“You broke my tooth!” Rahul screeched, teetering back as he clutched his bleeding mouth.
“For what you tried to pull with Vera in my office, I should make you eat your teeth.”
Rahul’s eyes widened, his lips beginning to swell, making him look exactly like the toad he was. “Whatever she said, she’s lying to you! She threw herself at me and I said no.”
“There is no world in which Vera Talwar would evenlookat you and if you had half a brain cell, you’d have come up with a more believable lie.”
“You can’t trust her. Remember she took money from—”
“There were cameras in the room, you imbecile. I know what you said,” Vihaan revealed, grabbing the hand which had touched Vera’s ass. “I know exactly what you did.” He twisted the thumb he held, bending it backward till Rahul dropped to his knees, his features contorting in pain.
“If you look at her, if you think of her, if you even breathe in her general direction, you will find out firsthand how hard life is when you’re fed through a tube,” Vihaan warned, his voice so cold and deathly that Rahul went white with fear. Whimpering, he held his aching hand against his body and threw a pleading look at the only source of aid he believed he had.
“Help me. How could you stand there and watch him do this to me?” he begged, scrambling to his feet.
“Watch him do what?” Arjun asked innocently, turning to the tall man beside him. “Did you see anything, Shetty?”
Rian took two steps closer to Rahul and kneed him in the balls before anyone could guess at his intentions.
“See what?” Rian asked, grinning brightly as Rahul doubled over with a cry and fell to his knees, both hands clasped over his groin.
“I’ll sue you all,” Rahul threatened impotently, trying to crawl away, his face red with pain. “I’ll get the CCTV footage and I’ll call the media and expo—”
“I don’t think that’ll be possible,” Arjun cut in to end his tirade. “As the new owner of this club, I am terribly sorry that our CCTVs are out of operation today. It’s the damndest thing.”
“You’re. . . sorry?”
“Not really,” Arjun shrugged. “Sounded nice to say it so I did.”
“When did you buy Velocity?” Vihaan asked curiously.
Arjun checked his watch. “Three hours ago. Didn’t know what you were planning so I figured I’d play it safe.”
“Nice.” Rian fist bumped him. “Does this mean I can get in without paying a cover charge?”
“You’re fucking loaded. Don’t be cheap.”
Rian chuckled, picking up his drink and sipping it. “Free is always good.”
“I’ll consider it if you admit I’m better at basketball,” Arjun bargained.
“Guys,” Vihaan sighed, catching Rahul by his collar as he tried to slither away. “Focus.”
Rahul’s eyes darted towards the exit, sweat streaming off his face and darkening the shirt he wore. “I’ll get you all back. You attacked me because of that bi—”
A hard fist connecting with Rahul’s cheek cut him off. He fell to the ground with a thud, rolling back and forth with a hand over his face.
He blubbered piteously, holding his broken nose as rivulets of warm blood streaked over his lips and down the side of his neck.
“Quit whining,” Vihaan spat. “Now, here are the three things that you will do if you want to walk out of here with your limbs still attached to your worthless body.”
Rahul whimpered, and Vihaan took that as an agreement. Kneeling down next to the still-cowering man, he snapped his fingers.
“One: You will send an apology to Vera. Make it sincere. Beg, if you must.”
“Two: The ad campaign is off. I won’t subject her to working with you in this lifetime. You will release Ethos from any penalty becauseyouchose to behave like a dickhead and will explain that to your father.”
“And three: You will leave town. At least for a couple months if not the rest of the year. Because if Vera has to see your ugly face again anytime soon, I will release the video of you from your last trip to Thailand and let it go viral. I can only imagine what your father will do with your inheritance after he sees you dancing in a sea-shell bra with peacock feathers stuffed up your ass.”