Dev was waiting eagerly for a message. A message that would convey to him that Songbird was captured by the police. It was already Wednesday.

"I should have got the message by now," Dev said to himself, "It has passed midnight."

Dev searched his contacts and stopped at the one named Arjun Rawat. He was about to click the call button, but then he remembered Arjun's rant the previous day. It was past midnight. His best friend would be sound asleep.

"THE HECK!" He exclaimed as he opened an article stating that a policewoman inspector called Aahana had shot a woman named Kriti. It happened in the hotel where the deal with Songbird was going to take place. He had bribed Jade to get Songbird captured.

It was his way of getting revenge from that mafia for taking away most of his business deals.

BUT NO!

Fate had to just be cruel to him always.

"Songbird. I promise I will make you pay for what you are taking away from me," Dev said.

Just then he heard a soft knock on the door of his bedroom.

Who would it be at this time? Everyone would be asleep right? I guess Maa did not sleep yet. Let me see. He thought walking to open the door.

Dev opened the door. He saw his father there standing patiently.

"Dad?" Dev said, "Come inside."

Raghunath walked into the room quietly.

"What's wrong Dad?" Dev asked judging that the look on his father's face was a 'why-did-you-do-something-wrong' look.

"Why did you bribe Elizabeth Jane Winden?" Raghunath asked.

Dev was shell-shocked.

"I... How... How do you know this Dad?" Dev stuttered.

Raghunath was unhappy with this shady life that Dev had gotten himself into. Raghunath himself was once a part of this mafia world that Dev found amusing and adventurous. Dev had yet not faced what could be the consequences of being a mafia.

"I have my sources," Raghunath said.

"But Dad. You are out of this business, but then how do you know what happened?" Dev asked trying to divert the topic.

But alas, Raghunath was Dev's father. A father knew his son the best.

"Don't deviate," He said sternly, "You do know right you are getting yourself into a dangerous web. The underworld mafia is a hell-hole."

"Yes. I do," Dev said. He did know the dangers. It was hell dangerous being a mafia. Indian mafias were strong but they were not as strong as the other countries. Now he had bribed an Englishwoman, an English mafia to be precise. Divorced to the Italian mafia Riccardo Valldari.

"What did you threaten her with?" Raghunath asked.

Dev knew now that he was in big trouble. His father did not believe that the Englishwoman took the money and agreed to work for him.

"I threatened her with the upcoming deal with Riccardo," Dev spilt the beans.

It was 1 am. Suraj was waiting outside the Emergency room. His men had rushed both Aahana and Kriti to the hospital. Suraj felt so guilty. He was the reason for the pain that Aahana was now going through. He did not even know whether he hit her lightly or really hard.

"What in the world is taking the doctor so long? They took Kriti to the OT, but they have not even said a word about Aahana," He said to himself.

Jatin was sitting outside the Emergency room next to Suraj. He knew it was difficult for Suraj to be calm right now. Suraj's guilt was inevitable. But Suraj himself had to make a difficult decision.

HE HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN HIS SISTER AND HIS LOVE!

HE HAD TO LITERALLY MAKE A CHOICE BETWEEN THE FIRST PERSON HE LOVED IN HIS LIFE AND THE PERSON WHOM HE WANTED TO BE WITH FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE!

Suraj's eyes searched around for his little sister. She was not to be seen.

"Where is Sona?" Suraj asked Jatin.

"She is outside the operation theatre. With Kriti," Jatin said.

Suraj nodded. He understood Sona wanted to be with Kriti. That friend of hers was like a second skin to her. Her friend had been always with her through time thick and thin.

He knew that his sister would be filled with guilt and would be blaming herself for Kriti's and Aahana's condition.

Suraj got up. Jatin looked confused. Where is this guy going? The girl he loves is in the emergency room and now he is getting up?

Suraj walked towards the operation theatre. He was perfectly correct.

There she was.
His younger sister.
Blaming herself.

"It's all my fault!" Sona said to herself, "If I would not have gone for that stupid deal, my to-be sister-in-law would be fine. My best friend would be right next to me."

Suraj walked towards her and hugged her.

"Sona! Don't take any stress," Suraj said trying to soothe her. The last thing he wanted now was for his sister to go into depression or have a panic attack.

"Bhai I am so sorry," Sonakshi started crying on Suraj's chest, "This is all my fault. Aahana Bhabhi is hurt because of me."

"Shhh... Calm down. Aahana will be fine," Suraj said.

Yes. Sonakshi had done something stupid. But it was not her fault that the person with whom she had to make a deal would be bribed by Devil.

Devrath.

Suraj gritted his teeth in anger.

Yes. He knew Devrath Dixit was Devil. He knew Devrath wanted to become the most powerful mafia. He could have exposed him. But life is not that easy is it?

He did not have any solid legal proof. Moreover, he himself was a mafia. He had his own ambitions too. He had to keep his secret with him till the grave.

He turned to look at his sister. From her innocent face, no one could ever tell that she is the smart and sly Songbird. She never wanted to get into this stupid world of the mafia.

But that incident made her change.

She wanted Revenge!
She wanted them to pay!
She wanted them to cry as she had cried!

Suraj himself wanted those people to be punished. So, he never objected to Sona being a part of his mafia when he initially found out that she had started dealing with mafias. He himself wanted revenge for Sonakshi to get justice.

That incident was still fresh in Suraj's mind. He could still see the dead look that Sonakshi had on that day.

He remembered THAT ONE TIME WHEN HE FAILED TO PROTECT HIS YOUNGER SISTER AS AN ELDER BROTHER!

Raghunath was furious. His son had just crossed the limits this time. He had acted so immaturely.

"She was caught by Songbird," Raghunath told Dev. Dev was shocked.

"Songbird might have killed her," Raghunath continued. Mafias never forgave betrayal. The punishment for betrayal was death.

"NO! NO! NO!" Dev shouted, clutching his hair in despair.

He had made such a perfect plan. Now, he lost a woman in it. A woman who herself was a mafia. Her ex-husband was a mafia. After all, he was a gentleman, he had caused the death of a woman. Dev was filled with guilt.

"I would like to tell you one thing, Dev. Two wrongs do not make one right. You have made a big mistake," Raghunath said.

"Are you angry?" Dev asked his father.

"No. I am not," Raghunath said, "because I have handled this. I sent my men to Riccardo and delivered the news of Elizabeth's death which occurred due to a betrayal. Riccardo seemed to understand. He did not seem angry. He will not take revenge for her death."

Dev felt a bit of the load lifted from his heart. At least the danger of Riccardo Valldari was not there anymore.

"I am sorry dad. Forgive me," Dev pleaded.

"I forgive you this time, Dev. Now go to sleep," Raghunath said and walked out of the room closing the door of Dev's bedroom.

Dev felt so exhausted, but sleep was nowhere near him.

The doctors walked out of the operating theatre. Sonakshi at once ran towards them.

"How is my friend doctor?" Sonakshi asked praying to all the gods that her best friend had survived.

"She is fine now. We have successfully removed the bullet from her body. She needs a few days of bed rest. She will be fine," the doctors said to her.

She let out a deep breath and went back and hugged Suraj.

"How is Aahana Bhabhi?" Sonakshi asked, looking at him.

"I do not know Sona," Suraj said, "Come, let us see."

Again, Sonakshi was filled with guilt. Her brother had left his girlfriend to come and comfort her.

"Stop Sona. Not a word," Suraj said, already knowing Sonakshi would start apologizing for not understanding that he was suffering too and that she was the reason why he had left Aahana in the emergency room.

Both of them got up and walked towards the emergency room. The doctor just then walked out of the room. Suraj and Sonakshi rushed towards the doctor. Jatin too got up from the place where he was sitting.

"How is she, doctor?" Suraj asked the doctor. He internally hoped the doctor would not give him a cliché Indian serial hospital reply of She is critical. Until she gets conscious, we can't say anything.

"Are you her husband?" the doctor asked Suraj.

"No," Suraj replied. This was not what he expected.

"Then, who are you?" the doctor asked, "I can't reveal her health condition to anyone just like that. She is a police inspector."

Suraj lost it. This doctor was going to stop him from meeting his Cherry. Suraj was going to punch the doctor when a voice spoke out.

"He is her fiancé," The voice said.

Suraj turned to look at who it was. It was Mr Khurana. Aahana's father. He was not alone. There, standing with him, was Mrs Khurana and his own parents.

Mr and Mrs Sharma were looking as though they were going to murder their children. All they had done was sent them a message that Aahana and Kriti were hospitalized and then did not even pick up one of the hundred calls they made to them. The doctor allowed them in.

Aahana was looking pretty fine. She had a bandaged head. No other injuries. She smiled faintly as she saw her loved ones entering the room. Mrs Khurana immediately rushed to her and hugged her. Suraj felt so awkward. He wanted to get close to his Cherry. But with his prospective in-laws in the room, No Chance.

He just stood there with his arms crossed. In his anger, he was looking like a small kid fuming over the fact that someone else was playing his video game. Aahana noticed him fuming and chuckled looking at him. Now all eyes in the room turned onto Suraj who was now looking like a deer in headlights.

All the elders just gave a small chuckle and left the room giving an understanding nod to Suraj. Suraj turned as red as a tomato by the time all the elders left. Sonakshi was about to leave too.

"Sonakshi. Please wait," Aahana said faintly.

Sonakshi got scared.

Did Aahana recognize me? Oh No! I hope she does not remember much. I have to save Kriti. I need to think of an excuse.

"OK," Sonakshi said. Suraj raised his brow. He knew his girlfriend had something serious to say.

"Sonakshi..." Aahana started.

"Call me Sona," She said to Aahana, "You are practically family."

"Well, this dumb brother of yours did not propose to me yet," Aahana said playfully.

Suraj narrowed his eyes at his girlfriend. He then turned to look at his sister. He saw Sona trying her best not to laugh.

These girls are trying to make a joke out of me. What do they think? Am I a businessman with no brains? Suraj thought.

He gave Sona an 'If-you-laugh-you-are-so-gone' look. She stopped laughing at once.

"Bhai, when do you plan to propose to Aahana Bhabhi?" Sonakshi teased him.

"I will," He said, "Soon."

"So Sonakshi... I mean Sona," Aahana started

Sonakshi dreaded what she was going to say next.

"Can we be friends?" Aahana asked.

"What type of a question is this? Are we not friends?" Sonakshi asked, confused at what Aahana was asking, "Did you hit your head too hard?"

"Yeah. Did you get hit really badly on your head?" Suraj too joined in.

Aahana gave a death glare to both the Sharma siblings.

"Well, for starters if I was your friend, you would tell me you had a panic attack yesterday," Aahana said, her eyes boring into Sona's.

Suraj was confused. What was Aahana saying? Sona had a panic attack?

Sonakshi looked like a thief who was caught in the robbery. She was so dead now. Suraj took one look at her and understood that his girlfriend was telling the truth.

"You had a panic attack yesterday, Sona?" Suraj asked, anger rising in his body that his younger sister had not thought this was important for him to know.

"Ye...Yes Bhai" Sonakshi stuttered.

"And you did not think it important to tell me?" Suraj asked, raising his voice.

"I was going to tell... tell you," Sonakshi said, trying to lie.

She really underestimated Suraj's ability to read her. He knew every cell of her. He knew every bit of her.

"When? When I am on my deathbed?" Suraj asked, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"No Bhai..." She was saying but when she saw someone in the hospital corridor walking past the glass door, she froze. Her eyes widened in fear.

Suraj followed her gaze and then, he too was shocked looking at whom he saw. Sonakshi had stopped saying anything. She had become unusually quiet.

"Sona," Suraj said trying to shake her out of her trance. 

Aahana did not know what happened and Sonakshi was in shock. A teardrop flowed onto Sonakshi's face from her right eye. She just said two words out loud.

"Ravit Raheja."

WORD COUNT: 2467 Words

Sonakshi and Jatin are a part of Suraj's mafia circle. They are not individual mafias.

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