"dil jala kay jagmaga doon main tere raastay."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

THE bastard had the nerve to laugh.

A vexatious scowl soiled Haider's features as he inspected the tall and thewy figure of the man in front of him.

In the face of not one, but six deadly weapons, he shouldn't even have been standing before him. He should've been grovelling at his feet; trembling in fear, begging for his life.

But here he was, unflinching and erect―staring right into his eyes with his lips curved into a wacky smile like he had just cracked a joke.  

It only made Haider want to crack every joint in his body.

As his contemptuous gaze raked his appearance, it was a bitter pill to swallow for Haider and admit that this scoundrel could certainly compete with him in the looks department. Compared to his immaculately groomed appearance, the man clothed in all black and leather had a cryptic and feral presence with a gleam of deviltry in his charcoal black eyes; he reeked of rebellion.

"Who said it's my last wish?" Zain vocalised with a haughtily slanted brow.

He hadn't laughed at Haider's statement but rather at the irony of the situation. He had only started building the castle of his love but Iman's almost husband had shown up without warning like a nasty tide, crashing it down.

Zain couldn't believe Haider had actually brought his armed lackeys to fuck him up. Was this guy really just a businessman?

He also couldn't believe that in his lovesick state, he had walked out of the apartment without carrying his damn gun.

Wow, ishq ne abhi se nikamma kardiya ghalib.

"I don't think you realize the predicament you are in right now. You're either awfully brash or extremely dumb." Haider fleered.

He did. Zain knew he was in a tight corner and his mind had already started devising different escape strategies but they all required him to indulge in a fight with the big―not to forget, equipped―men and who knew how nasty it would get so, instead, he decided to try another method.

Talk before you spar.

"Listen man, I know what happened was wrong, very wrong and I understand how you must be feeling but we can talk it out in a civil manner. Let's not resort to viole―"

A vicious punch packed by Haider didn't let him finish his sentence as his fist connected with his jaw, hard enough to to make him stumble back.

"Just seeing your face infuriates me. Makes me want to tear you limb from limb!" Haider howled; his sooty irises alight with a firestorm that he wanted to burn this fool into. 

It took Zain an immense amount of willpower to not smash his skull in retaliation. Slamming his eyes shut and letting out a low growl with his neck bent to the side, he took a moment to simmer down. When his eyes opened―narrowed to slits―he veered his head and shot Haider a razor sharp glance.

"You could end up behind bars for this," Zain hissed, pointing a finger at him. 

"Funny," retorted Haider with a scoff.

"You wish I was joking."

A muscle feathered in Haider's jaw as he eyed the man in black in disgust; outraged at the gibberish he was uttering. "Who do you think you are?"

"Didn't you run a background check on me before coming here?" Zain jabbed in a mocking tone. "Please tell me you at least know my name?"

One of the five men he had brought with him spoke, "His name is Zahid, Sir."

A whimsical smile broke onto Zain's lips at the mention of the familiar epithet he went by in the world of mobsters. "That's not my name."

For a second, Zain pondered over the possibility of letting him know his identity but, considering how he had ambushed him with his minions and the lackadaisical look he currently wore on his face made it seem futile.  Mr Arrogant clearly didn't give a flying fuck about his identity. To him, he was probably just a detestable man his almost bride had run off with.

"I don't give a rat's ass about what your name is," Haider murmured through clenched teeth, confirming Zain's assessment. "But you, certainly don't care about your life aswell. You're surrounded by men who can put bullets in your thick skull at a flick of my hand, and yet you continue to prattle on."

Bothered―Haider was utterly bothered by the fearlessness in his eyes; the brazen manner he conversed with him, and his unbearably untamed demeanour.

Zain laughed again; the spread of his lips making the muscles in his jaw throb in pain. Iman's almost husband surely knew how to throw a punch.
Also, Did he really think he wasn't smart enough to discern that he wouldn't kill him? If Haider had wanted him dead, he'd have been by now but since he wasn't, he decided to piss him off some more.

"A lion doesn't get scared when he's confronted by a pack of hyenas," Zain stated, stressing on the last word.

"Fancy words. Is that how you trapped Iman?" Haider bit out, his tone as trenchant and cold as the wind that fluttered over the spirals of the sea.

Trapped? Zain mentally snorted. Wasn't it the other way around? The grey-eyed beauty had ensnared him and dampened all his senses. He was the victim here!

Zain breathed a deep sigh and took a step forward. "See, that's why I said we need to talk. You're misunderstood. Give me a chance to clarify―"

His words were cut off by a rapid movement of Haider's arm―his balled hand aiming towards his face again but Zain didn't tolerate the same mistake twice. His own arm flew up, blocking the blow with his fingers tightly wrapped around his wrist in a death hold.

"Apne hath, or apne gussay ko qaboo main rakhiye, Mr. Khan." Zain recited the warning draped in an ominously low voice.

The calm bed of the ocean suddenly turned chaotic. Murky waves took an aggressive form and rolled forward, threatening to crash and drown everything in their way―akin to the two men confronting each other with barely harnessed violence in between―arms drawn in the air like blades.

Zain released his hold on his arm and jerked it back, grinding his teeth and pulling in a deep breath to calm his boiling blood.

Zain wasn't one to shy away from a fight, nor did weapons scared him. If he could grapple with a swarm of gangsters inside their own territory, he was surely capable of taking on Haider and his men, but he was holding back because he wanted to settle this matter without violence.

And because―his gaze migrated to the aqua-white edifice―he didn't want to put her in trouble or cause her any more worry.

"She's not there."

Those three words vocalised by Haider were enough to snatch the rug from under Zain's feet and freeze the blood in his veins. His eyes widened as he swerved his head to the right and panic welled within his chest as he whispered out,"What...? Wh-where is Iman?"

Haider knew he had taken the wind out of the man's sail as he was finally rewarded with what he had been coveting. Apprehension and jeopardy was visible all over his nemesis face―it was almost scintillating. He savoured the sight before his lips twisted into a cold smile and he replied, "She is where she should be; far away from you."

Zain's heart plummeted into a devastating abyss. How could he be so naive to think that Iman was safe. If Haider had found him, of course he must've known where she was as well. Fuck! Fuck!

A paroxysm of anger coursed through his capillaries, melting the frigidness of shock and he lunged forward, his hands grabbing Haider's collar as his eyes darkened to a destructive extent.

"You asshole!" he yelled. "Don't you dare do anything to her. It's not what you think dammit! Iman and I don't have that kind of relationship and that night, I just-

Before he could finish his sentence, his arms were roughly seized by the callous and burly hands of Haider's men and his body was yanked back.

"We're done conversing here." Haider adjusted his collar and tried to calm the nerves in his body that were pulsating with fury at the man's impudence. Gulping down his ire, he regarded the man in black―who was struggling to liberate himself from the hold of his men―with a bleak stare.

"Take him away," he ordered them.

Zain desperately fought to free his limbs from their clutches; to find an opening but all his efforts were in vain. Hand-to-hand combat was another thing, fighting to free his hands was another.

"Haider," he snarled as the men dragged him away and threw a glowering look at him. "Don't touch her."

Upon hearing that, Haider's frame propelled forward and he halted before him. "I'll do whatever the hell I want with her," he spat with a menacing sneer decorating his features.

"Then be prepared for the consequences," Zain forewarned, his eyes aflame with lethal conviction.

Haider's throaty laughter rang in the air as he raised his hand and dryly patted his shoulder.

"For now, go and enjoy the hell I've prepared for you."

Her grey eyes were glued to the familiar pristine flooring of the hall she had walked on all her entire life, but she could barely managed to keep her legs firm onto it and maintain her composure today.

With her trembling fingers tightly weaved together and her heart flapping wildly against her ribcage like a captured bird, Iman stood under the roof of her house.

Before her father; her whole family.

She could've never imagined the arrival of dusk would bring such  striking darkness for her. Before sunset, Zain had left the apartment saying he'd be back soon and there had been a booming knock at the door soon after. She had instantly unlocked it thinking it was him―forgetting that he had the keys and didn't even need to knock.

The sight that had greeted her upon opening the door had knocked the air out of her lungs. Her older sibling, Amir―along with two unfamiliar men―stood in front of her with such blazing fury in his eyes that she was sure he was going to hit her but he didn't. Roughly grabbing her arm, he had dragged her out of the place she had barely found a few moments of solace in, and had driven back home where she was presented like a criminal in the court of her father, awaiting his judgement.

If there was anything she was grateful for, it was Zain's absence when her brother had shown up. She didn't even want to imagine what would've happened if her fuming brother had confronted him.

Her heart sunk at the thought of Zain. Would he have returned by now? Would he try to look for her? Would she ever see him again? Even when  every fiber of her being was shaking with fear, her mind was crammed with the thoughts of him.

But, she had to escape the territory of his thoughts and face the present situation because there was certainly no escape from it.

Breathing tremuously and barely taking a rein of her mind and emotions, she dared to lift her head and face her father. As her grey gaze roamed over his haggard features, a great pang of guilt smote her heart but when her irises met with his stormy ones, a shudder ran through her.

"When you were little, Iman, you were playing on the rooftop once and while playing, you had tumbled over the edge of the roof and were about to fall down but I had gotten there on time and had caught you," Her father took a smothering pause and then bitterly added, "I wish you had fallen that day, Iman. I wish you had died that day."

His words flogged Iman like a frozen lash and the pain was almost tangible that she felt like she was going to collapse. But she didn't. She stood there, transfixed, as a pained whimper left her lips and her sorrow bled through her eyes in the form of burning tears. She clearly remembered the memory of that incident. That day, she had seen the fear of losing her in his eyes. She had seen love in those ash grey eyes of his that mirrored her own.

"At least I wouldn't have had to bear the stain you have left on my upbringing, my pride and honour." Her father continued in a stentorian voice. "You fooled me well, beta. You posed as an obedient daughter who always listened to me... only to run away with that man you've been involved with for God knows how long!"

Breathing painfully with her heart heavy in her bosom, she found her quivering voice, "Would you believe m-me if I t-tell yo"

"I will not." She was harshly cut off by her father's thundering voice. "I don't repeat my mistakes."

Apprising her father of what had actually happened that night was out of question now. In fact, saying anything was futile. Nothing would change her status of a sinner in the eyes of her father.

Her shoulders sagged defeatedly and so did her spirit, but before she could wither completely, a voice echoed in the walls of her brain. 'Did you try to talk to your father and make him realize?' Zain's words flashed like a newly ignited flame. 'You should have,' he had said. 'At least once.'

Fisting the hem of her shirt, she blinked back her tears and swallowed the lump in her throat, readying herself to verbalise the emotions she had buried in a dark corner of her heart. She was scared, but at the same time, she felt a surge of courage within her.

Pulling in a breath, she lifted her head and locked her gaze with her father's withering one. Unclamping her mouth, she whispered in a low voice, "You're right, baba jaan. I've brought you shame. I've hurt you very badly and for that, I'll always be sorry."

Her father lips quirked upwards in a contemptuous manner as he swerved his head to the side.

"But, do you know what led to me to take such a step?" Her father's narrowed eyes returned to her as she spoke the next words, her tone laced with firmness and voice a little louder, "Listening to you! Always listening to you and never listening to myself. Ignoring my inner voices to the point that it became suffocating."

Her father's face hardened like a rock and his gaze turned into a ravaging glare but her stormy eyes held it as she continued;

"That night, for the first time, I decided to listen to my inner voices because I didn't want to marry Haider; because you didn't care to ask me if I wanted to or not. You just ordered me, like always and maybe..." she trailed as she felt a string of cold sweat glide down her spine and her heartbeat drummed in her ears, but she clutched onto the material in her hand tightly and forced herself to carry on, "maybe this time, even God didn't want me to obey you!"

As she punctuated her speech with a sharp exhale, her older brother who had been standing next to her father moved from his spot and bolted towards her with a rage-clouded face. "You insolent girl! How dare you talk to baba jaan like that!"

He raised his hand to strike her and a startling gasp spilled from her lips as her own hands instinctively flew up to shield herself.

"Amir, don't!" Her father's booming voice ricochetted off the hall.

Iman peeked through the spaces between her fingers at her brother's hand that was frozen in mid air, hovering only an inch away from her face.

"She might've forgotten her values but don't you forget, the men in our family don't raise their hands against women―even if they deserve it," her father spat, eyeing her bitterly.

Balling his hand that was shaking with fury into a tight fist, Amir lowered it but kept shooting daggers at her.

"Remove her from my sight and throw her into some corner until Haider comes back." Her father ordered his son and in the blink of an eye, Amir roughly seized Iman's hand and dragged her emotionally battered and broken frame away.

The corner her brother had thrown her into apparently turned out to be her own room where she currently sat on the bed with her knees drawn up to her chest and head bowed down against them as her intermittent sobs filled the air.

She felt alone and hopeless.

A part of her missed the raven-eyed man, reminiscing how he had listened to her, comforted her, and had assured her that he'll handle everything. No, she should be relieved that he was away. He had already done alot for her.

Her head flapped up when the door of her room suddenly clicked open and her eyes fell on the only person who had always been by her side.

Omer walked in with gloom flickering in his brown eyes and a strained expression etched onto his sculpted face. "Bajjo," he mumbled as his tall frame rounded the bed and he slumped down beside the curled up figure of his sister.

As she regarded him through her red-rimmed eyes with tears oozing out and staining her face, his heart clenched painfully. Drifting closer, he wrapped his arms around her quivering form, enveloping her into a hug.

Iman felt a little less torn as her cries eventually subsided in warm presence of her brother and when they pulled apart, she whispered; "Omer, do you also think what everyone thinks about me?" 

"No, I don't," he mumbled softly. "I know something happened that night we aren't aware of, so please tell me what happened and who is that guy?"

Her heart warmed up at the compassion sparkling in his eyes and she told him everything; from the sudden appearance of the raven-eyed man in her room that night to the evening she saw him for the last time.

"So, he is a gangster?" Omer asked with widened eyes, astounded by the tale his sister narrated.

"He's a saviour."

Iman murmured and lowered her lashes.

"But yeah, he's probably involved with the mafia. That's what he told me," she added after a moment with a sigh. "I'm just glad I didn't drag him further into my mess. He can go on with his life now."

There was a hue of despondency that coloured her countenance as she spoke those words.

"I think you're unaware of something."

Omer's statement made her lashes sweep upwards and when her eyes took in the shadows of concern marring his face, a strange sensation of dread coiled in her stomach.

"Of what?

"Amir bhai didn't find you, Haider did. He called Amir Bhai earlier and told him to come and take you home because," Omer paused and swallowed, heightening the tension rolling within her. "Because he wanted to deal with that guy first."

Iman felt like she had been zapped with lightening. Her mind reeled, eyes spread in horror and her heart started hammering in her chest.

"No..." she floundered as a wave of apprehension crashed through her being.

Omer pursed his lips and inhaled sharply;

"He's anything but safe, bajjo. I'm sure Haider must've... met him by now."

        ------------------------------------------

A/n: I don't know how I managed to finish this chapter because it legit made me cry khoon kay ansoo, UGH. I felt like I couldn't english < yes that's exactly how I felt but anyway, it's here.

Y'all better feed me some feedback to make me feel better.

What kind of hell do you think Haider has prepared for Zain? (wrong answers only)

Also, yes, Iman's been falling here and there since childhood XD stupid clumsy cat.

This chapter is dedicated to zameenzaad coz Zain is loving her "Iman counts"
 
Please do look forward to the next chapter because you're gonna get some pleasant and unpleasant surprises. 

Aaaaand, follow me on Instagram? @ _zinu13 coz I'm pretty entertaining there. :P 

I'll see you soon.