Beauty and the Bodyguard

Chapter 27: Evisceration

"My characters shall have, after a little trouble, all that they desire." ― Jane Austen

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If that phone rang one more time, Ishan thought angrily, I am going to throw it into the fire or bring a hammer down on it. It was his one day of leave, and his muscles were already screaming at him to lie down. The phone finally stopped ringing, and Ishan fell back on the bed, exhausted.

It hurt him to admit, but he got tired pretty fast nowadays. Rohit bhai would tease him about his age catching up, but he knew it was because of the torture he had gotten in South Africa. It wasn't the beating that would torture him - it was the memories of sinful lips and brilliant smiles, stuff he would see in his dreams every night, until they turned into nightmares where Shubman screamed, until his voice was hoarse, to save him, until he screamed at Ishan that it was all his fault for bringing him into his world of killers and blood.

Ishan could feel tears streaming down his face. He had never felt so alone; even as an orphan, he had never felt as alone as he did now - far away in NYC. Any other time, he would have hit up anyone from the ICT and they would talk for hours and Ishan would be back on track; but now, even the task of summoning the energy to talk to someone drained him. He kept himself busy with mundane tasks, kept away from any and every news that would draw him into that world again, and did his job.

The phone rang again, and Ishan was just about to throw it at the wall when he saw who was calling.

Shahneel.

She'd never called him before, even though she had plenty of reason to. He hesitated, but picked up the call.

"Why the fuck weren't you picking your call?"

"I-um-I was in the bathroom."

"For fucking 2 hours? I really, really hope you got a kidney stone, Ishan, otherwise I am going to shove one up right now."

Ishan blinked. This was new. Shahneel had never, even once, raised her voice at anyone like this, as far as he had seen. Her voice, he noticed, had an edge of hysteria to it, which alarmed Ishan far more than her words. Before he could stop himself, Ishan blurted out,

"Di, what happened?"

He heard Shahneel's sharp intake of breath at his choice of words, but instead of berating him for it, Shahneel started crying.

"You–he–"

"Whoa whoa, calm down. What's wrong?"

"Shubi–He–"

Ishan shot up from the bed so fast his head swam.

"What-did-did something happen?"

"They took him, Ishan."

"Who did? What's going on? Where's Virat bhai?"

Ishan could feel his heart give a painful lurch, but he ignored it. He could hear Shahneel crying on the other end, and his hand fisted itself into his shirt.

"He wouldn't go out for days, so there was no one with him. We didn't know when he went out, but I received the call. The police, Shikhar, everyone is trying to find him, but it's been two days. I want my brother back, Ishan, I want him back!"

Shahneel's cries had morphed into sobs, and it was breaking Ishan's heart.

"Why-why didn't anyone tell me?"

"They think they can find him."

"And you don't?"

"I-I just want my brother back, and you are the best chance I have, so I will take it."