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Arnav shifted gears, gunning the accelerator, his BMW XM groaning in protest. He stared at the dashboard in disbelief. This couldn't be happening. Not from a brand new car!
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Night had fallen suddenly, the darkness creeping in without warning. He glanced outside his window, seeing tall trees stripped bare of their leaves, winter doing its inevitable work. Lucky for him, the bare treetops let in just enough moonlight to illuminate his path as the car came to a complete halt.
What luck though, Arnav fumed. A full moon.
He could almost picture Aman cringing on the other end of the phone as he made the call, yelling his name as soon as his manager answered.
"You've got to be kidding me! Call the dealership and have that salesman fired. My car just broke down in the middle of nowhere!!"
"Hang on, sir. Send me your location—I'll send help ASAP!"
Arnav did as he was told, growling under his breath. As his eyes adjusted to the surrounding darkness, he stepped out of his SUV. Thank goodness for the three-piece suit he wore; the cold wasn't as biting, though it still stung the exposed parts of his skin.
It was eerily silent—no breeze, not a whisper of any living creature around him. The dirt path he had been driving on stretched endlessly ahead, leading into the unknown. Suddenly, his phone rang, shattering the stillness.
"Sir, you seem to have made it to the address. The Mahal is not far from where you are located right now. Don't you see it?"
"See what?!" Arnav snapped, his head swiveling from side to side. "There's just dead leaves around and—oh."
He spotted it. A break in the trees to his left. The path ahead was narrow, barely wide enough for an experienced driver to navigate without scraping against the trees on either side. In the distance, he could make out the silhouette of a massive building against the dark sky.
"I think I found the place," Arnav murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. "I'll have to leave the car here, Aman. There's no way I'm getting it through to the estate. Have someone tow it, or better yet—just sue the dealership."
Arnav shoved his phone into his pocket after ending the call. He grunted as he shifted the car into neutral, pushing it from the driver's side window, steering it off the main road and into a patch of bushes. He stepped back, surveying his handiwork. This should do. It was out of the way and nestled into the copse where it belonged, he thought mutinously.
Dusting his hands, he grabbed his bag, locked the car, and set off down the narrow path. The dark silhouette of the Mahal loomed higher into the heavens as he drew closer. Lights flickered on as he passed through a set of wrought-iron gates.
