Page 58 of A Royal Deception

The village chowk was deserted because it was past sundown, and there were very few streetlights. The atmosphere was redolent with fear, and I wasn’t surprised. Ayush was known for his sadistic ways. If he was holed up in this village with no entertainment, I wouldn’t put it past him to torture the villagers just for fun.

Harmu led us to a large haveli in the centre of the village, with a high compound wall hiding the house from view. We took cover behind a couple of large trees and had a quick look around.

“That’s the house,” said Harmu, pointing to the haveli.

“Are you sure he’s still in there?” asked Dheer.

“I saw him walking around the compound two hours ago, and he hasn’t left the house after that, Hukum.”

“How could you see him? That wall is too high to see anything,” I argued.

“I climbed up this tree to spy on him,” confessed Harmu sheepishly.

Dheer shook his head and gestured to one of his men to go up the tree and see what was going on.

He shimmied up the tree and peered around before climbing down.

“There isn’t much security, Hukum,” he said, sounding surprised. “Just three men with guns.”

“Because he thinks no one knows he’s hiding here. Unfortunately for him, Kirori Ji has eyes everywhere,” replied Dheer gleefully. “Let’s go in and take him out in a clean swoop. You guys neutralise the three men with guns, and we’ll go after Ayush.”

We left Harmu hiding behind a tree and jumped the compound wall to infiltrate the house. As planned, Dheer’s men neutralised two of the security guards, knocking them out from behind. But one of them raised an alarm on the walkie-talkie before he crashed to the ground, and though we kicked open the front door immediately, we were too late.

It seems Ayush was prepared for such an attack and had an escape plan ready. Dheer and I raced after him while Veer fought off his third security guard, but the little rat ran out of the back door. He jumped into an armoured car and drove off before we could stop him. Dheer jumped onto the running board of the car and held on for a bit, trying to smash the window open, but it was a bulletproof window and held out against his punches. He had to drop and roll to safety as the car picked up speed.

“Fuck it,” he yelled as he lay panting on the ground. “We were so close!”

I helped him up and clapped him on the back.

“We’ll get him, never fear. And now that he knows we’re after him, he might stay away from our lands.”

Dheer shook his head.

“Ayush is just like the sand scorpion that is so common to these parts, RV. He’s vindictive and vicious. And he keeps coming back,” he replied, sounding defeated for the first time since I met him. “I would like to end this fight as soon as I can because Diya is about to deliver the baby any day now. I don’twant Ayush to keep going after my family. I don’t want my child to have the same legacy that I did.”

“Hey, we’re going to make sure the Goel legacy ends with Ayush. And our kids won’t have to deal with any of this garbage. That’s a promise,” I said firmly.

We caught up with Veer, who was just as frustrated as we were, and got the hell out of there. Ayush was never going to return to this safe house again. We were going to have to track him down all over again. And we would do it gladly. But another day. For now, I wanted to return to Shivina.

I put in a call to my chauffeur, and in less than an hour, our cars rolled into the small village. There was no point in being discreet now that Ayush had flown the coop. We might as well travel home in comfort.

When I got back to the palace, Shivina wasn’t in our room. I had a quick shower, and when I came out, she was waiting for me in our sitting room with a tray full of food on the little table that was set for two people.

“Haven’t you eaten yet?” I asked in surprise.

She rolled her eyes at me.

“I got such dramatically disapproving looks when I went downstairs for dinner, and the worst was from my sister. As if the world would end if I ate before you got home,” she grumbled. “And Rani Ma insisted we had to have a candlelight dinner in our room.”

I stared at her until she met my eyes.

“I’m glad,” was all I said.

Shivina blushed a fiery red.

“Do you want to go out onto the terrace and eat under the stars?” I asked her because the whole candlelight dinner in our room situation seemed stagey and forced.

Our room opened onto a big terrace with a cosy swing set up in one corner. I liked to lie on the swing and gaze at the starson balmy nights. The idea seemed to cheer her up, and we piled some chicken tikka, roti and dal makhani on our plates before we went out. I set my plate on the swing and went back for the champagne resting on ice.

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