Breaking the Beast - Volatile Times Book 1

Prologue - A Summer's Night Dreary

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T-Series might just be one of the most interesting men alive. He wasn't a fan of boasting... Well no that was a lie. In the privacy of expensive dinner parties and the like, Bhushan Kumar found plenty of time to brag about his corporation's achievements, making his rich friends green with envy. Every day was something new. A day never passed in his life where he isn't doing something out of the ordinary whether it be planning something crazy or partaking in it himself. Bhushan wasn't sure he could live another day unlike it.

On his side of the world, it was already the evening. Just as American icons began their day, Bhushan was yawning as he prepared to end his. He hadn't slept the night before leaving the CEO incredibly tired. The nondescript office tower he worked in was rather bland but to him, it didn't matter where he worked. Instead, it was the meaning of his work. Being his father; Gulshan Kumar's successor, left a lot of pressure on his shoulders. That night, in particular, the weight was crushing. It bent his spine and made the bones in his body crumble. He hadn't been able to get funding for the movie he wanted to make so he was pretty down in the dumps but he knew what to do when the world felt just a bit too heavy. He could always just visit his father. Dad never minded the company.

The roads were quiet, almost fully empty. He worked longer than most of the average Indian population, thereby the drive was basically at his own pace. Streetlights doing more to guide him than the pale moonlight, he weaved his way through stores and homes and towers and shrines before pulling into a parking lot. Bhushan smiled.

Most people found cemeteries awful and cold, but he personally found this one at least comforting and warm. It's where his dad lived, so he could always find some sort of homely feeling. And there he was! The stone door was one he was grateful he didn't have the key to quite yet. He had no desire to chase it until he was old and gray. But he was still sure he could hear him.

"Hey, dad! ...Yes your movie is coming along great. We might've not gotten the funding we wanted but we're fucking T-Series! We can get whatever money we need from any investor... I just want enough to tell your story in full you know? Maybe some of that wretched mafia could come to justice too... You know dad, you kind of are an idiot. If you were more subtle about your values, maybe you could be happily retired right now... If I could just hear your voice-" Rustling in the bushes startled the CEO. In silence, he observed his surroundings before promptly taking a seat on the headstone. However, he noticed just how unstable it was. It's been so many years after all. "Damn, guess even the animals think I'm a lunatic." What Bhushan didn't expect after that was a response.

"Nah, it's just me." Fabric suddenly over his mouth, panic quickly turned autopilot as he managed to tear through the thin washcloth. Facing his attacker, he seemed to tense up now that his main weapon is gone.

"You're alone, aren't you?"

"Uh..." Fumbling with his pockets, the attacker pulled out a knife which Bhushan retorted by trying to find a weapon near him. Although Bhushan may not appear physically strong, in the wake of his father's untimely assassination he did train. So despite the struggle, he managed to pull the loose headstone of his fathers and bashed it across his attacker's head, sending them to the ground and at the bare minimum, giving them a concussion. He had decided the newfound red complimented the gray stone rather nicely. Poking the attacker with his finger, he flinched slightly and Bhushan took advantage of his awareness.

"You are going to tell me who you work for and you are going to tell me now. I won't buy you being stupid enough to think you could kill me all by your lonesome."

"D..."

"SPEAK UP!"

"D..." They began coughing and Bhushan suddenly had a horrifying thought. What if...?