Chapter Sixty Seven.
A single ray of moonlight cut through the darkness, landing across Ira's face. Her features contorted in a pained frown before her eyelids slowly flickered open.
The heavypulse of the ocean was the first thing she heard, a deep, haunting sound that felt far too close. Then came the wind, a cold, salt laced breeze that rattled the curtains of the balcony.
Immediately, a pain drove through her skull. She groaned, the sedative still clawing at her senses, and tried to shield her eyes from the shines of the moon as she pushed herself up on the unnervingly soft mattress.
She reached up to rub her throbbing temples, but a metallic clink froze the blood in her veins.
Slowly, her breath hitching, she lifted her left wrist. A steel chain was locked around her wrist, its cold bite sending a jolt of reality through her system.
She followed the length of the metal link to where it was bolted directly into the frame of the bed. Her eyes widened, the hazy fog in her mind clearing instantly as the memory of the handkerchief, Samar, Advik coming to help..
Panic tightened around her chest. She looked around the room, it was vast and draped in darkness, illuminated only by the ethereal glow of the moon.
She scrambled off the bed, her bare feet hitting the floor, and ran toward the balcony.
Strangely, the chain rattled behind her, long enough to allow her movement but enough to remind her she was a prisoner.
She reached the railing and gasped. Below her, the black expanse of the ocean stretched into infinity, the waves crashing against rocks with a violence that made her head spin.
"W-what?" she stammered..
She backed away from the ledge, stumbling back into the room, her breathing becoming shallow. She was trapped in an unknown area above an endless sea.
"You really are amusing to watch..."
The voice drifted out from the darkest corner of the room.
Ira felt her heart stop, her soul seemingly abandoning her body at the sudden sound of his voice.
"Samar!"
He stepped out of the void, the moonlight sliding over his features like a man shedding its camouflage.
Ira's breath hitched, her body instinctively retreating until her back pressed against the cold glass of the balcony door. Samar's lips curled into a smirk.
"I was beginning to worry.." he mused. "I feared I might have used a touch too much chloroform. It would have been a shame if you'd slept through your grand arrival... but I'm glad you're awake, Doll."
Ira's fear flared into a sudden defiance. "You're psychotic!" she spat, her voice trembling.
He didn't flinch, If anything, the insult seemed to feed him. He simply widened his smile, his eyes dark.
"Welcome to my territory, Ira. I hope you find the view to your liking."
"I don't want anything to do with you or your disgusting territory!" she snapped,"What kind of coward sneaks up on a woman in day light and drags her away, and chains her to a bed?"
The playfulness in Samar's expression vanished instantly.
The air in the room seemed to solidify, turning heavy and cold as his face hardened.
He began to move toward her, a slow advance that forced Ira to take shuffling, desperate steps backward.
"As much as I admire that fire in you, Ira..." he began, as the hair on her arms stand up. "I have a very low tolerance for disrespect."
Ira gulped, her heart beating. The intensity in his gaze was suffocating, a weight that pinned her where she stood.
"Just take me home!" she shouted, her voice cracking. "I don't even know what I did to you! Why me? Why this?"
Samar stopped just inches away from her, his shadow looming over her small frame. He frowned, a look of twisted possessiveness crossing his face.
"You haven't figured it out yet?" he whispered, his hand reaching out as if to touch her cheek before he stopped himself. "You aren't going back, Ira. You belong to me now."
Ira slapped his hand away..
"A woman, someone you know very well, paid a high price for your death, Ira." he casually said. "But I didn't care for the contract. I decided I'd rather keep you for myself." He spoke with a twisted sense of pride.
Ira's mind reeled, the confusion clashing with her terror. "What? What woman? Who would..."
Samar leaned in, his gaze boring into hers and it made her stomach churn.
"I don't disclose my clients' identities, Ira. I may deal in shadows, but I'm not a traitor to my trade."
"I don't care about your trade!" Ira cried out, her voice breaking into a desperate plea. "Just take me back. My parents... they'll be out of their minds. And Devraj..." She whispered his name..
The mention of the Rathore name snapped Samar's composure. His face contorted, his mask of calm shattering into a display of fury.
"You are mine now, Ira!" he roared, the sound echoing off the walls. "Stop thinking about another man! Do you understand? You will never see him again!"
Ira flinched at the volume of his rage, but she didn't crumble. She looked him dead in the eye, her voice trembling but certain.
"He will find me. I know he will."
Samar's teeth grinding together until he lunged. He snatched her arm, his fingers digging into her skin as he jerked her toward him. Ira gasped, her face inches from his sneering, livid expression.
"Stop thinking about him!" he growled, the words hot against her skin. "He will NEVER find you. You're in my world now, and he doesn't have an invitation."
He threw her arm back with a shove. Her knees buckled under the force and the lingering weakness of the sedative, sending her sprawling onto the hard floor.
"You should be grateful!" Samar hissed, looming over her. "The woman who hired me didn't just want you dead she wanted you sold. She wanted you lost in the hell of sex trafficking. I'm the only reason you're still breathing in a bed instead of a cage."
The room seemed to tilt. Ira looked up at him, her eyes wide with a new, paralyzing level of horror. "S-sex trafficking?"
"Yes.." Samar whispered. He dropped down, squatting to her level so he could look directly into her shattered gaze.
"The thought of another man's hands on you... I don't just hate it. It burns me." he darkly whispered. "I'm keeping you here for myself. Just for me. No one else touches what is mine."
Ira felt a cold shiver of revulsion crawl up her spine.
"I don't want to be here with you! I want to go home." she cried out frustrated. "If you really want me to be grateful, then show me some mercy. Take me back to my family and tell me who this woman is!"
Samar didn't look away. He watched her eyes, the way they flared with spirit even in her fear, and felt his heart beat against his ribs.
He finally had her. She was in his house, breathing his air, trapped in his territory. He had fought this craving for days, this pull that had derailed his plans and clouded his judgment.
But looking at her now, his mind was further from peace than ever. It was the way she looked at him, not with the devotion he craved, but with the disgust one saves for a monster..
He needed to know why when he is close to Ira, his emotions is all messed up..
He let out a frustrated groan and stood up abruptly, looming over her.
"Is that it?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous. "You love Devraj so much that you're this desperate to get back to him?"
The question snapped something inside Ira. The absurdity of his logic made her blood boil.
"Who in their right mind would be happy to be kidnapped?" she gritted out, her voice shaking as she stared up at him from the floor. "By the same deranged man they've been trying to escape? And I do... love him"
She hesitated for a fraction of a second, the word love feeling complicated on her tongue.
Perhaps it wasn't the kind of love she had once dreamed of, but compared to the nightmare standing over her, Devraj was her sanctuary.
"I love Devraj.." she repeated, her voice gaining strength. "That is why, I am so desperate to go back to him."
Samar suddenly erupted into a laugh, a dry, humorless sound that sent a cold spike of dread down Ira's spine.
It wasn't the laughter of a man who found something funny.
"How badly I want to kill him right now." he mused.
Ira stared at him, her fear morphing into a analytical clarity.
"This was never just about me or the job, was it? This woman... she's just an excuse to cover up what you plan. You have your own reasons for this."
Samar's smirk widened..
"What did Devraj do to you? Why are you after him? To the point of me being dragged into it." Ira pressed, her voice trembling but determined
"You're quite smart, Ira. I've always liked that about you." he said, his eyes glinting with a dangerous spark of admiration. "And you're absolutely right."
He turned and walked toward the bed, his fingers wrapping around the cold steel of the chain.
With a sudden, violent tug, he reeled her in.
Ira was yanked forward, her breath hitching as she collided with his chest. Before she could recoil, his arms locked around her waist, pinning her against him.
The moonlight hit his eyes, revealing a swirling vortex of madness.
"Let's be honest for a moment, shall we?" he whispered, his face inches from hers. "My plan, from the very beginning, was to stalk you, steal you, and then... end you."
Ira's breathing became shallow.
"Do you know why?" He didn't wait for her to answer.
"Because you are his soul, Ira. You are the only thing that makes Devraj Rathore human.
And I want to watch him crumble. I want him on his knees, weeping and begging for a mercy I will never give him.
I want him to pay for everything he took from me ten years ago. "
The hate in his voice was a too much for Ira. He abruptly released her, shoving her back onto the mattress. She fell against the pillows.
Samar stood over her, his silhouette blocking out the moon.
"I tried to finish him three years ago." he said, his voice eerily calm now.
"I used his ex, played her like a fiddle, but it turns out he didn't give a damn about her, you should know her.
. Alia. All he walked away with was a limp and a few scars.
That accident... it wasn't nearly as brutal as I'd hoped. "
"And then... I heard about you," Samar said a d Ira's skin crawl.
"At first, I was just curious. I wondered why even a guy like Deepak was so infatuated with you even though he knew you belong to a man he can't mess with.
Stalking you wasn't easy, though...not with all those security rats Devraj kept scurrying around you.
" He smirked, a dark, self-satisfied twist of his lips.
"So, I watched from the shadows. I waited. I learned you."
Ira shivered, a wave of pure disgust washing over her.
"You're going to punish me... you're going to kill me... just to get to him? Just to break Devraj?"
"Well, that was the original plan.." Samar said, his tone shifting into something far more sinister.
He leaned closer to the bed, his shadow swallowing her whole. Ira began to panic, her heart thrashing against her ribs as she scrambled to get away, but Samar simply gripped the chain and gave it a sharp, authoritative yank.
He lunged forward, his hand snaking out to catch her jaw in a bruising grip. He tilted her face upward, forcing her to look into his eyes.
"But now... I want more.." he whispered, his breath hot against her skin.
"I want every inch of you, every part of your soul, to be tainted by me.
I want to leave you so marked by my touch that Devraj will be broken beyond repair just looking at you.
Looking at the only woman he will ever love taken by another man. "
"Get off me!" she shrieked, shoving him away with everything she had. The chain rattled violently against the bedframe as she recoiled, her chest heaving as she gaped at him in horror. "I would rather die, I would rather commit suicide, than let a man like you put a finger on me."
Samar's expression didn't flicker. "And yet, you claim to love a man who is just as dangerous as I am."
"At least he is better than you... and that is more than enough." Ira gritted out, her voice raw with loathing.
Samar's jaw clenched so hard a vein throbbed in his temple. He stared at her for a long beat, his eyes, with a silent promise of retribution.
"Too bad.." he flatly said, "You're with me now."
He turned and strode toward the door, his movements sti with suppressed fury. He threw the door open, the light from the hallway spilling in to reveal two massive guards standing like statues on either side of the frame.
He paused, looking back one last time to see Ira glaring at him. The door slammed shut..
I have to get out of here. She thought..
She scrambled off the bed, the chain clattering behind her, and rushed back to the balcony.
She gripped the railing really tight, leaning out into the salt-sprayed air. She looked at the horizon, nothing but an endless, black void where the sky met the sea.
"Am I even still in Mumbai?" she whispered, her voice cracking as the wind whipped her hair across her face. "Am I even still in India?"
She looked down at the cuff around her wrist. A hot tear escaped and rolled down her cheek, but she swiped it away with an angry motion.
She didn't have the luxury of breaking down. Not here. Not now.
"This isn't the time to cry, Ira. If you want to survive this, you need this chain off. That is step one." She told herself..
She retreated back into the room, pacing the length of the floor that the chain allowed. Her mind was a whirlwind of calculations and regrets.
"The water... the air... it doesn't feel like home. But I can't be sure.." she mumbled, her frustration mounting until she wanted to scream at her own helplessness.
A bitter laugh bubbled in her throat.
"I was so stupid.." she gritted out, her eyes burning. "Ordering RV to stay back... But, how would i know a crazy man who had grudges with Devraj, had been stalking me." The reality of Devraj's world crashed down on her, it wasn't just about businesses and powerful stares.
It was a minefield of authority and old grudges, and she had walked right into the center of one.
Suddenly, the memory of Devraj's face, not the cold wealthy businessman, but the man who looked at her with that terrifying, singular intensity, filled her mind.
A wave of bone-deep longing hit her so hard she had to lean against the wall for support.
"I'm scared, Devraj.." she whispered to the empty room, her gaze drifting back to the moon in the sky. "Please... find me."
~??~
Devraj stepped out of his car, his presence a dark, roiling storm that seemed to dim the mansion's lights before him.
He strode inside, but as he entered the living room, he came to a dead stop.
Arjun was there, as expected, but sitting across from him was a deadly man he wasn't expecting.
Devraj hesitated. It wasn't fear, Devraj didn't fear any man, but it was a confusion.
Why was Varun here?
Arjun rose, crossing the room to meet Devraj halfway.
"Why is he here?" Devraj demanded. He gestured toward Varun, who was lounging in a chair, looking at the world with a bored indifference.
"We needed Veda's help to track Samar." Arjun explained simply. Devraj's eyes narrowed.
He knew the legends, he knew Varun was so obsessed with his wife that he rarely let her out of his sight. To see him here meant the stakes were higher than he'd imagined.
Devraj offered a curt, stiff nod of acknowledgement.
Just then, Veda emerged with a tablet in her grip.
"Devraj i assume?" she asked, a knowing smile playing on her lips as she approached them.
The moment she got close to the other men, Varun's bored expression vanished. His face hardened into a territorial aggression.
He stood up lazily, ruffling his hair with a half-lidded gaze as he closed the distance in few long strides.
He wrapped a possessive arm around Veda's waist, pulling her flush against his side as if marking his territory.
Veda gave her husband a small, knowing smile but kept her focus on Devraj.
"I've analyzed the CCTV footage your head guard provided.
." she began, her tone turning professional.
. "I managed to track the plates, but Samar is smarter than we gave him credit for.
The vehicle was dumped and wiped clean at a dead zone.
He's vanished, Devraj. He left us with a dead end.
I have a feeling he might not even be in India. "
Devraj's fists tightened until they trembled, the force of his repressed rage vibrating through his entire frame.
"But.." Veda continued, her smile sharpening into something dangerous, "I didn't stop there.
. His plates are tied to identities he's used for years.
..bank accounts, property deeds, shell companies.
I used those threads to pull the entire sweater apart.
I've gained access to everything he owns.
.. including his private territories outside of India. "
Devraj's brow furrowed, his mind racing to keep up with the scale of her reach.
"You can do all of that? Just like that?"
Veda started to chuckle, but the sound was cut short as Varun's grip on her waist tightened, a silent, possessive reminder of who she belonged to.
"Trust me.." Arjun stepped in, "She can. If it exists in a database, it belongs to her."
Devraj offered a curt, respectful nod.
"I'm sending the coordinates and the full dossier to your encrypted lines now, Arjun." Veda said, her eyes glowing with the reflection of her tablet. "You two can take it from here."
"Thank you." Devraj said, a rare, genuine acknowledgement. Veda nodded and, as Varun finally released his hold, she turned and walk away.
Devraj found himself standing face-to-face with Varun.
Devraj looked at him with that same infuriating, bored expression, his eyes heavy with a dark, restless energy.
"What?" Devraj demanded.
"You want us to go get your woman or not?" Varun asked ruffling his hair.
A smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth, and for a second, his eyes glinted with a raw hunger.
"Give the command already. I'm starting to crave the scent of blood."
Devraj glanced at Arjun, his expression unreadable.
Arjun simply shrugged.
"What else do you expect from a warlord?"
Devraj's face hardened instantly, The hunt hadn't just begun... the war had officially been declared.
I will kill you, Samar..he gritted out silently, the promise vibrating through his very bones. I will your world down just to find your throat.
????