Demon's Physco obsession

The Rescue

Adhiraaj paced the living room like a caged tiger, his gaze flicking to his watch for the fifth time in half an hour. A knot of unease tightened in his gut. Ankita should have been back from college by now. There had been no deviations from her usual route; he had personally commanded Malti to stick to it religiously. He tried Malti's number again, but it went straight to voicemail, just as it had for the past thirty minutes. Ankita's phone yielded the same chilling silence.

He pulled at his hair in frustration, a raw display of anxiety that made the surrounding servants tremble. The maid who brought him coffee flinched, then gasped, as the cup was knocked from his hand, splattering hot liquid across her face. Everyone in the room held their breath, their hearts racing with each tick of the clock. They prayed silently for Ankita's safe return.
Their prayers, however, seemed to go unheard. The heavy doors to the living room burst open, and Ved strode in, his face grim, followed by several of Adhiraaj's security men. Ankita was not with them.

Adhiraaj's eyes, wide and wild with a dawning horror, locked onto Ved. He didn't need words. The space beside Ved, the grave expressions on the security detail, confirmed his darkest fear.

"Ankita?" Adhiraaj's voice was a guttural growl, barely recognisable.

Ved approached him, his own face etched with a mix of shock and grim determination. "Adhi... she's gone. Her security detail at the college gate was hindered. Sedated."
The words hit Adhiraaj like a physical blow. The world tilted on its axis. His meticulous security, his impenetrable fortress, had been breached. His little dove, the one person he had sworn to protect above all else, was gone.

A terrifying rage, cold and absolute, began to simmer beneath his skin. This wasn't just a kidnapping; it was a direct challenge, an insult of the highest order.

"Malti?" Adhiraaj demanded, his eyes scanning the room, as if Malti might magically appear.
"She was found unconscious near the back entrance, Saheb," one of Ved's men reported, his voice hushed. "The entire perimeter security on that side was neutralised. Professional job, saheb."

Adhiraaj's hands clenched into fists, his knuckles white. "Professional or not, they made a mistake," he snarled, his voice dangerously low. "They touched what's mine." He turned to Ved, his eyes burning with a fierce, almost unhinged intensity. "Mobilise every resource. Every single man. I want the city locked down. Every exit, every entry point. I want every informer, every contact, every single rat in Pune squeezed until they give us something."

Adhiraaj, his face a mask of primal fury, slumped onto the plush sofa. His hand, shaking slightly, brought a cigarette to his lips, the faint glow illuminating the grim set of his jaw. The sight of the scattered cigarette stubs already littering the expensive rug indicated his agitated state. Ved, seeing this self-destructive habit return, cautiously approached him. He reached out to pull the cigarette from Adhiraaj's trembling fingers. Still, Adhiraaj's head snapped up, his eyes burning with such an intense, dangerous glare that Ved instinctively recoiled, taking a step back. The raw, untamed wrath emanating from Adhiraaj was a palpable force.

The silence that followed was suffocating, punctuated only by Adhiraaj's harsh breaths and the distant sounds of his security forces mobilising. The servants, having witnessed his outburst, now moved like terrified shadows, desperate to be invisible. Ved, though rattled, held his ground, understanding the depth of his friend's pain and fury. He knew this wasn't just anger; it was the manifestation of a man whose most guarded possession had been violated.

Adhiraaj took another drag from his cigarette, the smoke coiling upwards like a menacing serpent. "Find him, Ved," he rasped, his voice rough, as if torn from his very soul. "Every single person involved. The driver, the guards, and the inside man who gave him the intel. I want them all. And Reyan Varma... I want him to suffer for every minute Ankita is away from me." His eyes were distant, already picturing the punishment.