The Devil's Love

Chapter One

The room was drowned in darkness, silence thick enough to be cut by the dagger that Sidharth was holding in his hand, his queen’s wedding present. He wanted to smile at the thought, but instead he clicked his tongue. He might not be able to give it to her tonight. He wanted to but she was probably fast asleep and he understood, the day had been exhausting. 

He almost left the room, allowing her a few hours of rest before her new life would begin, the next day. Her life as the queen of the Mafia King, her life as the Devil’s one true love, but the thought of seeing his bride once stopped him in his tracks. 

She had an iron grip on his heart.

He walked over to the bed where his wife lay very much awake and still decked up in her wedding dress. Sidharth’s face contorted in confusion as he switched on the bedside lamp, illuminating the room enough to look at her better. 

His action startled her out of her thoughts and she looked at him with an expression that killed him a thousand deaths in a single moment. Fear, terrible fear. 

“Were you trying to sleep with all that still on?” Sidharth asked, sitting on the edge of the bed, barely centimeters away from his bride who flinched away from him. 

Sidharth sighed. “Mujhe laga tha tum so gayi hogi. Kamre mein lights bhi nahi chal rahi thi.” 

“I didn't think you'd need lights.” Shehnaaz said quietly. Her voice had never sounded so cold and emotionless to him. What did she mean? Did she think so low of him? It scared Sidharth, his saving grace was furious. His queen.. Or could he even call her that? Did he have the right?

“You don’t seem to want my company tonight.” Sidharth deduced, his heart cracking as he said that, but even though he didn’t want to acknowledge it, it was the truth.

“I don’t have a choice.” Shehnaaz responded, she sounded defeated, broken and so damn sad. This was not how he wanted their wedding day to go, for either of them. 

Sidharth chuckled to himself; here’s an irony worth thinking of, the girl who woke his cold, dead heart from its slumber, with her beautiful, terrified eyes was the same girl that broke his heart with those beautiful terrified eyes.

The only difference was, this time the terror was there in because of him. The man who had vowed never to hurt her. 

***

Shehnaaz was walking home after her working hours, when she saw a little girl being pushed into a car, flailing and screaming. She might have ignored the cries of the toddler, assuming the cries originating from a tantrum, had she not noticed a man carrying a gun getting into the vehicle after the child. She gasped, running after the speeding vehicle, screaming.

She fumbled with the straps of her handbag to retrieve her cell-phone and call the police. The vehicle was gaining speed, and Shehnaaz was still following the men on foot, when she caught sight of an empty auto-rickshaw in front of her. She looked frantically between the two vehicles. She would never be able to catch them on foot. Shehnaaz sighed, getting into the rickshaw and asked the man to follow the car. 

The rickshaw driver, caught by surprise at her authoritative voice, obeyed without a question while she got connected to the nearest police station. 

“I am speaking from the taxi stand near The Excilor Hotel, I have seen a little girl being abducted by a group of men in a white, Toyota vehicle..”

She explained the whole situation to the operator on the other end of the call, frantically. 

“She is no older than five, sir. The men are armed..” She replied to the officer’s questions. “They are on the move, sir and I am following them in an auto-rickshaw.”