Rhea turned to face them, her arms crossed in front of her, a defiant expression on her face.
“Out,” she replied.
“I can see that, Rhea, but where and who were you with?” Rishi questioned.
“I was out with friends, Rishi. I’m not a child. I’m an adult. Why don’t you treat me like one?”
“I will, once you behave like one.”
Sameer put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. Rishi turned to him and Sameer shook his head. He was concerned about their sister too. But right now they needed to get to his hotel. Rishi gave an aggravated sigh but stayed silent.
Sameer’s cell phone rang again.
“Yeah, I’m coming. Twenty minutes.” He disconnected the call and ran his hands through his hair angrily. “Rishi, we need to be there now. The media is all over the incident.”
“What’s happening?” Rhea asked, as Rishi revved up the engine of his bike.
“There’s been a car theft at The Marquis. We are just headed there,” Sameer told her.
“The Marquis?” Her eyes widened. “I was just there. When did this happen?”
“Less than an hour back.”
“My God, I left about the same time, I think.”
“Anyway, we need to be at The Marquis right this instant. Let’s talk later,” Sameer said, strapping his helmet on and getting on the bike behind Rishi.
Sure enough,Sameer and Rishi had reached quickly only to find that the entire incident had become a huge uproar, with his hotel The Marquis caught in the center of the storm. Chaos reigned all around him. The cops were everywhere, questioning the staff and the guests. And a horde of reporters had descended seeking a story. Their cameras flashed, much to his annoyance, as they interviewed the car owner whose car was stolen and the irrational man was basking in all the attention.
After speaking to the hotel staff and going through all the CCTV camera footage, Sameer had been able to piece together what exactly had happened.
A big party was being hosted in the hotel and with the valet service inundated with work, several guests had been waiting for the valets to bring their cars around. In all that chaos a young man had casually exited the hotel talking on his cell phone. He had coolly walked up to the valet who had just brought in an Audi to the porch. The young man had confidently tipped thevalet and driven off with the car. The valet had not checked for the car tag and simply opened the door to the man and accepted his tip. The actual owner of the car, Sameer could see in the video, had been busy chatting on his cell phone and hadn’t even noticed that his car had been brought around and that someone had driven away with it.
It was as simple as that. The thief was dressed smartly. He looked like he was a hotel guest and no one had questioned him when he took the car from the valet.
It was only after several minutes had passed that the actual owner lost patience and had started to create a ruckus with the valet for the delay in getting his car, that they realized that something was amiss.
The car owner had threatened to sue The Marquis for negligence, which entailed Sameer waking up his father in the middle of the night seeking his legal counsel. His father, Jai Sehgal, ran the legal department of the Sehgal group and was a renowned lawyer in his own right. He confirmed what Sameer already knew, the owners could seek damages but it would become messy because hotels always disclaimed liability for the cars they parked in their premises. As a result, in order to avoid it getting ugly, Sameer would have to convince the owners to not sue.
But right now, tempers were flying high everywhere. He spoke to the politician’s son, a curt and bad-tempered man, politely, so as not to aggravate him and convinced him to go home and let them come up with a solution. He requested him to give the authorities a chance to look into the matter.
One silver lining was that he was happy how his staff at the hotel had stepped up and taken care of the situation. They had efficiently handled any questions posed by their guests, the media were dealt with and the cops were assisted professionally. The cops having finished questioning the staff, were waiting forhotel security to go through more CCTV camera footage to give them a better idea of how and when the thief had entered the hotel. A chain wide memo was also sent to all the Sehgal hotels to beef up their security.
Now, two hours later, the hotel was quiet and it was business as usual. Sameer stood in his hotel lobby and observed the routine activity in the hotel. He scraped a hand down his jaw. He was tired, sleep deprived and angry that such an incident had occurred in his hotel.
His brother came up to him, “I hope this doesn’t become a commercial nightmare for us. It has been made into a circus.” Rishi handed his cell phone to Sameer. It was opened onto a popular social media site and sure enough Sameer could see the car owner’s interview posted there with pictures of The Marquis in the background. Rishi also showed him several other sites that had similar posts.
Sameer took a deep angry breath.
“Fuck!” he swore out loud. “I hate the obsession people have with social media. It’s just so unnecessary and blows everything out of proportion. Anyway, the crisis is averted for the night, so I think we can head home now.”
“I have a better idea. Let’s go for a fast spin on my bike and this time you drive.”
“You’re joking, right?” Sameer commented and then narrowed his eyes. “You’re serious?” he asked, when Rishi continued to grin at him, his brows raised.
“Come on, big brother, I know you’ve been in a bloody hellish mood for the last few days and now this incident seems to have ticked you off even more. Why don’t you let loose for once?”
Rishi was right. The theft at his hotel had him all worked up and the media backlash that could temporarily hamper the hotel’s image was annoying him immensely. But more than that what was exasperating was that ever since he had met Raashiagain, he hadn’t been able to get her off his mind. He thought of her all the time, at work, at the gym, at home. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her and what had happened between them. He had been sleeping badly as well.
