Chapter 2 #2
On the other end of the line, Reyansh’s dark voice echoed with cold malice. "Grab her. Pull her into the car and bring her to the abandoned warehouse near the docks. I want to personally remind Miss Malhotra what happens to people who stick their noses into my business."
"Understood, sir."
The two men stepped out of the vehicle, pulling their dark baseball caps low over their faces. They began walking casually towards the promenade, blending into the crowd of evening strollers.
Meanwhile, Shruti’s phone buzzed in her hand. It was a text from Myra:
'“Shruti, I’m so sorry! My car got stuck in a massive traffic jam near Churchgate! I’m still 20 minutes away. Are you okay?”'
Shruti sighed and quickly typed back:
'“It’s fine. I’m sitting near the ocean wall. Take your time.”'
She put her phone back into her pocket and looked out at the crashing waves. But as the crowd around her began to thin out slightly as the night grew later, a sudden shadow fell over her.
Shruti looked up, and her heart instantly stopped.
Standing right in front of her were the same two men from the Colaba market. Up close, they looked terrifying, tall, broad-shouldered, with hard, scarred faces and cold, menacing eyes.
"Miss Shruti Malhotra?" the larger man asked, his voice low and threatening. "You're coming with us."
"Who... who are you?" Shruti said, her voice trembling as she backed away on the concrete ledge, her sneakers pressing against the edge of the sea wall. "Get away from me, or I'll scream!"
"Don't make a scene, little lady," the second man growled, reaching into his jacket and revealing the heavy handle of a concealed knife. "Our boss just wants to have a friendly conversation with you about what you heard at the hotel last night. Walk quietly to our car, and nobody gets hurt."
Fear spiked through Shruti’s veins like ice water. Reyansh Khanna knew. He knew she had seen him!
"No!" Shruti shouted bravely.
Using all the strength in her body, she shoved her heavy camera bag directly into the face of the first man, knocking him back a step.
Without wasting a single second, she jumped off the concrete ledge, turned on her heels, and sprinted down the Marine Drive pavement as fast as her legs could carry her.
"Grab her!" the man yelled, clutching his bruised nose.
Shruti ran through the night, her lungs burning, her feet pounding against the hard concrete. The sea breeze whipped her hair wildly across her face. She looked back over her shoulder and saw both men giving chase, their long strides quickly closing the distance between them.
The promenade was getting emptier in this specific stretch near the southern end. She needed to reach the main road, but the men were smart, they were angling their path to cut off her route towards the streetlights and crowd.
Shruti reached into her bag while running, her shaking fingers frantically unlocking her phone. She didn't call the police, it would take them too long to locate her. She didn't call Raghav, he was miles away at his office.
Without thinking, her thumb hit the speed-dial number at the top of her emergency contact list, a number she had kept saved for eight years, even though she rarely used it.
'Akhil.'
The phone rang once. Twice.
On the third ring, his deep, authoritative voice cut through the air. "Shruti? Where are you? Your mother said you weren't home yet, "
"Akhil! Help me!" Shruti sobbed into the phone, her voice laced with absolute terror as she continued to run. "Please! Men... men are following me! They're trying to take me!"
On the other end of the line, the sound of papers rustling immediately stopped.
Akhil Raheja was sitting in his high-rise executive office in South Mumbai. The moment Shruti’s panicked voice reached his ears, his body went instantly still. The air around him seemed to freeze. A dark, terrifying aura erupted from him, a terrifying rage that few people had ever seen.
"Where are you?" Akhil demanded, his voice dangerously quiet, calm, and sharp as a razor. He was already pushing himself away from his desk, grabbing his car keys.
"Marine Drive! Near... near the old jetty!" Shruti cried, her foot catching slightly on a loose paving stone. She stumbled, her phone slipping from her fingers and crashing onto the pavement.
"Shruti! Shruti!" Akhil roared into his phone as the call went dead.
Slamming his phone into his pocket, Akhil sprinted out of his glass office, ignoring his shocked secretary, and sprinted down the private executive elevator towards the underground parking garage.
***
At Marine Drive, Shruti’s trip had given the two thugs the split second they needed to catch up.
Before she could grab her phone off the ground, a heavy hand grabbed her upper arm with a painful, bruising grip, dragging her roughly to her feet.
"Got you, you little brat!" the larger man snarled, pinning her arms behind her back.
"Let go of me! Help! Somebody help!" Shruti screamed at the top of her lungs, thrashing violently against his hold.
The second man pulled out a cloth handkerchief laced with a sweet-smelling chemical. "Shut her up!" he gritted out, stepping towards her to press the cloth over her mouth and nose.
Shruti kicked out wildly with her feet, her shoe landing hard against the man's shin. He grunted in pain, dropping the handkerchief onto the floor, and angrily raised his hand to strike her across the face.
Shruti flinched, pulling her head back and closing her eyes tight, waiting for the painful blow.
It never came.
'SCREEECH!'