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I sat back in my chair with a conceited smile. “I didn’t mind the first time they did.”
“Oh, but theydidn’t. See, that’s the point I’m trying to make.”
“So the first time was about cornering Sujit. And now it’s my turn, is it?”
Perturbed at being seen so visibly by a woman he had clearly underestimated, he drew his brows together.
“This is unfair, you know,” he cried in a defeatist tone. “I brought these to you. Can’t you see that?”
He grabbed the envelope and tossed it across the table toward me. It flopped next to my wine glass. I picked up the glass and took a sip before placing it at a distance from the envelope.
“The question I have at this moment is,” I asked with a menacing calm. “How do you have these pictures in the first place?”
His brows flew off his forehead. “What, you thinkIhad something to do with this?”
“The thought definitely crossed my mind,” I said. “How else would you havethe rest of the pictures, as you put it?”
He shook his head and blew out a breath. “I care about you, and that’s why I went to great lengths to retrieve these pictures. If I hadn’t, these would be splashed across the front page of a magazine next week.”
Ah, there it was! The threat I was waiting for. I turned up my lip in a sneer.
“And the price of keeping them away from the public eye?”
He smirked as if he had won. “Your gratitude,” he said.
“And nothing else?”
“Your friendship,” he had the audacity to demand. “Aarti, I’ll say it again. I care about you, and I know Sujit. I don’t want you to end up hurt like the other women in his past.”
I glared at him, but he spotted the curiosity in my eyes and latched on to it.
Whipping out an obsequious grin, he said, “You don’t know about it, do you?”
Despite my best efforts, my eyes drifted to Sujit. Just a glance, and I saw him laughing with Devi’s daughter. Deviobserved the two with a sweet curve on her lips. Manoj saw this and pulled out another sneer.
But instead of responding with anger, I relaxed against the chair, a cool move I’d learned as a great intimidation tactic. It worked every time.
“I know men like you. I know women like you. You derive your sense of self, your identity, from seeing others fail. You’ll never be good enough, so you put roadblocks in Sujit’s path, deter him, and attempt to demoralize him. But you don’t fool me,” I said, leaning in. “Not one bit. I know exactly who you are, Manoj. You are a petty man who doesn’t think twice before backstabbing a person you call a friend. Don’t assume I’m unaware of your past. I know exactly what you’ve done.”
His face had changed. His fair skin was turning red with humiliation. This was precisely what I wanted.
I tapped the envelope with my red nails. “This is your doing. It has your fingerprints all over it. You aren’t even smart enough to mask your juvenile envy for Sujit.”
His anger was evident now. His right hand resting on the table clenched into a fist as he tried hard to avoid creating a scene.
“You’ve fucked with him long enough, Manoj, but no more. Try it one more time, and I’ll fuck you up so bad you’ll have no recourse but to leave the city. If you don’t remove yourself from his life, I’ll dedicate the rest of mine to fucking up yours. You want to splash these pictures in a gossip magazine? Go ahead, do it. You don’t scare me. But mess with him again and see what I’m capable of.”
It wasn’t intentional, but my protective mode was on, and my eyes flitted to Sujit again.
Manoj had found the opening he was hoping for. “Fuck! You are in love with him, aren’t you? This is so messed up.”
“That’s none of your business,” I retorted.
“Then here’s a friendly tip for you. He’s fucking her,” he said, throwing a quick glance at Devi. “You should know that. She’s his side-piece, always has been. He’s the reason she’s divorced. That right there is a messed up happy family. And like you asked me to remove myself from his life, I strongly suggest you do the same. Not for his sake, for yours. He might look and appear like a nice guy, but he’s a fucking manipulative bastard. He fucked my ex-wife before she was my ex. And after. Then tossed her aside when he found Tara. It was karma that Tara dumped him the way she did. He isn’t the person you think he is.”
I produced a final superior gaze as I gathered my clutch and prepared to leave. “Here’s what I do know, Manoj. Sujit can fuck who he wants. But I wantyouto stop fucking with him. Now. Or you’ll see what my wrath looks like. You don’t want me as an enemy, believe me.”
His eye twitched, and I spotted a tremble in his hand. “And I prefer white wine.”