It took one moment of courage.
A moment of utter rage, bravery, and hope for her to leap out of her bed, yanking the IV away from her hand and running towards him. Slamming the door closed before he could step out, she pushed him against it and slapped the living daylights out of him.
Though her vision was blurry, still she could watch his face blanch to shock, later molding to anger that nowhere seemed justified to her. Her hand thrummed with the vibrations of the smack yet she used it again to hit his chest, and again, pouring out every haywire emotion he made her go through.
The despondence, the irritation, the disgust, and most importantly the heartache.
She should not just be angry, she should be wreaking havoc after everything he did.
The Shreya Thapar world knew would.
"You presumptuous, self-righteous bastard." She panted, raising her hand to slap him again but he was quick to assess her action. Catching her wrists in his hold tightly, she disarmed her anger while she tried pushing his hold away. He kept his hold on her firm yet her adrenaline did not die just yet.
"Shreya, how dare you?" His eyes flashed with fire that could scare anyone. Anyone but her. She had seen him looking like a raging bull a lot more times than she remembered.
He had the shortest temper in the entire house.
"Shouldn't I be asking this to you? How dare you?" She yelled, the urge to scream profanities at this man made her grit her molars together. "You, who do you think you are? Do you think you can pull or push me anytime you want? Who am I? A puppet who acts as per your wants, when you want, like you want, and leaves when you call the shots. One day you want me, next you don't. You think you can come and order around that you want me gone and I will follow like a petty servant of yours? Who do you think I am?"
"Damnit, you are bleeding." He held her fist firmly, inspecting the skin she had harshly tugged to get free from the IV, along with snatching the cannula, the pain never registered her until now.
"Oh, shut up." She pulled her wrist away from his hold, snaring at his care. "You think this much blood will kill me when you stab my heart each time you deem right? Nothing kills me but your actions do, Rakshit Chauhan. You kill me."
"Shreya" He called her name, treading with caution seeing her outburst but it was too late.
A lot has been done, more wrong than right.
"I don't understand you. I don't understand any of this." She rasped, blinking her tears back as the adrenaline washed off bringing her back to face the fatigue she had been feeling for a while. Mental fatigue. "Why is it always you pushing me away one way or another? I'm always either used, forgotten, or pushed away. I am replaced because I am not good enough for you. Always. Just recently I started thinking that you were trying to keep me back, insinuating something between us in your own nonsensical way, acting as if you actually want me in your life even under the pretense of this contract. I was looking forward to something, anything between us but you shattered my heart again. Each time you push me away, breaking whatever pieces I hold of us. Why? I have always tried putting myself above you, above everyone so that I don't end up hurt but it is me who ends up getting wounded the most. Every. single. time. For the entire world I am a selfish bitch who wants her well before others, but why shouldn't I? I am trying to protect myself because I know there will be no one else...not even you."
"Protect you?" He sneered in disbelief. "How do you expect me to protect you when you would never let me in? Not once in these past months, you once told me why you left Delhi, why you were jobless and in need of money. Not once. I kept dropping hints, wanting to ask you but you would always find ways to change the topic. You never told me. Never gave me a chance."
"Because I didn't want you to jump in this pothole." She screamed, snapping at his accusations. Wiggling his hold, she pushed his fingers away with a force that made her lose her footing.
"Careful." He caught hold of her using her injured wrists, making her wince loudly in pain. He left her wrist at once watching her in horror, she cradled her arm to her chest, taking deep breaths and biting her lower lip to stop her whimpers. "I...am so...sorry, Shreya. Forgive me. I didn't mean to hurt you. I am sorry."
"You aren't." She looked up, meeting his grey eyes that watched her as if she could drop dead any second now.
"You need to sit down." He shook his head to physically remove any other thought, any accusation he could put on her. "Let me call the doctor. Your stitches must be at risk. Please, Shreya. Sit down."
"Call a doctor, call anyone you want but you will not be able to mend me, us. You have broken everything today, Rakshit. Everything."
"Shreya, for the love of god, get your ass back there." He gritted, rubbing a palm on his face aggravatedly. "Please, meri jaan."
"You never meant those words, did you?" She flinched at his endearment.
"Shut up." He roared impatiently. "Either walk to your bed or I wouldn't mind carrying you. Make a choice."
She stepped back until her calves touched the side of the bed. Swallowing her pride, her tears, and her complaints she sat back down, cradling the palm closer to her as if she could see her life leaving through that cut. Like that day when she inflicted this wound and wished it to happen, the only difference was today she didn't want to die.
She wanted to live.
"How much do you know about him?" She voiced out.
"I don't know what you are talking about neither I want to talk about it." He waived, frantically pressing the switch to call the nurse. "Where the hell this nurse is?"
The door was opened and a lady rushed in with urgency. "What is wrong?"
"She is bleeding. Get the doctor now." He filled in with panic.
A brief nod with her eyes lingering on her wound and she grimaced before running to call the doctor.
"How much do you know about Darsh?"
"Do you not fucking take his name." He snapped, and in two strides he was facing her. Tilting her chin, he glared at her with his jaw clenched. "Never take his name again."
"Why?" She sneered quietly, the strength seemed to escape along with her blood but she could fight. "Does it hurt hearing me saying his fucking name?"
"Do. not. instigate. me." He gritted, leaving her chin with force. He took steps back calming his rage. "Get well and leave the city. I do not wish to see you again."
"I won't." She rasped watching him turn to leave. "I won't leave. Not when it is you who want me to. Nor I will let you leave. You will have to hear me."
"And what will you do if I leave?" He challenged her.
Shreya ignored his words and repeated her words. "How much, Rakhsit?"
He clutched his hair with angst. "What do you want to hear? I know he was your Ex-lover. He worked with you in Delhi and my phone holds pictures I never wished to see, pictures of you and him."
"Only that?" She watched him with a mirthless smile.
"No. I know more." He shot her a glare. "He was the reason that you took that humongous debt on you. You sold everything in Delhi to pay those loan sharks and you still owe 6 crores. They were the reason Dhwani Bhabhi found you crying in the washroom on the executive floor, no?" He snarled at her nod. "You were asking me money to pay them and were ashamed to tell me the reason why. Your deadline was extended to another week and now you are to make the payment to them in 3 days. Is that not enough?"
She nodded but probed for more. "What more?"
"I don't wish to know anymore." He exclaimed with disbelief.
"And you thought it is enough for you to never see me again?" She felt hurt crawl up her skin.
He averted his gaze, gritting his teeth to avoid answering her.
"You are right." She admitted. "He was my ex-lover."
"I don't want to hear about him."
"You will have to!" She shouted but clamped her lips shut as the doctor entered the room.
"Miss Thapar. How did this happen?"
The probing continued yet she couldn't bring herself to answer. Watching him stand with a stoic face, her eyes burned thinking how she once believed him to love her like she would be his entire world.
"She hit her hand against the side table." The excuse tumbled out of his lips, effortlessly if so.
"The stitches seem to be reopened and her nerve has developed a hemorrhage because of forceful removal of canola." The doctor assessed with disapproval, not believing their excuse. "Get everything ready. We will have to stitch her wounds again." He turned towards her. "We will not take you to the OT again, Miss Thapar but we will put you on anesthesia."
"Can you not?" She requested, inhaling with difficulty. "Please let me awake. I request, doctor."
The doctor glanced between Rakshit who stared at her with unsaid words and her whose eyes looked ready to tear up. He begrudgingly agreed. "Fine. We will numb your arm."
"Thank you, Doctor." She mumbled, leaning back against the bed as the nurses entered and started the procedure. They injected her and her body started relaxing, she kept her eyes on him till the doctor did his job, she couldn't feel the pain from the stitches but her chest ached with the distance between them.
"I have stitched you back. Please take extra care, Miss Thapar. Next time you won't be lucky."
"Sorry for the trouble, Doctor." Rakshit nodded in gratitude towards him while the Doctor excused himself sensing the thick tension that could be cut through a knife.
"He...he scammed me." She whispered slowly, making him snap towards her at once.
"What do you mean?"
"That man...he recorded our private movements without my knowledge. You are not the only one who received these...messages, Rakshit. You are not the only one. You w...wanted to know why I...I tried killing me, don't you?"
He nodded unconsciously.
"It was him." She answered. "He sent me all those pictures. He pushed me towards this. I fell weak, I couldn't think anymore..."
Her whispers made him narrow his eyes. He erased the distance between them, cupping her face. "He is blackmailing you?"
"Yes." Her lips wobbled in a smile as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. "But you won't believe me. You would not even hear my side."
He watched her weeping and something shifted in him, his fingers clutched her nape as he exhaled deeply, pressing his forehead against her. "Tell me. Tell me every single fucking thing, Meri Jaan so I know what mistake I was making. Again."
She averted her eyes from him, making his forehead land against her temple. "I was heartbroken when I left for college. I wanted to move on from you, and get over the heartache you gave me. I started acting irrationally, making a big social circle, standing myself out there to get acknowledged, something I felt you failed to do. I tried searching for complements anywhere I could. This made me develop confidence and I landed my first job in my third year. The corporate media houses were all together in a new place. I met a lot of people, men who I dated. I was exploring, making choices from the vast list of men I somehow was introduced to. After 5 years of working in two big media houses, I thought of starting something of my own. Something for me."
He kept his silence, a nerve ticking on his temple that spoke his anger towards her.
"I started using my connections, getting myself Investors and a close-knit team of people who were passionate. I thought them to be. I met Darsh..."
He scowled at his mention. "Don't take his name."
"One of my team members introduced us. I liked his way of working. He was sharp and flexible to changes, something that stood him out. We started working together on a regular basis and got closer. We often partnered for field news, eating out and working together brought us close." She grimaced at the memory, disgusted with her old self. "I was attracted to him and he very well knew about it. Somehow we fell into a pattern of spending time together and I started involving him in the management. I had invested my everything in the company and when it came to finding more investors, he proposed some names. I did not realize the trap he was setting for me. He started getting more involved with me and with the company. We...I gave in to the temptation and slept with him. I thought I was finally moving on from you but it didn't last long."
She took a shaky breath.
"We were working on a big scandal. A minister who was involved in illegal dealings. I had enough proof and we had planned to release the news online. Everything was set, we were accumulating the final sources when suddenly some goons attacked our office. The information was leaked to the minister and he retaliated before we could publish it. His men broke in and destroyed our place. Our office, systems, data storage devices, everything. I and another girl got injured and was taken to the hospital. By the time, I could make it out of the hospital, two investors pulled out. I checked the company bank account and it was cleared. The insurance amount was embezzled and my shares were sold without my knowledge. My company was destroyed, completely."
He squeezed her shoulder showing his support to her, or it could be because he wanted her to continue.
"He was behind it. Behind everything. He acted as an informant to that minister. He told them what to destroy and who to hit. The investor he brought was a fraud. He got me to trust him and give him the locker code. He used my power of attorney and sold everything in my name. When he saw the right opportunity, he took my everything and left behind a huge debt for me to deal with. My own company was snatched from me and he somehow got my signatures on papers of loan which he took from those Loan sharks. I sold my assets, investments, and every single equity but I could only gather so much amount. They threatened me with my family's life. Those loan sharks knew everything about me." She smirked mirthlessly. "I didn't know he mortgaged my life to them. That debt...It wasn't because I was scuffing funds around but I trusted a bastard, a man I should have never met."
"Damn, right!" He hissed. "You shouldn't have ever met him."
"I didn't know it then." She let her fatigue take over. "When I came here and you offered to pay me for working with you, I agreed because I thought this would somehow make things easier. I didn't know that he would still haunt me...I..."
"Enough." He straightened. Pacing the lengths of the room, he clutched his hair. "This is enough. You have talked enough about that man. No more. I should have known this...I should have cornered you and demanded answers but like every time, I couldn't read between the lines. I failed..."
"You still want me to leave, don't you?" She asked trying to keep her eyes from closing. "Say that again, Rakshit. Tell me again and I might leave...I am too tired of fighting you...him...everyone."
"You are not leaving." He declared, picking the papers from the floor, and showing them to her before tearing them apart. "I won't let you. I have been enough of an idiot. Not anymore. I won't let you leave."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely!"
■ ■ ■
Anirudh: My meetings are done for the day.
Anirudh: Have you left or not? It is not safe for you to stay there anymore.
Anirudh: Hello?! Are you ignoring me or have you dropped your phone somewhere again?
Anirudh: You better reply to me before I drive there, Petal.
Anirudh: DHWANI! I can see you reading my texts. Why won't you reply?
Anirudh: Pick up the call. You are getting me worried now!
Anirudh: Are you okay? Please say something.
Anirudh: DHWANI!
Anirudh: Fine! I am on my way there.
The last text had popped some half an hour before and her eyes widened ready it. Immediately switching to the calling app, she gaped seeing 15 missed calls from him and she swallowed before dialing his number.
The call connected and rang for once before the dial tone was replaced by loud voices of honking and him.
"Dhwani?"
She grimaced at his tone laced with anger and worry. "Hello. I am so sorry, Anirudh."
"Where the fuck..." He corrected himself with a bite in his voice. "Where were you?"
"I was in a meeting with the local residents and my phone was in my pocket. Somehow the screen woke up and your messages got seen. I swear I didn't do it intentionally. I would have replied instantly."
Her breath hitched at the long pause on his end with a continuous buzzing of the traffic. She glanced outside her moving car, they were crossing the highways and far away from the busy roads of the city, all laced with the evening traffic as the sun went down and the sky morphed into a dark grey blanket because of the pollution.
"Where are you? Please don't come. Go back home. I am also on my way home. We left some 10 minutes before and I will reach you in an hour. Forgive me for troubling you, Anirudh."
"Why did you not pick up my call?" He asked with strained anger that he was holding back.
She could hear him being distracted and she felt responsible for troubling him, almost guilty.
Dhwani shut her eyes in embarrassment as to tell him about her carelessness, she bit her tongue before mumbling for him to never catch. "I forgot to remove DND."
"You did what?" The hiss said he heard her clearly.
"I am...sorry." She prayed to whatever gods above to save him from her husband's wrath.
"You are unbelievable."
The line dropped and she hit her palm on her face. The day had been hurried in every sense for her. Starting from the very morning, she had dashed around to complete her job in the office before she was chauffeured to the site.
Rashi had stopped her yesterday after dinner and asked for an update on this project and she had nothing significant to tell her. She had passed her a disappointed nod and left, something that made Dhwani feel guilty for not being involved to an extent in Rashi's dream project. Somewhere it was Anirudh who made her cut her working hours short and shot her multiple attempts to travel alone to the site. Every time she brought it up, he would manage to change her mind with his smart excuses.
She may not be juggling between the need to please her mother-in-law and husband but she was surely managing to upset one or the other.
Gathering some courage after a good chastising session mentally, she dialed him again.
He did not receive it and let it go to his voicemail.
"Aaj to gayi tu, beta. Hogya satyanaash" She mumbled and tried again.
(You are done for, girl. You are doomed.)
Dhwani: I know I can be very careless, Anirudh. I swear I didn't know. Please. I am sorry.
Shooting a text to him, she clutched the device closer to her chest before cracking a deal with the almighty, she dialed his number again.
On her third attempt, she started feeling the frustration he must have felt not being connected to her. Now, she understood how mad he would be.
5 times than she was.
15 missed calls were no joke.
Biting her lower lip, she glared in the backseat of the passenger side that was occupied by his site manager and her bodyguard, not in the literal sense though. The man had flocked his attention to her, making sure she was accompanied, safe, and hydrated from the minute she had stepped foot in that place.
Dilawar, the man was supposed to take care of his boss in his defense. His boss is her.
Again, he was accompanying her on her way back home as it was late, and letting her go alone with only the driver was not enough. These instructions were from her beloved husband, she could bet.
The dialed tone was connected and received and Dhwani could shriek in happiness if not confined in this car with two men.
"I am never doing it again." She promised the moment she heard him breathe at the other end. Feeling two pairs of eyes, she flushed bashfully and hid her face gazing out of the window as the driver sped through the roads. "Are you mad at me, Anirudh?"
He hummed sulking like a child who was denied video games.
Dhwani bit back a grin. It was adorable to hear him show tantrums to her. "So, you want to talk to me?"
He scowled audibly. "No."
"Oh." She dragged faking a pout. "Then I shall hang up."
"Don't you dare?" He chided and she couldn't stop her giggles. "You are laughing at me."
His accusations sounded cute to her, only if she could tell him or the world that the cold and composed man her husband portrayed to be was a cranky child who lost his calm a little too often with her.
She grimaced cupping her lips and inhaling to swipe any traces of laughter from her tone. "Of course not. I was just happy that you were talking to me."
"Oh right. I know you better than that, you little liar." She could imagine him glaring at her if he was present with her. "Just wait. The moment I catch you, you will be punished for lying to me."
"It will take time. I am an hour away from you, Mister Husband." She played along, letting her lips turn into that mirthful smile, and smirked to challenge him.
"No, you are not." He claimed, the words bringing her an alien warmth that made her lean back and sigh in comfort hearing his words. "I am not far from reaching you. I am close."
He didn't only mean the distance today. They meant more than what they talked about.
She hoped his words meant more.
She wanted them to be more than just words.
Dhwani was done fighting against him, against whatever the ploys her destiny was planning.
She had been too long in agony, thinking about everything she didn't have but right now, in these moments she wanted to hold onto what was given to her. A trusted shoulder to lean on, a hand to hold while crossing roads, eyes to search in crowds, and a sigh of relief each time her name was called.
It wasn't her character to act vulnerable, or to let people have a glimpse of the broken pieces she held onto but she knew it was time to crack open the shell she had created around her, she had been living in.
Anirudh had already stepped inside her walls without her knowledge and witnessed the hurricane she carried in her soul, the power in her head that could destroy her or lead them to a life they could only dream about. He was already in and collecting parts of her she didn't know she was willing to hand over.
She hummed distractedly to something he spoke and focused on the surroundings. They had entered the city and taken a turn.
"Tell him to stop the car." He ordered through the car.
"Why?" She frowned as they made sense to her.
"You just agreed to me, Petal." He reminded in impatience. "Were you listening to whatever I said?"
She bit her lip in embarrassment, trying to cover up the little thinking spree she had lost herself in. "Yes, I did. I just thought..."
Rummaging her brain for any excuse, she trailed.
"Don't. Tell him to stop."
She reiterated the words to the driver who shot her questioning brow. "Yes, please stop."
"Good." The call dropped and she started at the device with offense.
The two men glanced at her through the rear-view mirror in question while she gulped in nervousness unable to explain the way her husband's mind worked at odd times.
Another car parked right in front of them and she squinted her eyes in order to run a quick recognition on it. The street lights seemed to be not working today taking off and she was left alone in her anticipation. Before any passing car could illuminate the road, there was a knock on her window and she yelped in surprise.
The car door was opened.
"Come out." A voice too familiar eased her stiff shoulders and she sagged in relief. Placing her hand in his outstretched hand, she stepped out to focus her gaze on the man who kept her mind running at all times, with or without his presence.
"Anirudh."
His gaze searched her face for anything out of ordinary and he nodded once he was satisfied. He bent towards the window of the passenger side towards the men in front and smiled in gratitude. "Thank you for today. I shall take her from here. You may go home."
"Goodnight, Sir." A chorus rang and she adjusted the strap of the bag on her shoulder as he intertwined their fingers and led her to his car.
He guided her inside and took his place.
"Where are you going?" She asked him, watching his face free of frown lines or crinkles near his eyes that she often caused.
He glanced at her with an unreadable expression. "Towards your punishment."
Can you believe the next part will be the 30th Chapter? This means we are reaching the end of this book.
The final show down is closer than we think.
I have so much planned in my mind for them but the constraint I have set is binding and I don't wish to break it. Somehow it is better this way.