Under Her Mercy

Prologue

"I didn't go there by myself; not that night. Kabir had invited me over. We were on bad terms for the last few days. So, I was expecting an intimate dinner or something like that. But instead, a drunk Kabir with his classic 'name-calling' and 'blame-games' was waiting for me." Her hand around my shoulder slowly moved to my head. She began to stroke my curls gently, with her eyes on the bright screen of the laptop.

"I was depressed, disgusted and sad as well. Tears were rolling down from my eyes like a river. The only person I thought would stand beside me forever turned out to be a vile fucker. I trusted Kabir with everything, after dad's death he was the only person whom I called my own or at least I thought so. But when he literally tried to force me into sex after being stinking drunk and when I declined him, his male ego and seamlessly humiliating words suddenly showed up, I was completely dumbfounded. He was no longer the man I used to know. I used to love. I got out from his flat as soon as possible, grabbing my phone and bag. I was hurt, so badly, tears were blocking my view. I got out from his compound and headed towards my scooty which was parked outside the playground near the compound. "

"Playground? Why? Didn't you find any place to park your chariot near your dickhead's compound? " She asked sarcastically, eyes fixed on her laptop's screen, sitting beside me on her gigantic bed, one hand playing with my curly hair and that thin choker like a collar on my throat alternatively.

The anger of being an insignificant part of her life crept back in my mind once again. Those fingers around the collar began to feel like a noose choking the last breath of hope from my chest.

"No. The compound was being renovated and refurbished. The paths were in bad condition. So I used to park near the children's park. And then those talented goons of yours picked me up and knocked me out. "I still answered, as politely as I could.

"Hmm," She hummed. "And you landed up here! Beside me. Serving me." She laughed. But, was there an unfamiliar kind of uneasiness in her laughter?

"Yes. Because I didn't get many options then. Plus, my opinions stopped mattering from that very moment." I beamed, pointing at my collar. "Dogs. You know right? "

A brief moment of complete silence was there, in between us. Her fingers left that cold metal around my neck immediately. The silence was so loud and terrifying; so noisy that my brain began to replay every moment since I left Kabir's place for the last time in my mind.

A sharp 'thud' shattered the silence at the end.

She closed her laptop. Looked at me, with those soulless black eyes. Inside, many other battles were going on, which I failed to recognise at that moment ----but, nonetheless, enough to set my heart on marathon beating. "You don't know who you are to me!" It was less of a confession than a question. A question she was asking and expecting me to find the answer for her.

Those eyes, they are also one of the many things about this woman which I dread. I gulped. Take the risk. What worse can happen?

"Then tell me! What am I to the mighty queen? A whore? a toy? What else ma'am? Because it seems like everyone else other than you are pretty sure of my position in your life! " I yelled back. I was hellbound to see the end of all the dramas and false hopes.

"My everything. My sanity... you keep me sane, you make me feel things ...after so long..." Her whisper sent jolts to my heart. Her rich voice was lacking confidence. The darkness was still there; just its power over me had started to slip away.

But still, her words were lacking the definite answer my heart was looking for.

She stormed out of the room just finishing those words.

I was sitting there, in the middle of the large bed of the majestically large room. Dumbfounded---just like my first day here.