Chapter Seventy One.
Devraj's gaze remained locked onto the distant island as the speedboat tore through the waves.
His face was rigid.. the faint shadows beneath his eyes betrayed those two days of sleepless torment, yet his energy had transformed into fury.
His jaw was clenched tight, his whole body stiffened.
Sensing the dangerous aura off him, Arjun stepped forward, placing a hand on Devraj's tense shoulder.
"Don't spiral now.." Arjun said, "We are going to get her back."
Devraj didn't offer a reply. He merely hardened his posture, his eyes drilling back into the horizon.
"Honestly, he is maintaining his composure perfectly well, Arjun.." Varun interjected from the rear of the vessel. "I've got to admire the restraint."
Arjun glanced back at Varun, his brows furrowing at the casual tone.
"I know exactly how twisted Samar's mind operates..
" Devraj finally spoke. "Every single sick, rotten plan he conceptualizes eventually mutates under his own delusion.
" With a twist of his wrist, Devraj slammed the throttle forward, forcing the speedboat to launch over the crest of a massive wave.
"I should have put an end to him ten years ago when I had the chance..
" he gritted out, his rage caused the muscles in his forearms to bulge against the steering wheel.
He was at his limit, barely holding back the tide of his own violence.
"Well, you are about to get your second chance.." Varun remarked, his fingers picking a high caliber ammunition clip into his assault rifle.
"I just hope you know how to handle a weapon."
Devraj cast a dismissive side glance at him.
"I am a businessman, Varun. I manage empires, I don't operate with firearms. I don't need a gun to dismantle a man."
Varun froze, halting his adjustments to the rifle as he slowly raised his head to fix Devraj with a serious stare.
"Even an empire builder like you needs to know how to pull a trigger, Devraj..
" Varun countered, "Look around you. Look at how deeply compromised your elite little world truly is.
By choosing to keep Ira, you are pulling her directly into the crosshairs of that darkness.
And I am entirely certain Samar isn't the only rival waiting in the shadows to exploit your weakness. "
"I will always protect Ira.." Devraj said.
Varun smirked, stepping forward, he picked up a handgun from the weapon crate and placed it on the dashboard right next to Devraj's hand.
Devraj immediately cut him a warning look.
"You possess excellent stamina, a remarkably strong posture, and an iron grip.." Varun observed, effortlessly adjusting his own ammunition belt while Arjun watched the exchange in silence.
"Handling a firearm won't be difficult for you. Your body is already built for it."
"Thank you for the compliment, but I have no intention of crossing that line.." Devraj replied flatly.
As he spoke, Ira's face suddenly crept in his mind, the memory of her soft laughter, her warmth..
How much he misses her and can't wait to have her back in his arms.
"She... she is terrified of this kind of life.." Devraj murmured, "I refuse to let her live in constant fear. I want her safe, protected, and completely comfortable by my side.." As he said the words, his gaze drifted across the deck, taking in the grim, focused faces of Arjun and Varun's men.
They were all armed, ready to paint the island red.
"Devraj.." Arjun called out gently, "From what I have seen, Ira is an incredibly resilient woman.
In fact, she reminds me immensely of My Meera the day I first encountered her with you.
But you must understand something, she is an extension of you now.
By trying to keep your hands clean, you aren't just protecting your principles, you are compromising her safety.
I know your rules, Devraj. I know you despise the sight of blood on your hands... " Arjun paused..
"That is fine. Keep your principles.." Arjun continued. "But never forget that the moment you chose to love her, you handed your enemies a weakness. And men like Samar will go to unimaginable lengths to break you using it."
Devraj's eyes slowly dropped, his gaze fixating on the cold black handgun Varun had left sitting beside the steering wheel, before he looked back ahead.
Just then, his eyes narrowed to a slits as his gaze caught a sudden unnatural streak of light hurling across the open water.
In a second, his eyes widened in shock.
"Fuck!" he yelled
With a yank of his arms, he threw the steering wheel hard to the left, forcing the hull of the lead speedboat to swerve out of its trajectory.
A split second later, the heat seeking projectile screamed past their ears and slammed directly into the side of one of the flanking escort vessels.
The impact was a blinding orange fireball erupted onto the water, tearing the metal to shreds and tossing the shattered debris into the air.
"The bastard knows we are here!" Varun gritted out, his boots stomping hard against the shifting deck to stabilize his posture.
"Keep this vessel steady, Devraj!"
Varun reached into the heavy artillery crate and hauled out a shoulder mounted rocket launcher.
Easing his weight against the railing, he looked through the thermal scope, scanning the craggy cliffside for the source of the launch.
Within seconds, his lens locked onto the silhouette of a tattooed guard positioning another missile launcher over his shoulder on a concrete ledge.
"Found you.." Varun murmured.
He pulled the trigger.
Devraj glanced over just in time to see the smirk spreading across Varun's lip, followed instantly by an explosion, turning the guard into a cloud of ash and stone.
"Damn, that was satisfying.." Varun mumbled, lowering the weapon.
He immediately lifted a digital lens to his eye, sweeping the upper parameters of the place, until his movements suddenly froze.
Far up on the rock face, a fragile figure was scrambling desperately from one rock to another.
"She's out!" Varun yelled over the wind, snapping his head toward the helm.
Beside him, Arjun's expression turned lethal as he grabbed his assault rifles, casting a commanding hand signal to the commander(Vikram) of his remaining escort vessels.
Vikram offered a grim, understanding nod, prepared to breach the shoreline from the lower flank.
"Ira?!" Devraj's voice cracked..
Stepping away from the wheel for a mere second, his trembling fingers snatched a pair of binoculars from the dashboard.
He pressed the lenses to his eyes, adjusting the focus until her image crystallized in his vision.
Shifting the lens slightly higher up the stone staircase, he caught the unmistakable figure of Samar.
His shoulder was clumsily bandaged, his face contorted into the expression of an escaped lunatic as his eye searched the rocks with an unstable, murderous determination.
He was hunting her.
"IRA..." Devraj growled out!
Abandoning the binoculars, he gripped the throttle tight and slammed it completely forward, forcing the speedboat to slice through the waves at a, breakneck speed.
Varun unleashed another payload. The explosion shattered the upper ridges of the cliff face, sending a rain of pulverized stone and smoking debris tumbling into the dark sea below.
~??~
Ira finally reached the base of the treacherous stone staircase, her chest heaving as sweat stung her eyes.
The blast echoed right over her head, the vibrating through the soles of her bare feet.
She pressed her back against the big solid rock, staring in terror at the far side of the mountain where entire boulders were shattering into dust.
"IRA!!!"
Samar's manic yell sliced through the noise.
Her eyes widened in panic. Forcing her exhausted legs to move, she picked up her pace, scrambling desperately across the rocks that lined the edge of the water.
The crashing tide splashed over the stone, instantly soaking the fabric of her Anarkali, but she didn't care.
She didn't feel the cold. She didn't feel the stones cutting into her skin.
She leaped from one massive boulder to the next, trying to find a path through the stone and water.
Suddenly, a deafening volley of gunfire erupted just meters away, and she froze dead in her tracks.
I don't want to die..
Tears flow down her cheeks, she was scared..
She carefully slipped around the corner of a bigger solid rock, trying to stay hidden, but instead came face to face with a squad of Samar's remaining mercenaries.
They were hidden behind the stone barriers, blindly firing their rifles out into the open water. Ira instinctively tracked the line of their gunfire, her gaze scanning the horizon until it locked onto a speedboat breaching the shoreline at breakneck speed.
Standing at the helm, looking like an vengeful god, was Devraj (Grrr??... sorry! Ahem!!)
"Ira!"
The moment her name left Devraj's lips, tears of joy instantly spilled down her pale cheeks, blurring her vision.
"D-Devraj..." she whimpered, in desperate relief. Without a single thought for her own safety, she braced herself, completely ready to fling herself into the crashing waves just to swim to his side.
But before her foot could leave, bullets splintered right on the water and rock.
Ira's breath hitched in her throat, she slowly turned her head, her gaze tracking up to meet a pair of wild unhinged eyes.
Samar.
A messy bandage was tied securely around his shoulder where she had driven the butcher knife, but the dark, crimson blood was already soaking through the white gauze.
He didn't even seem to feel the injury. His focus was entirely consumed by her.
Ira swallowed hard, taking a trembling step back as the rocky ledge crumbled beneath her feet.
"Come to me, Ira.." Samar growled in possessiveness. He tightened his grip on the handgun.
Ira shook her head, the tears spilling faster as she cast a desperate look over her shoulder.
Out on the water, Devraj's boat was close, close enough that she could see the terrifying fury burning in Devraj's eyes.
She looked back at Samar and gulped.
"Come here, Ira!" Samar gritted out.
"No."
He growled, his face contorted in rage, and he braced himself to lunge across the wet rock and drag her back into his grasp.
But before he takes the second step, bullets splintered the rock right at his feet, sending sharp fragments flying into the air and forcing him back.
Samar snapped his head up, his gaze tracking the source of the gunfire.
Breaching the shallows, Devraj stood tall at the bow of the speedboat, his hands firmly gripping a firearm.
The corporate king had finally picked up a weapon.
Without a second of hesitation, Devraj vaulted over the side of the hull, his boots crashing into the knee-deep water as he waded through the surf toward the shoreline.
"Take one more step toward her, and I will blow your fucking head off." Devraj growled.
Overwhelming joy caught in Ira's throat, she threw herself off the rocky ledge, her bare feet splashing through the water as she ran toward him.
The moment she reached his frame, she crashed into his solid chest, wrapping her arms around his neck with a desperate grip.
Devraj instantly dropped his guard just enough to wrap his free arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his body with a crushing, protective intensity.
He buried his face into her hair, his chest heaving as the terrifying weight of the last few days finally lifted from his shoulders.
"I'm here... I've got you." he whispered against her ear, his deep voice steady her trembling, exhausted frame.
"You're safe now, okay?"
Across the sand, Samar was seeing red. His veins bulged against his neck, his breath coming in heavy as he watched the woman he claimed as his destiny cling to his worst enemy.
He was entirely unhinged, pushed past the point of reason.
"Take care of him, Devraj.. no holds back this time." Varun's voice boomed from the vessel as he raised a assault rifle, his eyes locking onto the grid of mercenaries lining the cliffs.
"We will handle these pathetic fools."
Devraj nodded, never breaking eye contact with Samar as he slowly eased Ira behind his massive frame, shielding her completely.
Samar let out a humorless chuckle.
"Well, well... look at you.." Samar mocked, his smirk twisting into something cruel as his eye locked onto the weapon in Devraj's hand.
"Didn't you absolutely despise this side of life, Devraj? Yet, look who is holding a high-caliber firearm like a professional. Make me almost believe that, this life was in your blood too. You just need to unlock it, like me." Samar laughed
"You see that, Ira! He is also rotten. Like me! Will you pick me now! I'm better than him!"
Devraj tightened his grip on his weapon, stepping back slightly to keep Ira completely out of sight.
"You have no idea how deeply I have always loathed your rotten, pathetic guts.." Devraj spoke, "Your desperate, wretched intentions have always slipped right through your skin, Samar. Ten years later, and you are still the exact same weak, cowardly boy I met in college."
The insult struck him. The smirk vanished from Samar's face, his face contorting into fury.
"I hate you with every single fiber of my being, Devraj..
" Samar spat, his chest heaving as his voice cracked with a decade's worth of resentment.
"I despise everything that has to do with your name...
except for her." His gaze aggressively drifted past Devraj's shoulder, locking onto Ira, who was shivering and clutching Devraj's wet shirt in terror.
Devraj pulled the trigger, the bullet passed through the air and missing Samar's head by a mere bit of an inch, embedding itself deep into the stone wall behind him.
Samar flinched his breath hitching as a few loose pebbles grazed his cheek. He snapped his gaze back to Devraj.
"I won't miss the next time." Devraj warned, his tone terrifyingly calm, his finger already resetting on the trigger.
Samar stared at him, the shock slowly fading from his face as his expression hardened into stone. The madness in his eye solidified into a dangerous, suicidal resolve.
"You want to know what weakness truly means, Devraj?" Samar said, his voice dripping with an eerie venomous confidence.
He ignored the weapon pointed at his chest and took a slow step closer...
"Let me show you."
Devraj's brows furrowed slightly, his mind trying to calculate Samar's next move.
But Samar only smirked. Suddenly, a glint caught the corner of Ira's eye. Tucked behind a stone ridge, one of Samar's hidden mercenaries was raising his rifle, aligning the sights directly at Devraj.
Her lungs seized.
"Devraj!" she screamed, adrenaline overtaking her entire body, she threw her weight forward and shoved Devraj hard out of the way, narrowly avoiding the shot herself.
Devraj staggered sideways, his boots losing stance on the wet sand as the sniper's bullet passed where he had just been standing.
But before Ira could even regain her footing, Samar took the chance on the distraction.
He moved fast towards them, his uninjured arm wrapped around her waist, jerking her backward with force.
Ira gasped in pain as her spine collided against his solid, bleeding chest, effectively tearing her away from Devraj's reach.
"Let go of me! Get your hands off me! Devraj!!" she screamed, thrashing against his hold.
Snapping his posture straight, Devraj found the sniper's flash in an instant. Without missing a beat, he raised his firearm and pulled the trigger, executing the hidden guy with a single shot to the chest.
The man collapsed instantly into the surf.
Devraj turned his head back toward Samar.
Samar was panting heavily, his chest heaving irregularly as deep crimson blood soaked through his messy shoulder bandage, dripping down his skin.
But despite the agony, his grip on Ira was an iron vice. Locked firmly in his hold, Ira's face was slick with fresh tears, her terrified, pleading eyes locked onto Devraj.
"Let her go, Samar." Devraj growled..
Instead of backing down, Samar sneered, tightening his grip around her waist..
Devraj took a step forward, his boot sinking into the wet sand of the shore, determined to rip him apart with his bare hands.
But a sudden, deafening of bullets tore into the sand right at his feet forcing him to instinctively drop his posture.
He raised his weapon to return fire, but his finger froze on the trigger.
Emerging from the rock formation were four more of Samar's men, their assault rifles raised, locked, and pointed directly at Devraj.