Page 8 of Born in Sin

He slammed the brakes on that thought.

“None of us do,” he answered. “You’ve kept track of the old crowd?”

She shrugged. “Self-preservation. There was some speculation in the rumour mill that the accident wasn’t an accident.”

“She didn’t kill him,” Virat said.

“I wouldn’t blame her if she did.” Cara’s mask was firmly in place even as fire lit her eyes.

“Varun was an abusive shit. Dhrithi was fleeing him that night. He rammed his car into hers to get her to stop. He didn’t anticipate the result of the action.”

Cara took a careful sip of her water. “I can’t say thinking through the consequences of his actions had ever ranked high on Varun’s priorities,” she murmured.

Virat laughed, a scoffing sound. “It opened up a can of worms. The police are all over it.”

“Of course they are.” Her voice stayed steady, a testament to her iron will. Virat’s heart gave another throb. “And what is it that they’re up to this time? Drugs peddling? Financial fraud? Insider trading? Organised rape?”

Virat flinched at the last one.

“Ahh,” she said, her face not showing a fraction of what he knew must be coursing through her. Again, his hand inched towards her, until he reminded himself he had no right to touch her, to comfort her. He curled his hand into a fist and dropped it to his side.

“So far, all searches of Varun’s properties, both known and unknown, have turned up nothing. The case has lost some of its fire, but they haven’t dropped it yet. Whatever these guys were up to, they’ve been very careful to cover their tracks.”

Cara frowned. “That doesn’t sound like them. Majid, maybe to some extent, but the rest of them are arrogant dickheads with rocks for brains. They believe, have always believed, that their money will insulate them from any consequences.”

“And it has,” Virat said quietly. “In the past.”

“Majid doesn’t have that kind of control over them, Vir.” The nickname slipped out of her without conscious thought. “Not for them to pull off shit over years, decades even. They would have slipped up. Somewhere.”

“We’re looking,” he said quietly. “Dhrithi found something in the house she shared with Varun.”

She took the picture he held out to her. For a second, her fingers grazed his and his heart shuddered. Virat swallowed hard and let go of the picture, his gaze scanning her face as she looked at the photograph in her hand.

“Who is she?” she asked, her voice quieter, softened with a level of empathy that she should never have known.

“A bank teller. Her father embezzled funds from them. She was his get out of jail free card.”

“A bank teller.” Cara’s fingers traced the face of the young girl, unshed tears filling her eyes. “Bastards.”

Virat agreed.

“She won’t testify. She’s terrified of retaliation.”

“As she should be.” Cara sniffled, her hand going to wipe a stray tear that escaped her.

“So, they’re blackmailing women and gangraping them.”

Virat hesitated. “It looks like that,” he said. “On the surface.”

“And beneath the surface?”

He hadn’t shared his suspicions with anyone, not even his friends. Without proof, his instincts meant nothing. But if there was one person he could tell…

“I think this is far too organized and has far too much forethought for a simple ‘blackmail for sex’ scheme. There is more to it, more that we are not seeing yet.”

“And?”

“And they’re spiraling as they try to keep it under wraps. They took someone from their own circle, a few weeks ago, as a warning to us.”