Before I can reply, the doorbell rings. Sidharth glances towards it, then looks back at me in confusion.
“Pizza,” I say with a watery smile.
“Great timing to ruin a perfectly romantic mood,” he groans, and I burst out laughing.
And just like that, the tension melts away, replaced by the kind of ease that only comes when you’re exactly where you’re meant to be.
And for me, that place is with him.
Chapter 24
Sidharth
“No fucking way,” I hiss, glaring at Viraj, who lounges a little too comfortably on my living room couch.
He sighs. “Sidharth, you know your men. We’re doing everything we can. But Prakash and whoever this new asshole is, are too damn smart to walk into a trap when they know we’re watching. They need an opening, an opportunity. And that can’t happen if Nisha is guarded twenty-four seven.”
“And you think the solution is to use Nisha as bait?” I snap, my voice sharp with fury. The nerve of this guy. Doesn’t the fucker realize his damn suggestion is like tossing a grenade right into my sanity? “I’m not putting Nisha on display like some sacrificial offering just to lure those psychopaths out. End of fucking discussion.”
“I think I agree with Inspector Viraj,” Nisha says quietly beside me.
I whip my head towards her, my eyes narrowing. “Not happening, sweetheart. Don’t even think about it.”
She opens her mouth again, probably to reason with me, but I’m in no mood for that. I cut her off with a raised hand and turn back to Viraj.
“Viraj, you need to come up with something else. I’m not going along with this insane idea.” I drag a hand down my tired face. We’ve been sitting here for hours, going in circles, trying to figure out a way to track those bastards down. And still, we’ve nothing except this damn absurd mission he keeps trying to push—one that, no matter how he spins it, is a hard no from me.
Viraj sits forward, locking eyes with me. “You think I don’t know the risks? You think I haven’t weighed them? I’ve been in this game as long as you, Sidharth. Sometimes, the only way to flush a monster out of hiding is by forcing him to act.”
“You mean putting an innocent person directly in a monster’s path and hoping he bites? That’s the grand plan you’re talking about?” I scoff. “Not even on my worst day.”
He leans back with that damn smirk, the one that always means he’s about to say something to piss me off.
“It was your plan once. You suggested it with Kavya.”
“That was different,” I grit out, ready to rip into Viraj for bringing this up. But Nisha latches on to it and speaks before I can get a word in.
“You did?” she asks softly, like she’s trying to make sense of a version of me she’s never known—the kind of man who’d suggest a plan that could put someone’s life at risk.
“I did,” I admit, my eyes locked on hers. “Back when I didn’t have something to lose. But now the tables have turned. Now I do.”
Her eyes glisten as she swallows hard. I hold her gaze a moment longer than I should, then turn to Viraj, my jaw clenched. “To spell it out for you, back then, I was thinking like a detective. With my head, not my heart.”
Viraj arches a brow. “And now you don’t want to put that detective brain of yours to use?”
Fuck! This bastard knows exactly how to push my buttons, like always.
“Now I’m thinking like a man who can’t fucking breathe if something happens to his woman. Is that clear enough for you?” I bite out, my tone low and dangerous.
Nisha places a hand gently on my thigh. “Sidharth, we’ve been going in circles all this while. What if this is the only way?”
I shake my head. “You think I can watch you put yourself in danger again? After everything you’ve been through? After what he did to you?”
“I’m not saying I want to do this. But I’m saying I can, if it helps. Please let me do this.” Her voice is steady, but her eyes betray her fear.
God, this woman! Always so damn stubborn, always ready to protect everyone else, even if it means throwing herself into danger.
I cup her face in my hands, my thumbs brushing against her cheeks. “I don’t want you to do this. Don’t you get it? If something happens to you, I wouldn’t survive it, Nisha. It would destroy…”
