Dev was agitated.

He was tempted to either go on a rampage with his axe, or break open a scotch bottle at nine-thirty in the morning. Just so he could maintain his cool and not strangle her.

Sabitha Prajapati brought out the worst in him.

He could hear her voice through the office walls as she softly questioned one of her men who read the document aloud to her.

What was Abhay thinking when he had asked Sabitha Prajapati to personally oversee the project on behalf of the Prajapatis?

Dev was fine when the offer was extended to the Prajapatis. But what he hadn’t expected was having to work with her on a personal basis. He had expected the Prajapatis to hire someone on behalf of them to oversee the set-up.

He took a deep breath to calm down.

Sabitha-bloody-Prajapati.

Every encounter with her always had her ridiculing him and riling him. She was also the only woman who had the power to mess with his head.

His temple throbbed where she had pointed a gun at it a few minutes ago making him recall the first time she held a weapon and similarly threatened him.

It was quite ironic. Because at that particular time, he had been celebrating the occasion of getting all the necessary approvals for this very project.

 

***

 

ONE YEAR AGO…

 

Dev splashed water on his face to remain awake.

It was only ten at night, but he was damn tired. The past week, he had been working long hours to finish some critical tasks within his units while also balancing his evening and night hours socializing with the high-profile bigwigs in the city.

Since Abhay was not easily accessible and preferred to stay in the family home, most of the social interactions were carried out by Dev.

Dev didn’t mind. He knew Abhay had his hands full trying to maintain peace within the Singham province.

So it was mostly up to Dev to build and strengthen the Singham network. He used his persuasion skills, his natural charm and the skills he learned from business school to achieve that purpose. As the result, he already knew most of the bigwigs personally and was also able to pull the necessary strings to get the jobs done.

He was just glad his and Abhay’s hard work was going to pay off.

Singham province was soon going to have the necessary projects to bring in water and employment to its people.

Abhay, in his usual style, decided to celebrate the occasion by having a quiet evening at the Singham Mansion. For a change, Dev had wanted to do the same as his older brother.

But just as Dev was about to drive back to Singham Estate, he had been ambushed.

Kritika, a well-known actress he had been dating for few months had come to his office. He had been canceling their dates over the past few weeks due to his workload. And so, she had insisted that she join him at the Singham Estate.

Dev had never brought any of the women he dated to the Singham Estate. He preferred to keep both those worlds apart. But this time, he had made an exception and agreed.

Since he hadn’t wanted to take her to his ancestral home or the Singham Lakehouse, he took her to one of the five cottages within the Singham Estate.

Big mistake.

This particular cottage held other memories from seven years ago which were clouding his brain. He felt a strange kind of unease, but was determined not to recall that deceptively innocent face with striking multi-hued brown eyes.

“De-e-v-v. I’m waiting, baby. Come out soon,” a seductive voice of a woman called out from the bedroom.

Dev sighed again as his doubts about having to spend a weekend with Kritika grew stronger. Until then, Kritika and he had been meeting for only a few hours at a time. Like all his dates, he took her to a few social events with him, after which she took him to her place where they spent pleasurable time in her bed. He usually left soon after. And like his usual dates, they hadn’t had an opportunity to talk much since he was busy socializing with other contacts at the events.

But now, after having spent time with her in his car while driving from the city to the Singham Estate, he realized they barely had anything in common. In fact, he found the one-sided talk about various topics of gossip, partying and shopping, quite annoying. She was also too clingy. 

Even though he had made it quite clear that he didn’t do serious relationships and only dated casually, she was still planning events months into the future.

He groaned. He was going to let Kritika know it wasn’t working out. It would be awkward as hell as he would have to accompany her on the drive back to the city.

With that thought in mind, Dev opened the bathroom door and strode into the bedroom.

Shit!

Kritika was sprawled over the bed in a seductive pose wearing lingerie that revealed way more than it covered.

“Do you like it, Dev?” she asked with a sultry smile that earned her millions of fans across the country.

Dev slowly grinned. “Love it.”

I’m such a bastard. I’m definitely going to hell because of this.

And to hell with those other memories. I’m going to enjoy myself and create new memories here.

Those were his last thoughts before he took up her tempting offer.

Dev should have guessed it was easier said than done. Because, fifteen minutes later, he was having a tough time.

“Dev! Oh my God! Dev! You are the best, Dev! The best!”

What the hell?

Never in his twenty-six years did Dev have any performance issues. Closing his eyes, he tried hard to focus and to shut out the annoying noises. But as soon as he closed his eyes, those damn thick-lashed, vivid brown eyes flashed in his mind along with the memories.

Kritika’s moaning and groaning continued to get even louder and dramatic. “Oooh, Dev, you are the man! Take me like you can’t help yourself!”

Had she always been this way? Making such fake noises?

Shit, this is torture. And why the hell am I feeling guilty because of those bloody memories?

A minute later, unable to bear it any longer, Dev moved away and sat up.

“Baby, why did you stop?” Kritika whined with a practiced pout.

“Listen, Kritika. I’m sorry, but this is not working out. I think we should take it easy—”

Before he could finish speaking, Kritika began screaming. The sound was so loud and shrill that he thought his eardrums would shatter.

What the hell?

He realized a few seconds later that she wasn’t looking at him, but at something behind him. Before he could turn to investigate, he felt a sharp object placed under his throat.

He froze immediately.

Kritika continued to scream, making his head throb.

“Shut up,” a soft command was issued by a vaguely familiar woman’s voice.

Immediately, Kritika stopped screaming, only to break into terrified muffled sobs.

Mindful of the knife at his throat, Dev slowly drew the blanket next to him and threw it over Kritika, covering her nearly naked body. The next instant, he was grabbed from behind and thrown into the chair and held down by two burly men.

Sabitha-bloody-Prajapati stood in front of him with a small smile playing on her face as she twirled a red and green jeweled knife in her hands.

It was almost like she had been conjured there because of his memories of her that night. He almost didn’t recognize her since he hadn’t seen her up close for nearly seven years. But her thick-lashed, vivid brown eyes remained the same. He also recognized the small diamond nose ring and her long hair she wore in a similar plaited style as before. But the soft, rounded cheeks of a teenager were gone. They were replaced by prominent high cheekbones. And unlike the traditional clothes she had worn the last time he had seen her, she now wore a cotton shirt and khaki-colored trousers.

Even though he hadn’t seen her in person over the years, he had felt her constant presence in his life as she tried to make it a living hell.

He recalled how his favorite horses were stolen, his bikes and cars were burned down or blown apart, and she had also ordered several other petty things to be done that drove him insane. In turn, he had also ordered her vehicles to be blown up, and destroyed her personal property until Abhay had intervened and asked him to stop.

“Heard you were in the neighborhood, Singham. Wanted to say… hello.” Although her voice was soft and even, he heard the underlying taunt like a loud jeering.

When he didn’t say anything, her smile grew infinitesimally. “I just wanted to be polite, you know, considering how we might be family pretty soon,” she said, reminding him of the recent alliance.

In order to end the decades-long feud between their provinces, Neelambari Prajapati had sent a wedding proposal between her niece, Anika, and Abhay.

It only took a day for Abhay to accept the proposal while Dev had mixed feelings. On one hand, Dev was still not ready to forgive or forget the past, but on the other hand, he knew the people of their respective provinces badly needed peace to be restored.

And so, Dev had some of his men investigate Anika Prajapati thoroughly in order to check the validity of the proposal. So far, he hadn’t found anything suspicious. In fact, whatever he had found about Anika Prajapati made him think she might be the right fit for his brother.

Anika Prajapati was a soft-spoken, well-educated woman whose career as a medical doctor led her to helping and healing people—unlike the savage in front of him who only either injured or destroyed.

A woman’s muffled sobs broke through Dev’s thoughts. “Please. Please don’t hurt me. Please. Please…”

Dev knew there was no one near Kritika. Sabitha Prajapati and her two men were the only ones who had broken into the cottage. And right then, they were busy surrounding him to be bothered with anything else. Nevertheless, he knew Kritika’s fear was real.

“Let her go,” he said quietly, keeping his eyes locked on Sabitha Prajapati’s face. “Her car is outside and she can leave on her own. Your enmity is with me.”

Sabitha Prajapati smiled, but her smile was brittle and didn’t reach her eyes. “How very noble of you to say that, Singham. One would think you were used to saving damsels in distress.” Her eyes turned even harder. “But we both know the truth, don’t we?” she asked softly, reminding him of how he had ruined her elopement with her boyfriend.

Before he could say something, she turned towards the bed. “Get out.”

As soon as the soft order was issued, Kritika scrambled out from the bed. She was still in her lingerie, but she didn’t bother throwing on any other clothes. She simply grabbed her purse and ran towards the door to get out.

Soon, he could hear the sound of the engine as the car started and then the loud squeal of tires as she hit the accelerator before driving away from the cottage.

Sabitha Prajapati continued to twirl the jeweled knife in her hands, watching him. “Seems like the rumors I heard about you are all false, Singham. For a supposed playboy, your technique in bed must have sucked. In fact it must have sucked so badly, the poor woman couldn’t wait to get out when I interrupted your lackluster performance.”

When he didn’t respond to her taunt, she strode closer to him while running her eyes impassively over his naked body.

She stopped a foot away and held her knife to his throat. He felt the blunt edge of the knife pressing into his skin as she slowly ran it from his throat in a downward path, until she stopped an inch above his groin. Despite his feelings, his body began to get painfully and fully aroused.

A small smirk formed on her face as she watched his arousal. “I wonder what would happen if I cut this offending thing off,” she remarked. “I’m sure I’ll be doing the female population a favor. And also… the Singham bloodlines will have to continue only through your brother. Not a bad idea, huh?” she taunted softly.

When he still didn’t reply, she moved the knife back up and nicked his throat.

He felt the sting but refused to flinch.

He continued to watch her as she ran her finger on his throat and brought it closer to her face. “What do you know,” she continued taunting softly. “The great, purebred Singham blood looks just like a commoner’s blood.”

Dev felt the simmering rage within him rise rapidly. “You have crossed a line with this,” he told her in a menacing tone. “I have left you alone all these months because of the possible union between our families.”

Listening to his threat, her smile turned lethal and she placed the knife back at his throat. “There is no line to cross, Singham. It’s always been a war. Even if the wedding takes place, it will continue to be a war between the both of us. Just because you are losing, don’t whine and hide behind our families.”

Dev’s rage erupted. “If you want a war, I’ll give you a fucking war,” he hissed, struggling while he was held back by her men. The knife nicked his skin several times due to his movements, but he ignored the pain.

There was a soft laughter from Sabitha Prajapati as she watched him. “I’ll be looking forward to seeing you try, Singham,” she said. “Oh, by the way, the new red Ferrari you bought… it looks even better in ash.”

“You—”

Before he could complete, sounds of approaching vehicles could be heard from outside.

“Ma’am, we have to go,” one of the Prajapati men told her in an urgent tone. “We are on the Singham lands, and there are just the three of us.”

The knife held at his throat was moved away and Sabitha Prajapati let out another small smile. “Remember this day, Singham. You were at my complete mercy. I could have easily slit your throat or just plain castrated you. But I didn’t.”

 

***

 

PRESENT…

 

Dev’s blood continued to boil as he recalled the rage and helplessness he felt when Sabitha Prajapati had held him at knifepoint and left him naked in every way that night. Since then, they had clashed several times, each time trying to get the upper hand over one another.

Sabitha Prajapati was like a bloody hurricane—only twice as destructive when it came to him.

Some of the Singham men had been outraged on his behalf and wanted to plan an attack targeting only her. But he had stopped them.

Sabitha Prajapati might be the most cunning, violent, and dangerous bitch like everyone in the provinces believed. But she was his prey. Only he would get back at her for the things she did to him.

He took a deep breath to calm down and not think about how badly he wanted to get back at her. He had to repeatedly remind himself of one fact.

Sabitha Prajapati was not only his enemy but also his bloody ally.

However, despite the repeated reminder, he had to take a few more deep breaths to calm down.

Dev knew it was going to be a herculean task to work along with her over the next few months.