36

Sensitive content ahead. Reader's discretion is advised.

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Anjali

"Will you do it again? Tell me. Will you?" Mahindra asked, bringing the stick down on my battered leg again.

"No, I won't. I am sorry. Please, I am sorry," I cried, trembling as I saw the blood pour out of many wounds on my leg.

"Manav, I think she has many things still left to learn. You need to be stricter with punishing her. Once I return, I want to see an obedient girl who bows her head and does everything we ask her to. Understood?" He asked his friend, who nodded eagerly with an evil smirk on his face.

"No, please. Please don't punish me. I am sorry for stealing food from the refrigerator. I was starving and could not control myself. But I won't do it again. Please, please," I cried, but both men only laughed at my pitiful state.

Once Mahindra went out of the room, Manav walked closer to me. "You heard what he said. You need to learn to be obedient. I guess it is my fault that you are still disobedient to us. I have been far too lenient on you."

I backed to the corner, fearful of the man approaching me. "I am sorry. I won't disappoint anyone again. Please have some mercy on me."

"I will think about it if you make me happy tonight. I will even lie to my friend that I punished you properly.

"So, tell me, will you make me happy?" Manav asked, and I nodded, my whole body shivering as he pulled me toward him.

"Go on, then. You know what I want," he said, and I bit my lips to stop myself from sobbing because, per his rules, crying would earn me fifty spanks on my bare bottom.

I unzipped my dress, letting it fall to the floor.

Hissing due to the pain in my injured leg, I limped closer to Manav and kneeled before him to unzip his pants.

I open my eyes and sit on the bed, my breaths coming in spurts as I try to calm myself.

After a few minutes, when my body finally stops shaking from the nightmare, I climb down from the bed and limp to the window.

It has been almost fifteen years, but the nightmare still haunts me.

I sigh deeply and start to walk to the bathroom to freshen up for the day. Although it's an hour earlier than I usually wake up, I know I cannot go back to sleep now after reliving that one memory of my nightmarish past.

As I am taking out the clothes to wear for the day from the cupboard, I hear my phone vibrate.

Frowning at who messaged me this early morning, I pick up my phone from the bedside table and see Ridvansh's name flashing on the screen.

Ridvansh: "I miss you, Darling. Let's meet today?"

I smile as I read his text. Meeting him will be perfect for distracting me from my adverse mood today.

So, I text him back, telling him to come to our Moon House at 1 pm today. I know he wants to have sex, and I do too. But I also need to talk with him about Khushi.

***********

"That was amazing, Darling. It had been so long since I last buried myself inside you," Ridvansh says.

We are both lying naked on the bed, fully spent after round two of fucking.

I scoot closer to him and place my head on his chest. "I needed this today."

Hearing me, he keeps his finger below my chin and makes me look at him. "Everything fine?" He asks, and I can see concern for me marring his face.

"Nightmares again," I reply, knowing he will understand.

And he does because he sighs understandingly and pulls me closer to him. "It's ok, Sweetheart. We have left that life behind. No one will hurt you now."

I nod, feeling relaxed as I hear his heartbeat. "I sometimes wonder how we would have turned out if all those things had not happened to us. Would we be like others, normal and boring?"

Ridvansh sits up on the bed, pulling me along with him. He then sweetly kisses my lips and smiles at me. "Maybe. But we would not have been happy because all those girls' screaming and their helplessness excited us. Don't you think?"

His question makes me think about the fun we had when we tortured those girls. Their screams when we tied them up while Ridvansh had his way with them. And then the mind-blowing sex we had right after that.

Too much fun.

"You are right, Ridvansh. That feeling was euphoric. Something I am craving to experience again," I say, placing soft kisses on his neck.

Just thinking about it has made excitement course through me. "When do you think we can start searching for another prey?" I ask him.

"We must stay low for a month or two because I talked with my informers. The investigation for the last two girls is still ongoing. The police think those girls ran away with their boyfriends because they have the letters we had forcefully made those girls write, but their parents are pushing them to at least find where their daughters are," Ridvansh says, and I feel irritation rise within me.

"How long will the investigation continue then?"

"I think one more month. If the police do not find anything by then, there is a high chance they will close the case and tell the parents they cannot find the girls because they do not want to be found," Ridvansh tells me, and I smirk.

"That's great," I say, kissing his jaw. "But don't you think we can at least start to lure another prey? It usually takes us about two months to properly plan and make a move. So, I think it will be perfect. And I am thinking of keeping the girl alive for at least six months this time. We always do three months, but for me, that is too short a time to torture them properly," I say, and Ridvansh sighs.

"That might be dangerous. What if they succeed in escaping, or what if someone found our place? Last time we had to move Anusha to the mansion's basement because a few people came here and asked about the screams. That was how Khushi found Anusha there in the first place. If not for that, she would have never known," Ridvansh says, and I nod, agreeing with him.

"We will be more careful this time. What about we gag the girl? Then she won't be able to scream," I suggest.

"Also, we need to do something about Khushi, Ridvansh. I can't let that girl play us."

"What do you mean? You think she will try to double-cross us?" Ridvansh asks.

"Of course, I think that. Do you really think she made a deal with us because she only wants to destroy Arnav? No, Ridvansh. I can feel she is trying to destroy us too, and my intuition is rarely wrong," I reply, wrapping my naked body with the bedsheet and climbing down the bed.

Reaching the center table, I light up my cigarette and take a puff.

Ridvansh, too climbs down from the bed and wears his pants. Then, walking up to me, he sits beside me on the couch and takes a puff from my cigarette.

"Find out where her parents were taken. We do not know who is the person helping her right now. But if we find where her parents are, we will not only have something to subdue her but also blackmail her to get the evidence she has against us," I say to Ridvansh, anger rising within me as I think about that chit of a girl who dared to threaten me that night.

"As you say, Sweetheart. I will ask my informers to snoop around the hospitals discreetly and find out about her parents."

"If you find it out, I will reward you for one whole week," I say, smiling seductively at him, and he leans toward me, kissing me deeply as he pulls down my bedsheet.

"Show me a glimpse of that sinful week then, Darling," he says, standing up from the couch and carrying my naked body to the bed.

Arnav

Sitting on the chair, I admire the handiwork in front of me.

Handiwork being Vivansh tied up to the metal post with his hands above his head.

His whole body has welt marks due to the whippings with my belt. There are also some wounds through which the blood is oozing out. His face swollen from my punches.

"Please. I am sorry. Ridvansh told me to do it," he says.

I stand up from my chair and walk to him. As I reach him, I grab his hair and yank it up, making him look at me.

"Hmm, so your brother tells you, and you agree to malign a married woman's name?" I glare at him.

More than him, I am angry at myself.

I remember what Khushi had said to me that day when I questioned her about why she was alone with Vivansh in the house.

"I know you will never believe me. So, think what you want to, Arnav."

And she was right. Instead of believing her, I believed what Vivansh and Sabita told me that day.

"Well, my slutty wife, I think I could not satisfy you properly. That is why you felt the need to contact another man, isn't it? Well, I intend to fully satisfy you today. I plan to make your body submit to me. I will force you to want the release.

"Your body's need will humiliate you today, Khushi. If not fear, then I will make your humiliation my weapon to break you. You will never escape me, Khushi. Never."

Seething in rage at that recollection, I throw punches at Vivansh.

After a few minutes, I stopped when I saw Vivansh passed out, his body swinging but not falling because his hand was tied to the post above his head.

"How could I have been so stupid not to see through everything? And what did Ridvansh get by doing all this?"

I wonder as I pace in the warehouse.

This is the warehouse I brought a year back because I wanted to open a bakery here for Anjali.

When she and I were sixteen and twelve, respectively, she used to tell me about her dream of becoming the best pastry chef in the country.

But after three years, when our parents died, it remained just that—a dream of hers.

That is why when I was capable enough to make her dream a reality, I bought this warehouse to gift her on her birthday.

I wanted her to build and decorate it as she wished, so I did not renovate it.

I thought I would start the renovation when she told me exactly what type of exterior and interior decorations she wanted.

But when I told her about it, she seemed confused for a few minutes before gathering herself and telling me that her dreams changed after our parents died.

That is why I never got the chance to bring her here and show her this place.

Well, good for me that no one knows about this place.

I smirk as I look at Vivansh's unconscious body hanging from the metal post.

But my smirk falters when I again think about Ridvansh's intention behind harming Khushi.

He not only harmed Khushi but also killed my child. And it is now time to get even with him.

With that thought in mind, I put on the gloves I had brought and took out the knives before walking toward Vivansh.

***********

Khushi

"What do you mean by they are not there? How could you be so irresponsible, Nisha?" I shout at Nisha on the phone.

She messaged me about an hour back that my parents were missing from the hospital she had taken them to.

I had been calling her frantically since I got the message, but she did not receive it. And now, when she has finally received my call, she is telling me she could not find any clue regarding their whereabouts.

Nisha: "I talked with everyone in the hospital, Khushi. But they keep saying that no one named Amrita Agarwal or Satish Agarwal was admitted to the hospital."

I slump on the bed as I hear Nisha. "But how can that be? You had taken them to that hospital, hadn't you?"

Nisha: Yes. I had, Khushi. All the staff here are lying. And they have been too efficient in their work. There is no record of your parents' admission here, and all the CCTV footage has been wiped out. There is no way to expose their lie."

I could feel fear rising within me with each passing second. I clutch the phone tightly to prevent it from falling as my hand starts trembling. "What do we do then, Nisha? How do we find where Maa and Papa are?"

Nisha: "I will try my best to get to the bottom of this from here, Khushi. But you also need to snoop around in the mansion. There are two people inside the mansion who are capable of doing this--either Anjali or Arnav. Try to find out who did it."

"Yes. I will do that," I say and hang up the call.

I strongly feel Anjali is behind this because Arnav has no reason to do it. At least not now.

I have convinced Arnav that I am ready to give him another chance. So, he won't jeopardize that chance by taking away my parents from me.

But I had also convinced Anjali about me wanting to destroy Arnav. So, why would she kidnap my parents?

I clutch my head, feeling the painful throbbing as I think about what to do next.

"Crying for your parents already? Don't worry. Nothing has happened to them yet." I hear the voice and look up at the person.

"Why did you do it?" I ask, and he smirks, walking toward me with such a manic glint in his eyes that I shiver in fear.