4
[ ?? Insight for those who forgot the 1st chapter and are lazy like me to go back and read again ??
For anyone wondering - Neelo aunty from the first chapter is the mother of Natasha.
Natasha is the girl with whom Adeel cheated on Safiya with.
And Safiya helped natasha get a job in Adeels company.
Natasha is pregnant with neelo's 2nd husband.
Neelo has a son nosherwan as well, who she wanted Safiya to marry.
And it is also mentioned in the first chapter - Safiya mentioned that neelo's marriage didn't work out yet neelo is always concerned with Safiya's marriage . ]
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"Now.", Safiya's tone sharpened.
"Ask for your money properly... or pray I decide your corpse is worth the inconvenience.", The threat shattered whatever composure Natasha had left.
Safiya said nothing. She simply watched, her expression calm, expectant as though already deciding whether Natasha's life was worth sparing. Natasha's knees buckled. She dropped to the floor with a sharp gasp, hands trembling as they clutched at the fabric of Safiya's coat.
"P-please...", The arrogance in her voice had dissolved into panic.
"I was mistaken.", Her head bowed low, shoulders shaking.
"Forgive me. I spoke out of turn.", Safiya looked down at her as one might regard something unpleasant stuck to the sole of a shoe. Natasha swallowed hard, forcing the words out.
"I beg your mercy... please. I-I need the money. That is all. I was desperate.", heavy silence followed. Then Safiya crouched before her, her fingers tilting Natasha's chin upward once more.
This time her smile was warm. That terrified Natasha more than the threat had.
"How quickly greed devours dignity.", Natasha trembled violently. Safiya rose again, looking bored now.
"You will have ten lakhs.", Hope flickered across Natasha's face and died instantly at Safiya's next words.
" Kill that child inside you if possible ", Natasha's eyes widened, " Or have you already killed it but are gathering funds by using a dead baby's name and then later are planning to pretend that you had a miscarriage.
", Natasha's eyes widened. That was a detail she didn't want anyone knowing, yet Safiya had seen right through ther act.
" It died the moment i was aware of its existence ", Natasha whispered.
'Good. It's better being dead rather than being born to a miserable life where no one would be ready to take responsibility.', Safiya thought but didn't voice it out.
" The other forty...", Safiya turned, her voice smooth as silk. "You will earn by proving you're still useful enough to keep breathing."
Without another glance, she walked away, leaving Natasha kneeling on the cold marble floor, shaking beneath the weight of her mercy.
" N-no please. They will take my organs this time if I'm unable to pay them...", natasha cried out.
"You can do without a kidney and one eyeball I suppose. And you should be happy that another person would get to live a life... "
Concern flickered across Natasha's face. Then Safiya pressed the intercom and called in a woman.
"come in." Natasha froze. Safiya nodded at the woman, who swiftly approached Natasha before inserting a syringe in her. It was a tranquilizer.
" Dispose her off when you're done, leave her outside her house. "
The woman stared at Safiya with confusion, "alive... ", Safiya added. She didn't want natasha dead. Yet!
" Take this mms with you. I have a few copies for when I need them. ", Safiya said placing one pendrive into the purse.
"You- you'll pay for this-", Safiya's expression never changed.
" I already have sent 10 lakhs to your account, you will get it once you pay your 30 lakhs debt back to me. " Natasha lurched forward, fury twisting her face.
"I'll fucking ruin you, Safiya.", Safiya didn't move.
"Y-you cheated me. You u-used me. I did everything you asked and then you threw me away like trash. ", Natasha laughed bitterly, her voice shaking.
" That's what you do, isn't it? You manipulate people until they're useful, then you destroy them.", Safiya simply watched her.
"You want everything your way. Yo-you are a fucking ch-cheater. Your husband will leave y-you, your fa-family will be... " Natasha spat. "Every si-single thing. Even your marriage-"
"Careful.", The word was soft as Safiya said it. It was barely above a whisper which made Natasha freeze.
Safiya smoothened an invisible crease from her sleeve. Then she walked toward Natasha, each step measured, unhurried. When she stopped, their faces were inches apart. Her voice was almost gentle.
"You've mistaken my patience for mercy.", Natasha's breathing quickened. Safiya tilted her head slightly, studying her like something already dead.
"You seem to think knowing my secrets gives you power.", A faint smile touched her lips.
"It doesn't."
" I really wanted to spare you Natasha but you decided to betray me.
After i gave you the money to save your sorry ass.
.. And now, you have the guts to walk back in here like you own this place after Adeel tossed you aside like the garbage you are and now you ask for money with your filthy mouth. ", She leaned closer.
"It simply gives me a reason to bury you deeper." , Natasha's face drained of color.. Safiya's tone remained elegant, conversational.
"If you speak another word about my marriage...", She adjusted Natasha's scarf herself, almost affectionately, " and I'll make sure to ruin your fucking life with my own two hands. ", Natasha trembled. Safiya stepped back and pressed the intercom.
"Take her.", Natasha's voice cracked.
"You psychopath-", Safiya gave a small, disappointed sigh.
"No, Natasha." Her eyes were cold enough to stop breath.
" A psychopath feels nothing. I'm enjoying this game. " , Safiya gave her a slight smile. Two men entered into the room, moving seiftly. Natasha screamed as they dragged her out.
" Make sure to ceize her apartment and get me all the money she has stolen from me. You find anything useful bring it to me... ", Safiya adjusted the cuff of her sleeve.
She settled back into her seat, as soon as Junaid entered the room.
"Patel still hasn't paid.", Safiya asked, her composure intact.
" No, ma'am.", Junaid looked around, he had some 8dea of what had happened inside but was too skeptical to address the elephant in the room
"That's disappointing.", Her fingers tapped once against the folder.
"Remind him what noncompliance costs.", She slid the file across the table.
"Yes, ma'am.", Junaid nodded. He shifted in his spot, and Safiya noticed his hesitation.
"M-Miss...", Safiya didn't look at him, as he swallowed hard.
" This... "
"What you're doing... what you're chasing...", His voice trembled.
"You won't get away with this forever.", He forced himself to continue.
"The Rathods. The politicians. The Sisodias. Ansari Inc.. The law... And especially Zaviyar Khan..." His breathing hitched.
"One mistake and everything... everyone will turn against you.", Safiya's fingers moved calmly over the papers on her desk, aligning their edges with exact precision. The secretary's voice dropped lower.
"And the Khans... Zaviyar Khan", for the first time, her hand stopped.
"If they ever find out-", He regretted the words the moment they left his mouth.The air in the room changed. Safiya slowly lifted her eyes to him.
The secretary forgot how to breathe. After a long pause, she rose from her chair and walked toward the glass wall overlooking the city.
Her reflection stared back at her perfectly composed, perfectly still. Then she spoke.
"Do you know why revenge terrifies ordinary people?", Her tone was soft enough to force him closer.
"Because it demands everything. Blood, body and... "
" Soul... ", She clasped her hands behind her back.
"It asks for patience when your blood is boiling.", she clenched her fist, "For silence when you want to scream."
"For precision when one mistake could bury you.", She turned her head slightly, her expression unreadable.
"Yes.", A faint darkness touched her serene face as she remembered his face, "Revenge is hard."
"That is precisely why so few are worthy of it.", Safiya looked back to the city lights.
"And that," she said quietly, "is why I will win."
Junaid stood rooted to the floor, his hands trembling at his sides.
"But ma'am...", Safiya didn't turn around. His throat tightened.
"This will ruin everything you've built. Your life... your relations. You will be left alone. ", Junaid immediately regretted speaking. His voice dropped lower, shaking harder.
" So be it. If me winning demands my loneliness then so be it ", She crossed the room toward him, her heels clicking softly against the marble like the countdown to an execution.
"Do you think I haven't pictured every single one of them on their knees?", Her voice darkened.
"Begging.", a cruel edged cut through her voice, "Bleeding.", her smile grew viciouss, " Learning exactly what it costs to make a mistake. "
"My hands have ached for years, junaid.", Her fingers curled slowly, as though already gripping the cold steel of a gun.
"They have itched to press a barrel against certain skulls...", A faint smile curved her lips. "...to feel their panic shake against my hands...", She tilted her head, almost thoughtful. Safiya leaned closer, her whisper slicing through him.
"This plan is not revenge born overnight.", Junaid watched as the young woman he had started working with became a corporate beast.
"After... after everything you're doing...", He looked at her like he no longer knew what she was.
"How will you sleep at night?"
A long silence prolonged in the room as Safiya's turned to him with a smile that looked similar to the innocent smile she had given him when he had started working under her as an intern.
The monster vanished, replaced by the unseen soft side of Safiya Khan no one in the corporate world had seen.
And somehow, that was worse because how did the woman without a heart end up losing it to someone who was no less than a moster himself.
She stepped back, smoothing the wrinkles from her sleeve.
Then she answered, calm as ever, "In my husband's arms."
Junaid stared. Safiya's smile deepened, unfiltered and tender.
"He sleeps peacefully beside me...", Her eyes turned cold again. "And I sleep very well knowing none of them suspect a thing." Then she walked past him.
"Now get to work. ", Her voice was once again silk. " I need to get home soon. I have some wife duties to fulfil... "
The next day
The twenty-third floor was unusually busy that morning. Interns occupied almost every desk, junior associates hurried between departments and case files were spread across the long conference table in the center of the floor.
Normally, Safiya preferred working from her private office but today she was seated outside with everyone else, conducting a training session for the firm's interns and newly hired associates.
A projector displayed legal documents on the large screen behind her while her laptop remained connected to the conference speakers. Zhe had been playing witness statements and evidence recordings for the session, so the audio system was still active.
Nearly twenty interns sat around her, taking notes as she guided them through a complicated criminal appeal. They had been here for almost two hours now, and the interns were tired and sweating buckets, nervous as Safiya's session turned into a judicial storm for them.
They weren't scared of her rather worried about their impression on one of the most pronounced lawyers of the firm. They wanted to be in her good books.
" Tell me why this appeal failed,", Safiya asked, glancing at the file in her hands. A nervous intern straightened in his seat.
" The defence relied too heavily on circumstantial evidence?"
" No.", Safiya replied briskly. The poor boy immediately shrank back into his chair. Another intern raised his hand.
"Their timeline contradicted the witness testimony.", Safiya nodded. " Good. Always remember this. If your timeline falls apart, your entire argument falls apart. "
Pens immediately began moving across notebooks. At that moment, Junaid approached her with a folder.
"Ma'am, these are the documents from last month's hearing.", he placed the files beside her
"Should I schedule the client meeting for 11 a.m. ?", Junaid asked her with a hushes tone seeing that the session might take time.
" 12.", she confirmed. She had a long day ahead.
"Alright, ma'am.", Her voice remained cold, professional.
Nobody interrupted Safiya when she was working, especially not when she was teaching.
She had just begun explaining another legal point when a sudden commotion erupted near the reception area.
Heads turned simultaneously as a man hurried across the floor carrying a large black parcel.
" Safiya, maam....", Safiya's eyes widened when she noticed the man. It was none other than Nizam, wearing a black suit. He adjusted the tie, bowing at Safiya lightly.
Junaid immediately stepped forward, "Excuse me. You can't just walk in here-"
The man raised both hands. " I'm here to meet ma'am. .", He cleared his throat before adding nervously.
"I've come from Mr. Zaviyar Khan."
The entire floor seemed to fall silent, some eyebrows rising at the foreign name.
While some looked up, as the name sounded familiar.
Several interns exchanged looks, and one associate nearly choked on her coffee, knowing that Safiya would show hell to the man for interrupting.
Safiya slowly lifted her gaze from the file in front of her.
"Sir, sent this.", He carefully placed the parcel in front of her before handing over an envelope, "And this letter."
Safiya stared surprised and cleared her throat. She sighed before she took it, he looked visibly relieved as though he had just completed a dangerous assignment.
A few amused smiles appeared around the room because it was unlikely of Safiya but she ignored them. She opened the envelope quickly and found a handwritten note inside, written in Zaviyar's familiar handwriting.
Jaan-e-Zaviyar,
Apne shohar par kuch reham karo
aur apne phone ko ek nazar dekh lo.
Messages ka jawab douh please, mein maafi maangta hu ki mene tumhe Bina emoji ke reply diya
Call forward se hata dou please.
...