Saying this, he flicked his gaze towards the men behind her and they grabbed her .





She struggled with all her might but she was completely outnumbered.





They brought her to the room where she had woken up and Rajneesh looked at the man lying on the floor groaning.





Smiling evilly, he looked at Ishani and shook his head.





“You haven’t changed at all.”





They shoved her to the bed and then tied her hands to the bedpost.





“Now sister mine, let’s get down to business.”





“I am not your sister,” she shouted and pulled her hands trying to free them.





Losing his patience totally, he neared her and grabbed her neck by force.





“One more word and I will cut your tongue off.”





“Get the papers,” he said to the man standing nearby.





The man went outside and then came in with some papers in his hand.





Rajneesh gestured and the man put them down on the bed.





“Oh, allow me,” he said as he saw her looking down on them.





Then he started summing up what was written.





Ishani’s blood started to boil with every word that he spoke. By the time he finished, her anger had already crossed the sanity level.





Rajneesh looked at her as he lowered the papers but the look on her face said it all.





She was not going down so easily and getting her to sign won’t be a piece of cake.





“Sign!” he ordered shoving them towards her.





A flash of an idea pierced through Ishani as she slanted her gaze to the papers.





“With my hands tied?”





Rajneesh instantly smiled and gestured to one of the men, who came near to untie her.





She flicked her gaze towards the man’s waist, which had a knife holster. Just as the man opened her ropes, she moved at the speed of lightning and pulled out the knife of its sheath. And within a split second, she rounded around Rajneesh and pressed it on his throat.

“Tell your men to throw their weapons on the floor and leave the room or I’ll slit your throat and, my dearest brother you of all the people should know that I will do it if you don’t listen to me.”





“You can’t escape. The farmhouse is completely surrounded,” Rajneesh told her as he gestured to his men to lower down their weapons.





“Who said I want to escape? Do as I say,” she ordered and saw Rajneesh gesturing them to leave.





The moment they were out of the room, she turned with Rajneesh still in her grip and shut the door with her feet.





“Lock the door,” she commanded and Rajneesh bolted the door.





The moment the door was bolted, she let Rajneesh go and shoved him hard against the wall in front. Then she dragged him towards the bed and pushed him on it. Before he could retaliate, she placed the sharp edge of the knife on his throat.





“Now, if I die here today then you are dying with me. Tie your hands.”





Seeing the fear lurking in the deep depths of his eyes, she felt a certain relief course through. But this was just the beginning.





Once one of his hands was tied, she gripped the other one and secured it to the bedpost with the other rope.





Ishani looked at him and somehow the age-old animosity mixed with the ordeal of the last couple of days bombarded through her mind, leaving just a cold and hard rage in its wake. She raised her hand and came down hard on his throat.





But stopped.





The sharp pain on the side of her lower back immobilised her completely. The knife slipped out of her hand and fell down on the floor with a clank. Staggering, she took some steps back and placed her hand on the area.





As she brought her hand back in front, the red crimson liquid smeared on her palm blinded her. Slowly she turned and looked at the door.





There was a hole, right where the doorknob had been.





The door opened and men burst inside the room. She could feel the air constricting in her lungs but she didn’t care. Shoving them aside, she rushed out of the room and started running towards the stairs. But her limbs were gradually giving up on her. She clutched the staircase railing hard trying to steady herself.





Rajneesh came out of the room and looked at her. Like a predator gradually nearing its kill, he approached her.





Grabbing her arm, he pulled her to him and said, “You never listen to me. I told you, you can’t escape.”





“Without me, you don’t get the trust,” Ishani said in one breath.





“Who said I need you. I have Ajeet.”





Hearing him Ishani smiled, and Rajneesh lost his patience totally seeing her smile and slapped her hard.





As his hand connected on her cheek, the pain in her back intensified and she lost her balance, and fell down the stairs.





Her body connected violently with every step on the flight of stairs as she slipped through one step after another. Finally, as her body bounded to the landing, her mind started to shut down. In the horizon of her eyes, she only saw faces.





Her grandmother’s, Annie’s, the children.





And one more face that had only given her pain and nothing else.





But that was the last face that she saw and then everything inside her gave away as she slipped into a deep and dark abyss of complete nothingness.





The man standing in the shadows slowly came out and stood next to Rajneesh. Extending his hand, he handed over the gun to one of his men, who disconnected the silencer from the barrel.





And then he rushed down the stairs and lowered himself in front of Ishani. Checking her pulse, he looked up at Rajneesh angrily.





“She is alive. Next time, be more careful.”





“Her time is up. Let’s be done with this,” Rajneesh said to him as he came and stood on the landing.





“Did she sign the papers?”





“No, but we have Ajeet. We can get the trust through him. Let’s leave her here, she will die eventually.”





“No Rajneesh, she won’t. It’s just a flesh wound.”





“Then let’s kill her.”





The man looked behind at the woman lying on the floor.





Such a pity!





The man was just about to say something to his men when Rajneesh raised his hand.





“I’ll do this my way.”





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





Outside the farmhouse, the driver looked at the mobile his boss had given him. He took the cover off and again looked it over.





Nice one! Why throw it?





And then he pressed the power button to switch it on.







