Chapter-10

1 months ago

aakanksha4

@aakanksha4

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"What's it?" yelled the masked man in Riya's room as soon as he answered the phone.

"Arjun has been captured," the voice answered.

"Excellent!" he grinned.

At gunpoint, Shree and Chotu entered Riya's room. Two men in masks trailed after them. Rathore casted a pitiful glance at them. In the end, they had also experienced the same destiny. Before long, the man bound their hands and legs and forced them to sit on the two chairs they had already set up. Rathore saw there was still a chair unoccupied, suggesting there was still someone left. The two masked guys quickly took out the fabric that was shoved in their mouths and departed at the command of their boss. The trio of ETF men were perplexed. When Rathore pointed Kumar out to them, they were both taken aback.

“This, Riya…had been..!” Rathore had barely opened his mouth when the masked man who was busy with the phone call entered the room and grabbed the empty chair.

“Okay! There isn't much time left!” He exclaimed, "It is time for this suspense to end!"

****

After Sikander finished speaking, he turned to face the stairs, and Arjun did the same. Even though he knew exactly who was meant to descend those stairs and what would happen next, he secretly wished it never happened.

And there she was, half-conscious, being escorted down.

Arjun felt helpless since this girl had broken him. So much so, that he was “weak”. Weak before his greatest foe. For a very long time, he had dreamed of getting even and facing Sikander head-on, but she had made sure that he would lose. He detested her for weakening him. But, he despised himself more for allowing her to weaken him.

She was brought down and made to sit on a chair facing him. It is then that her hazel met his black ones. Arjun gritted his teeth while Riya, her face had a sense of relief, something he hadn’t even seen. And would you believe it, she gave him an assuring smile.

Sikander walked up to her and pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Arjun unknowingly clenched his fists at that and Sikander smiled at his misery.

“Rawte, you’ve been quite lucky with women, I must say!”, he spoke, caressing Riya’s face, while she, jerked his hand off.

With his ardent gaze fixed on Riya, he asked Arjun, "Where did you find her?"

Arjun was perplexed. What was the crazy man talking about at this point? He asked himself, "Wasn't he the one who sent her to him?" But he decided to remain silent.

Sikander suddenly grabbed Riya's throat and started to choke her. Riya wriggled under his grip.

“I had planned to kill you first Rawte. But, but, but, what could be more satisfying than making you witness the death of another loved one, to see you die another death before you actually die. Why not finish another love saga of yours first?”

Arjun couldn’t understand a word he was saying as all he could see was Riya’s face losing colours.

The next moment, Sikander had already left Riya and seized Arjun's throat before Arjun could comprehend.

He laughed hysterically and said, "What did you think, we would not come to know about this love of yours?"

Arjun, who was in a chokehold, hardly managed to say, "Why..are..you….doing…..this?"

"Because I hate you and you love her! Easy maths!” he exclaimed, chuckling at his own joke.

"I don't!" shouted Arjun.

Ever since the day she entered his life, he had been saying this to himself repeatedly, almost like a mantra. Would Sikander be persuaded, though, when he was unable to even convince himself?

"You don't?" Sikander asked him, as if questioning his entire existence.

"Not at all! I don't!" Arjun said again.

“Remember the day you raced to St. Thomas College like a mad man—or perhaps I should say, like a crazy lover—when we merely spread this false information about a hostage crisis there? To get even, you ransacked our former hiding places the next day. Why?”

"You attempted to harm her! Similar to what you did to Roshni!," Arjun yelled.

"Oh! Put an end to it! "We never did anything to her," Sikander shot back at the unfounded charge.

"We didn't touch your girl! He said, "My men didn't even set foot inside the college!"

Arjun was utterly stunned. Why would Sikander lie when he could actually brag about having hurt Riya for the rest of his life? And if he was speaking the truth, what was the horror he saw that day?

Arjun levelled yet another charge at him, saying, "You even attacked her when you found her alone at the house, didn't you?"

Sikander frowned at another accusation.

"What are you smoking these days?" He said aggressively, "Are you high on love or something else? “

"Did you not...?"

Right now, Arjun was going crazy.

"Oh!" Cut this crap! I want to stop wasting this one important life of mine on a small-time cop like you. Because of you, I've already squandered enough time staying away from the only person I truly loved. You f*cking nobody! You have caused me enough trouble. But that's all over now!”

He took a knife and positioned it precisely at Riya's throat.

He joyfully cried, "Time for goodbyes!"

Arjun panicked. He tried to break free, but of no use. Riya stood frozen in her place, her eyes fixed on his. No sign of fear on her face.

Sikander stood behind her with an evil smile plastered on his face.

“Bye love! Arjun will miss you and so will I”, he kissed her hair. Riya shuddered at his touch and Arjun’s anger rose.

Arjun opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say anything, the sound of bullets firing filled the entire hall. The next moment, Sikander saw his masked men fall to the ground, one by one, dead.

Sikander's face twisted with frustration, and he momentarily lost focus. Well, for the first time that day, stress lines appeared on his face.

Arjun cast a hopeful glance around him and, sure enough, his brothers were there to help him.

Sikander was taken aback when he saw the three men of ETF descend the same set of stairs. They had been able to track him down. How? He had already made arrangements for the hall.

Arjun smiled in relief as Shree came to him and opened his hands and legs, while Rathore and Chotu had pointed their guns towards Sikander.

Sikander could now see his end approaching. With Arjun’s freedom, his chances of survival were slowly vanishing. He could only think of one way out. “Riya!”

“Don’t move!”, he threatened Arjun as he walked towards him, “One wrong move and she will be dead!”, saying so, he made a cut on Riya’s left arm and she winced in pain.

“Tum yahan se zinda nahi jaa sakte Sikander,tum jaante ho. Abhi bhi wakt hai, surrender kardo!”, Rathore barked at him.

Sikander smiled at his comment. “Kya Rathore Sahab, marna to ek din sabne hi hai, par kisi ko jeete ji maar kr jaane se achcha kya ho sakta hai”, he looked at Arjun and said. The next moment, he made a cut on Riya’s right arm too and it started bleeding profusely.

“Sikander stop! Don’t hurt her! I’ll shoot you!”, Arjun lost his cool and warned him again.

Riya had started to feel dizzy and was losing senses.

“Meri sabse keemati cheez tumhare paas hai Rawte, uska khayal rkhna. Rahi baat tumhari sabse keemticheez ki, to use to main saath le kar hi jaunga.”, he said eyeing Riya.

*****

As promised, the next part is here. There are going to be one or two more parts after this before this story wraps up. Do tell me, if you are liking it or not.