRoman was honestly at a loss for words.
The woman gave him such aslow deviously sweet smile, Roman had to remember just who he was for a momentas he shook himself from the shock.
Sensing he was going tospeak Deeya lifted a commanding finger and spoke first. "I wantgrandchildren Mr. Mashir, you will make that happen for the terms of my part ofthis bargain."
The words were stuck in histhroat as he unwilling imagined Rahina pregnant with his child. No—the womansaid grandchildren, he mentally corrected. The image in his mind immediatelychanging as he pictured his house filled with the sound of children and theimage of Rahina standing next to him holding a baby—his baby. Satisfied at whatshe had done, Deeya gave him a serene nod of farewell before turning back tothe house, leaving him standing in her driveway stunned.
Getting back into the car,Roman simply nodded as Sergei handed him Rahina’s cell phone, he procured fromRahina’s youngest sister, Safina. Gradually, Roman’s smile returned as hestared out the window as they drove away.
That woman drove a hardbargain.
~*~
Once the sound of the doorto the garage sounded, Mosca gave her a small nod and left her alone in theliving room. Standing up from the couch, Rahina felt emotionally worn out andtired all over, but she was still anxious to hear about what happened after sheleft. She had gotten there fifteen minutes ago just as a storm rolled in andwith each minute that passed her regret for leaving Roman at her parents’ houseintensified. Seeing him walk through the door, he sat down her car keys andphone on the counter and gave her an enigmatic smile.
“I have to be honest, yourmother is terrifying,” Roman admitted.
"What did you tell them? I knew I shouldn't have left,"Rahina shook her head as she paced back and forth across the rug. She had letthe shock of the situation scare her into leaving the first chance she got, butnow it only made her feel worse and out of control. "I was just so…I justwanted to leave."
Looking up, Rahina sucked in a breath when she realized he had crossedthe room at some point and was standing directly in front of her now. Reachingwith both hands, he gently grabbed the sides of her face. Meeting his steadygaze, Rahina felt the stinging return of her tears as she began to cry in hishold. Swiping his thumbs like windshield wipers under her eyes, Roman placed akiss in the middle of her eyebrows. "Shh, I took care of it,sweetheart, just as I told you."
Leaning against him, she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Howdid you take care of it?"
Outside the rain began to pelt at the windows giving the silent room asoft muted feeling.
His expression turned smug, and she couldn't help but smile at his ego."I simply had a talk with them to explain that I will be a constantpresence in your life, and they should get comfortable with it now."
Rahina groaned into his shirt. "Please tell me you did not saythat?"
