Brute's Paradise

Chapter 22 - "Devil in Danger..."

Cabir is gazing at her eyes which have anguish, grievance and incredulity. He closes his eyes to control his outburst and then opens it with determination.

"I think you should need a reality check."

He sounds grave and stern. Before Navya can understand anything, Cabir clutches her forearm and drags her outside of the cabin. All staffs become stunned and get rooted to their places. Nobody ever saw Cabir in this aggressive mood. Dhruv observes them from his glass cabin and comes out. Cabir heaves Navya with full force and approaches her desk. Navya keeps on trying to free her hand while whining,

"Cabir, leave my hand. What are you doing? Cabirrr..!"

However, he turns a deaf ear to her every effort and complaint. Reaching her desk, he frees his hold and starts groping everything kept on the table. He is frantically throwing the files, papers and other things to the ground while muttering,

"Enough of your defiance. You have to admit your fault."

He keeps on searching and Navya is standing there crossing her hands against her chest.

"It's not there. It can't be there. I have searched every nook and corner. Don't make yourself fool, Mr Dhawan."

She utters sternly. Cabir stares at her with bloodshot eyes and then picks up her handbag which was kept on the floor beside the table.

"CABIR...don't touch my bag...you have no rights..."

Navya tries to stop him from unzipping the bag. Her words remain unfinished as Cabir fishes out the Pendrive from it. A sneer creeps on his lips. Navya widens her eyes in disbelief. How come she forgot to search inside the bag? Her eyes move from the bag to the Pendrive and then finally land on Cabir's sarcastic smile.

"I have the right to throw you out of this office right now for creating this drama and spoiling our valuable time, Ms Mehta. Or should I doubt that you did it purposely lest we can't give the presentation and lose this contract? Ms Mehta, are you playing a double game with us?"

Cabir's voice has venom that makes Navya's eyes teary. She parts her lips just to let out a sob. Meanwhile, Dhruv nears them and intervenes,

"Enough, guys. We are running out of time. Clients are about to come. Just stop all this and come to the conference room. Cabir, come!"

He pushes Cabir a bit so that he can break his hostility. Cabir takes a deep breath and nods in assurance.

"Coming. You go and check this presentation."

Dhruv mouths calmly while handing over the Pendrive to Dhruv. He nods and leaves with it. Cabir roams his eyes on the gathering of the staff who have been watching all the incidents that happened just some minutes ago. He growls to them,

"Are you all done with the drama? Then go to your terms. You are not being paid for standing over here idle. GOOO..."

His one rebuke forces all the people to vanish within a second. However, Navya is still standing like a statue. Cabir walks towards her and utters,

"Do you need a special invitation, Ms Navya Mehta? Go and attend the meeting."

She places her teary eyes on his stone-hard face. Her tears churn his heart for a second. He mumbles looking at her,

"I wish I also could have explained everything with tears."

..............................................

"The moment SP Bhosle left my cabin, a rush of negative thoughts clouded my mind. He literally has threatened me to tell everything to Nandini. If he tells her that the person, she pushed from the cliff was none other than one of my employees and I only fixed him to attack on me? If he tells her everything about my plans how I set up all to manipulate her? Oh God! How do I keep her out of all these? My brain was about to explode with anticipation when an idea peeks into my mind. I recline on the chair and light a cig. Mr, SP, this is Manhattan and not Mumbai where you have the power of your uniform. If I can fool you in your territory then I can fool you anywhere. And to save Nandini from your reach, I can even make your vacation the last trip of your life. But only if you leave me with no other option. Right now, my first step would be to shield Nandini in such a way that even you can't see her shadow. Thanks, SP, for revealing your intention but I won't do any such thing because I want you to be in this illusion that you can scare me. You can manipulate Manik Malhotra by any means. I puff some rings of smoke and snicker thinking about my next plan. It's time to bring the old Manik Malhotra back. A handsome face with an evil mind...Ha...ha...I crackle at the thought and get up to execute my plan."