|sarah|
I can't breathe.
I can't think — scratch that — I don't know how to think.
It is not a feeling I am unaware of. Sometimes I feel my brain can't function properly. That it cannot process things and differentiate between right and wrong.
That is when Marreese holds me uptight by my shoulders and speaks words to me and I accept them. I believe him and everything he says because I don't believe myself.
The man before me called me Vaidehi but I am no Vaidehi, nor have I ever heard of her.
But the man in front of me seems to think otherwise. They all are dressed in black turtlenecks and black dress pants. Guns tucked in their waistband and they all were wearing gloves.
Except one.
The no doubt rich yet distinguished man before me excludes a silent yet powerful presence.
He is neatly clad in an all black fine business suit, his onyx eyes set behind glasses seems to scan all around him for potential threats.
And his chiselled features are framed by slicked jet-black hair, giving him an overall classy yet intimidating air.
I got the distinct feeling that he is someone not to be trifled with.
The man, Lais, says something but my attention is focused on the dark stranger.
"I-I don't know what you all are talking about," I manage to say in the most neutral tone I could manage without showing my fear.
"You don't?" The stranger raised one of his eyebrows, probably in amusement rather than anger.
His voice may have been calm but I didn't miss the warning in it. "Yes," I uttered quietly, pressing myself to the car I am leaning to be as far away from them as possible.
Lais snapped something in a language I couldn't grasp. Was it Hindi?
"Lais," the stranger warned with a tilt of his head at his partner? Companion? Guard?
What was he? And most importantly, who were they?
"Sorry Sir." Lais didn't actually sound apologetic.
The stranger looked at her once again. This time there was no humour. No emotion in his eyes. I felt a shiver trail down my spine when I met the onyx in them.
"Do you know who they are?"
I shook my head. I didn't know who they were and I didn't want to know.
"Speak when you are asked," the onyx-eyed stranger spoke and I felt a shudder run down my spine at the command.
"No."
"I see." He titled his head to look at me. "What's your name?"
I wanted to lie. Deny about every question they asked but a part of me complied. Telling me that he wasn't one to be lied to.
"Sarah. Sarah Pablo."
I watched Lais' eyebrows shoot up in surprise though his boss remained as calm as a still water.
"I am Sarah Pablo," I repeated myself again in case they hadn't heard me the first time. "And I don't know anything about Vaidehi."
Lais seemed outraged. At what, I didn't know. He started making his advances towards me but the Bossman stopped him once again with a tilt of his head.
"We both know—"
"Believe me I…I don't know anything about Vaidehi or who she is," I added, cutting Lais' sentence.
"And you want us to believe you?" He mocked and I shrinked back more against the wall, seeking as much protection as it provided me from this man.
"She's right." The stranger drew out. "She is Sarah. Sarah Pablo." Why did my name on his tongue sounded like a mockery?
"Sir." Lais had seemed to have caught in a trance of shock. The expression on his face seemed like a rug was swept from his feet.
The stranger shoved his hands in his black coat pockets and looked at Lais and whatever the latter must have seen in his eyes was enough to make him swallow his next words with utter bitterness.
"Do you know who these men were?" I heard Lais ask but I didn't tear my gaze from the stranger in front of me.
"I don't," I uttered quietly as the gruesome image of how he had killed them played in my mind. "And I don't know why they came for me—"
"They weren't here for you. They were here for Vaidehi," the stranger grits out. "My wife."
My eyes widened as the new information caught me by surprise. What did his wife have to do with me?
He must have read the question in my face because he pulled out his phone and after a click on the screen, he shoved it in my hand.
"This—" My hands trembled as I held the phone. Air had seemed to be choked out of my lungs. I can't believe what I am seeing on his phone.
There was a woman — not just any woman but a woman who looked like me. Well, it was me but it still wasn't me.
She was petite and fair while her brown loose curls fell around her slender neck like a delicate halo; the natural rose tint of her cheeks stood out.
Like porcelain she was delicate, soft; a small delicate frame that one could imagine being broken like a feather.
Everything about this woman was soft and delicate, like a doll.
"She looks like me," I said absentmindedly, looking at the picture.
"It is my wife." The way he said held more meaning than he wanted to show. It was bitter and harsh.
Without giving me more time to dwell on it, he snatched his phone from my hand and glanced down at the woman in the picture.
If I hadn't been looking at the stranger closely, I could have missed the expression that broke through his cold and stern face.
Like a bitter resentment, it swept on his face. His jaw clenched and eyes narrowing up in a glare. It was hate.
Cold and fierce hate.
I wondered why he hated his wife.
"Why are they behind your wife?" I asked, not attempting to hide my curiosity.
I was starting to think Vaidehi had more to her quiet and meek self than one got the interpretation at first glance if there were people ready to kill her and if her own husband hated her.
"That's because I am a dangerous man, Sarah."
The way he said it let shivers run down my spine. I knew he wasn't lying if he had made his guards kill four men without blinking.
"So now what? Are you going to kill me?" Not a great question to ask from a man who could be your potential killer, I must add.
His lips curled up in a small smirk, like he had just won victory. "Even if you hadn't got the impression yet, I am letting you go."
I had expected anything for him to say. Heck, I had expected him to say nothing at all but that.
I was certain he wasn't doing it out of a golden heart. After all, he was the last person who seemed merciful to me right now.
"You…you are letting me go?" I asked, still not able to recover from my shock.
I wanted to make sure he was saying the truth and not buffing. What if he shot me as soon as I turned around?
"Yes," he said nonchalantly. "And I expect you to not tell this to anyone, right Sarah?"
I couldn't help but give a meek nod, words have already seemed to leave my side as my companion.
I waited as the stranger turned to speak to Lais in their language, who casted me a suspicious look.
"W-who are you?"
"Vikrant Shekhawat. That's the name you are going to remember for a long time."
I wished he wasn't so right because that thought scared me to my bone.
• • • •
Holla fellows, you really need to comment on the book if you want fast update. Everyone knows I am glutton for comments.
So if you want update on Yuvraaj's book, you have to comment on Gilded Lies because I put my efforts in both of them.
(I'm just desperate)
Also, here to clear your confusion. Most of the readers think Vikrant Rajvansh and Vikrant Shekhawat are a same person but it isn't.
They both are a character of two different series.