Not My Little Sister

Chapter 56: Mangal Dosham

"Tell me why I shouldn't blow your brains out?" the man growled, his gun barrel trained squarely at Nithin's head.

The rest of the board members sat frozen in their seats, their eyes wide with fear, as if daring not to breathe.

Nithin held the man's gaze, searching for any flicker of humanity within the chaos. "You are better than this," he said quietly, his voice steady despite the gun's menacing presence.

The gunman laughed, a hollow sound lacking mirth.

"Please, we can work out a payment plan," he pleaded, desperation creeping into his tone as he sat opposite Nithin at the long conference table.

"No," Nithin replied, his voice firm, deliberately avoiding any emotional response that might cloud his judgment.

"Legends is everything I worked my whole life for! I built it from nothing! I know this is temporary; we will come out of it," the man begged, his eyes wild with fear and determination.

Nithin however knew the truth: Legends was drowning in debt. The shares had plummeted, and he had acquired the company at a fraction of its worth. It was already over, and there was no point in prolonging this discussion.

"At least work it into the contract that you will keep my company intact. That you will not liquidate it," the man pleaded, his voice rising with desperation.

Nithin frowned, finally allowing himself to look directly at Adam Whittaker, the CEO of Legends.

The coup was over, and there were no negotiations left to be had. He would have liked to keep Legends intact, but too many of it's branches were redundant, offering no value in the long run.

"I can't do that but what I can offer you is a board seat at Listen to Me."

As he stared down the barrel of the gun, Nithin's mind raced. He thought back to the choices he had made, the paths he had taken to arrive at this moment. Perhaps if he had approached this differently they could have avoided this confrontation entirely.

But now, with the gunman's finger hovering on the trigger, he felt the weight of every decision pressing down on him.

"Adam," Nithin said, his voice dropping to a more personal level. "I understand what this means to you. I do. But this isn't the way—this isn't going to solve anything."

"No, I lost my company. I lost my... my daughter... her treatment was... You took everything from me... I have nothing left to lose," Adam choked out, his voice heavy with grief and despair.

Nithin's heart sank as he watched the man's finger twitch against the trigger, the realization hitting him like a punch to the gut. Adam was not just a businessman in crisis; he was a father shattered by loss, a man pushed to the brink.

As he braced himself for the end, Nithin's mind flooded with memories of Vinaya, her eyes shining with innocence and warmth as she looked into his while they sat on the bathroom floor. He could almost see her delight as she licked the cornetto he had bought for her during a sudden downpour before she had offered him a taste, her thrilled words "Are you my friend? I thought you were just chettan's friend!"

Nithin recalled the feel of her hands clutching his shirt when she had stumbled upon the cockroaches in his bathroom. The warmth of her lips against his, the feel of her under him, the taste of her, the way she had pulled away, during their fourth round around the fire, her eyes wide with uncertainty. He remembered how she felt when he was inside her, her every touch.

"I love you, Nittu, so much..."

He couldn't have asked for anything more before his life ended. He had Vinaya, her spirit woven into his heart, he had reconciled with his sister, mending the fractures of the past and Mohan had flown all the way to the US just to cast his vote in support of Nithin.