My rebel, p.1
MY REBEL, page 1
MY REBEL
SAPNA BHOG
Copyright © 2022 Sapna Bhog All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Cover design by: Lumi Cils
To all my readers
I write because you all read my books.
CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Epilogue
Excerpt - Take a Chance on Me
Also by Sapna Bhog
Find me here
Acknowledgments
About the Author
PROLOGUE
12 years ago
Shimla
Two shots fired…
Two people killed...
Five lives ruined…destroyed forever.
And all it had taken was a few seconds.
Twenty-one-year-old Vihaan Rajpoot stared at the dead faces of his parents. Their lifeless eyes were wide with shock. They were alive one minute, and now they were…dead—their lives stolen, taken away by someone they had trusted the most.
Someone he had trusted the most.
“You k…killed them,” Vihaan stuttered, struggling against his captors as they held his arms, pulling him behind.
Beside him, his twin brother, Aaryan, and younger sister, Avantika, were held captive by more men. Avantika—Avi—struggled against the men holding her, her helpless gaze now fixed on the boy she had loved for the longest. The boy who’d been their friend for years. The boy who’d betrayed them so ruthlessly and mercilessly.
Dev Luthra.
“Dev…how c…could y…you do this?” Avantika sobbed.
But Dev stood impassive as ever, his eyes looking straight ahead, refusing to acknowledge her in any way. He’d stood there just the same way, emotionless and silent, when his father had ordered his men to kill their parents. Dev hadn’t pulled the trigger, but to Vihaan it was as good as he’d done it. He’d stabbed them in the back, destroyed their trust and deceived them in the worst possible way.
Vihaan turned his angry, hate filled gaze on the one man responsible for everything—Pritam Luthra, Dev’s father. He stood to the side, as unfazed as his son, as if he hadn’t just ordered the cold-blooded murder of his business partner and his wife. His friends. How had they never seen this evil side of him? How had this man come home for lunches and dinners, and pretended to be their father’s friend, while all along he’d been plotting this?
Blinded by agony, fueled by rage, Vihaan twisted free of one of his captors, punching his face hard and then he spun his fist on to the other man. One hard punch and the man went down. From the side, he saw Aaryan attack his captors too. Chaos ensued, seeing the twins fighting. More men, Pritam Luthra’s lackeys, ran toward them.
Vihaan flung a hand out at the first man, hitting his nose. Grabbing a fallen gun from the floor, he pointed it at Pritam Luthra. Without thinking, he fired once, then twice.
Time stopped. Everything stilled. Victory sizzled through him, until he heard Pritam’s laughter. His shots had been useless. He’d fired everywhere but a
t the man who stood facing him…very much alive and unhurt.
Vihaan pointed the gun at him again.
“Drop the gun, Vihaan,” Dev’s cold voice rang out from behind him. “And Aaryan, back off from my men.”
“NO,” Vihaan roared.
“If you don’t drop the gun then the next sound you hear will be of a bullet tearing into your sister.”
Vihaan pivoted. His heart ached at the sight in front of him. Bile rushed up his throat, gagging him. He gulped. Dev…Dev had a gun pointed at Avi’s head, while two men continued to hold her.
Vihaan couldn’t believe his eyes.
How could Dev do this? This was Avi, the girl Dev had claimed to love since he’d understood what it was to love. But none of it had been real. Every belief in love that Vihaan had, shattered in that moment.
Aaryan exchanged a forlorn glance with him, his knuckles bloodied, his face bruised. Vihaan dropped his gun on the floor. Immediately, his hands were bound behind his back and he was tightly held by Pritam’s men. Aaryan too was bound, except that the men had pushed him to his knees.
“Now that display was absolutely unnecessary,” Pritam said, casually flicking off some invisible speck of flint from his arm, cool as ever. “However, your recklessness will cost you both.”
Pritam Luthra nodded to one of the men behind him, before pointing at Avi. “Punish her.”
Fear washed over Vihaan’s skin, leaving behind an icy, ghost like trail.
“No,” he screamed, “Leave her alone. She hasn’t done anything.”
The man advanced forward. Vihaan recognized him to be one of the bodyguards who followed Pritam Luthra everywhere. He took a menacing step toward Avi and she shrunk back, shaking her head, struggling against the men holding her.
“Dev…stop him please,” Avi begged. “Please don’t…”
The man removed a knife and Vihaan’s entire body went cold.
“Dev.” Pritam beckoned him with a finger and he went to his father. The bastard just left Avi alone at that awful man’s mercy.
“Hold her still,” the man ordered and Avi’s captors tightened their hold on her, now making it difficult for her to even struggle.
Horror pulsed through Vihaan. He twisted against the ropes binding his hands, but he couldn’t move. The man nicked the side of Avi’s neck and she screamed.
Aaryan yelled along with her. Tears fell down Vihaan’s cheeks as he helplessly watched Avi’s skin being sliced open.
He promised himself that if, by some stroke of luck, they survived the next few minutes then he’d make it his mission to get his siblings out of here. But one thing he knew now beyond doubt.
For the rest of his life, if they survived, none of them would ever be the same again. They would carry the burden of this day and this moment forever.
But first, they had to get out alive.
1
12 years later
Dubai
Vihaan Rajpoot ran on the treadmill, his steps light and quick. He gazed down the floor-to-ceiling window in front of him, staring at the beautiful landscape of Dubai city spread below, glittering under the morning sun. To his right, the majestic Burj Khalifa rose as a gigantic mammoth, its glass façade reflecting like a huge mirror. This view never failed to impress upon him that this was his reality now.
He increased the speed, running faster. Sweat poured off every inch of his skin, running in rivulets down his overly long hair, his calves burning with the fast pace, but he welcomed the pain.
The pain reminded him that he was alive. That his family and he had gotten out alive from the ordeal they’d all suffered. They’d survived. They’d escaped from India and found salvation in Dubai, the city they now called home.
They’d been safe for years, hiding, until he had found them again.
Dev Luthra—his family’s worst nightmare and his sister, Avi’s sinner—had recently moved base to Dubai. Dev was hunting for Avi, as Vihaan well knew. But now it had been two months since Vihaan or his brothers had heard anything about him. Dev had gone radio silent. He hadn’t been seen or heard of in weeks. Aaryan, Vihaan’s twin and older to him by ten minutes, had been keeping a discreet eye out on Dev. Aaryan had spies everywhere but so far, no one had anything to report on Dev or his whereabouts.
Even their younger brother, Shaurya, had heard zilch. Shaurya’s wife, Myra, used to work with Dev at one time as his head legal consul. Even though she’d explicitly cut off all ties with Dev now, she’d also tried to find out about his whereabouts through some old colleagues but had found nothing. Her ex-colleagues had been too tight-lipped, adding to the mystery.
Was Dev in town or had he left? And if he had, then why? It made no sense. Vihaan’s instincts had been tingling since days, roaring at him that something was afoot and that most likely, Dev was behind it. But what?
A hand pushed the emergency stop button on his treadmill and the machine came to a sudden standstill.
Vihaan grabbed a hold of the sidebars, breathing hard. He looked sideways and found his brothers standing next to the treadmill, watching him.
“What the hell, guys?” Vihaan sputtered, gasping for breath. “Can’t you see I was working out?”
Aaryan threw a towel at him.
“Get dressed. We need to talk,” he announced. He pivoted to walk out of the room before he returned and glared at him. Cut your hair. It’s beginning to annoy the life out of me.”
Vihaan pushed his long hair off his forehead. Aaryan was right; his hair had grown too long. It framed the sides of his face, touching his jaw and falling into a straight line at his nape.
Finding Aaryan’s annoyed gaze on him, Vihaan smirked. “Not happening. I love my long locks.”
Aaryan looked heavenward before exiting.
“Don’t you just love testing his patience,” Shaurya said.
Vihaan wrapped a towel around his neck. “He’s my brother, not my keeper. Besides, I do enjoy bugging him, and my hair just happens to be a sore point.”
“He’s right, though. You do need to cut your damn hair. You look like a hoodlum, not the COO of KeyStone.”
“I will, when the deserts of Dubai freeze over.”
“God! You’re just too much, I swear. Come out soon now, we do need to talk.” Shaurya gave him a dirty look before following Aaryan out of the room.
Ten minutes later, showered and dressed, Vihaan walked into his living room. His brothers were seated on the couch talking softly.
Seeing him, Aaryan nodded to the mug of steaming green tea that was already on the table. Vihaan lifted the mug to his lips, taking a small sip before he asked, “Okay, what’s going on? It’s a weekend and far too early for you two to be dressed and at my house.”
“We have a problem,” Aaryan said, nodding at Shaurya to continue.
“From my estimates, we have cement to last us for only six months,” Shaurya announced. “No cement means no construction.”
Vihaan frowned. “What do you mean no cement? And why am I hearing this only now?”
“I just figured it out two days ago,” Shaurya replied. “Suddenly, our suppliers began cancelling our cement orders one by one. When I calculated our stocks, I realized that KeyStone has no cement for construction from six months hence. I immediately called Aaryan to inform him, and we’re here now to talk it over with you. We need to decide how to proceed.”
Vihaan’s family jointly owned KeyStone Corp.—an immensely successful property leasing and construction company in Dubai. The three of them managed different aspects of the business; Aaryan was the MD, Vihaan the COO and Shaurya was the CEO/CFO and the face of the company.
KeyStone Corp. had gone places, thanks to all their hard work and now they were seeing abundant returns. Because Shaurya had been an unknown, he’d been able to publicly lead the company. He’d managed to take risks that neither Vihaan nor Aaryan had been able to, or were willing to, for fear of being recognized.
Thanks to Shaurya, none of them had to worry anymore about wealth for the rest of their lives. But that wealth had come at a price. One which all of them were paying—their anonymity had now been compromised and they’d done it willingly just so that Shaurya could have the happy life he deserved.
Years ago, after escaping the clutches of Dev and his father, Pritam Luthra, they had been forced to go into hiding. They’d been forced to play dead to the world, and because of that, till date, they all maintained a low, almost invisible, profile, except for Shaurya who publicly led KeyStone. However, Dev had managed to find them because of Shaurya’s rising fame in Dubai. And now it didn’t matter if Shaurya was in the open or not. Dev had found them. He’d moved base to Dubai and he was here to stay.
“I still don’t get it,” Vihaan said, not sure what the problem was. “Cement is a rolling supply for us. Just order more like we always do, and why have the suppliers suddenly cancelled on us?”
Shaurya sighed. “Three of our cement suppliers in the Emirates have been bought over.”
“How does that matter?” Vihaan swept a glance across the two men. “We have a healthy reputation. We haven’t defaulted on any of our past payments. Last I checked, we have enough money in our accounts too. The new owners should be happy to work with us.”
“This is not about us, Vihaan,” Shaurya stated.
Vihaan splayed a hand out. “Then what?” And then his eyes widened. “Fuck! It’s Dev Luthra, isn’t it?”
Aaryan nodded. “All our major cement suppliers have been bought over by him. I have confirmed news that our suppliers in Bahrain are also considering selling to him. He is systematically buying out our cement suppliers, forcing us to go to him. To buy from him.”
“What’s worse is that he seems to have planned all this out,” Shaurya continued. “We are contractually bound to complete his villa in Arabian Greens in two years. We absolutely cannot default on that. Imagine if we fall out on cement supplies, for sure his construction will get delayed and then he’ll have another reason to come at us, this time legally.”
“Let’s not forget we have to construct the hotel and the mall too at Arabian Greens,” Aaryan added. “Work on that is to start in a few months.”
This, exactly this was what his sixth sense had been warning him about. Dev had been silent because he’d been busy making a move against them.
About two months back, Dev had found them in Dubai. He’d sneakily gotten in touch with their Arab partner, Al Jarami, and convinced him to sell the biggest villa in Arabian Greens, KeyStone’s premiere property project, to him. Unfortunately for them, they hadn’t been able to refuse Al Jarami and had been forced to sell to him.
Not only that, Dev had tried to push his way with Al Jarami for Luthra Inc. to construct the mall and the hotel at Arabian Greens, which was to be KeyStone’s baby. With a lot of difficulty, they’d managed to push him out of the deal. They were to begin construction soon on that project as well. But how would they do it without a proper supply of cement?
Bloody hell! This was just Dev’s new way of manipulating them.
“We’re going to be in trouble if we don’t figure out what to do and soon,” Aaryan said.
“We could just import from somewhere else,” Vihaan said. “That fucker can’t buy every company.”
“He’s managed to buy some of the companies we have an understanding with and those who provide us the best prices and is working to buy the rest,” Aaryan said. “The remaining companies in the Gulf don’t meet our quality standards, and buying from outside the Gulf is way too expensive for us. It will eat into our margins heavily if we import from elsewhere. However, there is one company, Lavell Cement, in Kuwait. They’re the right fit for our cement needs. When they rejected my request to even meet them, I dug into them and found that when they refused to sell to Luthra, he threatened them to not supply to us. Maybe he holds something against the owners that makes them afraid of him. I wouldn’t put anything past him. Hence, as of now, we’re in quite a fix.”
“Fuck!” Vihaan cursed. “I can’t believe he’s actually threatening people, finding their darkest secrets, just so they don’t sell to us.”
“He wants us to go to him; it’s as simple as that,” Shaurya stated.
Vihaan raked a hand through his overly long hair, pacing around his living room. He sipped the green tea, allowing the warm liquid to soothe him. Dev Luthra had returned to Dubai to toy with his family. He’d already tried once to destroy their credibility by threatening them to out Shaurya’s real identity to the world and declaring him, and thus, KeyStone a fraud.
Shaurya was their adopted brother. He’d been someone else in another time, someone who Dev had not known about. After joining their family, Shaurya had changed his identity to become a part of them and to start afresh.
Yet Dev had found them through him—he was that determined to get to them.
But they’d thwarted his attempts by going public about Shaurya and themselves first. Until then, the world hadn’t known that Vihaan and Aaryan also owned KeyStone. But thanks to Dev Luthra, they’d put themselves out in the open for the first time in twelve long years. However, they’d managed to continue keeping their lives private. Vihaan and Aaryan continued to remain out of the public eye and thus, hidden from Dev.
