A twisted smile spread across his face as he leaned in closer, his hot, alcohol-laced breath over her. He pressed his nose to her neck, inhaling deeply before pulling back slightly to growl in her ear, "You can't run away anymore." he slurred, his...
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Trigger warning - Violence
After Abhi declares he is going regardless, the senior officer takes a slow breath, his voice lowering, turning almost sympathetic. "You think this is just about you and her? You think I don’t know what you’re feeling?" He gestures to the board displaying the photos of numerous victims. "Look at this. Devraj isn’t just after her. He’s after every woman we haven’t been able to save yet. He’s running an entire trafficking ring, Abhi. If you go in now, guns blazing, you’ll save her, yes—but what about the others? What about those who have been sold they will be lost forever. What about the dozens of women who won’t be so lucky because we couldn’t bring him down?"
Abhi clenches his jaw, his hands balled into fists, the weight of the officer's words pressing on him.
"We can’t make a case without this final operation," the officer continues, his voice steady. "We need her. If we lose her now, all the others will stay lost forever, Their families forever waiting for them. This isn’t just about your wife anymore, officer. It’s about the lives we can save. And justice you’ll deny them if you abandon the mission."
Abhi’s heart twists painfully in his chest. He knew the stakes, he had known them from the start—but now the lines were blurring, his personal hell clashing with the larger battle. He stands frozen, torn between his duty and the overwhelming urge to save his wife."I don’t care about the mission," he mutters, though the words lack conviction now.
The senior officer, sensing his hesitation, goes for the final, crushing blow. His voice drops, hard truth. “You don’t care about the mission right now, I get that. But when it’s all said and done—when you will look around at the lives lost because you couldn’t hold back, because you acted on impulse—you’ll never forgive yourself for that, either. Not in a thousand lifetimes. Saving her will haunt you in ways you can’t even imagine."
The words hit like a punch to the gut. His heart screams to rip her from Devraj’s clutches and never look back—but his mind, that cold, unrelenting sense of duty, claws at him like a chain around his throat, dragging him into a suffocating hell of indecision. He sees it all now: her tear-streaked face, but behind it, a mass of ghosts—women he’ll never know, women lost to the same nightmare she’s in now because he acted too soon. Women who he can save.
And then, in a moment of clarity, he felt his body grow eerily cold . The storm inside him, fell into a strange silence. He straightened up. "What do I have to do Chief ?" he asked quietly, his voice devoid of the desperation that had been choking him moments before.
The senior officer blinked, surprised by the sudden shift. He hadn’t expected him to surrender so quickly—or at all. He expected resistance, more arguing.
"You surprise me, officer," the senior muttered, a flicker of respect in his tone. But the relief in his voice was unmistakable. "I’ll send you the full operation plan in a minute. We’re moving in two days. But remember—this time, you stick to the mission."
