Page 75 of A Royal Deception

I gave the location to the chauffeur but asked him to make one slight detour. When I got back into the car and we set off forthe location, my phone began to ring. It was Ranvijay. My heart leapt at the thought of speaking to him after two whole days of radio silence, but I rejected the call and turned my phone off.

I didn’t want to speak to him right now. He’d only tell me to go back home and let him deal with it, but I wasn’t going to leave my sister in the hands of one of the most sadistic bitches I’d ever met. I was going to rescue Zarna all on my own. And I didn’t need Ranvijay for that.

When the chauffeur’s phone began to ring, I ordered him not to answer it. He couldn’t disobey a direct order, so he didn’t even take it out to check who was calling.

Kavya’s location turned out to be a rundown mansion in the middle of the desert.

“This looks bad, Rani Sa. I don’t think you should go in there all alone. Let Hukum handle this,” begged the chauffeur.

“My sister is in there, Rajan. And I don’t know what that woman is doing to her. I don’t have the time to wait for your Hukum,” I said bleakly. “Besides, I know Kavya. She’s too much of a coward to try anything big. She usually gets her way through intimidation, and I’m sure that’s what she’s trying this time, too. When she realises that I’m not scared of her, she’ll back away. Look, if I don’t come out within five minutes, feel free to call His Highness.”

He muttered under his breath and kept his phone at the ready as I hopped out of the car.

The mansion seemed abandoned. There was a giant hole in the compound wall. I walked in through the hole because the gates were locked. There was nobody in the compound, but it felt eerie. The front door was unlocked. I walked into a central courtyard and found Zarna sitting on a chair in the middle of the courtyard.

Kavya was standing behind her with a creepy, welcoming smile on her face. She was unarmed. I wondered if all thosedrugs had finally wrecked her mind. What did she hope to gain from this?

“Khamma Ghani, Rani Sa,’ she cooed.

My sister was staring at me helplessly. I ignored Kavya’s greeting and wondered why Zarna didn’t get up and run to me.

“Zarna, come to me,” I said cautiously.

“I’m not allowed to get up,” whispered Zarna.

“She won’t do anything to you, baby. Just get up and walk away,” I said as I started walking towards her.

“You’re right. I won’t do anything to your sister, but I make no promises abouthim,” said Kavya with a demented cackle. “So stay where you are, Shivina.”

That’s when I noticed a red dot dancing on my sister’s chest. It was from the laser sighter of a gun. Fuck!

I whirled around to see a sniper on the roof aiming a gun at Zarna. In a panic, I ran up to her and stood in front of her to cover her. And just like that, my chest was covered in red dots from different directions. When I looked up, there was a sniper in every corner of the roof. What the fuck was going on?

“I told you to stay where you are,” scolded Kavya. “See? Now you’ve made him mad.”

“Whom?” I asked, keeping a wary eye on the snipers. I made sure Zarna was fully covered.

Instead of replying, Kavya moved to the side, and a man emerged from the door behind her. He walked up to me and held out a hand.

“Ayush Goel at your service, Rani Sa.”

CHAPTER 29

RANVIJAY

The past two nights had been sheer torture. I had stayed at Trikhera Palace, even though every fibre of my being demanded that I go home to my wife. I was determined to cut Shivina out of my life to keep her safe. And I warned the girls to stay away from her as well because they were legitimate targets for the Goels.

The last time, she had only been caught in the crossfire. I didn’t want her to ping on Ayush Goel’s radar because then she’d become a target, too. Isha was not very happy, but Diya understood what I meant.

“He’ll go after her anyway,” muttered Isha mutinously.

“He won’t. Not until he’s gone through us all.”

“You’ve left her all alone at the palace. And you might be the only person on earth who doesn’t realise that you’re besotted with her. Trust me, anyone who has seen even a photograph of the two of you together can read the signs,” she argued. “Of course, he will go after her.”

“She’s safer at the palace without me there, Isha. So, please drop it,” I begged.

“Did you guys notice that he didn’t contest the besotted bit?” asked Diya.

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