Page 17 of Born in Sin (Phoenix #3)

Chapter Nine

VIRAT

And because he’s my boyfriend.

It felt like a vacuum bubble encased him, one that ensured no sound, no feeling, reached him. Nothing.

He stared at the one person in his life who’d always chosen him, who’d always fought for him, who’d staked her claim on his heart and soul so deeply that it had branded him hers, in this lifetime and the next.

I choose you.

Her words from long ago echoed in his head.

Except, she’d now chosen someone else. How had he not known? He knew everything about her. And he hadn’t known this?

And then the bubble popped as his friends turned to look at him, wide-eyed. Sound rushed in even as his heart took another juddering step in the direction of living.

“Your boyfriend?” Ishaan asked, skepticism in his voice even as his gaze darted between Virat and Cara. “I haven’t seen anything about you and him in the news.”

“It’s new,” she said, her voice calm and level. “And we haven’t decided to announce it as yet which is a plus as it means the DD’s can’t trace him back to me. Also,” she smiled, a small, teasing smile. “I didn’t peg you for a tabloid reader, Ish.”

“I read everything,” he muttered, the tips of his ears flaming red.

“I’m not sure about this idea,” Amay interjected, his worried gaze landing on Virat’s face.

“I think it’s a great idea.” Virat’s quiet statement had the room stilling, all three of them turning to him.

Cara met his gaze squarely, not looking away from whatever she saw in his eyes.

“Kabir Raizada is exactly the kind of profile they’d be desperate to be friends with.

Getting him to infiltrate their group would be seamless except… ”

“Except?” Cara challenged, her eyes sparking at the idea of him questioning her boyfriend’s ability to pull this off.

A shard of grief lodged itself in him as he watched the unquestioning faith she’d once had in him transferred to someone else. He forced the pain down, making sure nothing showed on his face as he leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.

“Can we trust him?”

“I do,” Cara replied. “Unconditionally.”

Virat could feel the ground crumbling beneath his feet with every word she spoke. He was happy for her, blindingly happy. It didn’t take away from the fact that this was the final nail in his coffin, sealing him into an eternity of pain, yearning, and loneliness.

“He’d need some context to pull this off. You’ll have to tell him about what happened.”

“He knows.”

He knows, Virat thought numbly. “Of course,” he said, pushing the words out through the pain that threatened to swamp him. “Like I said, it’s a great idea.”

Cara’s eyes darkened as she watched him, her lips parting as if she was about to say something. But she didn’t, turning away from him and towards the other guys.

“We should workshop this a bit more. Both ideas and maybe also, the one you guys already have in action.”

Ishaan and Amay didn’t reply. They both looked at Virat, clearly waiting to take their cues from him.

“Sure,” he said. “We will. Tonight?”

Cara rose to her feet, the fluidity in the movement, grace in motion. “I have to get home now. We should schedule another meeting to discuss this in more detail. It will give me a little time to flesh it all out in my head as well and, of course, to discuss it with Kabir.”

Images of her in bed with Kabir as they ‘discussed’ it flashed in Virat’s head, leading to his brain shorting out for a moment. But when he spoke, all he said, again, was, “Sure.”

“Well then.” Cara hovered uncertainly. “I’ll say goodnight.”

All three of them rose to their feet but it was Virat who walked her to the door.

He opened it first, glanced out into the hall to check if it was empty.

It was, save for her bodyguard who walked over to them immediately.

Virat stepped aside, allowing Cara to precede him out of the door.

He shut it behind him and followed her to the elevator bank at the end of the hall.

They waited, in silence, her bodyguard hovering a few feet behind them, for the elevator to arrive. Neither of them looked at each other, their gaze levelled at the shut elevator doors in front of them.

“Does he make you happy?” Virat asked, the words shards of gravel in his throat.

Cara stared straight ahead, her chin tipped up, her shoulders firm and level. “Extremely,” she said crisply. “He makes me happy, calm and peaceful. I prefer calm to chaos. I learned that about myself over the years. You taught me well.”

The elevator doors slid open and she walked into the empty space, her bodyguard following. She held his gaze, her own unreadable. The last thing he saw before the doors shut was her beautiful face, cold, remote, and completely foreign.

He heard the apartment door click open behind him. Amay stood there, leaning against the doorjamb.

“Are you coming back?”

Virat didn’t move, his feet seemingly glued to the floor in front of the elevator. He wanted to run down the stairs, grab her, kiss her, beg her…anything really, but he didn’t. He stayed where he was, where she’d left him.

“I’m so sorry, man,” Amay said, coming to stand beside him. “I didn’t see that coming.”

“We should have though,” Virat answered, his voice cold and detached. “I’m surprised my team had no intel on this.”

“Unless there is nothing to have intel on.” Ishaan joined them, his hands shoved into his pockets.

Amay’s gaze sharpened. “You think it’s a lie?”

Virat shook his head, leading the way back to his apartment. This wasn’t a conversation for the corridor. “She won’t lie to me.”

“Celi won’t lie to you,” Ishaan corrected. “Cara? I think she’d lie to your face.”

Virat walked over to his kitchen and opened one of the topmost cabinets. He dug out the bottle of scotch he had shelved there.

“If she was lying,” he said, pouring scotch into three glasses. “I would know.”

“She’s considered one of the finest actors in this country,” Amay countered drily. “If she was lying, I’m betting you’d never know.”

Virat stared at the amber liquid in the glass he held. He would know. Virat would know, dammit. The day he didn’t know her was the day he was dead and buried six feet under the ground.

He knew her. No matter what anyone thought, he knew her. And Virat knew without a shadow of doubt, that Cara had not been lying about dating the man who’d been voted the Sexiest Man Alive in 2024.

He tossed the drink back, the scotch burning a fiery trail down his throat.

“She’s not lying,” he repeated tonelessly. “Happy. Calm. Peaceful.” He bit the words out. “That’s how he makes her feel. She’s not lying.”

Peace over chaos. Kabir over Virat.

He was happy for her, he told himself. He was. All he’d ever wanted was for her to be happy. And she was. Extremely, as she said. Fuck his life but he was happy for her.