Manan:To kill or not to kill{Mafia Love Story}

Chapter 7

Manik's POV:

I stood there, helpless, as Harshad's men herded Alia's car away, despite her best efforts to evade them. She was trying to steer her car away but the 4 cars around her had boxed her in. Dhruv and I followed at a distance, trying to be discrete and succeeding. They took them to the Harshad mansion, an ostentatious monstrosity of a house that screamed excess and bad taste.

I knew what I had to do to save them; Harshad wanted me, not Alia and Nandu, and I would make sure that they didn't suffer because of my bad judgement. Dhruv parked the car in front of the house and I got out.

"Go back to the chateau, Dhruv, and be ready for my call. Make sure you have our boys ready for a good fight, and that all the weapons are fully loaded," I said, taking out my own gun, and hiding it in my shoe. It was custom-made and was small, accurate, and made of carbon fiber so it wouldn't make the weapon detectors go off. It cost me a fortune, but it was worth it.

"I can't let you go in there alone, boss. They'll shred!" Dhruv replied, his eyes wide.

"Don't worry about that. If you want to see Alia, then do as I tell you, or else both of us will be spending the rest of our miserable lives alone, without the people we love." I said absentmindedly as I pushed a glass and ceramic knife into the sock on my other foot.

"Uhm, did you just say 'the people we love?' boss? Oh my God! You're in love with Nandini!" he said, incredulously.

I tried to cover up the slip up instantly. "Don't be ridiculous, Dhruv. Alia is the only family I have left. I was just referring to her."

"Uhuh. Sure, why not? Whatever you say, boss" he said, sarcastically. I gave him a sour look and walked over to the house. I pressed the buzzer and waited for the armed guard to open the door.

"Tell Mr. Harshad that Manik Malhotra is here to see him," I said. The guard spoke into an earpiece and opened the gate with a push of the right button.

I walked past him and through the main doors into the house. I was greeted by a greasy looking guy with long blonde hair and a tattoo on the side of his face. He patted me down, looking for my well-hidden weapons. He used the metal detector as well, but found nothing. Then he led me to the office where Harshad was sitting in an ornate armchair, snorting coke through his bulbous nose, leaving a white smudge on it's tip. As I got closer, I saw that his pupils were dilated, and his hands were shaking from the drugs he had consumed. This was one of the many things I hated about my profession; the drug abuse and the money we made from people's addiction and desperation. He looked up at me and gave a crazed smile that would have proved he was high even if I hadn't seen the line of coke on his large desk.

"Ah! Manik, my man! Nice to see you so early," he said, showing me his cosmetically whitened teeth. "I didn't think you'd come back so easily."

I took in a deep breath to calm myself. "I believe you have something that belongs to me. I came to take it back."

"Oh yes, those pretty little things my men found wandering around my street?" he laughed. "Don't worry about them, il mio amico...They'll get used to surviving without the luxuries you provided them with while they're living in the basement with the rats."

He was trying to goad me into a fight so he'd have a reason to kill me, but I wasn't going to fall for his tricks. Nandu's and my sister's lives were at stake here. "It's me you want, Harshad, not them. You can let them go and I'll resume working for you then. I'll even go do that job in Cuba that you wanted me to do, as long as my sister and her friend go free."

He took a cigar out of a box on his desk and lit it, and I could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he processed what I said. The only way he could eliminate me as a threat was if I started working for him, because he knew he couldn't kill me without making alot of enemies. I had made many 'friends' in this business, and all of them would put their lives on the line for me as their fierce sense of loyalty dictated.