FF: The Beautiful and the Condemned (Completed) - Page 60

Rage and helplessness were a deadly combination, especially within Rudra. He knew Paro was in trouble, and that angered him, but he felt helpless because he didn't know where she was or how he could protect her. He even had to resort to pleading before Tejawat. Rudra had to find Parvati, but he didn't know where to start. The fact that he knew she was in pain was infuriating him, but he couldn't stop it. Rudra didn't know what to do. He was standing in the middle of the street like a man waiting for a bus to run him over. The honking of cars and rickshaws brought him out of his frozen state.

Rudra knew that if Tejawat was going to return Paro to him, then he must still be within city limits. That wasn't much since Lucknow was over populated, but it was something than nothing. She would have to have been taken to a secluded location that contained something like a cellar. It had to be somewhere that didn't have too many people, since people in Lucknow gossiped about every little thing they saw. A quiet and discreet location away from the prying eyes of locals. Rudra cringed at the thought, but knew that the location would have to be soundproof or else people would be able to hear Paro's screams. Paro's screams...her piercing screams of pain that would fall on deaf ears.

He shook the thought out of his head. Rudra had to stop thinking about the worst possibility if he was ever going to find her. With a newfound sense of determination, Rudra began his search on the outskirts of Lucknow. He figured that he would start outwards and work his way into the city. The chances of Tejawat getting away would be slimmer. He single-handedly raided abandoned buildings and homes, tearing them completely apart to find any remnants of Tejawat. Rudra knew that if he had to he would turn Lucknow upside down to find Parvati. He didn't care if he had to create a bloody massacre...his wife's life was on the line. It was this thought that kept his feet moving; knowing that he needed to find her to get his life back.

~

Parvati sat in an unknown location surrounded by unfamiliar men. They were casually walking around, glancing at her every few minutes and whispering to one another. Fear gripped her, but she tried her best not to show it. The chains clanked as she tried foolishly to escape, but with the chains welded into the wall there was no chance of it coming undone. Her wrists continued to pain as she pulled harder and harder away from the cuffs, but the only result was deep purplish bruises that began forming beneath the cuffs. Paro stopped fighting and looked around to figure out where she was. If she didn't know any better, she would've thought that she was back in Chandangarh in Rudra's old cellar, but the lack of stairs leading to a door in the ceiling told her that it wasn't a proper conclusion. Parvati closed her eyes and held her head as she felt it pounding. She tried recalling everything that had happened because most of it was a blur to her.

As soon as Rudra had left, Parvati had planned to go to Pia's home. She wanted to take Pia and Abhi to the mandir as their first outing since the little bundle of joy had come into the world. She was just about to go get ready when she heard a knock at her door. Parvati, thinking it was Rudra, found it odd that he would knock on the door when she knew he had taken a key with him. She wondered if he had forgotten his key. She glided to the door and opened it. The smile on her face was washed off her face, only to be replaced by unrelenting fear. There, standing in the doorway, was Thakur Param Singh Tejawat, dressed in his deep blue sherwani with a devilish smile painted on his face. Not in a million years had she expected to find him here, standing at her doorstep with three of his men. Her heart began pounding out of her chest. Tejawat had found her. Who knows what he was going to do. All that Parvati knew right now was that she was alone, and she had to figure out how to get away.

Her first instinct was to slam the door and lock it as fast as she could. But as she tried, one of Tejawat's men that had accompanied him held the door back, allowing Tejawat and his three henchmen to enter effortlessly. Parvati remembered backing away slowly, staring at the lion entering the doe's sanctuary. Before she had a chance to do anything, run or scream, one of the men lunged at her to hold her down and cover her mouth with his hand. She kicked and flailed her arms to try and hit him so his grip would loosen. Another man came up to her with a small red cloth in his hand. The man covering her mouth moved his hand, only to have this man cover her mouth with the red cloth. She inhaled the toxic fragrance soaking the cloth and before she knew it her body loosened, the world blurred around her, and everything faded to black.

Now she was in some unknown location amidst these strange men. Parvati knew that for now she was in Tejawat's custody. She knew that with her as his hostage he would be able to do whatever he wanted to Rudra. She wasn't stupid. She knew how this leverage worked. What worried her was how Rudra was handling the situation. In the year that they had been married they had never spent more than a day apart. His constant paranoia that something like this would happen made him keep an extra protective watch on her. The thought of being separated was painful for the both of them. It was as if someone was cutting off their breathing supply. Parvati recalled what she had said to him earlier that morning without thinking. It had hurt Rudra just by saying it. Now that it was happening, what was he going through? Had he turned into a jallad? Had he reverted back to his old form to find her? Was he going to be able to find her?

Paro knew that he would find her. She made a promise to him that she would never leave him, and she would fulfill that promise. Her Bholenath would have to let her. She recalled how Tejawat was on the phone with Rudra a few hours before. With what he was saying, Paro knew that he was panicking. He was threatening and pleading to the one person who would never listen. She had tried talking to him to reassure him that everything was okay, but she received a tight slap across the face, resulting in a pink mark on her cheek, a cut on her lip from the man's ring, and her silence. What hurt just as badly was when one of the men pulled her up from the ground by her hair. She tried not to screaming, fearing that Rudra would hear her over the phone and panick, but the pain of the stranger's grip was too much for her to bear. She screamed. She knew her cries would spiral Rudra into an abyss, breaking his sanity.

Tejawat had left the room as soon as he had hung up the phone on Rudra. It had been hours now and she was getting restless. No one was given orders to hurt her. She wondered what was in store for her. What did thakur-sa have planned? Was this just about revenge? Of course it was. No one betrays him and gets away with it, Rudra had said it many times before. But Parvati was just learning the extent to which Tejawat would go to seek revenge. She prayed to Bholenath to give her strength and to let Rudra find her before it was too late.

Tejawat reappeared moments later. He calmly walked up to Parvati, who slowly recoiled upon seeing him return.

"It seems that your beloved husband doesn't want you," thakur-sa stated. "I've given him quite a bit of time to search for you."

"He will find me," Parvati uttered determinedly. "I have faith in him. And when he finds me, he'll make you regret this."

"Oh? Fiesty now, are we? I can see why Rudra admires you. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong side to be on, and now he will have to pay the price."

"You won't be able to hurt him. He's not weak. He's stronger that you will ever be."

Tejawat glared at her. Parvati was messing with power beyond her kin. What she didn't know was that thakur-sa was already three steps ahead of the game. He snapped his fingers and held his hand out. One of the men standing in the background came forward and place a shiny blade in his head and then backed away. Seeing the weapon, Paro began stepping back. With every step back, Tejawat took a step forward. When her back hit the wall, she knew she was trapped. Thakur-sa stopped directly in front of her, examining the knife nonchalantly in his hand.

"You're right Parvati," he finally said. "I can't hurt him...but I can hurt you."

Her eyes widened as she registered his words.

"Because you know as well as I do that you are Rudra's weakness. If anything happens to you, then the poor boy would be a mess. It is his fault really. I told him women and love would break any man. He didn't listen. So now he, and you, will have to pay the price."

Her breath halted as she felt the blade trailed against her before being pressed against her neck.

Tejawat leaned in and whispered, "Don't worry. I'm going to return you to Rudra. I can't guarantee it will be alive or in one piece."

Taking Rudra's name, Parvati closed her eyes and braced herself for what was to come.

~

It was well into the night and Rudra still hadn't gone through the outskirts of the city. There were just too many places that she could be. On top of that, Parvati's phone had been switched off. He could feel the sweat dripping down his face. With every minute the phone was off, it was one minute he didn't know about her condition. Whether she was safe or not, whether she was hurt or not...whether she was alive or not. Panic had been long gone. He was now going down the path of insanity. That road which Rudra had never treaded down. He was losing himself. He didn't know what he was doing. He ran around from street to street, yelling at the top of his lungs for Paro. His ears perked up at any sound that was linked to his wife, but there was nothing. He ran his fingers through his hair as he ran down the streets he had already gone through. Rudra felt himself going in circles. All the roads, paths, and alleys were beginning to look familiar. He hadn't even stopped to catch his breath. He felt tears stinging his eyes. If anything happens to Paro-.

The thought remained incomplete as his phone rang. Rudra fumbled it out of his pocket quickly and saw the caller ID read Paro.

He answered the phone, "Paro?!"

"Eager are we?" Tejawat's voice echoed through the phone. "Still haven't found her yet?"

"Where is she!" He heard a sigh on the other end.

"I sent her back to you hours ago."

"...What?"

"I told you I would give her back to you."

"Where is she? Where did you leave her?"

"Still haven't found her? Oh dear, I hope you find her soon. Blood pours out of a human body rather fast."

Rudra froze, "B-blood?"

"Hopefully there's still some left in her by the time you get to her. If not...well...you will have to get some widow's clothing for yourself."

"Wh-where is she? P-Par-Paro?"

"The one place where all your memories have been made in Lucknow. I figured that if she dies there, it'll just be one more memory in that place. Tick-tock Rudra."

The phone went dead. It didn't matter at this point because Rudra's phone had slipped out of his hands and shattered upon making contact with the ground. Memories. Lucknow. Why didn't he think of it before?! With a rush of adrenaline, Rudra darted home...his and Paro's home. He ran faster than the speed of light, darting the late night wanderers and drivers. As he saw the familiar street to his home, Rudra prayed that he wasn't too late.

The door was already cracked open. He shoved it open completely and took two steps in, only to stop dead in his tracks. Blood. There was so much blood. It rested untouched on the ground in a large pool in the middle of the living room. All of it was coming from the woman laying in the middle of it.

"P-Paro?" Rudra softly stuttered.

He saw Paro, laying in the pool of blood. Her blood. Her white ghagra-choli, which he had left her in this morning, was soaked in her red liquid. Even from this distance, he could see the cuts on her arms, waist, and neck. He even saw the stab wound on her stomach, which was carelessly and weakly covered by her flimsy red dupatta, which too was soaked, shading it in a much darker red than it was. Paro's head was facing him, revealing the small gash on the side of her forehead. She half-opened her eyes upon hearing her name in the familiar voice. Her hand was already extended out towards the door, as if she was trying to reach for it so she could find help. Her fingers barely twitched.

As he ran to her, his knees gave way and slid into the pool of blood, but Rudra didn't care. All that mattered was that his wife was dying in front of him. He lifted her into his arms, rubbing her face and looking at the wounds on her body.

"No no no no!" he repeated. "Paro! Paro, open your eyes!"

He could feel that she was barely breathing. When he had pulled her in his arms, she had closed her eyes again and leaned into him. Her face was pale, and he knew that she had lost so much blood. The tears were forming in his eyes as he saw her in this state. He had to get her to a hospital and fast, but he couldn't bear to tear himself away from her to get help. It was as if he was frozen, unable to comprehend what he had to do. By now, his clothes were completely covered in his wife's blood.

Rudra held her face and shook her frantically, "Paro! Paro, open your eyes! This is not funny! You're going to be okay! Just open your eyes!"

Paro gasped for breaths as she slowly opened her eyes. Tears spilled out of them upon seeing Rudra. He came. He found her. She would've held him, but the pain surging through her was just unbearable. She continued to stare at him with her large doe-like eyes. Rudra could feel a part of himself dying. It was as if she was using the last bit of her strength to look at Rudra...as if it would be the last time. No. He wouldn't let that happen.

"Y...you're...here," Paro managed to say.

He nodded and kissed her forehead, "I'm here, and everything is going to be okay. I promise. Just don't close your eyes!"

"Rudra..."

Parvati was never able to say what she wanted to say at that moment. After she spoke his name, her vision began blurring. His face, which was looking down at her, looked fuzzy. As she struggled to breathe air into her lungs, the pain finally took its toll. She thanked Bholenath for guiding Rudra to her. If she was going to be saved, then it would be by her husband's hand. And if she was going to die, then she wanted it to be in her husband's arms. With her eyes fixed on Rudra, Parvati stopped struggling to keep her eyes open. She closed her eyes and let the darkness pull her into unconsciousness.

**********

Before you all try to hunt me down and kill me...no...she is not dead. She's just unconscious. But she is barely breathing. So what will Rudra do?

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