Abhimanyu squatted in front of Rivannah and gently raised her chin. Her face was red and puffy, her hazel eyes brimming with pearl-like tears.She recognised him in her drunken stupor, buried her head into his chest, mumbling something incoherently.The pungent smell of alcohol on her felt so wrong.
" I'm here now, Rivannah." He whispered, caressing her wild tendrils, "You don't have to be afraid. I'm going to protect you, just like I promised."
" That's very heroic of you." Miguel spat, pointing the gun at him, " I was going to get rid of that girl anyway. The more the merrier, right?"
" Did he hurt you?" Abhimanyu asked softly.
He couldn't see or hear anyone apart from the fragile girl in front of him. Rivannah shook her head against his embrace. He let out a relieved sigh and helped her to stand.Her feet wobbled in her drugged state, and he held her firmly against him.
Abhimanyu turned towards the bewildered dark web operator. His face remain unmoved at the sight of the gun. He only moved Rivannah to her left, so that he was shielding her body.
" You should shoot while you can." Abhimanyu said darkly, " Any moment my men will come barging in."
Miguel opened his mouth to yell, but was quickly interrupted, " Don't bother calling for your guards. They are dealt with."
" You think you can leave my casino alive?" he chuckled sarcastically, "I decide who comes and goes. That girl knows too many secrets.Even if by some miracle you escape, I will never stop hunting for her."
" You're worried about your secrets?" Abhimanyu said concernedly, " Then you should hear me carefully. If we don't leave this fine establishment, someone will leak all your precious little secrets in the media.I wonder what your adopted parents would think.What were their names again? Right, the Di Mellos. I think they are under the impression that you make an honest living abroad. Imagine their surprise and disgust when you get arrested for all the crimes you've done."
" Of course, that fucking hacker found everything." Miguel said sinisterly, but his dark eyes were vulnerable and fretful, " You may have won this battle. But only until I find your secrets."
" I'm not going to play this futile game." Abhimanyu offered, "I'll keep those secrets safe, if you'll leave her and Raghavendra Rathore alone. But if you break your end of the deal, then don't expect any tolerance from me."
Miguel lowered the gun, his jaw clenched in anger.His anonymity was his greatest defence. He didn't want the Di Mello family to enter his world of death and deceit. They didn't deserve to pay for his sins. He vowed to find that mysterious hacker...even if he was hiding in the depths of Hell.
" Fine. You have my word." He spat in abhorrence," Now get out of my casino!"
*
Man Singh was waiting impatiently for his lord to return. The guards had informed him that rescue went smoothly but his heart was filled with ominous and inauspicious foreboding. Abhimanyu sauntered towards them, holding an unconscious Rivannah in his arms, bridal style.
Man Singh silently opened the door of the black SUV. Abhimanyu laid the delicate girl on the leather seat, covering her body with his suit jacket so she wouldn't get cold.
" There's a problem, Your highness." Man Singh said unhappily.
" I'll deal with Radhika later." he said dismissively, " We're going home."
" You don't get that option Abhimanyu Chauhan!" a feminine voice shrieked, " How dare you use me? You humiliated and discarded me in the middle of the Gala! And for what? That girl!"
Abhimanyu had used up all his patience with Miguel. He tilted his head, his dark eyes revealing his wrath. Man Singh walked away brusquely, allowing them some privacy.
" Who is she?!" Radhika demanded furiously, " I've never seen her around before. She doesn't run in our circles. She came with you that day. I saw her climbing down your car. I asked you repeatedly who she was but you shrugged me off. You wanted to meet BlueFreddie to find her.Isn't it because she's your mistress?"
Abhimanyu snarled at her in warning.His grey eyes were dark pools of abyss and death.Radhika took his actions as a silent affirmation. No wonder he evaded all her questions. He wouldn't even tell her name.
"She's your mistress, isn't she?" Radhika chuckled sinisterly, " It's just the Rajput tradition.How could you settle for a common, characterless girl like her? It's beneath you to indulge in whores!"
" What did you say about Rivannah!?" He snapped.He had Radhika pinned to the car in a single shove, a palm gripping her throat threateningly. She quivered in fear at the rage on his face.
How could she say such horrible words about Rivannah?
His Mistress!?
He couldn't even sit to next to her without Rivannah scooting away from him. She never coveted his attention. She never acted like they were anything more than friends. No matter how much he had taunted her, she still wore her dignity like second skin.
"Rivannah." Radhika rasped, struggling against the chokehold," You care for her so deeply? I've never seen that look on your face. Just admit it, Abhimanyu. You left your family during Diwali to have fun with your mistress. Tsk Tsk, she looked quite young. But I suppose she doesn't care about who she is with. I bet she'd spread her legs for my father-"
" I dare you to finish that sentence." he whispered darkly, fighting the urge to strangle her. His fury wasn't to just protect her honour.Something ancient and complex had consumed him when Rivannah got missing. His heart had given him many hints, but he never acknowledged it.
How a day wouldn't pass that he didn't think of her. How he had burned in jealousy when he saw her with Vikram. How his heart fluttered when her skin touched his. How he felt pain whenever her pretty eyes were rimmed with tears. How scared he was when she had gotten hurt.How wary he was of their proximity yet he craved it like oxygen.
" Tell me you don't care about her." Radhika dared him, her dark eyes brimming with madness and jealousy.
Abhimanyu's breath plummeted as he realised the truth. He thought his feelings were momentary infatuation, protectiveness, or sympathy.But he was so terribly wrong. It was far more deeper, richer and sublime than anything he had ever felt. His heart had been deceived and the deceiver was in his heart.
His palms left Radhika's throat as if she burned him. He wasn't looking for love when he found Rivannah. She had stumbled upon him in the darkness and left his whole world ablaze.
" You can't say it, right?" Radhika pestered him, " You act proud and noble, yet you care for a low-class nobody.Typical royal families."
" Even if she was not here." Abhimanyu muttered derisively," I would certainly never think of you, Radhika Shekhawat. You are insolent, demented and venomous. Your very presence disgusts me. As gratitude for your assistance tonight, I'm going to respectfully send you back home."
A few silent guards held her hands and dragged her away. Radhika yelped and threw angry curses, threatening them with her father's power. She was completely unrecognisable as a posh and elegant woman.
" What did you say to her, Your Majesty?" Man Singh wondered, secretly happy that the siren-like woman was rejected by his lord.
" It doesn't matter." Abhimanyu said blankly, sitting beside the sleeping Princess," Let's take her home."
*
Rivannah's eyes fluttered open. Bright light filtered from the French windows. She groaned softly at the pounding pain in her head. She sat up from the bed, taking in the familiar room. She wondered what happened yesterday, as the pain receded. Her throat was dry as sand and she tasted bile in her mouth.
She tilted her body to grab a glass of water, when a strangled cry left her lips. Abhimanyu jerked awake, his grey eyes alert and cautious. He stood up from the upholstered armchair on which he had fallen asleep.
" What's wrong, Rivannah?"he enquired urgently, grabbing her frozen hand," Did you have a nightmare?"
" What are you doing in my room?" she demanded in a hoarse voice. She looked down at her clothes and frowned at the large, over-sized sweatshirt that was not her own. It smelled like musk and expensive cologne. Wrapped her arms around herself, her mind was filled with dread.
" You don't remember." Abhimanyu sighed, his posture relaxing, " I saved you from BlueFreddie and brought you home. You were completely drunk. Mrs D'Cruz helped you change and go to bed. And then-" he trailed off, a sly smile etching onto his lips.
" Then what?" Rivannah prompted.
"You started puking." he grinned, eyes filled with mirth, " And you just wouldn't stop. You must have hurled double your body's weight in vomit. All your clothes were spoiled and Mrs D'Cruz was at the verge of insanity. I had to call a doctor in the middle of the night. He gave you some sedatives and you finally slept. I sent the poor woman home and kept an eye on you."
" Is this yours?" she pointed to the Dartmouth sweatshirt. It was so huge that she had to fold its sleeves twice before she could use her fingers.He offered her a glass of water and she took it.
" Uh-huh. You can keep it." Abhimanyu smirked," I wouldn't dare to wear it after yesterday."
" How did you find me?" Rivannah asked slowly.
" You can thank your friend Kyra for that." he said seriously, " I never would have guessed that you would hack BlueFreddie and provoke him. If she hadn't called on your phone and I hadn't picked up, you would still be his captive."
" I wanted to talk to him." she mumbled.
" And I've learnt my lesson. You don't have any sense of self-preservation.I'm never taking a risk with you again." Abhimanyu said coolly.
His gaze soften at her swollen eyes and sickly complexion.The doctor told him she was a lightweight drinker, but mental distress and panic intensified her hangover. He wanted to see her smile like before. He realised he had no idea about Rivannah's likes and dislikes.
"Stop moping around." Abhimanyu teased, " It's our last day in Goa. Is there any place you want to see?"
*
" When I said I want to see a beach," Rivannah said forlornly, " I meant an actual beach with actual people."
Abhimanyu was lying on a sun chair next to her, wearing a striped T-shirt and khaki shorts. He adjusted his dark sunglasses and replied, " It is a public beach. I took it on hire for the day so that you're safe. And there are actual people." he pointed at Man Singh who was sitting about a yard away, engrossed in his phone.
" You're being too dramatic." Rivannah rolled her eyes, " I'm never getting kidnapped again."
" I wouldn't be so sure." he said kindly, " You're some sort of trouble magnet."
Rivannah harrumphed and settled on the ground. She didn't have her swimsuit. ( Nobody in Jai Mahal bothered to pack it.) She decided to make sand castles, just like she did with her father when she was young. She filled the bucket with wet sand and plopped it down, tapping the bottom.
Abhimanyu pulled out a book and flipped to a random chapter. He gazed at her from the corner of the pages. What a sweet torment it was... to watch her but not be with her. How unfair it seemed, that every cell in his body was maddeningly in love with her, but she remains oblivious.
"I wonder if our palaces are like sandcastles too." Rivannah said suddenly,"There's nothing keep them erect or support them. They are fated to be drowned into dust."
" Not my Suryagarh." Abhimanyu replied unperturbedly, " It will always stand proud and upright."
" Long live Maharaja Abhimanyu Chauhan, the valorous and dauntless, ruler of hearts, protector of weak, torch bearer of truth and justice!" Rivannah said ornately, her hands moving into an elegant curtesy.
Abhimanyu's heart skipped a beat, perhaps it was the way she said his name, or how she smiled at him or how her eyes were full of adoration...he felt an overwhelming urge to throw his arms around her petite frame and pull her close.
" Do you want to eat some ice cream?" he asked instead.
" Dark chocolate chip." she said eagerly.
Rivannah inspected Abhimanyu's book when he left to get ice cream. It was the autobiography of a politician and she couldn't even get past a few sentences before her brain cells collapsing. He sure had an eclectic taste in books.
She focussed her attention on her haphazard sand castle, carving out sloppy windows and archways. The wind blew her caramel hair and tied them into a messy knot. Once she was done, she dusted off the sand on her denim shorts and wondered at what was taking Abhimanyu so long.
" We meet again, Princess!" she heard someone yelling. She glanced to her left and frowned at the tall guy sauntering towards her.The aura of darkness and solitude clung to Miguel even though he wore a wearing a bright Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts . She sighed in relief when Abhimanyu followed him, looking unfazed and confident.
" What's he doing here?" she enquired, taking the chocolate chip icecream from his hands.
" Let me tell you." Miguel grinned from ear to ear, " I thought the torture was over when this fine gentlemen took you away. I have a migraine when I just think about you.They weren't lying when they say tears are a woman's greatest weapon. But the night was yet to be over. I go back to my room, open my precious Hilda and find that a virus taken over it. The doing of your mysterious hacker friend, I'm sure."
" Who is Hilda?" Rivannah whispered.
Abhimanyu rolled his eyes in annoyance and mouthed, 'His laptop'.
" The vengeful and immoral action suggests this was done by a female." Miguel continued, " And she has kept my Hilda on a lockdown. Countering her code is impossible, I've been trying the whole night." He pointed to the dark circles under his eyes, " I was forced to accept her terms. I have to assist you to find your enemy and she will take away her malware."
" You told me that you have no idea who your patron is." Rivannah said accusingly.
" And I don't." Miguel admitted, " But his subordinate was captured in the CCTVs." He dangled a pen drive," This has the clippings. His face is clearly visible."
" I've checked the contents." Abhimanyu agreed, " The man seems familiar. It will be only a matter of time before the enemy is found out."
Rivannah felt a spark of joy and hope in her heart. She had been devastated that BlueFreddie had been a dead end, despite all their efforts. She wanted to hug Kyra and thank her profoundly. She had found a promising trail to her enemy.
" Now, that I've fulfilled my end of the deal." Miguel grumbled, " Tell me the password. She said you will know it."
" What password?" Rivannah frowned.
Miguel groaned in frustration and pulled out his laptop (Hilda) from a leather bag. He kept it on the sun chair and pointed at the screen. Rivannah peered over his shoulder and stifled a chuckle. The screen was black and demanded a ten digit password. Kyra hadn't told her anything about the virus, but she already knew the answer.
" Salman Khan." She said cheerfully.
" You've got to be fucking kidding me. I only got once chance at this, so you better be correct." Miguel swore, but typed the letters anyway. He cried in joy when his desktop opened.
" You got what you wanted." Abhimanyu said dryly, " Now get out before I call my guards."
" I'm leaving. I don't want to disturb your little date." Miguel rolled his eyes, " But you better warn your friend that I will find her. I'll make her pay for the humiliation and annoyance she has caused me. Nobody steals my secrets and gets away with it."