Page 48 of Twisted Alliance

“Is it true?” the woman asked. “Ma said something strange about getting the house ready for you and your wife. Are you getting married?”

There was a pause. “I’ll talk about it later.”

There was a loud feminine squeal. “Oh my God! That’s great! I can’t wait to have a sister. Who is she? How come you never mentioned anything to me!”

There was a sigh. “I’ll talk to you later about it.”

He spoke something, but it was too soft to catch the words clearly. However, based on what Ishani heard, the woman was related to him. His sister?

Ishani hadn’t heard anything about Mihir Thakvar’s family except for his long-lost heir appearing suddenly in the Singoor province. Since no one else attended the wedding, everyone assumed Mihir Thakvar had no wife or other children.

Ishani’s heart jolted once again when she realized it was significant proof that Shivay Thakvar was a fraud. The man had a family—a mother and sister.

In the coming days, she would have to find details and more proof to inform Mihir Thakvar that the man claiming to be his son was lying.

With her heart thudding, she continued to listen. The phone call ended, and immediately there was the sound of a phone ringing.

“Hello,” his deep voice replied.

“Sir, the Merrick takeover has hit a glitch. One of the partners is refusing to sign the final paperwork of the contract.”

“Tell them they have exactly twenty-four hours to sign the papers and send them back to us, or the deal with the agreed amount will be withdrawn, and the takeover will take place the way I want.”

She couldn’t completely understand what was being spoken, but she caught the words ‘takeover’ and ‘contracts’ to once again verify he was a businessman. Shivay Thakvar’s voice held authority as he barked out orders.

The call didn’t last long, but another call was placed as soon as it ended.

Ishani stood outside the door, wondering if she would have to stay outside the office door all night. She wished she had a recording device so she could hear everything he spoke and give it to Mihir Thakvar as proof. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any such device.

So, she continued to listen.

“Has the excavation resumed at the mine in Africa?” he asked.

“Yes,” a man replied. “The rest of the team is flying to Africa next week. They finished early in South America.”

“Good. I want you to see this through, Rishab. You only have three weeks before you travel.”

“Sure, Shivay.”

“Nakul, as soon as Rishab returns from Africa, fly to New York and finalize the takeover for Merrick.”

“Yes, I will.”

“How are things in Singoor?” one of the men asked. “Are the talks still on schedule?”

“Yes,” Shivay replied. “They are going to proceed as planned.”

There was a long sigh on the phone. “I wish we had a picture of the goddess statue,” the man said. “It would make everything relatively simpler to trace it.”

Ishani let out a soft gasp when she heard the reference to the goddess statue. Based on the tone, Rishab and Nakul seemed to be Shivay Thakvar’s business partners and friends rather than people working for him. They didn’t refer to him as ‘sir’ like the other man did in the previous call.

Why were they looking for Goddess Shakti’s statue? And how did they find out about the tale of the land? And most of all, why did Shivay Thakvar care about bringing the goddess statue back?

Then the obvious reason struck her.

Shivay Thakvar wanted to find the missing goddess statue only to have the upper hand and get everyone to agree to drill for oil in Sands of Singoor like before the statue had disappeared.

She felt outraged by the nefarious plan. Sucking in a deep breath, she moved a bit closer to the door without touching it.

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