Bound By Duty (The Singham Bloodlines Book 3)

by P. G. Van

  Encouraged by the reaction, she gave Neil a sweet smile before hanging up the phone with Raj. “Bye, Raj, I will see you soon.”

  “Yes, my sweet pea, very soon.”

  Narmada continued to look into Neil’s eyes waiting for him to say something, anything.

  “Who is Dev Singham?”

  She was taken aback that he was asking about the man she was once forced to get engaged to almost a month ago. She curbed her need to burst out in surprise. “Why do you want to know?”

  “Who are the Singhams?” His voice was gruff.

  She looked at him for a long moment before responding. “What will you give me if I tell you about the Singhams?”

  “Nothing,” he growled.

  “Fine, I won’t tell you.” She turned away from him to grab an apple from the fruit tray. She took a sharp bite into the apple looking at him before turning away to walk back to the bedroom.

  Narmada wasn’t sure how badly Neil wanted to know about the Singhams, and she wasn’t sure why, but it came at a good time. She intended to use anything and everything she could to get him to change.

  She was scribbling notes on a loose sheet of paper when he walked into the bedroom. She looked into his eyes and knew he was going through crap, and she was piling on more crap.

  When he did not utter a word, she decided not to be the one to start the conversation.

  “Narmada.”

  “Neil.” She matched his tone.

  “I brought you dinner.” He placed the bowl of steaming food on the desk next to her.

  “Stop pretending. I know what you want.” She laughed.

  “Just eat, you don’t need to tell me anything,” he barked and started to walk away.

  She reached out and wrapped her fingers around his wrist. “I need a small favor, and I will tell you about the Singhams.”

  “What do you want?”

  “My back has been stiff since last night. I need help stretching it.” She batted her eyelids innocently.

  “How?”

  “Oh, it won’t take long, you just need to hold me from behind and lift me so I stretch my spine.” She stood up and turned to stand with her back to him. She still had his t-shirt on and did not fail to catch the primitive hunger in his eyes.

  “Bad idea.”

  “I’ve done this before. I’ve had a lot of people help me stretch.” She lied.

  She crossed her hands diagonally on her chest. “Okay, put your hands around me and lift me up.”

  He hesitated for a moment but slowly put his hands around her from behind and lifted her feet off the ground. She groaned feeling the stretch. “Okay, let me go.”

  He let his arms hang loose even before she could gather herself, and when her feet hit the marble floor, her ankle twisted. She collapsed to the floor with a yelp.

  “Oh shit, Narmada, are you okay?”

  “Ouch… my ankle hurts.” She rubbed her ankle to make the shooting pain go away.

  “Oh no… I’m so sorry.” Neil sounded shaken up as he lifted her off the marble floor and placed her on the bed.

  “Neil, stop it. I am fine,” she called out as he left the bedroom in a hurry.

  She sat on the bed rubbing her ankle, and the pain started to subside when Neil placed a bag of ice on the swollen skin.

  “I’m fine, Neil.”

  “Is your back okay?” He held the ice pack to her ankle.

  An idea flashed in her head. “Neil, can you ice my back, please?”

  Neil knew it was a bad idea, but he couldn’t say no. “Put on some pants, and I will ice your back.”

  “Are you kidding me? It is so frigging hot I was going to sit in the refrigerator an hour ago,” she retorted.

  “Fine, turn around.” He watched her roll onto her tummy before placing the ice pack.

  She felt his eyes on her back, and then on her legs. She still had her anklets on and knew he was fascinated by them. She made sure to jingle them from time to time in a tease.

  “Neil, take off the ice and rub the muscles a little,” she mumbled into the pillow.

  She heard his breath hiss, but he did not object. She waited patiently as he removed the ice pack and positioned himself to gently sit on her legs.

  She moaned into the pillow when she felt his thumb dig into her lower back. “Oh my God, I’m in heaven.”

  As if encouraged by her words, he brought his other thumb to rub the muscles over her t-shirt making thrills ripple through her muscles.

  “Neil…” His name rolled off her lips in hard seduction, and he groaned in response. “Move my t-shirt aside.”

  She called out his name in a plea as he worked her muscles over the fabric of the t-shirt. She finally got impatient and tugged the t-shirt to her side making it ride up.

  His fingers froze, but they stayed on her skin setting it on fire. She moaned in encouragement feeling the heat from his eyes roaming her bare back.

  Her heart was in a rage as he moved higher on her back, his fingertips setting her skin ablaze. His thumbs lost contact, and he replaced them by his palm running over her soft skin.

  “You have beautiful skin,” he whispered making pleasure surge between her legs.

  “Touch me like that…” Her words dove into her mouth when she felt his hands slide to the side closest to her.

  Instinctively, her chest raised off the mattress to let him cup her yearning breasts. He folded the hardened buds between his fingers and pinched them.

  She let out a gasp of pleasure but did not move. She took a deep breath when she felt him lowering his body onto her back, his hands running along her arms to stretch them out.

  His hard shaft dug into her back making her whimper.

  “Why can’t I stop myself?” His breath was hot in her hair.

  “I don’t want you to stop. I want you… all of you,” she pleaded.

  He groaned into her hair burying her face into the darkness.

  “Neil, I want you… I’ll take whatever I can get from you. Let me be yours until you let me go.” Her words sent thrills through his veins.

  “Pretend you’re mine,” he growled, ripping off her panties before turning her around to face him.

  “Take me, I’m yours,” she hummed against his lips, enjoying the aggression in the kiss and his touch as his hands hungrily roamed her body.

  CHAPTER 14

  “Stay with me, sweetheart, you don’t want to get lost.” The woman looked at the child fondly.

  “Okay, Mum.”

  “Isn’t this a beautiful temple, Rana?”

  “It’s big, and do all these people live here?”

  She smiled at the innocent child. “They are here to see God.”

  “I want to see God now.”

  “You need to wait for Daddy to finish talking to his friends.”

  The child looked around for his father and saw him seated with a few other men, deep in discussion.

  “I want to go get Daddy.” The child turned but stopped when he saw his mom collapse to the concrete floor.

  “Mum!” The child watched in horror as a masked man drove his knife into the woman’s stomach.

  “Run, Rana!” the woman screamed, but the child watched in shock as his mother fought the masked man.

  At one point, she pulled on the man’s mask, and the dark eyes looked threateningly at the child. The scary scar around the eye of the man sent chills through the child.

  The child stood frozen to his spot, and then a loud noise and a fire engulfed the woman.

  “Rana!” the voice was way too familiar.

  Neil’s eyes shot open and looked into large worried eyes. Narmada was hovered over him running her hands on his face. “I’m right here, are you okay?”

  Without another word, he took her into his arms. She felt his heart pound against her cheek, and he was in a cold sweat.

  “Talk to me,” she pleaded and felt the shudder pass through him.

  She slowly lifted herself up to look at him. He look
ed lost as he steadied his breathing. She had crashed in his arms after a turbulent night and woke up to him shaking violently in his sleep.

  She ran her fingers through his slightly damp hair with slow, continuous strokes. She knew she couldn’t rush him and was confident he would tell her.

  “Narmada… I don’t know why but from the first time I saw you, I started getting these dreams… nightmares.”

  “What do you see?” She tried hard to keep her voice calm.

  “I… I see a woman with her child.” His voice wavered.

  “Who is the woman? Do you recognize her?”

  “It’s the same woman, and she ends up injured every time I see her.”

  “Is that your mother?” she asked after a long pause.

  “I don’t know, I’ve never seen my mother.”

  “Neil… what’s your first memory?”

  He shook his head like he couldn’t remember anything. “The church, but I also remember these women dressed like Hindus taking care of me, but I can’t place them.”

  “What is it about me that reminds you of the mother and the child?”

  “I don’t know… I don’t even know if it’s because of you…” His voice trailed off as he sat up. He pulled on the sheets to expose her feet clad in the gold anklets.

  He reached out gently and ran his fingertips over the metal jewelry. “Did you always wear these?”

  “Yes, I’ve had them a long time. It’s a family heirloom.” She took in the confused look on his face and knew something was wrong.

  “What else did you see?”

  “I saw a man hurt the woman. He was wearing mask… no, he had a cloth covering his face, and he had a scar on his face.”

  “Do you recognize any of the people? The child… how old is the child?”

  “I don’t know, little boy,” he whispered.

  “Can he talk?”

  He nodded slowly.

  “What’s common between each of these visions you have?” She ran her hand on his bare back as he lay on the bed, her anklets close to his lips.

  “The mother and the child, and the mother is hurt in every single one of them,” he growled hugging her foot.

  “Let’s go back to sleep, we can talk in the morning,” she pleaded watching him, his head by her feet.

  He looked up at her like something flashed in his mind. “You know there is one person who reminds me of something, but I don’t know what, and that man is being protected by the Singhams.”

  “Singhams? Is that why you asked me about Dev Singham last night?” She sat up on the bed and pulled the sheet around her nakedness.

  “Yes.”

  “Who is this man? How did you meet him?” She rested her back on the headboard.

  “He was my hit, and I recognized his tattoo just as I was about to shoot him. I shot him in such a way that it wouldn’t kill him and was hoping to have Joe take him but… someone got to him before Joe could, I found out today the man is with the Singhams.”

  “Who is Joe?”

  “DIG’s son.”

  “He is your brother,” she corrected.

  “No… he lost his father because of me.”

  “You are the only one who thinks that way… Oh, what does the tattoo look like?”

  He closed his eyes like he was recollecting the pattern. “It’s a tattoo that runs from behind the ear down to the neck. It looks like a bow surrounded by some abstract pattern.”

  “No way.” Her voice was shaky.

  “What?” He picked up on the shift in her manner.

  She got off the bed stumbling in the sheets and grabbed a pen and paper off the desk. She placed the sheet of paper in front of him. “Draw it, a rough picture, something.”

  He slowly took the pen from her and slowly started sketching the bow. He put one stroke outward from the bow and heard her gasp. She took the pen from his hand and finished the pattern.

  “Is this the one?”

  He looked at her in shock. “Yes, this is the one.”

  “Neil, how do you know this pattern? This is a centuries old Senani loyalty marking.” Her voice wavered.

  CHAPTER 15

  Abhay heard his phone ringing when it was still dark. He frantically reached for it and saw Dev was calling. “Dev, is everything okay?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry to wake you up this early. We just got a recent hit on the imaging.” Dev was excited.

  “Did we find him?”

  “Abhay, the computer says it’s him. I sent you the video clipping.”

  Abhay got out of bed and scrambled for his computer. He blinked his eyes multiple times while he waited for the video to download. He took a deep breath and clicked play. He watched a tall man in his twenties open the car door for a woman before getting into the driver’s seat.

  “Dev, when was this and what location?” Abhay asked playing the video on repeat.

  “Less than a week ago and not far from where you are.”

  “Hold it,” Abhay blurted.

  “What?”

  “The woman… the woman in the video is Narmada Senani,” Abhay declared.

  “What?”

  “Dev, how did you miss that?”

  “Abhay, I barely looked at her. You know what I was doing then. I didn’t know that was her. What is she doing with… Rana?” Dev zoomed in on the young man’s picture.

  “Dev, it’s him, it’s got to be him.” Abhay could not contain his happiness.

  “Finally, something…” Dev laughed.

  “Dev, let’s not get carried away. Track that blue sports car on the footage,” Abhay declared.

  “Abhay, I still cannot believe it.”

  “Let’s keep going till we find him, Dev. Send me all the footage with the car in it,” Abhay instructed.

  “Good call. I’ll have the team pull up the footage from all the highways in the area.”

  “The hotel where Rana was seen is not far from here. I am going to head there in the next two hours. I want to follow his trail, Dev.”

  “Yes, and you might need to talk to the Home Minister in person about the police officer.”

  “Why is it hard to get the police officer’s information?” Abhay was surprised.

  “The police officer pulled off the biggest bust on the largest network ever, and his family is under special protection.”

  “The biggest bust in the history, and it’s because of a twelve-year-old Singham,” Abhay said his voice booming with pride, and Dev felt the pride in his brother’s voice.

  “I’m just glad he made it out alive from that massacre.” Dev’s words were weighed down by sadness.

  “I wonder if he remembers anything,” Abhay thought out loud.

  “I was thinking the same. He was five and…” Dev lost his words like it was too hard to talk about what he had seen that day.

  “Dev, send me the details. If we cannot get the police officer’s information, this is the only way to get to him.

  “I will send you a route within the hour.”

  “I will call the Home Minister on my way to the hotel,” Abhay declared and ended the call.

  *****

  “Neil… your phone,” Narmada shifted against his warm body.

  He groaned squinting his eyes and reached for his phone and saw Joe was calling. It was probably midafternoon, but they were still asleep as they barely got any sleep the previous night or morning.

  “You are calling from your regular phone?” Neil was surprised it wasn’t an encrypted call as usual.

  “Fuck! I was so tensed, I forgot. Hang on, I need to secure it.” Joe sounded frazzled.

  “Joe, what is going on?”

  “Are you in a safe location?”

  “Yes, what is it, Joe?”

  Joe’s breathing was strained. “It’s the Singhams, they are after you. I don’t know how they got the lead.”

  “Joe, calm down.”

  “They found the bunker, and they made it into the bunker.” Joe’s voice blared
over the phone, and a shiver ran through Neil—the bunker he was at just a few days ago with Narmada.

  “Impossible!”

  “One of the Singham brothers made it to the cottage, left their business card in front of the hidden camera.” Joe’s voice wavered.

  “What do they want?” Neil growled.

  “No idea, but from what I can guess, they know you shot their man, or they are after Narmada. She was supposed to get married to Dev Singham.”

  Something twisted in his chest when he heard Joe’s words. He couldn’t figure out if he were concerned about her or if it was because someone would hurt her.

  “I need to move her. I was going to be here another few days, but I think we will leave tomorrow.” Neil turned to look at the sleeping woman and could only think about wanting her for himself forever.

  “It’s probably safe where you are but…”

  “I am going to move her. I will send you a message. Pass that to Komal and ask her to come by tomorrow morning.”

  Neil ended the phone call and walked around the apartment to secure it. He looked out of the window at the bustling street below for any signs. He texted Joe a few instructions and went back into the bedroom.

  “What was all that chaos about?” She sat up on the bed rubbing her eyes.

  “Nothing to be worried about, but we need to change locations.” He watched her roll out of bed and walk toward him, her body wrapped in the sheets.

  She walked to him and stuck her lips out. “Are you forgetting something?”

  He smiled pulling her to him. She went up on her toes and brushed her lips on his. “I don’t want these days to end.”

  “This is Komal’s house, and she will be here tomorrow morning to kick us out.”

  “Who is Komal?” She felt a sliver of jealousy pass through her from the way Neil said her name. His words held affection.

  “My friend from the… orphanage.”

  She reached for his t-shirt and pulled it over her head.

  “Are you going to wear anything other than my t-shirts?”

  “No… Oh, I’ve been thinking about the reasons as to why you know the tattoo.”

  “And?” He put on a t-shirt smiling at her.

  “For the past few decades, the province where my ancestors are from has been under a lot of turmoil. A lot of the Senanis left the region for a better life. Is it possible you knew someone from the goon’s group who had the tattoo?”