Chapter 6: The Heat of Showtime

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A/N: Hey there everyone! :D :D Here is the next update! :D :D

Happy Reading! :D :D

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The fourteenth of October dawned with the air of deceit as the sun shone terribly through the clouds, leaving behind an unnatural gloom in its wake. Sleep had been an unfaithful wife to Ranveer for the fifth day straight as he stood in front of the mirror at exactly seven in the morning, his eyes a projection of the dead tiredness and strain he was under. He adjusted the triangle of the pinstriped grey tie upon his black shirt after slipping on a cream vest, now staring at his reflection coolly.

This was it. It was time to put his plan into action. Everybody knew that there was a plan, but exactly how it was to be executed, only he knew.

Setting his tie firmly with a diamond-studded tie clip, he slipped on the final accompaniment of his cream three-piece attire as he adjusted the cufflinks, looking at his appearance with satisfaction. He mentally cursed his luck as his temples throbbed dully with an ache that was customary to his episodes of insomnia, knowing that he could collapse under lack of sleep at any minute.

But now was not the time to think about it for there would be time to sleep eventually. Right now, he had to make sure that others didn't. Slipping on his Mota Babuji's watch, he took a deep sigh before nodding to himself.

This was it. It was show time.

-x-

RV sat in his office feeling his temper flare as he observed the legal document, or more importantly, the three lines highlighted for his special notice. How could he have been so stupid to ignore such an important detail beat him, and the fact that it threw off his entire plan irked him even more so. This was not the start he wanted to have to such an important day and he'd have to make sure that the one tricky domino was balanced precariously before it spoiled all of his hard work. He'd risked too much and worked too hard upon it. He couldn't let the rabbit scurry away so easily.

A knock upon the door interrupted his line of thoughts as he muttered a curt 'come in'. A moment later, Finch entered the cabin with a file in his hand, looking worried as RV beckoned him to take a seat, the tension in the room paramount. Finch handed over the file to him that he quickly evaluated before his face flushed red. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be!

"Are you sure there's no other way?"

"It's already left for London. The best you can do is a day's time. No records, we'll make sure of that," replied Finch, feeling his voice choke at the end of the statement. He didn't want to admit it but he knew that his friend had bitten off more than he could chew.

RV cursed at the top of his voice.

"Vaghela, I tried my best-" began Finch but RV held his hand up, looking furious. Finch knew that a terrible explosion was on the way judging by the cracking calm in his eyes that had now turned black in rage.

"That's not good enough. Not nearly good enough! You do know what happens if the news gets leaked out in the international markets now, don't you?"

"We'll try our best to conceal it. But there is no other way," sighed Finch, feeling his heart crack a little more in fear. He wondered what was going to happen next and whether all of them would walk out of this with their sanity intact or no, especially the one sitting in front of him.

Jumping off from his chair the next moment with a particular bunch of documents, RV strode through the office as though flying in the air as he reached the conference room within seconds. He didn't bother to knock as he threw open the door, the meeting within coming to an abrupt end. Miss Parekh looked cold and unforgiving with his audacity to barge into her meeting like that.

"All of you, out. OUT!" roared RV at the top of his voice as all the project members shot up from their seats and scurried away, terrified at the sudden outburst.

Rishi, Puneet and Finch remained huddled together in a corner before Finch pulled the other two outside the room, knowing that the voices would carry out soon enough anyway for the whole office to hear. Shanella appeared beside the three anxious men out of nowhere, her eyes bluging with intrigue at the curious happenings. Back in the conference room, Miss Parekh neither looked amused in the least nor did she even as much as flinch at the harshness of his tone.

"Mr. RV, this is my conference room, not your bloody shouting arena. Lower your tone and behave yourself," she spoke coldly as she stood up, leaning upon the table and delicately perching her fingers upon the polished glass topping of the table.

"Oh that's rich, coming from you," shot back RV spitefully.

Miss Parekh noticed that his eyes had gone black while his face looked flushed with an anger she hadn't seen upon his features in a long, long time. The last time she did was twelve years ago when she'd locked him up in his closet as a prank. And the black of his gaze was definitely not a good sign.

"Mind your language," was all she told him qietly as RV stood stationary upon the spot at the opposite end of the table, his eyes never once leaving her own.

Ishaani suddenly felt her soul shiver at the heartlessness of RV's gaze, feeling an outworldly power exude from his personality for the first time since he stepped into her cabin, living up to the fright that was legend when tales of his triumphs were narrated.

"No, I won't! Not after what you did!" he continued in the same tone while she flashed him a puzzled look. She, for the life of it, couldn't determine what had gotten a bee in his bonnet and why he was this riled up.

"What's the supposed to mean?" she asked, and as though on cue, RV pushed the papers in his hand across the table in a perfect skid that landed right at her end. She quickly went through the papers to realize that they were a copy of the same papers that Shanella had made her sign upon two days ago.

"Did you sign these papers?" asked RV just as she finished going through the documents in question, noticing instantly one main blaring detail - Beijing instead of Sydney.

"Yes, I-" began Miss Parekh as she stood up, suddenly feeling her heart go cold.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?!" he yelled and Miss Parekh flinched under the power of his voice this time, feeling her legs shiver even though her long pantaloons hid that away.

"Will you getting your tone in check and tell me what happened?" she urged as she covered the distance between them. She could feel her nerves get fraught with anxiety as she saw the betrayal bleed through his eyes, piercing her heart like a dagger even though she tried to keep her grip upon Miss Parekh as strongly as she could.

"What happened? Let's see what happened," began RV, sarcasm dripping from his voice as her pretended to think. "There's a rumour in the markets this morning that there's a third anonymous contender for the London consignment who's sending their sample consignment through Beijing. And you know what the funniest part is? Their proposal is 95% identical to ours. Do you know what company that is?" he asked, giving her a falsely eager look.

Miss Parekh lost all the colour from upon her face now.

"No. Which company is that?" she asked in a small voice, knowing that nothing good was going to come out from it now that he'd already spoken so much. And yet in spite of herself, she couldn't take her eyes away from upon his face as the strength of his gaze disarmed her completely, suddenly making her realize that RV was only biding his time. Miss Parekh was never a match for him.

"Mehta & Sons Co.," replied RV and a dead silence fell upon the room, during which he continued to stare at her with the same treacherous look in his eyes that was beginning to disturb Miss Parekh's balance now. She never liked that look in his eye for her even as a kid.

"That's- that's not possible," she said once she found her voice back but all RV did was let out a mirthless laugh that made her cringe at the hollowness in it. It terrified her, she was scared to admit.

"And yet on the consignment due to London from Mehta & Sons Co., this is the signature. The consignment from Surat is not headed to Sydney, it's headed to Beijing just like you wanted. And these are your signatures giving Rishi the authority to override the consignment destination. So basically, there is no consignment going to reach from our JV, but there is one going to reach London in four days from Beijing under the banner of Mehta & Sons Co."

Ishaani heard him in silence as she felt everything swirl together, nothing making sense anymore. How did this happen and how did he find out so much about was something that left her speechless.

"How- how did you find out about this?" she asked him lamely, but this time, the ire in his eyes did the job that even his mirthless laugh couldn't.

"Shanella handed this over to me over this morning. She atleast had half a conscience to come clean about this! And you- how could you do this, Ishaani?! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!" he yelled suddenly as he caught her shoulders in a harsh lock and slammed her against the wall in a fit of anger.

All Ishaani found herself capable of doing was to stare at him, terrorized by the demented anger she could see in his eyes now. His entire frame shook alongside, beads of sweat dripping from upon his forehead while his eyes bulged with the same ire that made her wish death rather than be the cause of it. She was taken back to an uncanny deja vu but couldn't place it from where.

"I did not approve this-" she began, her voice shaking for the first time, but it only seemed to drive RV madder than before.

"SHUT UP! Don't try to act smart with me!" he yelled as he slammed his hand upon the wall right beside her with a force that made her entire being shake, the sound of it making her jump.

"I will not have you accuse me of things like this in my own office!" she shot back as she pushed him away, suddenly reminded of another person who's eyes bore a similar lunacy when she was pinned against another wall at another place.

But unlike that fiend, RV stepped away from her, his eyes growing redder as she saw it water slightly even though his face remained just as abrasive.

"Do you think I'm a fool, huh? Do you think I don't know what this is about? Revenge, revenge, revenge! Everything is just about bloody revenge with you now, isn't it!? All that love, that confession, those sugar-coated promises, that story about reaching out to me and being the better person... LIES! This was never about you wanting to give me a second chance or even wanting to complete this legacy with me! This was never about me! It was all about revenge!"

"Revenge? What godforsaken bullcrap are you talking about?" she asked, the merciless impact of his words driving her upon the edge as Miss Parekh fell away, leaving behind a faint-hearted Ishaani who suddenly found her emotions going out of hand as well.

"You wanted to take away all the glory for yourself now, didn't you? Use my company as some kind of a cheap insurance policy so that you could attain a monopoly in London single-handedly and still be crowned as Queen. Am I right, Miss Ishaani Parekh?" jeered RV, throwing dagger after dagger upon her with every statement he spoke. And just like that, Ishaani was suddenly taken behind to the moment she was having the deja vu from.

She had been doing the same thing to him the night of their inglorious farewell.

"Why would I use Mehta & Sons Co. for doing something like that?" asked Ishaani meekly as she felt her hands shiver, the guilt suddenly imploding in her heart with a force that made her want to throw up. And yet she was paralyzed against the brutal being of RV, who looked like he'd just gotten warmed up to tearing her apart in a single go.

"That was always your ultimate game plan. Two birds with one stone. You wanted to destroy not just Chirag, but even me as well because it was in trying to get over your loneliness of separating from me that Chirag managed to manipulate you so effortlessly in the first place! You took over Mehta and Sons Co. and made him go bankrupt, completing your five-year long revenge with him. Then you lured me into a duopoly proposal and robbed my company of 475 crores worth of finance just to fund and channel the consignment through Mehta & Sons Co. so that you could take your revenge upon me since it was my book that led to your ultimate doom!"

"Are you even listening to yourself? Why would I take my ex-husband's company and bring a legacy under its tier?" she asked in a blank voice, wondering suddenly how much had RV really uncovered as the practical Miss Parekh temporarily graced her presence into Ishaani's mind.

RV's ruthless tone popped the bubble of practicality as he hollered away.

"You want to rub it in his face just like how he did years ago by doing the same thing with your father's company! You want to bring it under Mehta & Sons Co. so that you can make him burn and writhe in agony at the sight of how you are using his own company to bring the consignment into your kitty because at the end of the day, Mehta & Sons Co. is now under the Parekh Empire. All that he can do now is to suffer and watch! The consignment still comes under the Parekh Empire while you used me to do your dirty work. My brainchild, my plans, my proposals, my money and you walk away with it all. Ingenious planning, Miss Parekh. Exceptionally ingenious, while all I did was look like a bloody fool!"

"You sicken me, Mr. RV," was all Ishaani could force herself to say, now incapable to look into his eyes anymore as her legs felt close to collapsing in shock.

RV looked at her in silence as he noticed her fingers tremble as though she was resisting the urge to dig them into her skin. But he was not done. He wasn't. He felt his eyes throw away the tears of pain as the words shredded his heart even before it shredded hers.

"No, you disgust me, Ishaani. I thought that you wanted to make amends... I was ready to give you that second chance but you just proved why you don't deserve one."

Ishaani stared at him, shell-shocked as she lost what little defense she had upon her lips.

"No..." was all she moaned weakly as Ranveer shook his head, the pain in his eyes only intensifying.

"I trusted you, Ishaani! Again! And you broke that trust away, again!" he said in a voice that suddenly fell low for the first time in his screaming match, the quietness of it hurting Ishaani even more so than the loudness of it. She shut her eyes as she was suddenly overcome by the urge of feeling the cold metal cut against the warmth of her skin until she brought herself back to reality with great difficulty. The thought of the scalpel had brought back Miss Parekh in tow.

"I did not sign those papers," she said with finality as she walked over and took a seat weakly upon one of the chairs. RV still remained rooted upon the spot, as though moving would mean letting his world crash around him.

"Then where did the signatures come from?" he asked venomously as their eyes met, the ruthlessness of his gaze no match against her frail ones that had begun to turn red, tears brimming at the edges.

"Why don't you ask your beloved Shanella? She's the one who brought you this in the first place now, didn't she?" spoke Miss Parekh suddenly with such spite that it made RV's heart squirm uneasily.

"How dare you bring her in this!" spat out RV in outrage, finally leaving his spot as he brought one of the chairs crashing upon the floor in fury. This time, Miss Parekh didn't flinch, but only chose to give him a daring smirk.

"I'm not surprised that you're defending her. I saw you two even yesterday in the coffee room with her all over you. I was right, Mr. RV. A woman can never reach the top until sexuality is brought into play," she said with the same unforgiving tone in her voice. RV stared at her in abhorrence of what she was trying to imply.

"Watch your words. For someone who has just cheated and breached on an entire contract, your tongue still seems to be working the way it usually does," he warned her, the ice of his tone constricting her breathing. Miss Parekh pushed the chair behind her as she stood up, suddenly deciding that she wouldn't go down without a fight.

"You cannot sue me for anything. The consignment was under the Parekh Empire anyway, and it wasn't specified under which subsidiary the consignment would be sent from," she stated in a cold voice, wondering what kind of instinct it was that was making her speak what she was.

"Don't forget that I'm now the 51% owner of the Parekh Empire myself," reminded RV, wondering in return what she was playing at as he noticed how quickly her fingers kept furling and unfurling.

"It's not been officiated yet. The papers are pending approval till the transfer takes place," she shot back spitefully in response and for the first time that day, RV was taken aback by the crudeness of her tone. And then, he let instinct take over again.

"After all these years... You brought me back over here just so that you could kill me once again now, didn't you? I told you, Ishaani. I told you that I wouldn't be able to survive another heartbreak again. And you did exactly that - trample upon my soul and shatter my frail heart with a brutally that I never thought you possessed," he accused, looking bereft as he let Ranveer take over. He left his emotions naked in front of her, risking an arsenal of them that she could take and use against him any minute.

But she didn't.

"Ranveer, I-"

"You've turned blind and reckless in your revenge, Ishaani. And you don't care how many people you kill on the way! And you don't care about how many times you kill me over and over again as long as your revenge is complete at the end of the day," he spoke in a quieter voice, the room suddenly frigid with the weight of the words he'd just spoken. Ishaani looked abashed, knowing that she was now fighting a losing battle.

"Ranveer, after everything we've been through-"

"You used me, Ishaani. You've always used me. And just like that night, you threw my feelings away once again. I cannot give you a second chance, Ishaani. Never after this," he added heartbrokenly, his headache suddenly driven off to another edge as he held on to the table, praying dearly that he didn't collapse at that very moment.

Luckily for him, Ishaani was too busy reeling from the shock of his words to notice his sudden discomfiture as his words ran through every pore of her skin deadlier than even the coolest and sharpest of scalpels. And it only made her bleed more pain rather than relief.

"How did Shanella find out about this?" asked Ishaani after an indefinite amount of time when she found her voice and will back, suddenly taking the courage to look up towards Ranveer, who in turn had gained back his control. He gave her a taut look.

"She didn't. She only told me that the consignment was re-routed through Beijing, and not Sydney this morning. The rest I found out after a couple of phone calls at important places. Nobody knows about the Mehta & Sons Co. re-routing except for you, me and the authority who sanctioned this."

"Rishi..." she whispered, her eyes suddenly flaring as she banged her fist upon the table, infuriated. RV knew that it was time to end whatever he wanted to say for there was no point going any further.

"I hope you get whatever you want, Miss Parekh. I hope that the revenge was worth it in the end. Because I'm done. Effective immediately, the RV Group of Companies is no longer a part of the consignment due to London. This was your brilliant strategy, so I hope you reap the fruits of it," he spoke bitterly and watched with satisfaction as the words stung her.

"You can't walk out on the deal like this," stated Ishaani, in more of a plea than a command. But nothing would work upon RV today, his tone and expression remarkably blank.

"I'm not because the finances are all yours. But I'm not going to stay here a minute longer," he added, his voice exemplified to the extent that even Ishaani flinched at the tone of it. And yet it was the disappointment and deception in his eyes for her that was doing the job on twisting the knife in her wounds over and over again.

Oh, how she craved the warmth upon the coldness suddenly...

"So you don't believe me, then?" she asked, surprised that her tone was suddenly just as loud as RV's. He smiled at her woefully.

"I believed you, Ishaani. That's where my mistake was."

"You made the same mistake that night, Ranveer. Don't do it again," she begged of him as she tried to cover the distance between them but he held her apart by her shoulders.

"No, Ishaani. You did the same thing today what you did years ago. You chose to do what was easy. You killed me with your cowardice all those years ago when you sought to rise above your demons. You did the same thing today," he said unforgivingly, looking at her square in the eye. He let his words lap upon her as he saw her writhe underneath the facade that she could barely keep up with anymore.

"You're the real coward, Ranveer. That's why you ran away years ago. And that's why you're running away today," she retorted, hoping that the poison in her tone would have the same kind of effect that it did years ago. To her utmost surprise, it didn't affect him at all. He didn't even as much as flinch or let his eyes twitch. On the contrary, he looked amused.

"You've given me no other option either now, have you?"

"So what now, you hate me?" asked Ishaani as they both stared at each other, each of them fighting a battle of their own as RV and Miss Parekh took their departure, leaving in its wake two extremely tired souls, both of whom were freshly wounded.

"It takes a special kind of love to hate you the way I do right this very moment," replied Ranveer as he send a second chair crashing upon the ground, startling Ishaani this time as he shook his head in revolt.

"Some things never change," she uttered in a weak voice as he gave her a look of utmost loathing. He roughly held her shoulders and shook her form before letting her go, the demented anger in his eyes making him look even more intimidating as RV crept back into his eyes once again.

"And some things never remain the same, Miss Parekh," was all he said before he left the conference room and slammed the door behind him harshly, leaving behind an unevenly-breathing Ishaani who fell upon her chair in shock, her strength finally failing her as her head fell into her palms in defeat.

-x-

An hour later saw Miss Parekh in her cabin, staring at Rishi with a coldness that froze his blood. Nobody had dared to enter the conference room for half an hour after RV had stormed out of the office with Gregory Finch trailing behind him to keep up speed, David left behind to clear away everything from their respective cabins and come along.

Rishi and Puneet did not have any idea about what exactly was supposed to be 'the plan', but after hearing the entire conversation that was loud enough to be eavesdropped upon without even eavesdropping, they felt their heart go cold in fear. This did not sound anything like the plan, although when Miss Parekh left the room, they knew for certain that the fiend had been awakened. She'd simply made her way to the cabin with the papers that RV had left behind in the room.

Nobody dared to even breathe until the intercom went off with a blast five minutes later near where Puneet stood, calling Rishi in. And he knew in that moment that nothing good was going to come out of it. Entering her cabin after her express permission, Rishi stood in front of Ishaani, feeling his heart thump through his ears as he saw his boss look at him with an anger that made him wish that he was dead already.

"Did you or did not sign the sanction on behalf of Mehta & Sons Co.?"

Rishi remained silent for a few minutes, knowing what was going to happen either way from the look upon her face. Everybody associated with this consignment were due for martyrdom today, starting from him.

"I haven't, ma'am. I signed over the sanction for the consignment due to London via Sydney from the JV association," he replied in a firm yet blank voice. Miss Parekh only smiled at him with a bitterness that made him sweat profusely.

"Then why are your signatures on this?"

"I don't know, ma'am. I handed over the papers to Ms. Carvalho after signing upon them. Maybe she'll have a better answer to your question," he replied rather pointedly, hoping that some kind of miracle would swoop down and claim him from the woman who looked like a bestial murderer in that moment.

"What are you trying to imply?" asked Miss Parekh as her eyebrow arched further into her head, her voice carrying no sympathy.

"There are discrepancies with the signature on this sheet, ma'am. Neither do I write my o's this way or even the b's," he replied in the same monotone, wondering from where he got the strength to speak.

All he wanted to do was shield himself from the fire that he found himself burning underneath her gaze. There was the man who'd just left, burning him from one side. And then there was his boss who'd completed the remaining half. And he knew that he now stood upon a ticking time bomb, waiting for the explosion to happen already.

"And you think this is the best time for a handwriting analysis after so much has happened? You could have made the mistakes yourself to create the benefit of doubt. What proof do you have saying otherwise?" she asked, her voice cold and controlled even though she felt angry enough to murder anyone who crossed her path the wrong way today.

"I have nothing."

Miss Parekh sighed, speaking aloud her verdict.

"I'd warned you, Mr. Rishi, that there was no margin of error with this contract. And there's been nothing but just that - errors. You're terminated with immediate notice, Mr. Oberoi. But for the sake of confidentiality, we aren't going to talk about this till after the consignment reaches London. You will keep up appearances in the office till the 29th of October, post which we'll make a public announcement. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes," replied Rishi, knowing that this was about to happen and secretly glad that it did. He did not even will to contest what had just happened, that petrified he was to stand in front of her a minute longer.

"Good, now send Mr. Puneet in," was all she said as she turned her face away from Rishi, staring outside the window instead while the latter left the room without another word.

On the way out though, he couldn't help but notice that her eyes looked dewy, but that he assumed was clearly a play of the sunlight. Meeting Puneet on the way, no other form of conversation was exchanged as he simply shook his head, and the latter gasped. Rishi jerked his head towards the room, signalling Puneet that now it was his turn to stand in the line of the fire, who looked like he'd faint any minute.

"Yes, ma'am?" asked Puneet he meekly poked his head into the room.

Miss Parekh looked towards him and nodded her head tiredly. Puneet walked ahead and maintained a safe distance away from her, realizing that unlike RV, who had just blown away a volcano of hot anger, Miss Parekh was freezing away the atmosphere with a cold anger that cut his insides, only making him realize how valid his and Rishi's fears had been. And Miss Parekh's cold anger could even destroy mountains in its wake with the recklessness she was capable of.

"I need you to make a re-wire transfer to the RV Group of Companies for 477 crores. I don't want to use a single penny from that firm now," she stated in a dead voice. Puneet couldn't help but notice that she looked ashen-faced, just like the grey of her formal blazer.

"We're all out on the finances from Mr. RV's firm," replied Puneet in a quiet voice even though he knew that she wasn't going to hear a word of it.

"Well, then re-pay him from our own."

"We can't, ma'am. There's too much risk. We can't go all out on a 954 crore deal. What about our expansion-" he began but Ishaani raised her hand up suddenly as a cue to remain silent before she finally exploded, the shards of anger piercing him terribly as he shivered.

"I don't give a goddamned hell about the expansion, Mr. Puneet! Unless you want your fate to be like Mr. Oberoi's, sanction the transaction right now!" she ordered and Puneet sighed, rubbing his temples helplessly.

"It will take three days for the process to get done. Our funds are currently not entirely liquid," he explained in as simple a language as he could while she only gave him a vexed look in return.

"Today's the 14th of October. You have until the seventeenth to clean this shit up. And what's the status about the consignment in Beijing?"

"It's scheduled to reach London on the 17th. De Beers have theirs reaching on the 18th. We have an appointment fixed for the 20th," he replied and Miss Parekh shut her eyes, cursing her luck that seemed to feel suddenly as rotten as it was eight years ago.

"You can leave. And do send Ms. Carvalho in," she added, forcing Puneet to stop in his tracks abruptly as he gave her a fearful look.

He had half a mind to deny her request but he knew it in his guts that should he even try to say anything unnecessary, real blood would start spilling very soon. He quickly scampered away and sent an urgent message to Shanella, requesting her to meet Miss Parekh, who wanted to see her on immediate notice.

Shanella seemed reluctant, but agreed nonetheless as she made her way to Miss Parekh's cabin confidently, even though deep within, she had half an urge to get running as fast as she could without even looking behind once. Taking a long breath as she swung open the door to her boss's cabin, she found the woman in question reading through a couple of documents, deep in thought.

"Yes?"

"Come in," called out Miss Parekh the moment she realized that her target had made her way into her cabin. She set down the papers and pointed towards the chair that Shanella took promptly.

"You called for me?"

"Yes, I need your opinion upon something," replied Miss Parekh, suddenly feeling an anger such like never before froth into her veins and drive away all sense of rationality from her mind. Especially the thoughts centering the scalpel she had a terrible urge of revisiting tonight in spite of the promise she'd made to herself and to the man who'd tore her apart in shred just an hour ago.

"Ma'am, if you are talking about Mr. RV-" began Shanella in a feigned frightened voice as the conversation was going exactly the way she suspected it to. But Miss Parekh shook her head, surprising Shanella and deviating her away from a well-rehearsed speech.

"Where did you get the sanction papers from?"

"It was what Mr. Rishi handed over to me, saying that it was upon your orders," replied Shanella confidently, heaving a mental sigh of relief that the conversation was not entering dark waters. But somehow, she did not like the inhumane look upon her boss's face.

"And you did know that the consignment was supposed to be routed through Sydney, not Beijing. You told Mr. RV about it, and yet didn't bother conferring it with me first?" asked Miss Parekh in a dangerously lacy voice, the tone unsettling Shanella slightly as she delivered another rehearsed dialogue. She was secretly happy that she was still controlling the strings of both the marionettes - RV as well as Miss Parekh.

"I couldn't break the chain of command, ma'am."

"Ms. Carvalho, when you first stepped foot in this conference room, I knew that you were a woman to watch out for. And you proved me right. I warned you not to play with fire, and you did. And you are going to pay the price for it now," threatened Ishaani suddenly as Shanella sprung up from the chair, the lethal tone of the former's voice deadlier than the coldest of scalpels.

"I- I- I-"

"Tell Chirag that I'm going to make him bleed tears of blood for this," she said aloud, Shanella letting out a small whimper of horror as though slashed.

"Ch- Chirag? Chirag who?" she stuttered as her eyes bulged in fear, taking quick steps behind as though afraid that Ishaani would pounce upon her any minute. But Ishaani couldn't help but enjoy the sadism of watching Shanella writhe underneath her gaze, relishing the fear reflect in her eyes in exchange for what her master had cost her today once again - Ranveer.

"The clock's ticking, Ms. Carvalho," warned Ishaani in a cold voice that made Shanella gulp erratically, praying that she made it out of the room alive as she had half a mind to shout out to someone for help.

"What clock?" asked Shanella in a quiet voice, and even though Ishaani let her back fall upon the chair tiredly, her eyes were enough to do the job along with the next set of words that she spoke.

"The clock of your destruction."

-x-

RV and Finch sat at the backseat of the car as the driver drove them steadily towards the hotel, the car doused in a chilly silence. Finch was too afraid to voice anything after what he'd just seen. He'd seen his friend this angry only once before and that was during the Lendell fiasco three years ago. On that day, every employee in the office present at the time had learnt that RV was a man whose path was never meant to be crossed the wrong way. And so was the case today as every employee in the Parekh office remained witness to history repeating itself.

And yet, Finch had never been more afraid for well-being of his friend as he turned to look at him.

Ranveer, on the other hand, now rubbed his temples furiously, his eyes streaming with the pain that was hammering at his skull now, making him feel sick. He knew that shouting at the top of his voice with a headache like that not unlike a demented loon was unavoidable, but the reward he was bearing for it at that moment didn't feel worth it either.

"Are you okay?"

"My head... It hurts terribly..." whispered Ranveer hoarsely as he kept massaging his temples but in vain. Finch put a hand upon his shoulder as the car rounded near the hotel, but Ranveer remained unaware about it. The rounds of darkness and doubling visions had begun once again while the words were beginning to echo and re-echo on their own as the voices cut through his headache that had now reached a new peak.

"Ten hours in nearly five days?"

"Finch, please..." he begged tiredly before he was visited by yet another realm of darkness.

Finch let the topic drop as he noticed that Ranveer no longer in control of his senses, his eyes nearly shut. He quietly led him through the lobby of the hotel and towards the lift as he pulled one of Ranveer's arms upon his shoulder, supporting his weight. Ten minutes later, Finch opened the door to Ranveer's room and half pulled him, half dragged him inside.

"Sit down. Come here, sit down," he sighed as he made Ranveer sit upon the bed. He was now too disoriented to realize where he was, his surroundings fading away from view every now and then.

"Take deep breaths and-"

"Get me a glass-" heaved Ranveer, his surroundings darkening with dizzying rapidity even though he didn't want to fade into the darkness just yet. And only one thing would help snap him back to consciousness, he knew.

"-of water," completed Finch forcefully as he shoved a glass of water in his hand, knowing very well what Ranveer had actually wanted. But enough was enough. It was time to step in for now and do what needed to be done, even though he wasn't entirely happy about it.

"Here, have a glass of water, you'll feel better. It's no wonder your head hurts like this, the way you exploded in the office today... It's not good, you know," added Finch as he forced the glass upon Ranveer's lips when his grip upon the glass slackened.

"Why does the water taste so weird?" asked Ranveer in a barely audible whisper as his eyes snapped open momentarily, looking at Finch in confusion. He frowned at the aftertaste in his mouth that felt slightly bitter.

"I'm sorry, mate," was all Finch said guiltily before falling silent, now holding Ranveer's shoulders to keep him sitting while he stared at him apologetically. And by the time it hit Ranveer, who was now semi-conscious, it was already too late.

"Oh shit..." were the last words Ranveer was consciously aware of whispering before he was forced to finally embrace the dark.

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Constructive criticism will be more than welcome and sorry for any typos. :D :D

Next chapter:
Chapter 7

LadyMeringue2016-12-24 23:51:19