"I know I can't escape his grasp. And I also know if he even senses a threat from me, he'll become the threat for me. I need to find out who that man is...the one he's keeping captive...and what I still don't know about Dhruv's darker side. I can't pull Nandini into this blind. I need the full picture first. Suddenly, my eyes dart across the kitchen slab. My breath hitches when they land on a small tablet container. I usually keep my sleeping pills there. Insomnia due to diabetes. Harmless excuses for something that might save my life tonight. From the corner of my eye, I watch Dhruv. He's scrolling through my cell phone...the one he ordered me to hand over. Not requested. Ordered. Probably checking if I called Manik...or anyone. Right now, he isn't looking at me. Maybe he thinks fear has tamed me. Maybe he's forgotten that fear can make people clever, too. The coffee is ready. My heart pounds like a drum inside my chest. I glance at him once more...he's still focused on my phone. With trembling fingers, I open the container. 3-4 pills drop soundlessly into one cup. Enough to put a grown man to sleep for twelve hours. I don't want to kill him. I just don't want to die."
"Where is the coffee, Baby?
Dhruv's voice slices through the tension.
You are making me impatient."
Dhruv's voice breaks Aliya's reverie. She forces a smile; her lips are dry. She carries the tray to the living room. Two steaming cups. The air is thick with dread. Dhruv inhales deeply, smirking.
"Ahhh...that aroma. You know, Aliya...for this coffee alone, I could almost reconsider my decision to hurt you."
His laughter is a blade that scrapes her nerves raw. Aliya sits opposite him, trying to mask the trembling in her hands. He picks up the cup meant for him and raises it towards his lips. Her breath catches. Her pulse races in her throat. But then...he stops. His gaze lingers on her pale face. A knowing smile crawls across his lips. He sets his cup down...slides it towards her.
"I shouldn't forget..."
He says softly.
"You're a doctor. And right now, you don't see me as a friend...or a lover. So, just to be safe.
Aliya's stomach twists. But she stays calm. She lifts the changed cup and touches her lips to the brim. Fortunately, she anticipated and purposely offered him the untainted coffee. He takes a long sip...and another. The medicine will start working soon. She just needs to keep talking.
"Who's that man, Dhruv? Why are you holding him captive? What do you have against Manik?"
She fires. Dhruv chuckles, setting the cup down.
"Easy, Dr Aliya Saxena. I didn't come here just to stop you from doing something stupid. I came to tell you my side of the story, too."
For the first time, his voice softens. The cruel smirk fades, replaced by something grief-haunting...almost human.
"In Panchgani Boarding School..."
He begins,
"We...Notorious 5...we were legends. Manik, Arymaan, Cabir, me...and Abhimanyu, the man you saw in my apartment. We were five bodies, one soul. Nothing could break us."
He pauses. His eyes glaze with memories, old and venomous.
"Until she came. MUKTI."
A dark laugh escapes him.
"And from that day...everything changed."
..........................................
Nandini half-reclines on the bed, her gaze fixed on the ticking wall clock. The steady rhythm only fuels the storm in her mind...flashes of Manik's confession, fractured images of his worried face, Notorious 5, SP Bhosle's warning about his closest friends, betrayal, bullet and blood, all colliding like shards in a kaleidoscope. Yet somewhere beneath that chaos lies a strange calm...Manik finally talked. Little does she know, truth and complete truth are rarely the same thing, and Manik Malhotra is practically a synonym for secret. Her eyes drift to the man beside her. Manik is asleep...motionless, almost boyish...the kind of sleep that only comes after unburdening a heavy conscience. Nandini studies him for a beat longer, a ghost of a smile flickering across her lips. Then a thought strikes...sharp and sudden. She bites her lower lip. To unmask the traitor, she first needs to find who's missing their Notorious keychain. She doesn't know Abhimanyu, nor where he vanished, nor his recent whereabouts, but the others...she does. And tricking them into revealing whether they still have their keychains? That's something she can manage. Nandini slides open the bedside drawer. Metal clinks softly as she retrieves the piece. The faint gleam of the devil sign keychain dances against the dim light. Manik has told her...each keychain was handcrafted, impossible to duplicate. She holds it between her fingers, both thumbs pressing against the devil's grin. For a moment, she hesitates. Then she pulls...testing it. A crackle of current races up her fingers. She jerks, gasping, and the piece clatters onto the bedsheet. Her lips curl...not in pain, but in admiration. Of course. Manik made it this way. A jolt for anyone who dared to pry. A fitting tribute to the Notorious 5. The Shockers. Nandini grins and again lifts it in her hand.
"Let's begin with Cabir. But for that, I need Navya's help."
She mumbles.
.............................................
Some minutes crawl by like a held breath. Dhruv pants on, words slurring around each ragged inhale.
"Abhimanyu and Manik-both stole Mukti from me. My Mukti. They'll pay. An eye for an eye. Abhimanyu will pay with his life. Manik will pay with his love. If I can't have Mukti, he won't have Nandini either."
Hearing Nandini's name makes Aliya freeze.
"Nandini-what are you going to do with her?"
She chokes. Dhruv's gaze snaps to her. He shouldn't have uttered Nandini's name. She shouldn't know about the mystery man in Nandini's life. But the damage is done. He lunges, clamps her wrist in iron fingers.
"Shh-enough questions. Now I make the deal."
His voice hisses. He pauses as dizziness washes over him, but shakes it off.
"You have learned enough. So, you either keep quiet and belong to me...forever. Or you talk-and be quiet forever."
His words come out in ragged syllables, each one harder to force through.
"Choose. Don't make it-ha-r...d...for-me."
Aliya had been waiting for this. She tears her arm free and stands, fury carved on her face.
"You're disgusting, Dhruv. I thought maybe you had a reason. But this-this is nothing but jealousy. Mukti didn't die because of Manik or Abhimanyu. She died because of you."
She strides forward and snatches her phone from his hand. Dhruv slumps, eyes half-closed. The gun slips on the carpet. He tries to speak, but the words drown. Aliya finds Nandini's name in his contacts-only one tap away.
"Hello...Nandini..."
She breathes into the receiver when a sudden, sharp sting bites the side of her neck.
"Ah!"
She presses the spot, phone clattering to the carpet. A voice...soft, cruel...laughs.
"Ha. You refused the deal, so I had to act."
It's clinical, practised.
"Dr Aliya Saxena...perhaps you forgot I'm an insomniac. Since I shoved my father into that lake, sleep's been a stranger. A few pills wouldn't calm me. But a syringe full of insulin...now that's effective on a diabetic."
The words are a whisper. Then silence, heavy and final, settles over the room.
Author's note: Cliffhanger 😜😜...stay tuned.
YOU ARE READING
Brute's Paradise
FanfictionThis is the sequel of the book 'Angel's Brute'. It starts from one and a half years after Manik flew away to Manhattan with Nandini and Rishav. However, have their lives changed? Has the brute become sane or his obsession for his angel has increased...
