Bound By Duty (The Singham Bloodlines Book 3)

by P. G. Van

  “No, I remember every single moment from when I was taken to the warehouse.”

  “Well, the only other explanation is that the person with the tattoo was a relative,” she declared.

  “I don’t have any relatives.”

  “Relatives you know of… what is your last name?”

  “Don’t have one.”

  “Correction, you don’t know.”

  “Fine, I don’t.” He shook his head unable to believe where the conversation was going.

  “This is in no way a judgment or a statement of discrimination, but the historian in me says you are high-born, like the royals.”

  “Are you listening to what you are saying?”

  “I know, I know it sounds weird, but you had to be from a family with a strong bloodline… is it possible you were kidnapped from where you are from?”

  “That’s it, I’m not discussing this any further. You are getting into ridiculous land.” He gently pushed her aside to walk out of the bedroom.

  “Neil… don’t leave me and go.” She stretched her arms out.

  “Don’t make this more difficult for yourself. You do realize this is temporary.”

  “Yes, I know, and I want to live every moment of it to its fullest extent.” She walked to where he stood and wrapped her hands around him.

  He did not object when she started planting butterfly kisses on his warm skin along his neck. He ran his hands under the t-shirt she had on to cup her breasts. He squeezed both breasts making her moan.

  “I will lose it if you make that sound one more time.” His growl made her pool between her legs, and all she could think of was to feel him deep inside her.

  “I want to know what you will do if you lose it.”

  He groaned when she sank her teeth into the side of his neck.

  “Don’t fight it, Neil. Take me, I told you I want to be yours.”

  She gasped when he pinched her nipples before running his hands to her back and pulling her off the ground. She wound her legs around his waist as his lips found hers in a cajoling kiss—a kiss so soft yet so endearing. She expected a lot of roughness based on the bulge between his legs.

  His hands cupped her face, his thumb gently stroking her cheekbones. “You are the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted.”

  She smiled against his lips feeling the butterflies take off from the pit of her stomach. “I love you, too.”

  “I never said those words,” he hummed, sucking in her lower lip between his teeth.

  “You don’t have to… I know.”

  He kissed her hard before letting go of her lips. “I want you to go take a bath and eat a proper meal. You haven’t eaten properly for the past couple of days.”

  She smiled looking away from him. They have spent most of their time in bed with their bodies entwined, and she didn’t need any food—all she needed was him to quench her thirst and satiate the hunger.

  “Okay.”

  “And can you wear something that’s not mine?” he teased leaving her smiling like a fool staring at herself in the mirror.

  *****

  Neil was in the middle of fixing dinner for both of them when his phone started to ring again.

  “Hunter,” he spoke his standard greeting into the phone.

  “Hey, it’s me,” Joe’s voice was a whisper.

  “Joe, what happened?” Neil stopped what he was doing.

  “Abhay Singham called me just a few minutes ago.”

  “What? Why did he call you? How did he find you?” Neil was taken aback.

  “They are hot on your trail. Move as quickly as you can.” Joe’s breathing was strained.

  “Joe, don’t worry about me. How did they get to you?”

  “These people are very influential. They run an entire province by themselves and have been doing so for decades. They are unlawful and brutal… there is no police power in that region.”

  “Joe… calm down.”

  “Okay.”

  “What did Abhay Singham ask you?”

  “They know your real name, they asked me where you were…”

  “What did you tell them?”

  “I… I told them what I tell everyone, that you ran away from home when you were seventeen and never returned.”

  “Good, what did he say?”

  “He asked me to contact him if I got in touch with you.”

  Neil took a deep breath to clear his head. “How did they get your number and how do they know the link?”

  “What did I tell you about them being influential? They got the approval from the Home Minister to call me from the police control room.”

  “Joe, it’s fine. Just don’t talk to anyone about this, and let’s stay off the phone calls until I reach my next checkpoint.”

  *****

  “Dev, we have a dead end with the police officer,” Abhay growled.

  “What happened?”

  “I spoke to the DIG’s son… Rana ran away from their house after the DIG was killed.”

  “I don’t get it. How did he end up with the Senani girl?” Dev raked his fingers through his hair.

  “We need to follow his trail. Our only chance is to get past that cottage I found,” Abhay declared.

  “Send me the pictures you took of the cottage. I’ll have my team send you a link to an app. You just need to run the app, and it will sniff all the wireless connections,” Dev instructed.

  “I’m pretty sure there is a satellite connection. and it will be easy to pick it up.”

  “Do you think there is something under the hut?”

  “Most likely a full structure or a tunnel to a structure. I saw the car tracks of the car we saw around the hut.” Abhay looked at the pictures of the tracks he took.

  “It’s amazing you found this place.” Dev sounded excited.

  “One of the villagers told me,” Abhay said softly.

  “What? How?”

  “I stopped a villager on the road and asked the old man if he had seen the car in the picture. He looked at me and asked me if I was Hunter’s brother?”

  “Hunter?” Dev scrunched his nose.

  “I assume some code name. I showed him the digitally progressed image, and the stall keeper confirmed that was him.” Abhay let out a sigh.

  “Why would they call him Hunter?”

  “We will find out soon, Dev, we will find him.”

  “Do you think he remembers us?”

  “I don’t know, Dev. He would have looked for us if he did but…”

  “How much of the massacre do you think he remembers?” Dev’s body shivered at his childhood memory of the bloodshed.

  “Finding Rana is the most important thing for now. We will deal with what happened that day at a later time,” Abhay insisted.

  “Do you want to come back home to Anika?”

  “No, Dev. She is fine. She wants me to stay here and stay on Rana’s trail.”

  “She is right,” Dev agreed even though he felt guilty about his brother being away from his full-term, pregnant wife.

  “We will find him, Dev, very soon.” Abhay was confident he was only a few steps behind his little brother.

  CHAPTER 16

  Narmada was in the bedroom drying her hair when she heard an excited voice. Neil’s voice was barely audible, and the woman’s voice resonated in the small area.

  She stayed in the room not sure if she was expected to go out and greet the person. She continued to rub her hair wondering if the voice belonged to his friend. He had told her the previous night they were going to move to a different location.

  She smiled at the memorable night they had, and it had nothing to do with the physical attraction. They had dinner and watched a movie holding hands making her wonder if it was real or a dream.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

  “Come in,” she called out her voice unsure.

  The door opened slowly, and Neil stepped into the room, his face as cold as the arctic tundra. She wo
ndered what made him turn so cold when he had set her on fire in the shower less than an hour ago.

  “We need to leave in an hour,” he declared and turned away from her. She watched as he left the room, standing with the woman he had not introduced to her.

  “I am going to help you change into these clothes and change your look slightly,” the woman declared.

  “Are you Komal?”

  “Yes,” came the curt reply. The woman opened the bag she brought with her. “Sit here.”

  Narmada sat on the small stool by the mirror. “Thank you for letting us stay at your place.”

  The response was a low-key grunt making Narmada wonder if something was wrong. The woman briskly ran the towel into Narmada’s hair to dry it out.

  “Can you stand up and not move for ten minutes?” Her voice was extremely robotic and emotionless. Narmada didn’t say anything but complied.

  She stood looking at herself in the mirror as the woman worked on tying an authentic saree. The woman had asked her to leave her leggings on and had asked her to tuck her snug t-shirt into the waistband.

  “Can you put these earrings and nose ring on while I work on your hair?” she ordered.

  The woman pulled her hair back and plaited it while Narmada put on the earrings. She put on the press-on nose ring catching the woman’s frozen expression in the mirror.

  The woman moved to stand in front of her and started putting on makeup, mostly around the eyes. She finished off by putting three dots on Narmada’s chin with an eye pencil.

  “Did Neil ask you to dress me up like this?” Narmada asked getting annoyed with the silence.

  “Who are you?” The woman’s question surprised her.

  “I’m Narmada.”

  “How do you know his name?” Komal was taken aback.

  “I know him.”

  “How do you know him?” It was scrutiny.

  Narmada looked at the woman in silence wondering how much to tell her.

  “Hunter!” Komal called out.

  Narmada’s heart thudded as she heard him approach the room. She didn’t know why she felt anxious as he opened the door and stepped into the room. She lowered her eyes to put on the bangles the woman had given her.

  “How does she know your name?” Komal asked like it was the most important thing.

  She could hear the woman’s heavy breathing, but Neil did not say a word. Narmada finally looked up in his direction, and when their eyes met, her heart fluttered and her skin tingled with the spark she saw in his eyes.

  His deep eyes were drinking in the sight in front of him, and it made her hot knowing that she was the reason for his reaction, something novel.

  “She knows everything about me.” His voice was calm.

  Komal gasped like she couldn’t believe her ears. “Who is she? Is she…”

  “Komal,” Neil cut her off.

  “Oh my God, this is her?” The woman’s voice was suddenly cheerful.

  “Are you done here?” His voice was shaky.

  “Hunter, why didn’t you tell me? Oh my God, she must be thinking I am a bitch.” Komal laughed.

  Komal dropped to the floor to be at the same level as Narmada and put her arms around her. “Narmada, I am so happy to meet you.”

  “Komal, that’s enough.” He was curt.

  “What are you talking about?” Narmada looked at Komal.

  “Can I tell her?” Komal teased, suddenly bubbly.

  “Get out!” he barked. His tone sent a shiver down her spine, but it didn’t seem to bother Komal. She gave Narmada a quick wink before leaving the room.

  “Neil, why am I dressed like this?” She looked into his eyes unable to decipher his expression.

  He slowly moved closer to her. “You are beautiful.”

  Narmada felt her blood rush to her heart and gasped inwardly in response to his words. His hands came up to gingerly cup her cheeks.

  “Give me five minutes to tell you everything and promise not to hold any of what I tell you against me.” His voice was soft yet steady.

  “Neil…” Her voice trailed off when he ran the pad of his thumb on her lower lip before bringing his lips to hers.

  “Every time I look at you, I want to tell myself you are mine. I want you to be mine forever, and I knew this the moment I saw you six years ago. When I look at you like this, all I can think about is to keep you to myself and make you the mother of my children.” He kissed away the silent tears that rolled down her cheeks.

  “It pains me to see you sad, a bead of moisture has the power to burn my soul. It was like ripping my heart out, to get myself to leave you six years ago. Will you be mad if I told you I thought about coming to see you from time to time, and I had to stop myself?” He tightened his hold on her, pulling her to him.

  “Neil… why?” She sobbed.

  “I am not right for you. We cannot be together. I wish we had met in a different life, but nothing or no one will take your place in my life.” He took a step away as if his time to pour out his heart was up.

  “We need to leave in ten minutes.” His cold expression cut through her heart.

  “Neil, don’t…”

  “This is the right thing to do, it’s best for both of us. Just forget everything I told you. Our temporary pretense comes to an end this moment,” he declared and walked away from her leaving her fighting an uphill battle with her tears.

  “Neil, let me love you!” she cried.

  Narmada collapsed to the floor sobbing uncontrollably. She ignored the gentle hand that tried to comfort her. “Narmada, please don’t cry.”

  Komal’s voice was a soothing whisper. “The idiot loves you but is too scared to admit it.”

  “I love him, Komal. Why can’t I get him to understand I want a life with him.”

  “Narmada, he has lived his life with a target on his back and is convinced anyone who gets close to him will lose their life.”

  “I don’t know what to do.” Narmada’s mind was in a turmoil.

  “You are one of the very few people who knows his name, knows things about him that probably even the people he grew up with don’t know. If there is anyone who can get him out of it all it is you.” Komal sounded confident.

  Narmada took a deep breath and wiped her eyes clean. “Thank you, Komal. You are a good friend, and he needs more of you in his life.”

  “The only one he needs now is you. I’ve never seen him look at anyone as he looks at you. I’ll be honest… I wanted to be the person he looked at that way, but I couldn’t reach him… he is yours, meant to be yours, Narmada.” Komal smiled weakly.

  “Thank you.”

  “You need to go now. You can’t be here for long,” Komal whispered.

  Narmada nodded and gathered herself before stepping out of the bedroom. Neil stood by the door dressed in a semi-traditional cotton outfit. It occurred to her at that moment that it was their cover, their cover to get out of the city. The police were probably still looking for the woman who made the Chief Minister’s son end up in a coma.

  “Thank you for everything, Komal.”

  *****

  The mode of their transportation was no longer the sleek sports car. It was an SUV with darkened windows. She noticed Neil was wearing a baseball cap and dark sunglasses. She wasn’t sure if he was hiding his face from her or the people after them.

  She hugged Komal and got into the car watching as Neil talked to her—rather gave her instructions—and turned away from her curtly. For someone who grew up with him, been through crap with him, she expected him to give her a hug or another gesture of friendship, but there was none.

  Her large eyes followed him as he went around to get into the driver’s seat. She hadn’t realized how different he was with Komal. Was there a history or was he the same with everyone, except her?

  She closed her eyes and thought back to the year they spent together as teenagers and realized he was with her wherever she went but never spoke to anyone.

  “I hat
e you, Neil, I hate you for lying to me,” she yelled running next to the gurney he was laying on, looking at her. “You better not die today!”

  It was the day she was attacked in broad daylight on the college campus. It was the day she was told he was her secret bodyguard since she was opposed to having security guards suffocating her.

  She was angry when she found out he was her bodyguard but could not be angry for long. She realized soon after that they were friends, good friends. She had returned from studying abroad, and the kids in the college found her intimidating. He was the one who approached her first, and he was the one who helped her make friends in college, friends for life.

  “Neil, I want to go to Sari’s birthday party at her farmhouse, and Daddy says it’s dangerous. You know what to do,” she ordered, and he nodded.

  It was that night she realized there was more than friendship between them. She could not bear the idea of her friends swooning over him. She lost her cool when she heard the girls talking about how Neil was in the garden with her best friend, Sari.

  “Neil,” she called out as soon as she stepped onto the concrete patio overlooking the large garden at her friend’s house. She didn’t hear anything and started descending the steps fuming at the idea of him not being with her.

  She took a few steps onto the stone-paved pathway and heard the giggles. It had to be Sari. She let out a curse word under her breath and walked toward the sound. As she got closer, she heard his voice and her best friend’s voice.

  Neil didn’t talk to anyone but her, why was he talking to Sari? Did he like her?

  “Sari!” There was no softness in her voice when she saw her friend holding a water lily in her hand while Neil lay flat on the ground, his arm stretched out to reach for another flower in the pond.

  “Hey, Narmada… what’s up?” Her friend’s voice wavered like she was caught doing something wrong.

  “What are you doing here?” Narmada’s eyes seared her friend.