Rise of the Devil - Part 17

 

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Chapter 17



Khushi’s POV


When I turn back with the ice pack, Devil is still in the same position – leaned on the kitchen slab for support but with his T-Shirt still On.

“I am doing this for your comfort. Not mine” I scold.

“Why?” I immediately ask.

I reach him.

“I am not cruel like you. I don’t like hurting people and if knowingly or unknowingly I hurt them, I do everything in my power to heal them too. That’s me.. Khushi Gupta”


I keep the ice pack behind him on the kitchen slab and reach for the hem of his T-Shirt. Arnav grabs my wrists to stop me. His touch isn’t rough like before. He stares at me and I stare back at him. I am not leaving him in pain, I never can. He loosens his grip from my wrists which I take as a sign of his approval. I roll his T-Shirt upwards and he soon helps me take it off. I recall how much I have loved to ogle his abs, his toned muscles and those broad shoulders before. The feelings really haven’t changed and I hate to admit that. What pinches me more is that he looks least interested in diverting his gaze elsewhere. I take the ice pack and press it on his bruise and he doesn’t even hiss.

“Why did you pretend everything normal between us before Maama and Maami? He queries.

“They are good people and they don’t deserve to know how much I hate their nephew?”

He sweeps a dark gaze over my face as I continue pressing the ice pack on his shoulder.

“So, you drink too?” I query recalling that last night he was drunk when he returned home. “Another quality which adds to my hatred for you.”

“Drinking in limits is not a crime.” He debates.

“It doesn’t suit men like you to talk about limits. You never had one.”

“Now you are talking like my wife. I thought you didn’t like that role”

I meet his eyes and am about to leave him do the rest, when his arm curls around my waist and draws me closer.

“Your resistance is not going to land you anywhere Khushi.” His lips grow thinner. “I have promised you my dark world won’t touch you ever. I am going to keep you safe.”

“If living in a Palace like cage, without the freedom to go out on your own or to be worried when your enemy might enter that fortress and aim his gun at me or you .. or living in fear that the cops don’t arrest you and hang you for all the crimes you have done so far, is what you call safe.. then I don’t need this Safety Devil. I am better on the streets running away from you.”


He looks agitatedly at me for a few seconds and then his grip on my waist loosens.

“Go get ready” He commands. “I am taking you both out.”

Out? I recall he had promised to take us for sightseeing. That also reminds me I haven’t seen Buaji today since morning. Devil leaves the room, grabbing his T-Shirt but showing no urgency to wear it and I force to avert my gaze from his shirtless body. A part of me wants to believe he was a man with principles but I had no proofs of his innocence. And then that undercover cop Shyam Jha had fed me with enough ill deeds done by Devil. So, what should I do? Look for his innocence for find proofs of misdeeds? That was one debatable topic I had to soon take a decision On.

I knock at Buaji’s room and see her resting on the bed. That’s very unusual.

“Buaji” I quickly rush to the bed and sit next to her. “Are you not feeling well?” I touch her forehead. She is just pale without any fever or other signs of sickness.

“I am fine Khushi. Did they leave?”

“Who they?”

“Arnav’s Uncle and Aunt”

Oh. Now I know why she was hiding here.

“They did. You should have come down and met them too. They are good people”

“I know they are. But we don’t really go well. After all, I took Shobhana Malik’s place in her husband’s life.”

“I don’t think they even hold that grudge against you. It’s been so long Buaji.”

“I hope they don’t.”

“Hmm. Anyway, you should get up now. We are going for sightseeing today.”

“Sightseeing? But the guards won’t let us go out”

“Devil is taking us.” I smile.

“He? He is taking us out?”

“Yes Buaji. So, let’s not waste this chance. I am so eager to see Nainital.”

“Khushi, I think you should go with him. I feel a bit pale today. Haven’t travelled in a long time so maybe I need few hours to recover.”

“I am not leaving you alone.”

I take off the quilt from her body and pull her down the bed.

“Khushi please. I seriously need some hours of rest” She urges and I give in.

“Alright. We will go tomorrow then. I will tell him to postpone today’s plans.”

“Not needed. You both should go. Spend some time with him.”

“Oh God Buaji. Now you please don’t start that he is my husband so I have to be good to him. I don’t know anything about him to even think in that angle”


I don’t want to tell Buaji I have given Devil a choice to either have me as his wife forever or just as his partner with the Devil Queen tag.


“Then use this opportunity to get to know him better”


I am speechless. She has a point. Though Buaji has told me her side story, its high time I learn some from the Devil’s angle too. It is only he who knows the entire picture end to end.


****************

Arnav’s POV


I am repeating that same mistake which I did in Chandra Mahal – giving importance only to Khushi ignoring all my other duties. The dark world needs me and every minute there is critical. Yet, I am here dressed up to take Khushi out for sightseeing. I am told Madhumatiji won’t be joining us. So it is just me and Khushi. I check my gun before locking it up and that’s when Khushi arrives. Dressed in jeans and a furry coat above the T-Shirt she is wearing underneath brings a shiver in my body. She has tied her hair into a ponytail.


I open the car door for her but she stops there instead of getting inside.

“Don’t forget your gun. What if someone tries to kidnap me?”

I know she is teasing me.

“Get in Khushi” I snap.

“And wait. Take a handful of your guards too. What if there are more men out there? You cannot fight them alone, can you?”

Now she is pissing me off. I push her in the backseat and get seated beside her in no time.

“Ouucchh.. you..”

“Shut up” I scowl. “Don’t make me stick a tape on your mouth.”

“Dare you do that..” she growls back. “I love my lips and they are very sensitive.”

She didn’t say anything out of the world yet my body burns with a few dark desires to feel the sensitivity of her lips. I hungrily look at them, even scaring Khushi for a moment before turning back to the driver.

“Drive” I shout, controlling my erratic heartbeats.

“Just one guard?” Khushi teases me again realizing there is one guard sitting beside the driver and no other security vehicle following us either.

“I am alone capable enough to keep you safe”

“Then why is he coming with us?” she mocks.

“To take a bullet for me. He is here to save me.. not you..”


Khushi rolls her eyes at my declaration and looks out. We soon reach the market area and I see her excited and strolling through the busy market. She behaves like a teen girl who was been locked up from freedom for ages.


“Slow down” I warn rushing to her and hold her hand. “You are almost running away”

“Stop worrying so much. I am not a fool to run away without a penny in my pocket.”

I remember something from my past and then turn away before Khushi could read the change of my expressions.

“Is that. Oh my god.. Butta (Corn)”

Khushi crosses the road, dragging me along. Her overexcitement is thrilling me even.

“I want two” She says to the man selling the friend corn.

“I don’t want any” I interrupt.

“I ordered both for myself” She smirks. Seriously? She can eat two? I don’t ask her that. I pay the man and watch Khushi relish the corn. She is holding one in both her hands and is eating them turn by turn.

“Bhaiya.. squeeze some lime on it please”


The man nods and does the honor. I am dazed. Khushi’s simple likes and ways of living life to the fullest pangs my heart. She offers me after she finishes half of both.


“Want to taste?"

I stare at her in disbelief.

“Oh no no. Wait.” She pulls away her hand. “If you eat my leftover, you will fall in love with me. I cannot risk that. You can buy your own.”


I am stunned and so is Khushi for blabbering that. She is about to continue eating when I grip her arm and force her to feed me instead. The corn is deliciously juicy.

“What did you do?” She growls. “Now you will fall in love with me, you idiot” She winks teasingly at me and takes a bite of the corn, unknowingly from the same part where I ate from.

“So would you” I declare and there she goes numb again. She looks away and continues eating. Despite being in a crowded place, silence grips us both. We then proceed to some sightseeing points and then back to the car.

“Boss” My guard intervenes. “The consignment has reached.”

I know which consignment he is talking about but I don’t want Khushi to hear it.

“Get in the car” I say and she angrily obeys me. I walk at a distance to make a quick call.


******************

Khushi’s POV


“The consignment has reached. I will pick it myself.” I hear Devil speaking to someone on call. Which consignment and here? In Nainital? I don’t understand. I pretend to be oblivious when he returns and gets inside the car with me. “Some work has come up. Let’s cut short this sightseeing for today”


He is not asking me, he is commanding so I see no point in arguing over it. We reach the safe house and I keep a watch on him as Devil changes his clothes and loads his gun. He and his men are in the living room, planning something and they do it so secretively that I cannot hear what they speak. In fifteen minutes, they are ready to leave.

I don’t feel good. Something Big is happening here and I am worried if Devil is going to hurt someone or get hurt himself. I know the cops are already behind him, waiting for set of proofs to get this man arrested. If that Shyam Jha could reach this house and knew everything about me, he would definitely be following Devil too. What if tonight, Shyam gets the necessary proofs and arrests Devil? My body shivers in fear. I know I hate Devil for hiding such important facts from me and marrying me forcibly. But.. a corner of my heart still feels for his safety. I don’t think this fear will ease until Devil returns home safely.


******************

It’s almost midnight when I hear loud screech of a car. I wake up and rush to the gallery wearing my robe and that’s when I see Devil. He gets out of the car, his movements a bit shaky. The guards help him walk a few steps after which he disperses them and walks on his own. Blood!! I see blood oozing out of Devil’s left arm. What the hell!! He gets inside the house and the guards lock the gates securely, parking the car in the garage. My heart races. Is Devil hurt? This is what worried me all the time since I heard him talking about some consignment. What should I do? I know he has his people here to look after him but I cannot stay here and wait for tomorrow morning to know what just happened to him. So I wear my slippers and head for Devil’s bedroom. He has forgot to lock his door giving me easy access to get inside. I hear the sound of the shower. I don’t like to wait. I know this is not the time when he will shower. Maybe he is just cleaning himself and the wounds. I knock the door bathroom door but its open too. Should I go in? I am curious so I push it open and there he is!! Devil under the shower, washing off blood from his arm.. He hasn’t even taken out his clothes..

As if he senses my presence, he turns around and looks at me. There is no hesitation, no embarrassment neither any surprise in his face as he watches me turning off the shower knob.

“Pass me the towel” He says getting out of the shower cubicle.

“You are bleeding” I snap.

“Can you hurry?” He shouts making me jerk. I quickly pass him the towel and look for the first aid kit. It’s right at the top drawer in the cabinet. I take out the cotton and some antiseptic lotion and reach him.

“We need to get you out of this shirt first”

He nods giving me a go ahead to take his shirt off. It’s clung to his body and wet. I help him take it out and we discard it in the bin.

“Wait out.. I will change and come there”

I understand and rush out with the medical box. In five minutes, Devil is out in a black night pant. The blood oozing has stopped and I see the cut on his biceps which seems like a bullet mark.

“You were shot?” I ask angrily as he takes a seat on the recliner. “Is there a bullet inside?”

If yes, I cannot do this. He needs a doctor.

“It just a flesh wound. There is no bullet. If you can’t dress it up, I can do it myself. This is not the first time I am hit”

“And you are proud declaring that?” I growl.

“Khushi” He exhales. “I am really not in a mood to debate over this. I don’t expect you to clean my wounds or help me heal them either. Walk away and go to sleep in your room or..”

I sit next to him and start cleaning his wounds.


“Where were your guards when you got shot? They were supposed to take a bullet for you then where the hell were they?” I shout, pouring the lotion on the cotton bud.

He stares at me in disbelief and soon smirks.

“Who is asking me this? The Devil Queen or my wife??”

I frown bandaging his arm after the medicine is applied on his wounds. He keeps staring at me, hoping I would answer that but I don’t think I have a reply to his question. I never will!!

“What kind of people you deal with?” I fight. “I heard you talking about some consignment. Did your own gang people do this to you? Did they turn foes or something after the consignment was delivered?”

I have never shown interest in his work but somehow this time I needed to know whom he was dealing with and what was the risk involved?

“Someone tipped the Police about this consignment I had been to pick. I was shot by a police man.. not anyone from the dark world.”

I shudder. Police? The next instant, a message beeps on his number and he doesn’t hide it from me. He opens the image in that message and his jaw clenches.


“This man here… He shot me.. Seems like he is an undercover cop – Shyam Jha. A very loyal cop who has been chasing me ever since I revealed my real identity.”

Now my heart raced faster as he is the same man whom I met a day before in this safe house. I was right. Shyam had been following all of Devil’s moves. He really is a cop and if Devil thinks he is loyal to his service, I am very sure that can't be wrong. What should I do now? Tell Devil that he had come here? That he met me and offered something to get off from his clutches? 


To be Continued.

NEXT PART

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Excerpt 1 - Just for a Click

A loyal, workaholic Myra needed a one-week break from her hectic office schedule and she told only one lie to her over-demanding Boss. That if she didn’t take this one-week off, her relationship with her boyfriend would end forever. Tables turned when her boss demanded Myra’s picture with her boyfriend when she goes on that vacation with him. That one lie decided the fate of her Job.


Crazy, wasn’t it? But Myra believed she could pull this off. So now, she wasn’t just spending her hard-earned savings to fake a holiday alone, but she also had to hunt down a man who would act like her boyfriend Just for a Click.

Did her mission succeed? Did she say farewell to the man who saved her Job or was there more to her one-week fairytale?

A short contemporary romance with a surprising twist. 

Number of Pages: 104

READ ON AMAZON KINDLE 

NEW EXCERPT 1 

I woke up at 09:00 the next morning, first time in past two years where I didn’t have to worry about waking up early on the alarm. I slid the curtains apart and opened the door to the balcony, stretching myself while watching the peak of Mt. Kanchenjunga. I seriously had some breathtaking views from my balcony. When I looked down, Yash was all set on his motorbike, talking to two other men of his age, who I presumed were his friends. He looked dapper in blue jeans and a brown leather jacket. His friend passed him the hand gloves which he wore so leisurely that I couldn’t help myself ogle him without the fear of being caught.

As if he sensed my gaze and turned to look up at my balcony.

Holy God!! He waved at me and I had to wave back. His friends soon saw in my direction but Yash muttered something to them, which made them look away the next instant. My body burned in unknown desire at his silly possessiveness.

“Payal, couldn’t you call some minutes later?” I cursed.

“Hold on. Are you gasping?”

“Yes, but that’s not the point. Yash is downstairs on his motorbike. He is going on a ride with his friends.”

“Yash? Looks like that man has impressed you a lot.”

“Kind of” I scratched my scalp reaching the balcony again, but he was gone. “Shit, I missed watching him ride”

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