~At Any Cost.~

"The cure for pain is in the pain itself," ~ Rumi.

************

Cars!

Screeching!

Screams!

Accident!

Her accident! No!

Breathing heavily, Shravya's eyes snapped open, feeling at a bit of a loss. Her mind was blank for the first few seconds, but immediately after, she realized that something was amiss as she rapidly looked around, taking some small moments to realize that she was in a hospital.

Slowly hoisting her body in a sitting position, she examined her body, looking for any injury. Hopefully, there was none.

She is fine.

She heaved a sigh of relief, recalling the sight of a car that was almost about to crash into her but then someone pulled her back and she fainted due to the shock.

'Maybe someone from the accident spot brought me here.' She naively assumed, without giving much thought to the topic as she quickly proceed to get up from the bed, glancing around the ward whose expensiveness was perishing in semi-darkness, hiding from her eyes.

The darkness was scaring her.

It rose anxiety in her but she attempted to hold herself together.

Suddenly, a minor amount of consolation enveloped her when her anxious eyes spotted her backpack placed on the floor right beside her bed.

Baffled and vigilantly observing her surroundings, her feet cautiously moved towards her things.

"Thinking of escaping again?" The voice! His voice! It came from behind, hoarse yet cold.

At those words, something fussed inside her. She felt an uncomfortable awareness of prickling before her body went completely stiff.

He found her. Again!

Her movements and breathing both stopped on their own. She stood there frozen, her eyes lower, gazing at the backpack.

She is trapped. Again!

She couldn't make her feet move forward as terror abducted her strongly. She literally felt tangled within her breaths, which were beginning to become weak and slow.

Deliberately, she stared around in the dark, trying to find where his voice was coming from. She heard his chuckle and whirled to the sound. But still, he was nowhere in sight.

She knew he was in the room, lurking somewhere in the darkest corner, taking advantage of the darkness while she stood beside her bed, a little far away from him, her trembling figure completely exposed to his eyes, visible with the lamp light collapsing on her.

Her steps stumbled back, not knowing why she suddenly found herself standing in a small room instead of an expensive hospital ward.

The room occurred to be so small to hide.

"What happened?" His voice was entirely barren, not containing any emotion but filled with mockery as if reciting the upcoming tale of her doom.

"Kha gyi tumhari bahaduri?"

(Where did your bravery flee?)

His faint chuckle was followed by calm footsteps as he walked out from the gloomy disguise of the shadows. "Don't you want to escape, now?"

"Sh..ut--" Carefully, inhaling a whiff of air, Shravya lulled herself, her eyes turning into a sharp glare as infinite hate surged in her heart. "Shut up."

At the choice of her words, he let out a deep yet small laugh which was obviously not an amused one.

"Really? In this situation, you only had this to say?" He stopped a few feet away from her, arms folded, looking at her curiously. There was a pure menace in his stance. He stared at her, one side of his mouth tilting up. "I thought you would apologize."

Holding his gazes, Shravya's heart thumped wildly. "I won't..." Her voice trailed off as she discreetly moved back, closer to her backpack. "I won't apologize."

Prudently, she stepped more closer, attempting to draw his sole attention to her words rather than having it on her moving frame. "Why should I apologize?"

Conscientiously, she stood before her backpack. The plan was clear: she would take her backpack and right away, dash to the door.

"You should be the one apologizing!"

Are the words working?

Seizing her lower lip between her teeth, she examined his expression, trying to evaluate what he was thinking. But his face gave nothing away.

He had his guards fully on.

One hast movement and she would be caught within seconds.

With a blank face, Zaid looked at her before his eyes flicked behind her at the thing she was trying to grab - her backpack! She was thinking of escaping again. "Ah, assa krne ki koshish bhi mat karna."

(Ah, Don't even try to do this.)

"You won't like the after impacts."

As his eyes moved back on her, she gulped uneasily, very well recognizing the hazard glint in the depth of his coal-black orbs.

His words were terrorizing however, his posture didn't show any kind of cue of doing something terrifying.

For all the cognitive preparation, Shravya breathed through her mouth, her hazel eyes never leaving the sight of his coal-black ones as sneakily, she permitted her arms to reach out and grab the straps of her bag.

Now! Run!!

A shrill of panic escape her mouth as she rushed to the door. There was urgency, distress, and, alarm noticeable in her stampede movements but just as she got out of the door, her body was impatiently pulled and then slammed onto the rigid wall, rashly earning a hiss from her mouth while her tightly clutched fists denied to let go of the backpack.

"I'm quite thin on patience today but for your sake, I'm giving you this one last chance to come clean." He hissed, holding her wrists bounded and body harshly placid against the wall. "Stop doing these childish stunts. That would be better for both of us because I seriously don't want to sort things out in my way."

"We're leaving soon, so you'll behave well. Right, sona?" Feeling his breaths upon her cheekbones, she glared at him, recovering from the shock.

"Is anyone there?!"

"Please help!"

"Anyone? Please!"

She yelled for help. Now, they both were in the hospital's corridors but still, no one appeared. The whole hallway was bone-chillingly deserted.

In abhor, she wiggled against the wall as he leaned closer. Too much closer, almost making it hard for her to breathe as she tightly shut her eyelids together.

"Koi nahi ayega (no one is going to appear)." He looked at her delicately, studying how a little color was drained from her face, understanding his words. "Unless I would be the one calling them."

No one is going to appear.

The intensity of those words plunged deeper into the brine of her conscious mind. She didn't dare flinch as he drew himself closer and closer, their chests touching now, having no space in their proximity.

A thin layer of sweat had already seeped out from the palm of her hand, but deep down she kept herself together, restful.

Calm down, calm down. Don't back out now.

A voice inside instructed her disturbed self as with her gazes held high, she stared into the destructive storm, churning into the hollow of his black eyes.

She grabbed the straps of her bag in a more lethal grip, slowly exerting some force, wanting to push his body away as he also stood, holding his ground.

"Let go! BASTARD!" Suddenly, she bestowed a force that made him stumble a bit, much to her benefit as she pulled her backpack upon her shoulder and turned her heel only to be pulled back the next second.

Letting out the shrieks of horridness, she tried to battle against his arm that went around her waist, holding her wildly moving body in place.

With rage-filled eyes, she clawed, scraped his arms, her sight, however, refusing to move away from the elevator; her escape door.

"Ughhh. Leave!" She thrashed in his hold, uncontrollably, exciting his demons with amusement.

Suddenly, her eyes fell on his arms and she did exactly what her survival instincts confided her to do.

She bit his arm, brutally hard.

Her sharp teeth dug dipper into his skin, pouring all her anger and hate, suppressing her striving whimpers and gaining blood but attaining not even an ounce of anguish from him. He was calm as if right that moment, she wasn't tearing his skin apart.

Just as she left his arm, her continuous fight lent her another chance and with all her might she pushed his body away, ignoring his desolate but engaged gazes.

He was engrossed.

She never failed to amaze him.

His powerful and slender arm now, had a large wound and it was bleeding, the skin was slightly opened outward revealing a clear view of thick muscles inside, that were surrounded by grim layers of teeth marks. Her teeth marks.

"Run!" Peeking a small glance at his wound, he laughed exuberantly. "Let's see how far you will go."

"But never forget, every time in the end, you would have no one but me." Slowly, his tone lessened severely, his jaw clenched as the predator gleam in his eyes withheld the sight of her astounded figure, running towards the elevator. "Only me."

~If he wanted her at any cost then she also wanted her freedom at any cost.~

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rage.

The word was nowhere near to illustrate what was surging within Alok as he scanned the reflecting message on his phone screen.

She ran away again.

That bitch! How in the f**k did she run away?

With eyes full of upheld wrath, he drove a hand through his locks, urgently yet angrily striding to the stairs and running downstairs, to the parking lot.

Rudra and Raghav were checking the other exits. And he was damn sure that she would choose to escape from the backdoor.

The parking lot was the last place where he was hoping to find her. And his assumption turned out to be right when he reached there and saw her.

With the backpack loosely hanging upon one of her shoulders, she was carefully sauntering between the bodies of parked vehicles, trying to avoid being seen and vigorously wiping her blood-stained mouth with the elbow-length sleeve of her hospital gown.

Taking his gun out, he walked behind her, who still appeared unaware of his approaching-soundless steps.

His moments were deliberate, hands steadily holding the gun, evidence of the years of practice. He was a doctor in name only, all because of his degrees and medical knowledge otherwise, in reality, he was just a criminal, working for another criminal.

Stopping by only a few steps away, he held her arm in a death grip and yanked her body back, turning her to face him as he pointed the gun at her, aiming between her eyes. "I f**king dare you to scream."

Aayush?

Blinking in reverie, she looked at him before her eyes moved to the cold weapon, he was pointing on her forehead.

Shock.

Fear.

The two emotions pooled in her orbs as they gleamed with fearful tears."What...are...you doing, Aayush? Put...the gun down."

Before she could speak further, he took a fistful of her locks, pulling her dangerously close. "Enough of this Aayush. It's not Aayush. It. Is. Alok. Get it!" He roughly pulled on her hair, earning some small sobs from her. "My name is Alok! Stop calling me Aayush!"

Alok.

So, using a fake name, he fooled her from the very start.

Disbelief along with terror drained on her as abruptly, she shivered feeling the cold metal of the gun, now, tracing the side of her face.

The tears occurred to stop at the corner of her eyes, as he jerked her head up, his face inching closer. "Because of you, I still haven't got my money, so you better compensate me," he spoke, with the gun's mouth caressing her chin then moving on to her jawline. "Cry. I want to see your tears."

Disgustingly, she stared into his eyes which were showing pure insanity. Her eyes narrowed and she spat on his face. "Go and die! You sick asshole!"

His eyes got closed for a millisecond before opening again as he wiped his face clean, the atmosphere around him - furious.

"How dare you! BITCH!!" He yelled, hitting the side of her, with the gun.

A hurtful hiss left her mouth and she fell on the ground but she refused to cry because he wanted to see her tears, her miserability.

She didn't want to give him that satisfaction.

Marching to her, he again fisted her hair, dragging her body nigher to his own. "F**king cry! Now!"

"No!" She spoke with venom in her voice and this time, his palm struck her cheek.

Gradually, she stilled completely, realization shrouding her. He slapped her!

As she strived to recover from the effect of such humiliation, he raised his arm again but before he could slap her, an agony filled groan left his mouth and he fell on the ground, leaving the gun free and clutching his head, the world around him spinning. He caught a blurry sight of someone before his body went limp into the abyss.

Once coming to be completely stable, Shravya pushed his body away, in shock. Hardly controlling herself from screaming as she shrunk backward, frightened.

"Are you okay?" Someone asked her and that's when she looked at the person standing in front of her, with a blood-stained fire extinguisher in his hand. His face was covered with a mask and the only thing she saw was his sapphire eyes.

If you like the chapter then please give me a follow PanchiVerma

Q- So any comment for the fake Aayush I mean for Alok