Page 70 of A Royal Deception

“Does it matter? It’s effective and efficient,” she said calmly, loading a pink assault rifle. “Will you be able to handle it?”

“I think so. I’ve handled big guns before. This shouldn’t be all that different.”

“It isn’t! By the way, say hello to Basanti,” she said, patting her pink gun lovingly.

“Rich people are weird,” I informed her as I undid the safety on the mini rocket launcher and loaded it before I got into the backseat next to Diya.

“Just don’t blow my head off,” Isha replied before she locked the door and sped out of the parking lot.

As expected, with a screech of tyres, our assailants gave chase. A volley of bullets flew in our direction. Isha let off a round of warning shots as she steered with one hand. The car careened to the side, and she cursed loud and long as she got it under control. I waited patiently for the right moment, terrified that I was going to blow all of us into kingdom come if I so much as twitched wrong.

Just when I had a clear view of the three jeeps that were following us, I lined up my weapon to aim at the vehicle in the centre and fired. The resulting blast took out all three jeeps. Their passengers went flying, and the jeeps crashed into each other while drifting wildly across the road.

“Speed up before they crash into us,” I screamed, and Isha hit the accelerator before she called Veer and told him what had just happened.

Throughout the rest of our journey, I kept one eye out for any more vehicles chasing us, but we made it to the hospital unmolested. Kuhu seemed fine, but Dheer was waiting for us with a team of doctors and hospital staff, and they took over immediately. They wheeled the baby into the ER, and I sank back into the backseat of the car in relief, tears streaming down my face.

A hand slammed into the door next to me, and Ranvijay poked his head in through the window.

“Are you all right?” he asked hoarsely.

I jumped out of the car straight into his arms, which closed around me like they’d never let me go again.

“I’m fine,” I whispered. “A little singed around the edges, that’s all.”

“You smell like barbecue chicken,” he joked before he crushed me into a tight embrace.

His lips found mine and claimed them in a deep, almost desperate kiss.

When he finally lifted his head, I could barely think straight. Except for one question that had been troubling me for the past hour.

“Ranvijay, what the hell is going on?”

He sighed and nuzzled the side of my face.

“No one is ever going to hurt you again, Shivina. I’ll keep you safe, no matter what.”

“I can keep myself safe, thank you very much,” I replied dryly. “But I just left a bunch of men strewn around the road like broken dolls. If I’m going to be arrested for using a fucking rocket launcher on the streets of Trikhera, then I deserve to know what is going on!”

“It’s a long story, baby,” he said evasively.

“I swear to god, Ranvijay, I will shove that rocket launcher up your ass if you don’t come clean right now,” I yelled.

Isha and Veer, who had been having their own little reunion in a corner, turned to me in surprise.

“I knew there was a reason I liked this girl the minute I set eyes on her,” cackled Isha.

My husband rolled his eyes at this evidence of solidarity and frowned at me. Before he could prevaricate, I turned to Isha.

“Can you tell me the whole truth, please?”

“The man who tried to kill us is Ayush Goel.”

“What have I ever done to him? I don’t even know any Ayush Goel,” I protested.

“Not you! He’s upset with us because Diya killed his mother, and I killed his sister,” she said sheepishly. “You just got caught in the crossfire.”

“Ohmigod! Why the hell aren’t you guys in jail?” I cried, aghast at how easily she spoke about murdering another woman.

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