Chapter 2
The hallway echoed with the heavy sound of footsteps behind her.
Shruti’s heart slammed against her ribs as she sprinted through the quiet service corridor of the Grand Imperial Hotel.
Her breath came in short, panicked gasps, and the heavy folds of her emerald green silk saree felt like weights dragging her down.
Behind her, the heavy double doors of the private study slammed open.
Reyansh Khanna stepped into the corridor, his eyes sharp and burning with sudden fury. He caught a fleeting glimpse of a woman’s silhouette rounding the corner, a flash of rich emerald silk and long, dark wavy hair disappearing into the bright light of the main ballroom entrance.
"Who was that?" Reyansh growled to his bodyguard, who had rushed out right behind him.
"I didn't catch her face, sir," the bodyguard replied nervously, scanning the empty hallway. "She moved too fast."
Reyansh’s jaw tightened. He walked over to the spot where the brass floor lamp had been knocked over. Picking up a small, elegant pearl earring that had slipped off in the rush, he held it up to the light. A dangerous, sinister smile spread slowly across his face.
"She was wearing a green saree," Reyansh whispered to himself, his mind quickly analyzing the guest list of the evening. "The Malhotra girl... Shruti Malhotra. Raghav’s little sister."
Reyansh narrowed his eyes, his grip tightening around the tiny pearl earring until his knuckles turned white. "She saw everything. Find out where she goes, who she speaks to, and make sure she doesn't drop a word to Akhil Raheja. If she tries to speak... eliminate the threat."
***
Meanwhile, inside the bustling, brightly lit ballroom, Shruti pushed her way through the crowd of wealthy guests, her legs trembling beneath her. She stopped near a tall marble pillar, placing a hand on her chest to steady her racing heart.
"Shruti? Hey, are you okay?" Myra asked, stepping up beside her with two glasses of sparkling fruit juice. "You look like you’ve seen a ghost!"
"I... I’m fine," Shruti stammered, quickly smoothing down her saree and trying her best to appear calm. "Just... jet lag hitting me all at once. The crowd is a bit suffocating."
She didn't dare tell Myra what she had just witnessed.
If she told Myra, word would quickly reach her brother Raghav, and if Raghav found out, he would immediately confront Reyansh Khanna.
The vision of Reyansh choking the elderly Mr. Kapoor against the wall was burned into her mind.
Reyansh was dangerous, ruthless, and completely unhinged.
She didn't want to drag her family into a deadly corporate war without being absolutely certain of what to do next.
Across the room, Akhil was still deep in conversation with foreign delegates, but his sharp instincts immediately picked up on the sudden change in Shruti’s body language. He noticed her pale skin, her trembling hands, and the way her eyes nervously scanned the ballroom entrances.
Excusing himself from the businessmen, Akhil began walking towards her, his dark eyes locked on her face.
But before he could reach her, Raghav caught his arm to introduce him to a prominent government official.
By the time Akhil finished the conversation and turned back around, Shruti had already convinced her mother that she was feeling unwell and needed to go home early.
***
The next morning, the bright Mumbai sun flooded Shruti’s bedroom through the sheer curtain panels.
Despite sleeping for nearly eight hours, Shruti woke up feeling exhausted.
Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered the cold, terrifying voice of Reyansh Khanna threatening to destroy anyone who stood in his path.
She took a long, hot shower, dressed in a simple white linen shirt and comfortable blue denim jeans, and headed down to the kitchen. Her mother had prepared a lavish breakfast spread of piping hot parathas and fresh chai.
"Good morning, beta," Kavya smiled warmly. "You slept like a log! Are you feeling better today?"
"Much better, Mom," Shruti lied smoothly, taking a seat at the dining counter and sipping her tea.
"Good, because your editor called twice," Raghav said, walking into the kitchen while adjusting his wrist watch. "He said the travel magazine needs your final draft on the Southeast Asia tour by this evening."
"Right," Shruti nodded, feeling a sense of relief at the thought of work. Focusing on her travel writing would keep her mind away from the disturbing events of the previous night. "I'm heading over to the publication office in Colaba right now to meet Neil."
"Take the family driver," Raghav offered, picking up an apple from the fruit bowl. "Mumbai traffic is terrible today."
"No need, bhaiya," Shruti smiled, grabbing her camera bag and laptop sleeve. "I’ll take a cab. I need some fresh air anyway."
Thirty minutes later, Shruti arrived at the busy office of 'Global Explorer', the popular travel magazine where she worked.
She spent the next four hours sitting in a glass-walled conference room with her chief photographer and colleague, Neil D'Souza.
Neil was a cheerful, laid-back guy in his early thirties with a knack for capturing stunning landscape photos.
"These temple photos from Vietnam are incredible, Shruti," Neil said, scrolling through the high-resolution images on his laptop screen. "The readers are going to love this article."
"Thanks, Neil," Shruti smiled, though her eyes kept wandering towards the glass window overlooking the main street below.
For the past hour, she had felt a strange, uncomfortable sensation, a persistent feeling of being watched. She looked down at the street. Parked across the road near a local café was a dark grey sedan with heavily tinted windows. It had been standing there since she arrived.
Shruti shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. 'You’re just being paranoid,' she told herself. 'It’s just a random parked car in South Mumbai.'
By five o'clock in the afternoon, Shruti wrapped up her editorial meeting and said goodbye to Neil. Stepping out of the air-conditioned office building into the warm, humid evening air, she decided to walk down to a nearby coffee shop to grab an iced latte before heading home.
As she walked along the sidewalk, her sneakers making soft rhythmic sounds against the pavement, the strange feeling returned, stronger this time.
She paused outside a bookstore window, pretending to look at a display cover, and glanced at the glass reflection behind her.
Two burly men wearing dark jackets and baseball caps were walking about twenty paces behind her. They weren't looking at shop windows or talking to each other. Their eyes were fixed squarely on her. When Shruti stopped, they instantly slowed their pace, trying to look casual.
Shruti’s breath hitched in her throat. Her blood ran cold.
She turned around and picked up her pace, turning down a narrower side street lined with boutique shops and tea stalls. She looked over her shoulder again. The two men had turned into the side street as well, speeding up their pace to match hers.
Panic began to set in. This wasn't paranoia. Someone was definitely following her.
Her mind raced. Who were these men? Did Reyansh Khanna figure out that it was her outside the private study last night? Was he sending his men to intimidate her, or worse?
Determined to lose them, Shruti darted into a bustling local market area, weaving her way through crowds of shoppers, flower vendors, and street food stalls. She turned left, then right, taking sharp turns through the narrow alleys of Colaba.
After five minutes of fast walking, she slipped into a quiet, secluded alleyway behind a row of old colonial buildings and pressed her back against the brick wall, holding her breath.
She waited in total silence for two long minutes. The footsteps vanished.
Shruti let out a massive sigh of relief, resting her head against the cool brickwork. "Okay... okay, you lost them," she whispered to herself, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead. "You're safe."
She reached into her shoulder bag, pulled out her smartphone, and immediately dialed Myra’s number. She needed to get to a public, well-lit place right away.
"Hey, Shruti!" Myra’s cheerful voice came through the speaker. "Did you finish your magazine meeting?"
"Myra... listen to me," Shruti said, her voice shaking slightly despite her best efforts to stay calm. "I need you to meet me at Marine Drive right now. Near the promenade."
Myra’s tone instantly turned serious. "Shruti? What’s wrong? You sound terrified."
"I... I think someone was following me," Shruti admitted softly, looking around the quiet alley. "I lost them in the market, but I don't want to take a cab alone right now. Please come meet me."
"I’m on my way!" Myra said urgently. "Stay in a crowded area. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes!"
Shruti hung up the phone and took a deep breath. She quickly exited the dark alley and walked out onto the main thoroughfare heading towards the famous Marine Drive promenade.
***
By eight o'clock at night, the sun had completely set over the Arabian Sea, painting the sky in deep shades of indigo, purple, and orange. Marine Drive, widely known as the 'Queen’s Necklace' because of its curving arc of streetlights, was bustling with tourists, couples, and evening joggers.
Shruti sat on the concrete ledge facing the dark, rolling ocean waves. The cool sea breeze blew her dark hair across her face, providing a comforting relief from the humid evening heat. She kept checking her phone, waiting for Myra’s text.
What Shruti did not know was that the dark grey sedan had tracked her location to Marine Drive.
A few hundred meters away, parked in the shadows beneath a row of neem trees, the two men from earlier were on the phone with Reyansh Khanna.
"We found her, sir," one of the men spoke into his phone, keeping his eyes glued on Shruti’s figure sitting near the sea wall. "She's alone at Marine Drive. What are your orders?"