NEW Maaneet FF~ LOVE-KNOT~ UPDTPart20page 97 09/24 - Page 25

Brij's eyes too fall on Dev and his blood boils at the sight of him. He covers the distance between them in two strides and takes him by the collar.

"You bloody rat" he screams at him and aims a punch on his nose which Dev is unable to defend and his nose breaks, blood gushing out everywhere.

"What the hell?" Maan moves forward and wrenches Dev free from Brij's grip. The whole office gathers to see what was happening which angers Maan immensely. One thing he hated with passion was his life being made into a public event and become fodder for magazines and paparazzi.

"Adi" Maan's voice booms and his accountant appears from the crowd.

"Yes s…..sir" Adi asks, his eyes widening at what had just happened.

"Call security" Maan orders and looks daggers at Geet then turns to face the crowd.

"You all are not paid to stand and watch…..hear me…..now get back to work" he yells and everyone disappears within a few seconds.

"And you ….how dare you hit my brother?" a furious Maan turns towards Brij.

"That two faced, lowly creep of a man is your brother?" Brij asks astonished and looks at Geet who nods. Dev, who was in pain with a broken nose, calls to his brother.

"Bro I need to go to the hospital" he withers in pain.

"Not before I break all the bones in your body" Brij moves toward Dev when Maan steps between the two.

"Enough…..I have had enough of this……stay away from my brother….or I'll break your bones" he warns Brij and then his eyes find Geet who is looking unblinking at the exchange which is going on in front of her.

"Geet" Maan calls out to her and she lifts unreadable eyes towards him.

"Will you tell your brother to leave or should I call the police?" Maan asks and Geet smiles.

"Mr. Khurana……right now your brother is more scared of the police than mine is" she replies and Maan's eyes narrow.

"What the hell do you mean?" he asks coldly.

"Ask your brother…..I am sure he has an explanation" Geet looks coldly at Maan and then her gaze travels to Dev and Maan sees pure hatred come into her hazel eyes.

"Bro….I don't know these crazy people" Dev lies and Maan looks at him with veiled eyes.

The Khurana security people come; Maan orders them to escort Brij out and an angry fighting Brij is escorted out while Geet stands there watching. He orders one of the security personnel to take the wounded Dev to the hospital. After everyone leaves, Maan turns towards Geet who hadn't moved from her spot since she had seen Dev.

"Geet Handa……what was all this about?" He asks her, anger darkening his eyes. Geet lifts her eyes towards him and gives a lopsided smile, which doesn't reach her eyes.

"You don't believe us….do you?" she questions him softly and Maan matches her gaze.

"I believe that you are pregnant……your brother did say that it is illegitimate……but if you expect me to believe that Dev is the one who fathered it…..it's a little farfetched….don't you think? Considering he was in Canada for all this while and came to this country two days ago?" Maan questions and Geet shakes her head.

"He did come two and a half months ago…….he came to Hoshiarpur and asked for my hand in marriage……my family thought that he was a good match and they hurriedly got me married…..though I refused the match" Geet starts explaining, her eyes and voice both reflecting her pain.

"Why would he want to marry you Geet……he is already married?" Maan cuts her story short.

"That is my bad luck….we didn't find that out till he left me stranded at the airport and took off with all my jewels and made me sign over my land" Geet tells him but Maan shakes his head in disbelief.

"What a story you have concocted Geet? Are you even pregnant for real? Or is that made up too?" Maan questions the authenticity of her story and Geet looks at him in shock.

"Did you just call me a liar Maan Khurana?" she questioned appalled.

"Look Geet ….what you told me seems baseless" Maan tells her and a furious Geet walks out of the conference room, wiping her incessantly flowing tears.

He had the gall to call her a liar when his own brother had committed a sin. Well what else did she expect? If one was like that….how could she expect the other to be any different?

She took out the telephone number which was written on a precious piece of paper and marched into his office without knocking. He was on the phone but Geet went ahead and cut the phone. Maan looked at her with fury.

"This number…. This is Dev's Canada number?" she hands him the slip and Maan reads Dev's Canada number.

"Do you want more proof? He passed off his wife Naintara as his bhabhi……he sold my land…..to you…..maybe you were involved in his dirty little scheme too?" she throws at him and he stands up in anger.

"Geet…..watch what you say" he warns her.

"Oh I should watch what I say? You pointed a finger at my character and I should watch what I say? Excellent Mr. Khurana" Geet's voice rises at each word.

"Maan beta…..what happened?" Dadima asks from the doorway of his cabin and Maan closes his eyes. He hoped to god that the girl in front of him didn't blabber her story in front of Dadi. She wasn't doing too well health wise and she didn't need to know the scandal which had just occurred and seemingly whose big part his brother was.

Geet too turned in the direction of the voice and when she saw Dadi, she stopped her tirade immediately.

"Nothing Dadi……Geet was on her way out" Maan gives her the cue and urges Dadi to come in.

Geet watches Maan's gaze looking worriedly at her and then his grandmother. She genuinely liked the Khurana matriarch and knew very well that she was not doing too well health wise and for some reason, even though one of her grandson had ruined her life and the other one was doing almost the same, she did not wish to hurt her with the scandal which had just come in the open.

Savitri Khurana walks in, not missing the sudden silence which had fallen in her wake between the boss and the secretary who had been fighting a few seconds ago.

"Hello Mam" Geet greets her and excuses herself and leaves. Maan's eyes narrow at her sudden change in behavior but he doesn't question it as it suited him at the moment.

"Hi Dadima" he greets his grandmother and asks her the reason for her visit.

"Maan, Naintara rushed to the hospital, mumbling something about Dev being hurt…….I had a meeting with the lawyers so I couldn't accompany her……is everything ok?" Savitri asks Maan who she knew wouldn't lie to her.

"Oh dadima….don't worries…..he is fine….nothing much…..and he is a grown up man" Maan tries to put her at ease but sees a shrewd look enter her eyes.

"What are you hiding Maan?" she asks him.

"Nothing Dadima…..please don't start your inquiry and tell me how the meeting went with the lawyers……by the way what did you got to them for?" he changes the subject skillfully.

"Don't change the topic….I will come back to it…..anyways, regarding the lawyers……I was thinking it is high time I give Dev the control of his inheritance too….so went to talk with them about that" she sighed and sat down and Maan understood from the expression on her face that she was debating her decision.

"Dadima……what is the hurry? Why don't we let Dev prove himself first before we hand him millions of dollars?" Maan tried to show her that he did not agree with her decision wholeheartedly.

"I know Maan beta but I honestly don't want him to mess with Khurana constructions…….this is a trust fund we set up for him….let him do what he wants with that….that way he will leave you alone" Savitri uttered truthfully, her eyes wary.

"Dadi……don't worry about me" Maan knelt in front of her cupping her face gently.

She cupped the hands which were cupping his face and smiled a sad smile. "You are my life Maan……I don't know what I did to deserve you but I am sure glad that I have you…….I still don't understand how a 10 year old boy, who knew the scandal his father went through could accept his father's bas***d child as his brother so easily and never utter a word about it" she shakes her head, remembering the shameful scandal her son had put the family through when he had sired a son with Maan's nanny out of wedlock.

"Dadi….please….he is my brother…..don't….. please don't go back to the past" he replied in a voice filled with pain, "we have a pact that Dev will never know the truth….we have hidden it so far from him….we will always do that….Ok….please" he pleads for the brother he loved so much and Savitri nods.

"Ok" she whispers.

"Now…..let him work and prove himself before we hand him anything……and Dadima….you rest…..I have told you that you don't worry …I will handle everything" he reassures her and sends her home.

At the hospital, Naintara is at her husband's side, fretting over his broken nose.

"Dev…..what happened…..how did this happened?" she asks looking at his handsome face contorted with pain.

"Naintara…..we are in a huge mess" he whispers, forgetting his physical pain and worrying about the problem which had appeared in Khurana constructions by the name of Geet.

"What problem Dev?" Nanitara looks at him curiously.

"That….that girl….she is in Delhi" he whispers, afraid to even take her name.

"Which girl?" Naintara asks.

"Geet" he whispers and Naintara's eyes widen.

"What?" she almost screams and then catches herself in time.

"What is she doing here and how the hell did you meet her?" she asks suspiciously, her insecurities coming back in full force.

"She works at Maan virji's office" and he proceeds to tell her what had actually happened which had resulted in him getting admitted to the hospital.

"Oh my god…..did Maan believe her?" she asks worriedly.

"I don't know….I refused to acknowledge that I know her or anything." Dev shrugs and replies.

"We need to do something Dev…..before that stupid bhenji convinces Maan and we lose our money" she taps her feet and starts thinking how to get rid of the problem called Geet who was a huge threat to their happy and moneyed future.