Fixation (Fatal Attraction #3)

Chapter 30

30

V edant found Armaan in their gym the next morning. It was barely six, and his brother was thrashing the punching bag, his fists flying with acute precision and aim. He stopped when he saw Vedant enter. Armaan didn’t rush to meet him. He simply stared at him, looking mad as hell. Fuck. Clearly, the news of the events of last night had reached his brother already. No wonder Armaan was up early. He must have been waiting for him.

“Hi,” Vedant greeted him.

Armaan tipped his chin to a pair of boxing gloves. “Wear them.”

“Now?”

“You’ve been going on and on about how you’ve been waiting to spar with Mihir or me. Well, you get your wish.”

“I’m not sure this is a good idea. Especially when you’re in this mood.”

“Wear the damn gloves, Vedant.”

Removing his glasses, Vedant stepped on the mat, striking his hands together, testing the weight of the gloves. The two of them circled one another, hands raised in defence.

“How are you?” Armaan asked, watching him closely.

“I’m good.”

He hadn’t even finished his sentence when Armaan punched him in the face. Hard. Vedant’s head snapped to the side. Shit. His brother was in quite a foul mood. Vedant shifted on his feet, maintaining his balance.

“Navya got a call late last night,” Armaan began. “And I was told to listen in. Do you know what I heard?”

“You do know that there are two sides to a story,” Vedant said.

His words further enraged his brother because Armaan lunged forward, fists swinging furiously. Vedant blocked several of his strikes, until Armaan landed a vicious upper cut that sent Vedant reeling. Annoyed by him, Vedant retaliated with a flurry of punches that caught Armaan off-guard. They continued trading blows, anger accentuating every punch and strike that Armaan levelled on him.

“What is going on here?” Mihir’s loud voice boomed in the gym. From the corner of his eyes, Vedant found Mihir watching the two of them, arms crossed, a frown painted on his face.

“Can’t you see, brother? We are training,” Armaan said.

“Are you?” Mihir queried. “Looks like you’re making him pay for something he probably didn’t do.”

“Oh, now you’re on his side?” Armaan stormed.

Mihir scowled. “I’m on the side where we all talk it out like adults rather than removing our frustration on a mat.”

Armaan faced Vedant, his lips twisted in a sneer. “Have you got our elder brother to side with you now? Is it because you can’t take me on? Do you think your attack has made you weak?”

“Show me what you got,” Vedant growled.

“Fucking fools,” Mihir cursed.

Armaan let loose a barrage of punches, which Vedant deflected until Armaan punched him on the left shoulder. Vedant stumbled back as sharp pain stabbed him. He breathed heavily.

Armaan circled him. “Since when did you become an asshole? Has the attack affected your brain to think you could use Reina for fun?”

“What?” Vedant asked. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Seems to me it was exactly that. Did you or did you not break her heart by being cruel to her and then refusing to allow her to leave?”

“I…”

Armaan slammed a fist into his chest. A huge oof escaped Vedant’s mouth. Fuck, Armaan knew exactly where his weak points were and was deliberately targeting them now. But what his brother had forgotten was that Vedant had been training with Tyrion and the other guards for weeks now. Which meant that while there was still some pain lingering in certain parts of his body, he could hold his own in a fight now.

Vedant landed a lightning-fast jab on Armaan’s face, followed by several strikes on his chest and shoulders. Finally, he landed a hard upper cut on Armaan’s temple. His brother staggered back, wincing in pain.

Removing his gloves, Vedant threw them on the mat. “I am not fighting you like this. You want to talk, sure. I am ready to talk, but you will also have to listen to what I say.”

“I shouldn’t be listening to anything you say after all that I heard last night.”

“I love her, Armaan.”

Armaan’s eyes rounded. “What?”

“Yes.”

“No, I don’t believe you.”

Vedant’s jaw clenched. “Did I ever question you even once when you told us that you were in love with Navya?”

It maddened him that his brother was dismissing his feelings so easily.

“Why would you?” Armaan shot back. “I never hurt her. Whereas you?—”

“—I made a mistake, okay!” Vedant shook his head. “And why don’t we circle back to the fact that Navya had said some not-so-nice things that hurt you too? You forgave her, didn’t you? But all that seems to have been conveniently forgotten by you now that you are completely under her spell.”

Anger flared in Armaan’s eyes. Good. Vedant was mad too. Mihir stepped in between them, palms out.

“Enough,” Mihir yelled. He faced Armaan. “He has a point there. If you could forgive Navya, then maybe he needs a chance to find out if Reina can forgive him as well. We need to hear him out at least.”

“Alright,” Armaan looked at Vedant. “Tell me what happened.”

Vedant told his brother everything. His fear after Anita was killed. His insecurity in his own capability of protecting Reina.

“So, you behaved terribly with Reina to push her away,” Mihir reiterated. “Did you not even once think that maybe you could have told her the truth?”

“At that time, I hadn’t realised I was in love with her. I only knew that she was important, and I wanted to keep her safe at all costs,” Vedant breathed out. “If Ivan could get Anita killed after I went on three dates with her, then what would he do to the woman I actually cared about? I thought once I ended things with Reina, then she’d be safe forever. Now, in retrospect, I could have handled everything better.”

“You fucker, you broke her heart,” Armaan said. “And then you refused to let her leave the house.”

“How could I, Armaan?” Vedant queried. “That nurse—Vasily’s girlfriend—had already left. I thought keeping Reina with me would be safe for her. What if Ivan got to the nurse and convinced her we were the bad guys? What if she was already working for him? What if she knew that Reina was becoming important to me? What if the others knew as well? I was letting Dr. Jones go too. I behaved badly with Reina in front of Dr. Jones so that she’d never think that Reina was important to me. I was also hoping she’d never speak of Reina and my name in the same sentence to anyone who might be probing.”

“And now what?” Armaan splayed a hand out. “You have this grand realisation that you’re in love with her, and you expect her to welcome you with open arms?”

“It was only after I lost Reina that I realised how empty my life was. Seeing her last night made me accept what I had been trying to deny for the longest. I love her, and I want a chance at a life with her, if she will have me.”

“Fucker, what if she doesn’t want you?” Armaan asked. “What if she’s not in love with you?”

“Then help me find out. I need a chance, Armaan. Just one.”

“Let me also remind you that our situation hasn’t changed,” Mihir pointed out. “We still don’t have any information on Karina. My sources are still trying to locate her, but it may take them weeks. Plus, Ivan is still a very big loose end. We don’t know where he is or what he plans to do next. All I know is that he’s been silent for too long. Given all this, do you still want to bring Reina into your life?”

Fear rolled like a tsunami inside him. Reina. Being with him was unsafe, but without him also she was not safe, simply by virtue of being Navya’s sister. Besides, for how long would he and his brothers live their lives in fear? Armaan and Navya had embraced this situation they were in. Well, then so would he.

He addressed his brothers. “You know this fear is exactly what Ivan wants us to feel. He wants us to be afraid of him. He wants us to live knowing that he can and will hurt us and the people we love—if and when he chooses. And to that I want to tell him a grand fuck you.”

Mihir frowned. “What do you mean?”

“We need to announce Armaan and Navya’s engagement to the world. Let it be splashed on every paper, magazine, and news site. We need to show off our successes, our joys, and our wins to him. Let him know that we don’t fear him. That we will battle him when he comes. Let our happiness be a dare to him. A challenge. It will frustrate him and infuriate him. That’s when he will make a mistake, and that is when we will catch him.”

“I agree,” Mihir said, a long moment later. He looked at Armaan. “But this is your decision to make, brother.”

Armaan stared at Vedant for a long moment. “I’ll talk to Navya and Rajiv. He has to agree too. Everything we do affects him and his family.”

“Of course.”

“But I agree,” Armaan said. “I’d really like to show off our happiness to that fucker and dare him to come get us. I’ll let you know what pans out. But let’s circle back to Reina and you.”

“I really do love her,” Vedant repeated. “I’m suggesting this as much for her as well. None of us will be safe until we catch Ivan and the two men working for him. Nor can we sit around and wait for him to act.”

“I’ll talk to Navya about you. But those sisters are thick as thieves. You hurt one, the other two will mark you as the devil.”

“And their brother?” Vedant asked.

Armaan sighed. “The girls have decided not to tell him anything for now. But if… No. When he finds out that Mihir kidnapped his baby sister and you broke her heart, then, like I said, even God won’t be able to help you both.”

Vedant nodded. He’d deal with that situation when he reached that point. Right now, he wanted to ensure the woman he loved gave him a second chance to make things right. And that started right the fuck now. He turned to his brothers. They were the only ones who could help him win her back.