Chapter Seventy.
Ira walked toward the door, her fingers tightly coiled around the chain.
Reaching the doorframe, her hand trembled as it hovered over the brass knob. She closed her eyes, drawing a deep breath and forced the panic down as she exhaled.
Slowly, she turned the knob. To her bewilderment, the door clicked open without resistance.
The door wasn't locked.
She opened a bit of an inch, peeping through the space. Her breath hitched in her throat.
Stationed right in the corridor was a massive guard, his hands gripping a heavy assault rifle. Heart pounding, she silently eased the door back into its frame, her back rested on the door as she cursed under her breath.
Think, Ira. Come on, think.
She began to pace the length of the room before speed walking out onto the balcony. She gripped the railing and leaned over..
She looked at the chain in her hands, then back down at the rocks below, letting out a frustrated groan of utter annoyance.
The chain was long, but it wasn't nearly long enough to rappel down a cliffside.
Frustrated, she raised her gaze to the distant horizon where the sky met the sea. Her eyes narrowed.
Far out on the open water, small, dark silhouettes were cutting through the waves. They were moving fast. And it wasn't just one or two, advancing.
"What on earth is that?" she whispered..
Before she could process the sight, a sudden thudding of boots echoed from the corridor outside the room, the chaotic footsteps hurriedly fading away into the distance.
Ira rushed back inside, gliding toward the door and cracking it open once more.
This time, the hallway was a empty. She caught the silhouette of the guard running toward the lower levels, completely abandoning his post.
No one was guarding her door anymore.
Biting her lower lip, she threw the door fully open and stepped out.
She was immediately greeted by a dimly lit hallway that felt cold, completely different from the bright tropical sun beating down outside.
She looked from left to right.
Realizing the chain would only slow her down and give away her position, she let it slide from her hands.
It clattered loudly against the floor as she picked up her pace. She had no map, no weapon, and no idea where she was going..but she didn't care.
She broke into a full sprint, running blindly away from that room.
~?????~
Samar was seething, his eye glued to the glowing surveillance monitors.
He stared at the screens, a growl vibrating in his chest at the sight unfolding before him.
The dark silhouettes cutting through the ocean weren't a hallucination, that was Devraj.
"How the fuck did they bypass our grid?!" Samar yelled.
He turned on his lead technician.
"I gave you explicit orders to scrub this entire island off the radar!"
"W-we did, sir!" the technician stammered, his hands shaking over the keyboard. "We completely cleared our digital footprint! We have no idea how they traced the coordinates! It's like... like someone pulled our data directly from the root servers."
"Call in the rest of our security detail!" Samar commanded, turning around to storm out. "Mobilize every single perimeter guard!"
"S-sir..."
"What?!" Samar snarled, snapping his head back around, his expression lethal.
The technician swallowed hard, his voice dropping into a terrified whisper.
"We... we are severely short staffed on this island, sir. Most of our forces are still stationed at the mainland branches."
Samar's jaw set so hard the bone looked ready to snap, his teeth grinding in frustration. He was outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and running out of time.
"Then gather every single man we have left and activate the automated perimeter defense!" he gritted out, "Devraj cannot step foot on this rock. Do you hear me? Lock the island down!"
"Yes, sir! Right away!"
"Useless!" Samar sneered, dismissing the man with venomous contempt.
He lunged toward the steel door, yanking it open with enough force to dent the frame, and stormed into the corridor.
He was still shirtless, his bare skin glistening with angry sweat, but the dominant, thud of his boots echoed heavily against the floor as he strode down the hall.
Suddenly, three of his armed perimeter guards rounded the corner.
"Get the crew assembled!" Samar yelled at them, leaving no room for hesitation. "We have company! Move! Now!"
The guards offered crisp nods, their expressions turning grim as they raised their assault rifles and rushed past him toward the lower decks.
Samar continued his walk toward the residential wing, his muscular frame tense with adrenaline and fury.
I will tear you apart myself, Devraj. he vowed silently, his hands clenching into fists. But before you meet your fucking doom... I am going to put my mark on Ira. I will make sure you know she belongs to me before I take your life.
~??~
As for Ira, her chest heaved as she sprinted blindly down the dimly lit corridors, her mind confused.
Oh God, where is the exit? Does this hallway ever end?
She rounded a corner at full speed, only to instantly collide with a solid chest. The impact knocked her off her feet, sending her crashing hard onto the floor.
"Ouch..." she hissed in pain as she rubbed her lower back.
She snapped her head up, her heart leaping into her throat.
Standing over her wasn't Samar, but a massive, bulky guard who looked like he had been built for chaos.
He sported an assault rifle strapped across his chest, and his heavily tattooed arms were crossed over his barrel like torso. He looked down at her.
"Well, well. Aren't you our boss's little plaything?" he asked, an arrogant smirk pulling at his lips.
Ira cringed in disgust..
Plaything?
The disrespect made her blood boil, and she fixed him with a glare.
"What are you doing roaming the halls?" the guard asked, his smirk widening as he crouched down to her eye level.
"Are you trying to escape?"
"N-no..." Ira lied, her voice trembling slightly. "I was just... I was looking for Samar."
The guard tilted his head, his smirk never faltering.
His gaze deliberately dropped, roaming down to her rapidly rising and falling chest..
"Is that so? I can take you straight to him."
"No, thank you.." Ira said instantly, her voice hardening. "I can find my way myself. And-"
Before she could finish her rejection, Ira looked past the guard's massive shoulder, and her eyes widened in panic.
Hurrying down the corridor toward them was the very guard who had been stationed at her bedroom door.
Oh no!
She scrambled to her feet, spun around and took off in the opposite direction before the crouching guard could even stop her.
"Don't let her escape! Stop her!" the oncoming guard yelled at the top of his lungs.
But Ira already fled deeper into the belly of the hallway.
The door guard finally skidded to a halt beside the tattooed giant, both of their weapons raised.
"She's escaping! Why the hell were you just standing there staring at her?!" the bedroom guard panicked, his voice cracking as he gripped his rifle. "If she gets away, the boss will have our heads on a spike!"
"Have your heads?"
Both guards flinched, turning around to find Samar standing a few feet away.
His expression was terrifying, his gaze drilling into them.
"Why are the two of you still loitering here instead of preparing the perimeter?"
"Sir... the woman.." the door guard stammered, swallowing hard as he cut in. "She... she isn't in her room anymore. She broke out."
Samar's entire body went rigid.
"What did you just say?"
"I said she-"
The guard didn't even get to finish his sentence. In rage, Samar lunged forward.
His hand clamping around the guard's throat and slamming him against the wall. Samar's bare arm bulged with strained veins, his chest heaving as he squeezed the air right out of the man.
"If she manages to leave this place, and if I cannot find her." Samar sneered on the guard's terrified face, "I will personally end your miserable life. Do you understand me?"
He violently threw the gasping man aside and snapped his head toward the tattooed giant.
"Which way did she go?"
"S-she ran down this corridor, sir!" the big man said, pointing the thw direction Ira took.
Without another word, Samar ran down the path.
Ira's breath was a painful rasp in her chest. She cast glances over her shoulder as she tore down one twisting hallway after another.
She was mentally exhausting herself, praying with every step that she wouldn't round a corner and stumble into another one of Samar's psychotic mercenaries.
Her skin was slick with sweat, her legs burning with exhaustion, but she refused to slow down.
After one final sprint down a seemingly endless hallways, she rounded a bend and froze.
Up ahead, a blinding wash of natural light at the end of the hall.
It was an exit.
A genuine smile broke across her pale, troubled lips for the first time in days.
"Y-yes..." she whispered, a sob of pure relief catching in her throat.
"IRA!"
Ira stiffened, her stomach dropping. She turned her head back and gasped.
Samar was charging down the hallway toward her, his bare torso glistening with sweat.
The moment his eyes locked onto her, he increased his speed, his heavy boots pounding against the floor.
Ira's eyes widened in panic. The adrenaline surged through her veins once more, and without a second thought, she turned back toward the light and took off.
"Stop, Ira!" Samar screamed behind her..
"Don't you dare run from me!"
Bursting through the threshold into the light, Ira found herself at the top of a staircase.
A breathless smile broke across her lips, and she threw herself down the steps, her bare feet flying so fast she nearly lost her footing. She stumbled near the bottom, but she caught herself just in time.
Landing on the lower level, she paused, her eyes darting across the expansive foyer.
The space was pristine and functional, completely devoid of the lavish, classy decor she had expected from a man of Samar's status.
More surprisingly, it was entirely empty. For a criminal drug lord, she expected a small army of guards patrolling the ground floor, but there wasn't a single soul in sight.
Ira didn't waste a second as she swept her gaze across the room, searching for a way out.
There, at the far end of the foyer, stood a massive reinforced double door.
The main entrance.
She rushed toward, her hands slamming against the cold metal handles. She pushed, yanked, and threw her entire body weight against the frame, but the heavy mechanisms didn't budge an inch. It was entirely sealed.
"Ira!"
Ira snapped her head up, Samar had just reached the top of the landing.
The moment his eyes locked onto her desperately yanking at the exit, rage crossed his features, and he began hurtling down the staircase after her.
Panic crashed over Ira, abandoning the locked door, she spun around, her eyes scanning the foyer until she spotted a dark arched opening nearby.
She bolted through it blindly, stepping into a massive kitchen.
She slid to a halt against a stainless steel island, her breath rattling loudly in her throat as sweat poured down her pale face, stinging her eyes.
"Stop running, Ira..."
Ira whipped her head around, her heart stopping as she saw him filling the doorway, blocking her only clear exit.
He was breathing heavily, his bare chest slick with sweat..
Ira reached behind her, her fingers gripping the handle of a metal drawer.
She yanked it open. The metallic rattle of cutlery echoed through the quiet kitchen.
Samar took a step toward her, his hands slightly raised as if trying to placate a cornered animal.
"Let's go back to the room, Ira. You don't belong out here-"
He didn't get to finish the sentence.
Ira reached into the drawer, wrapped her fingers around a heavy gleaming butcher knife, and ripped it upward.
She gripped the handle with both hands, extending her arms fully as she pointed the razor sharp blade directly at his chest.
"You take one more step toward me, and I swear to God I will drive this right through your heart!" Ira said..
Samar froze mid-way, his eyes on the glinting steel. Then, slowly, a smirk pulled at the corners of his lips.
"You can't do it, Ira.." Samar said arrogantly, as he stared at the heavy blade. "You don't have it in you."
"Do not underestimate how desperate I am to get the hell out of here and never look at your disgusting face again!" she shouted.
The sting of her words hit its mark. The smug smirk instantly vanished from Samar's face, replaced by a cold unsettling blankness.
"I'm beginning to realize that begging you for a chance is entirely pointless.." Samar murmured,
He began to advance, taking slow steps toward her.
Ira immediately matched his movement, stepping backward and keeping the massive kitchen island between them.
"No shit, Sherlock!" she gritted out, sarcastically. "Is that pathetic excuse for a brain finally clicking?!"
Samar's jaw clenched..
"I'm guessing that simply keeping you here won't make you love me, will it?
" he soliloquized, his eyes fixed on her as he continued to stalk her around the island.
"So, how about I break you instead? What if I make you broken, just like me?
That way, we can finally feel each other's agony.
That way, you will have no choice but to rely on me. "
"Stay away from me..." she breathed, her hands trembling but keeping the butcher knife pointed directly at his chest as she kept circling the island.
From the corner of her eye, she caught a door situated at the far side of the kitchen.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, marking her target.
"I think I will break your legs first.." Samar continued, his voice terrifyingly calm as he laid out his twisted blueprint for her submission. "That way, you won't be able to run from me ever again. And then, we can slowly mend your heart... making sure that I am the only one left inside it."
"I usually despise using vulgar language, Samar, but you know what?!" she gritted out.."Fuck you! I hope you rot in the deepest, darkest corner of hell!"
The insult struck a raw nerve. Samar's face contorted in fury, and he lunged across the kitchen island to grab her.
But Ira was faster.
She put every ounce of her remaining strength into her arm and hurled the butcher knife straight at him.
The steel flipped through the air and sliced into his shoulder, the blade biting hard into his flesh.
Samar bellowed in pain, but Ira didn't stay to admire her handiwork.
The second the weapon left her fingers, she spun around, bolted toward the side door she had spotted, threw it open..
Ira cast a glance over her shoulder, her chest heaving as she saw Samar clutching his shoulder, dark crimson blood already seeping rapidly through his fingers and spilling down his bare chest.
He snapped his head up, his eyes fixed on her with unhinged ferocity.
Just then, three armed men burst into the kitchen. Seeing their leader wounded, they instinctively moved to assist him, but Samar shoved them away.
Ignoring the blade wound, he charged toward her like a possessed man.
Panicking, Ira slammed the door shut right in his face, cutting off his advance.
"IRA!"
His cry vibrated through the thick metal door, muffled but thick.
Ira gulped, spinning around as she drew in her first unrestricted breath of fresh air in days.
The scent of salty ocean air instantly flooded her senses, carrying the unmistakable scent of freedom and immediate danger.
She quickly realized she had exited onto a narrow, precarious ledge.
To escape, she had no choice but to navigate a steep, treacherous staircase carved directly into the raw rock of the mountain.
A single misstep, a slip of her bare feet on the smooth stone, and she would plummet straight into the abyss below.
Swallowing the lump of dread in her throat, she began her descent down the stone steps.
Now that she was outside, the dizzying architecture of her prison became completely clear.
The entire house was an engineering anomaly, a massive compound built seamlessly inside the hollowed out face of a colossal sea cliff, looming directly over the ocean.
Who in their right mind builds a house inside a literal cliff?! she thought in disbelief, her fingers scraping against the rock wall for balance.
~??~
Out on the open water, the roar of twinengine speedboats sliced through the sound of the crashing waves.
Devraj stood at the helm of the lead vessel, his hands gripping the controls with white-knuckled intensity as the boat launched off the crest of a massive wave.
Standing right beside him, their expressions grim, were Arjun and Varun..
They were closing in on Samar's island hideout at breakneck speed.
???