Page 23 of Born in Sin (Phoenix #3)

Chapter Twelve

CARA

For the second time in two days, she found herself standing outside a door that led to him. Years, how many years, had she spent wishing she could see him just one more time? Twice in two days…the younger her would have been flying, joy giving her wings. Now all she felt was nerves…

“Are we going to stay here all evening? On the doorstep?”

Kabir’s deep voice brought her out of her thoughts. Behind them, their security stepped back a little to give them space. Two chairs had magically materialised for the security guards beside the elevators. Thoughtful, she thought, glancing at the chairs. He’d always been thoughtful.

“Okay, if you’re not going to do this, I will.”

And with that, Kabir leaned forward to press the buzzer.

The butterflies in Celina’s stomach took flight, morphing into fire breathing dragons.

Footsteps sounded on the other side of the door and then it was hauled open.

Ishaan’s glance went from Celina’s composed face to Kabir’s grinning one before he silently stepped back, allowing them to enter.

“Hi,” Kabir said. “I’m-“

“I know who you are,” Ishaan interrupted. “I would have had to be living under a rock not to know who you are.”

Kabir raised an eyebrow. “And your charming self would be?”

“Ishaan Adajania, CEO of Techrat,” Celina interjected, forcing herself to sound bored.

Her gaze was on the rest of the group gathered in the living room.

He wasn’t there. Her gaze scanned the entire space, but he wasn’t there.

The fire breathing dragons roared in disappointment making her gut churn. Amay got up and walked over to them.

“Dr. Amay Aatre,” Celina said before anyone else could.

“Please to meet you,” Amay said politely, holding out a hand for Kabir to shake.

Behind Amay, a muffled squeal sounded, and he rolled his eyes.

“My girlfriend, Dhrithi, is a huge fan of yours,” he told Kabir. “If you don’t mind…”

“Of course I don’t,” Kabir smiled politely, looking around Amay to where Dhrithi was bouncing on her toes trying to get a better look at him. Beside her, Mayukhi was standing, smiling indulgently at Dhrithi.

She looked toward them, and her gaze caught on Cara’s. The amused affection faded immediately to be replaced with a cool challenge which Cara returned. Mayukhi and she hadn’t been friends in school. She doubted that would change now.

The sliding doors that led to the balcony opened at that instant and Virat stepped in.

The second he walked in, everything changed.

The air around Cara seemed to crackle with an intensity that made her feel like she was standing in the eye of a thunderstorm, and she was the lightning pole waiting for the storm to break.

She had been the eye of his storm.

Then. Now. Always.

His gaze flickered from her to where Kabir stood beside her.

Nothing in his expression changed and still she felt it, the tug at her heart, the urge to go to him, to hold him, to ease the pain he was feeling.

She almost stepped forward, but a strong arm slid around her waist, anchoring her in place.

She looked up at Kabir, who held her close and looked down at her, eyebrows raised.

Cara forced a smile to her face and leaned into his casual embrace.

He tightened his grip on her and led her over to where Virat stood. “Kabir Raizada,” he said, smiling that movie star smile of his.

“Virat Jha.” He didn’t smile back.

They shook hands, Virat not looking her way even for a second. A loss she felt so keenly, she thought she’d regressed to her girlhood.

“So, Dhrithi,” Kabir said, looking away from Cara and toward her childhood friend. “I hear you’re a fan.”

Cara allowed herself to be pulled along in Kabir’s charismatic wake as he charmed her friends into gibbering idiots within minutes. As Kabir signed a napkin for Dhrithi, Yukhi stepped closer and nodded at Cara.

“Hey.”

Cara felt herself tensing and had to remind herself to relax. “Hi Yukhi.”

“Would never have known Cara Ferns was you.” Mayukhi smiled slightly.

“That was the general idea,” Cara replied. “Reinvention. I needed to shake Crestwood off.”

“And yet,” Mayukhi said, her gaze going to Ishaan, softening with a love that made Cara feel like she’d stepped into the twilight zone. “Here we are.”

“Here we are,” Cara confirmed, struggling to keep her own gaze away from Virat.

“You’re sure you want to do this?” Mayukhi asked, compassion and worry seeping through her voice. “You have a lot to lose, Cara.”

She felt him walk past her and toward Ishaan, her entire body feeling like a pile of atoms forever attuned to Virat’s existence.

“I’ve already lost everything,” she replied, keeping her gaze on Mayukhi. “There’s nothing left to lose, nothing important.”

“Cara.” Ishaan came over to slip a hand around Mayukhi’s shoulder, dropping a kiss on her hair, a casual gesture of affection that made Cara’s heart ache. “We have the burner phone for you.”

He held it out to her, a basic handheld device. She took it, the weight of it feeling ominous in the palm of her hand.

“It can’t be traced to you,” Virat’s voice sounded like crushed gravel, like a million words and emotions had died there, clogging it. “I’ve fed in the contacts of all the DD’s so you can choose whom you want to message.”

She nodded, opening up the screen. Behind her, Amay, Kabir and Dhrithi were still in the middle of an animated conversation.

The sound receded as she pulled up Majid’s contact number.

She stared at it for a moment, the number of the boy who’d been a friend of hers, the one who’d teased her when she’d been down, the one who’d helped her when she was late with an assignment…

the one who’d tied her to a tree, who’d ignored her as she’d begged, who’d told her to shut up so it could all finish faster.

Her fingers were flying over the keypad even before her mind could catch up to the words she was forming.

Behind the Chem Lab. At nine thirty…

She sent the message before she could stop herself. It disappeared from her screen and her breath whooshed out of her.

Virat’s hand brushed against hers, his thumb hooking around her little finger and Cara’s thoughts scattered. She looked at him, the storm clouds in his eyes her lodestone. The phone in her hand vibrated and she glanced down at it.

Who is this?

A feral smile lit her face at Majid’s immediate response. Now, the game was afoot, and it was strewn with landmines. She’d have to tread carefully.

“Aren’t you going to reply?” Mayukhi asked, her face pale as she leaned into Ishaan’s side for strength.

Cara remembered what Virat had told her about Mayukhi’s abduction earlier that month.

Anger and shared pain flared within her, but she didn’t allow it to show.

If Mayukhi was anything like her, she wouldn’t want pity, only vengeance.

“Not so soon,” Cara said. “Let him stew.”

“So, what do we do now?”

“Now,” Kabir said loudly, his arm slinging around Cara’s shoulder as he leaned down to nuzzle her hair with his face. “We plan my orgy invite.”

Virat’s hand slipped away from hers, the contact gone before she could blink, fog dissipating in the first rays of the sun. She curled her fingers into a fist, so she didn’t grab for him.

“You’re not actually going to get any action, Kabs,” she said, rolling her eyes at him, making an effort to keep her tone light.

“You’re all the action I need, love,” he replied affectionately.

She shouldn’t, she knew, but she looked at Virat on the heels of that comment. His eyes burned, an inferno that seemed to sear the skin off her body. Pain swirled in those grey depths, aged and brittle. Cara shut her eyes, unable to watch anymore.

And yet, when he spoke, he said nothing except for, “Let’s get down to figuring this out, shall we?”