Enemy Within

Chapter 7

Durga Prasad sat in his chair, behind his desk. Mr Das, the company secretary, and Mr

Aggarwal, Finance head, were sitting in front of him along with their legal counsel Mr Gupta.

"So what is the progress so far?" Durga Prasad asked him.

They looked at each other before Mr Aggarwal responded "It has been going slow, but we are confident we will get there"

"Why is it taking such a long time?"

"The holding structure of the company is quite complicated. Bypassing it isn't all that easy, and as you desire, we also need to do this in the most clandestine manner, that is adding to the delay" Mr Gupta explained

"But you are confident that you can get this done?" Durga Prasad asked. Getting their nods, he asked them to leave.

Resting his hands of the table, he went back to his thoughts. His enemy had either made a gross mistake bringing Swara into the equation or he had a more complicated and sinister plan to attack Durga Prasad using Swara. He was sure that a person like Swara wasn't really aware of Sanskar's plans, but equally he was sure that Sanskar aligning with another person meant there would be some linkage back into him in the end. The success of a strategy depended on its simplicity, if his enemy had indeed tried to play a complicated game, he was likely to end fighting on multiple fronts; his attention would be divided. Now was the time to make his first move in this game.

Sanskar was standing in the terrace in his office, his hands shoved in his pocket. His assistant Kunal came in just then

"Sir, You were looking for me?"

Sanskar turned around and walked over to the small table, which had one paper on it. Handing it over to Kunal he told him "Have a look at this"

Kunal scanned through the paper "Sir? I don't understand" he looked perplexed

"I want to know what drug is this. Who manufactures it? Where is it available in Kolkata? Through what channels?" Sanskar instructed

"Drugs!" Kunal looked astonished

"Don't worry, Kunal, we are not changing our line of business" Sanskar replied looking amused "This is a bit personal. Nothing illegal though"

Sanskar didn't need to explain anything to Kunal, he knew that, but this time he wanted to extend that courtesy. Kunal nodded adding the paper to the file he was carrying.

"Sir, I have the paper you needed" he added, taking out an official looking paper from his file and handing it over to Sanskar.

Sanskar looked at the paper "Good. Very good. You can leave now, Kunal"

Sanskar folded the paper and tucked it in his jacket before turning his sight back at his previous focal point, not waiting to see if Kunal had left. His sight was focused on the Maheshwari Industries building. It wasn't something that was easily observable from here, but if you knew where to look, you could spot it easily.

His thoughts went back to where they always did in the last five years, Durga Prasad. Sanskar knew that he had weakened his position right now, fighting on two fronts. He may have had his reasons for agreeing to help Swara, but he wasn't going to do it at the cost of his own mission. He needed to bring the focus back to his own quest now, and for that, he needed Swara to step up and deal with her own goals more effectively. The longer it took Swara to step up, the longer he was leaving himself open for attack.

They had settled down for dinner around the table, with the rest of the family when Ragini surprised Sanskar, as well as Swara, by asking him "How are things at work, Sanskar Bhai?"

Sanskar, by now fairly good at masking his reactions, just raised an eyebrow questioning her "Are you really interested?"

"Sanskar, she is just asking if all is well" Badi Maa tried to explain, trying her best to avoid another escalation.

Sanskar looked at Ragini critically before responding "All is well Ragini. You need not worry. The usual business ups and downs"

"Did something happen?" Mom asked concerned

"Nothing Mom. Someone has been trying to acquire a stake in Vincere" he answered neutrally, glancing discretely for a second at Durga Prasad.

"Is everything okay?" Mom asked, before anyone else could

"Everything is fine for me, Mom. It is the acquirer you should be worried about. Whoever it is, has lost more than a couple of crore rupees in this mission" Sanskar added with a smile, his glance staying on Durga Prasad a few seconds longer, turning into a smirk which he hid under the pretense of drinking some water, but Swara didn't miss it.

She had asked him about it the first thing they got back inside their room "What happened there, Sanskar"

"Nothing to worry about, everything is sorted"

"But..."

"A move was made against me, I countered it. They have taken a hit. They will now regroup and work out their next plan"

Swara wasn't sure how to respond. Sometimes Sanskar's talk confused her.

"Swara, I have been meaning to talk to you about something" Swara glanced at him, nodding asking him to continue "You will need to be more in control of your goals now. I cannot guarantee that I will always be around to help you counter"

"I don't need you to counter anything for me, Sanskar. When I asked you for help, it was only to get into the house. I can fight my own battle" Swara put it bluntly, annoyed that Sanskar would think she couldn't handle things on her own

"I am sure you can, but I hope you do realize there is more than just your plan involved here. You will need to control your emotions and think more critically all the same" Sanskar explained

"Sanskar, I am not going to mess things up for you, but I am tired of all of these games of chess, attack, counter, control emotions. This is not me; I cannot operate this way. I cannot be emotionally dead like..." Swara ranted, stopping only to realize what she was about to say

"Like me" He finished for her. They were sitting on their bed, on what had become their respective sides "I am not asking you to be like me and it wouldn't work for you"

They sat there silently for a minute before he turned away from her, lying down to go off to sleep. She looked at him for a few minutes, unsure of how to react to the comment she had let slip, before she too lay down on the bed, facing the other side with the pillow wall between then, as had become the norm with them.

"I am going to have a straight conversation with her tomorrow, asking her to come clean about every thing so that Maa and Baa can get together, in exchange, I will ensure that her relation with Laksh isn't impacted in any way" Swara explained, waiting for him to respond

"What to you think she will do?" Sanskar asked after a while

"I don't know" Swara said. She thought about it for a while before softly adding "I guess she might disagree"

"Just" he paused for a few seconds before adding "Just be careful"

"I will" she added, before bringing up the one thing that was bothering her since she uttered it "Sorry"

"For what" he asked

"For calling you emotionally....." she couldn't complete the sentence and let it drift

"You didn't say anything that is untrue" he replied matter-of-factly "Never apologize for telling the truth"

A part of Swara wanted to scream hearing this, admit that she was wrong, that he wasn't emotionally dead. But another part of her was pulling her back, telling her that he would not like this to be dragged anymore, he wouldn't like to talk about it. It would only make him uncomfortable. She settled for silence.

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