It's already past midnight when Bani reaches the hotel. After ending her phone call she did number of things. Got in the car, broke all the cameras and screens that were attached to it, then changed the numberplate and drove it to the far up the hill before pushing it off the cliff. The road was secluded with no CCTV which will make it impossible to ever trace the car or the casualty that happened. Later she walked half a mile until found a bus stop and came via that.

She chose to check in to her assigned hotel to get away from Veer's men. So when she contacts him later she will be able to pass it off without any suspicious. Her phone is in her vanity which she'll need to take back first thing tomorrow. By then probably Karan's missing news will be out and Veer will be out of the town for his Montpellier arms deal.

Bani shuts the door behind her with a sigh. She closes her eyes before opening them and immediately halts at her track as soon as she sees the dark silhouette sitting at the edge of the bed. The room is dark except for the dimly lit bedside lamp and Veer is sitting there face down. Bani can't see his face but she knows it has got the impassive expression just as usual.

Veer lifts his head to match Bani's eyes. And even though Bani has her heart leaps to her throat, she keeps her expression even giving nothing away. Veer gets on his feet to slowly walk up to her. He is like those predatory dogs who can sniff off every little changes. So Bani tries to regulate her breathing keeping her heartbeat calm. He was not supposed to be here right now.

"Hi." Bani whispers with her practiced breathy tone.

Against the light Bani watches Veer tilt his head just in acknowledgement. Veer comes to stand right in front of her and even though the room has some light, his shape feels like a dark aura on its own. Bani keeps her whole body relaxed while looking into his eyes.

"Why are you here?" She dares to ask.

Veer bores his unreadable gaze into Bani's and asks in his deep monologue, "I asked you to wait for me. You didn't."

Bani swallows, "You took too long to come to me."

Veer raises one of his eyebrows. Bani maintains the intense gaze. The memory of Veer taking her name comes vivid in her mind causing a sudden wave of fury inside her. She wanted this. She wanted to be picked. Since the beginning....! She had kept her fingers crossed when Balwant Singhania picked her for trafficking. She was relieved when Veer picked her for night spend. And now this is also a big opportunity to destroy the clan from inside. Yet Bani can't be happy now. She sort of wants to yell at Veer but fights to keep her facade calm and visibly expressionless.

She has learnt not to react to certain situations but to respond. And right now she needs to be careful with her every move. Veer is not an idiot. He'll ask where she was without the bodyguard and will definitely suspect something when he finds out the security camera if the building has been off. Over the top there will be Karan's missing news out tomorrow. She gotta play this cool.

"Where have you been?" Veer asks.

Bani holds her breath, "With my costume team. There was something wrong with my tomorrow's outfit. We had to retry it out."

Bani watches Veer absorbing the answer and then his hand raises up, coming right towards her. She physically stops herself from recoiling and stays still. The first step is submission when you want to handle a deadly beast. So she stands calm closing her eyes when Veer's hand comes to caresse her cheek. And it always works. Submissive. Yes. That's how Veer sees her. That's how everyone sees her. An harmless, docile girl who has nothing to hide.

Those callosal palms feel gentle against her skin. Veer bends down to kiss her and Bani closes her eyes waiting for those lips to be pressed against hers. But today the act doesn't come naturally as it always does and she pushes her palms against his chest creating some distance. When Veer frowns at her she looks away.

"I want to take a shower first." She mutters slowly.

After a few seconds of silence Veer hums, "Fine. Should I join you? I need to take one too."

Bani shakes her head unable to match those eyes and rasps out, "No. I- I want to be alone for some time."

Veer sighs, "Okay." and turns around to walk away.

Just then Bani grabs his sleeve making him stop and looks up at his questioning eyes. She whispers hesitantly, "Y-you can take the shower while I use the bath?"

Veer's lips twitch, "You said you want to be alone."

Bani shrugs, "It's okay. I'll take a long time to get done."

🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵
Bani senses Veer's heavy gaze behind her as she undresses herself in the bathroom. She hears those shuffling sounds of clothes removal but doesn't look back. The hints are evident and she knows where this will go if she looks back at Veer. Instead she distracts herself into checking the water temperature.

Once set everything, Bani dips into the bathtub resting her head against the edge. She closes her eyes finally letting her body relax. She didn't want to touch Veer right after committing a murder. Things like this always haunt her; one of the reasons why she was willing to get separate from Veer after his father's death. Bani lets herself soak in the water completely drowning under the water.

         ༒࿐៚FLASHBACK៚࿐༒
"This is Balwant Singhania. The crime king of underworld. And this is his son Veeranshu Singhania. The mastermind of all his infamy."

Bani listens to the commissioner carefully while looking into the pictures. The picture is from a confidential meeting. Bani can see a briefcase of cash facing towards the white men while another one full of drugs is faced towards the Singhanias. Beside them stands another person holding a gun.

"That one is Veeranshu's sniper. None of those people other than these three made it out alive." Says the commissioner pointing at Veeranshu, his father and the sniper.

The words cut something deep inside Bani. She knows how only these three manage to escape every time such incidents happen. The rage of taking those monsters down resurfaces again. She swallows down the sting of her throat.

"Our target is to take Balwant Singhania down with as much proof as we can manage. Whoever comes in the way, kill them. Including His own son."

Bani clenches her fist taking a deep breath. She will. She will take this Veeranshu Singhania's life with her very own bare hand. She will make sure to inflict just as much pain on him as he does to his victims.

She nods, "will do, sir."

"There are many people involved in this. Including some reputed politicians and businessmen. If we can get hand on those evidences of their deeds, it will be stop to those underworld crimes, Bani. So many of our undercover officers tried and failed already in this mission. I'm trusting it with you this time, Bani." The commissioner looks at him desperately, "This will be a great risk on your own life. Getting into their circles and carry out the plan. Your whole life will be on the line if you agree to do this. But I have this faith that if there's only one person who can pull this mission off, then it's you!"

Bani feels her chest swell with unbidden emotion. She nods looking determined, "Don't worry, sir. We won't fail this time. May it take my whole life but we will bring down Balwant Singhania and his clan this time. I promise you. I'll get into the circle. They will pick me. The Singhanias will definitely pick me."
            ༒࿐៚end of flashback༒࿐៚

Bani gets up off the water gasping for breath. Her eyes stinging. She opens her eyes as the sound of shower reaches her ears. She looks up to see hot steams enveloping the small glass room of the shower. Through the vapour she can see Veer running his hand through his hair under the shower. Those steams making it difficult to see him properly.

Bani exhales. It has not been an easy journey. Planning everything and playing through it. Those vulture eyes were always on her. For some reason Balwant Singhania never trusted her. And it worsened when Veeranshu went against him to marry her and even got separate from the Singhania house for her sake. Nonetheless it made Bani pissed. All the progress she was making to finally reach the evidences got ruined by Veer's one single decision.

"You're staring." Veer speaks without turning to look at Bani.

Bani hums, "I know. Can you put out those steam? I can't see you properly because of them."

Veer chuckles deep in his throat turning to look at her this time. His eyes are shiny. He wipes the fog on the glass using his palms until his upper half is see through.

"Now?" He asks teasingly.

Bani roams her eyes over his body replying, "Better."

Veer smirks furrowing his brows, "You know it's unfair that you get to see me as much as you want when all I can see of you soap bubbles coddled up all around you."

Bani cocks her eyebrows, "Yeah? You wanna see me? Fine. I'll grant your wish then."

And then to Veer's surprise she stands up and steps out of water. Veer inhales through his lips when his eyes fall on Bani's shiny skin dripping water. His eyes follow her movements as she grabs the bath towel and walks to the washbasin. She meets Veer's hungry gaze through the mirror while slowly wrapping the towel around her wet body. When she's done wrapping the towel around her, Veer comes to stand behind her naked in his full glory. Bani forces herself to not look down. Both heaving breath; both dripping wet.

Bani's eyes fall on the revolver kept on the basin. She goes for it and picks it up in her hand. By the model and weight of it she can tell one bullet is missing. Bani vaguely wonders who became the target of it. She looks up at Veer to see he's already looking at her with a hint of amusement at the corner of his lips. It's as if Veer is mocking her knowing that Bani can't use it and that rebirths the rage inside her once again.

Bani's eyes blaze as she takes two steps back stretching her hand and glares at Veer while pressing the gun head right at his chest holding the trigger. She hates how Veer still stands unfazed against the gun point. She hates how after everything that happened she still can't pull the trigger off. She hates how one word from this man and she would pull the gun on herself. Every time she looks at this man, she realises all over again how she would give up everything for him. And she hates herself for this. She hates herself that she doesn't regret any of this.

"It's a real gun, not play toy." Veer mutters. Amusement spreading in his eyes.

"Yes, and?" Bani demands, "You think I can't shoot you?"

Veer's lips twitch, "Do you know how to shoot?"

Bani scoffs internally. Only if he knew! She pokes the gun head to Veer's chest before saying, "What's there to learn about? Don't you have to just pull the trigger? Like they show on the movies?"

Veer pauses for a second before chuckling lightly and mutters, "Yeah? Then go on. It's fully loaded."

Saying this he lifts his right hand to cover Bani's. The one holding the gun and presses it more to his chest. Bani's smile dims. She watches how Veer doesn't flinch a bit while roaming his thumb over her index finger that holds the trigger. Bani's heart starts beating rapidly. That's it. She has enough proof to now bring Veer and the others down. She can now pull the trigger and easily get rid of the crime god. No one will know and she will be able to go back to the life she wants for herself.

She can hear the six years past Bani screaming at her to pull the trigger. That Bani has waited for this moment. She has prayed to god for this moment. That Bani would do it within a blink of an eye. Yet....this Bani can't. No matter how loud those words are inside her head, her heart doesn't give in to those voices. This Bani is more terrified that she might pull the trigger accidentally while Veer is playing with her fingers.

Bani loosens her grip and the gun falls with a loud thud on the floor. Veer stares at the gun then at Bani frowning sceptically. Bani's hand trembles; eyes disturbed when she looks up at him mumbling, "Sorry...I didn't -"

"Hey!" Veer gently rasps out cupping either side of Bani's head, "It's okay, sweetheart. Don't apologise." He pauses before saying, "You're not used to this. Forgot it, yeah?"

Bani closes her eyes sinking into the touch. There was a time when this touched used to repulse her. But now this is the only thing that grounds her to reality. How fast things changed from that to this!

"You look tensed." Bani opens her eyes at Veer's comment.

"Too much workload." Bani replies plainly.

Veer's hand starts trailing down her face to her side while he mutters staring at Bani with hooded gaze, "I think I know the best way to relieve your tension, huh?"

Bani's lips part when the strong hands squeeze her hips pulling her closer and she replies breathlessly, "Do you? I doubt?"

Veer's eyebrows twitch, "Are you doubting my skills?"

Bani bites her lips smiling, "I won't know unless you show me now, would I?"

And the next second she's hoisted up on the counter. Her hands fly to hold Veer's shoulders for support while towel rises up her thighs exposing more flesh. Veer stands between her legs massaging her upper thighs with hands.

Veer's hand travel up. He smirks, "Then lets get you know better, shall we?"

Bani closes her eyes.

These couple of updates are gonna be filler updates. Now that the cat is almost out we will see things more from Bani's perspectives. So what do you think so far of the story? 👀
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