Saving You

5.

Aditya loaded his gun, looking down at the man who was under his feet, begging for his life.  He saw nothing but fear in the eyes of the man. Good! Because that's exactly what he wanted from everyone around him.

Fear.

"You broke the rule. You spied on us and even tried to shoot my brother." Aditya spoke calmly while the man on the ground shivered putting his hands up together, and began begging again.

"Please Aditya. I had no choice. They said they would kill my wife if I didn't. I had no other choice."

Aditya laughed, the sound echoing around the basement. "Choice? You had a choice. You could have asked me for help but instead you crossed me. Do you know what awaits people who cross me?"

The man shook his head continuously, moving back and he kept praying to God, and calling out Aditya's name for mercy.
"Please, my wife....she is pregnant. Please don't kill me. She needs me."

Aditya shouldn't have been affected by that but something made him still. Under him was a man who stole his precious gun dealing documents and gave it to the enemy. Under him was a betrayer. The one who deserved nothing but death. But for a moment Aditya looked at the man's eyes. He was speaking the truth. Whatever he did, he did it for his wife. His woman who was pregnant with his child.

Aditya wondered if he would do the same. All of a sudden Shradha's teary face came to his view. He had done something to save his now wife, years ago. He had gone against his father's orders to save her then. Looking back at it now, and comparing with this man's situation, Aditya saw no difference.

Except this man did it for love, Aditya didn't.

Involuntarily, Aditya found himself lowering the gun. Lowering down to the man who was down on the floor, Aditya spoke. "Go home, take your wife and leave this country and never come back. If I see your fucking face again, I won't hesitate to pull the trigger. Is that understood?"

The man nodded, as happiness and relief filled him. He muttered a million thanks to Aditya but he didn't pay heed to that as he was busy cursing himself for not being able to shoot that man.

He gave Kasim a knowing look to take care of the man as he entered his car. The driver started the engine and Aditya leaned back against the seat, thankful for the airconditioning inside the car. It was a hot day outside and he was already exhausted.

He closed his eyes for a moment, still wondering why he just let the man go freely. He could have killed him without a second thought but he couldn't. Somehow he couldn't.

Suddenly the events of that night in July came crashing down on him.

Aditya stared ahead at the face of the teary woman in front of him. Her long hair cascaded down her shoulders and some of it stuck to her face as she was sweating heavily. She was a complete mess. Her dress was torn at the shoulders revealing the strap of her bra and also red marks of someone grabbing her skin too harshly was evident there.

Her cheeks had the imprint of a hand, reddened as tears fell rapidly down them.

Aditya wondered what the girl was doing at this place. In the hallway of his father's study, in this state.

She held onto his shirt collars, pleading. "Please help me."

He noticed his father at the other end of the hallway, raging towards them in such a hurry. He saw the anger that dripped down from his father.

"Aditya, give that whore to me. I'm going to teach her a fucking lesson." He roared.

The girl shuddered in his embrace, as she held on to him as if her life depended on it.

"Who is she? What did she do?" He asked, pulling the girl behind him, as he knew that by the look of his father, he would kill her. Aditya put his body as shield between her and his father.

"Advani's daughter. The son of a bitch has given her to me to do anything as I pleased with her. And this cunt had the audacity to bite me."

The girl behind him trembled again, holding onto his arms from behind. Realisation hit Aditya as he began to understand what was going on.

He had heard from his grandmother about the pact made between the Advanis and the Kapoors. He knew what the alliance was. Aditya had grown up hearing that the daughter of the Advani was promised as his bride. His bride.

Not his father's to take advantage of.

Anger flooded through him at that thought. She was his from birth. How dare his father try to steal her from him!

Red. All he saw was red. Images of the man who gave brith to him beating out his mother flashed before his eyes. Images of all the scars she had, all the nights she cried, and all the girls the man in front of him raped came before his view.

And he was trying to do the same to Aditya's woman.

Without a second thought, Aditya pulled out his gun from his waist, aiming at his father. He saw the man freezing for a second. With no hesitation, his pulled the trigger, the bullet penetrating the old man's forehead as blood splashed the walls of the hallway.

His eyes immediately fluttered open at the sound of cars honking. Looking out alerted, he realised they were just stuck in traffic.

It has been two years since that incident. Two years since his father died. Two years since he had killed him. Nobody knew what happened except him and Shradha.

She carried that secret with grace and married him without a word. Never talking about that day but he knew that she never forgot about it. His father had tried to rape her. Aditya had saved her by killing his own father.

He wondered why he did it. He wondered if he could turn back time, would he do it again?

The answer was yes.

And he was fucking proud of it.