Dev Singham took a deep drag from the cigarette in his hand and blew out smoke rings into the air.

He was standing next to a cottage by the scenic Singham Lake that separated the Singham, Prajapati and Senani provinces. The fragrant smell of wild roses that grew in abundance around the area permeated the air, making him feel nostalgic. Apart from the sounds of birds and insects chirping, it was entirely quiet and peaceful. Even the horse he had ridden was quietly grazing near a patch of wildflowers where he had tied it to a tree.

Dev knew his grandmother and brother would be upset to know he had come on his own without any security guards tagging along. But he was almost twenty, and he was sick of being so sheltered from everything going on around him.

It wasn’t as though he was ignorant of the danger. In fact, he knew more than enough about the past and also the ongoing violence that led to the danger. However, he was confident enough to know he could protect himself in case of an attack.

He knew how to shoot and even fight without any weapons. He had been training since he was a child. And even though it was difficult to find trainers in London who allowed a twelve-year-old to learn how to shoot or box; with the right kind of influence and sweet talk, he was able to convince a few underground street fighters to teach him to defend himself.

He absolutely loved to box. Until he had begun to learn boxing, he used to get into a lot of trouble at boarding school. Whenever anyone had dared to tease him or talk trash about his brother or family, he had used that opportunity to get his aggression out. For that reason, even though the secret underground fighting was revealed, his brother didn’t put a stop to it. The planned and disciplined fighting was much better and it had also significantly reduced the number of complaints from school.

Although London was a major part of his life, Dev knew he belonged in his ancestral home—the Singham Estate. The place where his ancestors dedicated their lives to develop the province.

But the most compelling reason why he wanted to move back was his grandmother. She currently lived in the Singham Mansion by herself. Dev was named after her and even looked very similar to her. Dev simply adored her. Apart from his brother, she was the only family he had left.

Abhay was already planning his permanent move to India in a couple of years and Dev intended to do the same as his brother whether everyone agreed with that decision or not.

To hell with higher studies.

Life at Oxford was mostly booze and girls anyway with classes and exams thrown into the mix. He was doing well with business school to be able to graduate well ahead of schedule.

He groaned internally, thinking of the argument he’d have to have with his brother regarding the move. Although, Abhay was only a couple of years older, Dev considered him as a father figure and not just his older brother. Even though Dev put up a fight sometimes, he respected Abhay enough to follow his advice most of the time.

It’s obvious that Grandmother needs us. Abhay will have to agree.

His thoughts were distracted when he heard rustling in the trees. Immediately he grew alert. Throwing the cigarette down, he crushed it with his boot while he watched the dense trees surrounding a part of the lake.

He had only taken a couple of steps towards the trees to investigate, when he saw a girl rushing out into the clearing and running towards him.

He was about to reach for his gun, but he noticed the girl appeared unarmed. As she got closer, he also noticed she was very pretty and quite young.

Not that young, he realized when she stood within a few feet of him. She seemed to be around his age.

“Well, hello there,” he said with a smile.

When the girl didn’t respond, he stopped checking out her tempting, curvy body that looked very attractive in the simple and plain ethnic wear. He looked at her face. She appeared tensed and worried.

He gave himself a mental slap. He wasn’t supposed to check out or romantically associate himself with any of the local girls in the Singham province. Abhay had warned him about that not too long ago when Dev began dating girls back in London.

Until then, Dev had not looked at any of the local girls in a romantic sense. But the beautiful, sweet and innocent face of the girl combined with a sinfully tempting body, simply took his breath away.

The distinctive golden tan of the girl with thick, dark and long eyelashes along with the full pink lips indicated she probably belonged to the settlers who had come to their province and also the neighboring provinces a few decades ago. The women among those settlers were exotic looking and beautiful. They were also highly coveted, but unfortunately the settlers had very high moral codes that did not allow for any marriages or any kind of romantic association of outside their class.

It wasn’t like Dev was really looking for any long-term romance. He just wanted to flirt and have harmless fun. At most, he might convince her to kiss before the summer holidays ended and he returned to London.

He looked into her unusually beautiful eyes. He knew most of the settlers had green eyes. But this girl had brown eyes. And they were quite unique. Many different shades of brown coexisted within those almond shaped eyes, making it was difficult to look away from them.

“Hi, are you lost?” he asked, continuing to smile. He had been told by a lot of his girlfriends that his smile was quite lethal. He believed them, since it had always worked for him in the past.

But his smile didn’t seem to melt her. “Please, help me!”

 “For a pretty girl like you, anything. What help do you need?”

Her eyes began to reflect fear. “We need a place to hide. My aunt’s men are after us.”

Dev frowned. He shook his head slightly and focused on the situation rather than her face. “We? Who are we?”

“My… boyfriend and me. We need to hide right now. Please, help us.” Her beautiful eyes filled with tears, making them even brighter.

Shit, she had a boyfriend. Dev was hugely disappointed about the fact. Pushing aside the feeling, he decided to be a gentleman and help a damsel in distress.

“You and your boyfriend can hide there.” He pointed at the small cottage by the lake. “There is a small room in the cellar that is hidden under the bed.”

“Thank you!” she said gratefully, before turning towards the trees. “Raghav. Come quickly!” she called out in a louder voice.

A nervous looking boy of similar age came out of hiding and stood next to the girl. Dev asked them to follow him. He took them inside the small cottage his family owned, along with several others around the lake and the estate.

He pushed aside the bed and opened the shutter on the secret hideaway. The girl went in first before giving her boyfriend the clearance. Only then did the boy go inside to join her. When she was about to close the opening of the hideaway, she looked at Dev. “Thank you,” she softly said before closing the shutter of the hideaway.

Dev stared at the closed shutter for a few moments.

What a waste. She could definitely do a lot better than the guy who needed her protection.

With that thought in his mind, he pushed the bed back in its place, concealing the opening completely.

He went out of the cottage and lit another cigarette.

 

***

 

Barely a few minutes later, Dev heard a commotion. He saw a group of men coming out of the trees. Immediately, he put a hand into his pocket, touching the gun, in case it was needed this time.

None of the men pulled out a weapon. As they came closer, he saw the tense looks on their faces.

“Did you see a young girl around eighteen years, running away with a boy?” one of the men asked.

“Nope.”

The men tensed even more listening to Dev’s reply.

Dev wasn’t sure whether they were Prajapatis or Senanis. They hadn’t asked him either. All of them seemed preoccupied with trying to find the runaway couple.

“We would like to look inside the cottage. It’s very important that we find them as soon as possible.”

Dev shrugged. “Be my guests.”

The men returned within ten minutes after having searched the small cottage thoroughly.

They were about to leave, when Dev casually asked them. “Why are you searching for them?” Even though the girl had a boyfriend, he was fascinated by her. He was curious to know who she was.

“The girl is Sabitha Prajapati,” a man replied, looking fearful. “Harshvardhan Prajapati’s daughter and also one of the heiresses to the Prajapati Estate. Neelamma wants us to find her.”

Dev was about to take another puff from his cigarette when he completely froze.

Harshvardhan Prajapati.

The man who had brutally killed Dev’s mother, Arundhati Singham, leading to the temple massacre that also took the lives of Dev’s father, brother and many other innocent victims.

The girl was the daughter of the murdering bastard.

Images flashed in Dev’s mind along with the smell of burning flesh, overwhelming his senses. Hate and bile rose as he recalled the pain and agony of losing both his parents and younger brother. All because of the Prajapati family. Especially Harshvardhan Prajapati.

“Have you looked under the bed?” Dev asked grimly. “There is a small room hidden underneath.”

The men’s eyes lit up before they hurried back inside.

Less than ten minutes later, there were screams and sounds of struggle coming from the cottage.

“Let us go! Leave us alone!” Dev could hear the girl’s shouts as she was dragged out by two men. She was sobbing and struggling to escape their hold. Meanwhile, her boyfriend stood passively, looking terrified and resigned as one of the men held him.

The men stopped in front of Dev. “Thank you for telling us where they were. We are new to this place, but we heard death would be preferable to what would have happened to us if we hadn’t found them.”

The girl stopped struggling for a brief while and her eyes widened with comprehension as she looked at Dev.

Dev kept his eyes locked on her shocked face. “It was my greatest pleasure to help,” he answered grimly.

“Let’s go! Our ride is here,” one of the men said.

Dev saw a jeep coming through the clearing and it stopped right in front of the cottage. A man jumped out from it and came running towards them. “What the hell are you all doing on the Singham lands? Let’s get out before we are all killed!”

“Singham?” The man holding the girl asked in shock. He turned and looked at Dev with a tensed look. “What is your name?”

“Dev Singham.”

Everyone visibly tensed even more. Dev knew he was taking a huge gamble when there were five Prajapatis against him.

“Shit, he is one of the Singhams. We can’t harm him, or Neelamma will order our executions.”

The men stared at Dev for a while before nodding grudgingly and walking away from the cottage to the jeep.

Just before the girl was pushed into the vehicle, she turned and looked at Dev. This time, her unusual eyes were filled with hate.

As their eyes met, Dev felt a strange stillness settle over him. He felt spellbound as a feeling of strong premonition began to take over. A warning screamed inside his head that Sabitha Prajapati was going to be of a huge significance in his life, and that she would rip it apart and turn it upside down, changing him forever.

With great difficulty, he shook off the illogical feeling. And then, keeping his eyes locked on Sabitha Prajapati, in a deliberately casual manner, he blew another smoke ring into the air.