𓆩𓆪

Sprawled on the floor was a toddler eagerly stacking some Lego blocks in an attempt to construct something the universe had never seen before. When the entrance dinged with a dangerous man who was virtually seething fire from his nostrils, the boy – who was usually alerted by customers waddling in and had been assigned the duty to inform his parents of the same – was lost in a world of his own.

Luckily, the shop owner emerged from the curtain behind the shop with a crate of soft drinks to restock the fridges. On noticing a new customer studying the currently inhabited store, he promptly plopped the crate beside the cooler, swiped his forehead with an exasperated smile, and decided to make his way to the cash counter in case the customer needed assistance or was ready to make his purchase.

He was not the slightest aware of how Harshad's entire life had fallen apart in the span of a few hours. How thrilled was Harshad about the dominoes falling in place on his ride back home... he had the perfect plan in place for using the information on the SD card as leverage and turning Raghav's clan in, outdoing his competition. He was certain given how protective Raghav was about his clan, he would have naturally taken the bait, and not let any harm come his team's way.

Then when he got home, he joyfully opened his mailbox only to find the particular package missing.

On further inspection, he realised his housekeys refused to cave into the locks, and smashing it down had revealed devastation: his home – which he thought was his safe place – had been mercilessly invaded and trashed by Raghav's scumbags, and his entire stash had been wiped out clean including the SD card that he nearly risked his life for.

Those bastards had left him penniless and almost destitute.

His only plan, one that he had been planning to the T for the last two or so months, to one-up the clan and take Raghav's place in the hierarchy had fallen flat on its ass.

In a fit of uncontrollable rage, he grabbed the toddler, plunged him to his feet, and pointed a black metal barrel at the kid's hippocampus – breaking one of the primary rules of the mafia: not to raise a hand or weapon at women or children. But that was for those who were valued by the clan, for those who received dignity and honourable benefits. He was not a man of honour, all those things that could have made him that was seized from him.

Harshad's nails clawed into his little arms, but the child numbly held back a cry at the stinging sensation. All because of a bone-chilling fear that if he let a sound, he would instantly be sent to Heaven and would have to leave his Mumma and Dada behind.

The middle-aged man nearly shrieked at both the gun and the unanticipated danger his little boy succumbed to. "Chillaya toh ghusa doonga!" Harshad commanded, and the owner did not want to take his chances on that threat at all. The child was pulled along some aisles as Harshad agitatedly scanned the ready-to-eat meal section, his hunger chewing away the little bit of sanity he had remaining. "I've come here with an agenda, and I'll leave as soon as I'm done!" He hollered from behind one of those shelves while manhandling the pliant kid who did as he asked amidst a fit of tears.

Mumbai flourished with thugs, that the shop owner knew. There was one or the other elaborate article about it every single day on the news, but the neighbourhood they were from was a safe space and the shopkeeper had not foreseen such a dreadful incident ever taking place in his lifetime: let alone right before his life. He wanted to do something about it, alert someone, fetch help from somewhere but at that instance, it was as if he was physically restrained.

Because one action to piss the criminal off would mean putting his son at exponential risk.

"I won't speak a word of this to anyone. Take whatever you want, just let my son go, please."

Harshad barely batted an eye at the helpless wail and instead snarkily scolded in a degrading tone, "Haath upar kar bhenchod!" 

The owner winced at the choice of words being used in front of his little boy, but that thought was not nearly as ghastly as what would happen if the immoral man showed no mercy. If anything ugly had to go down that day, he would much rather swap places with his dear child, for whom he could give up his own life, and leave the little one solely in his wife's responsibility.

As Harshad ordered the kid to swipe down the shelves with some food and drink to keep him going for the next three days, he misconstrued the other man's devotional contemplation as something akin to hesitation. Was the snail still not obeying him, not even with the child at gunpoint? Fuelled by a vengeance the shopkeeper did not deserve, Harshad cocked the gun forcefully, and in sheer despair at the soul-wrenching sound, the shopkeeper brought his arms above his head just like Harshad had instructed.

And that was visible from the tops of the aisles.

Harshad felt mild contempt at the gesture and his own hesitation at not driving a bullet down the kid's brain but decided to let it slide. "Empty the till. NOW!" He demanded at the brink of madness, driving the gun further into the boy's skull as the cashier machine pinged, a tray slid out and the shop owner with a trembling arm still raised used the other and stacked all the notes he possibly could find in it, waving it over to Harshad.

In the distance, sirens blazed around the neighbourhood. Shit! Any sort of bloodshed then would raise several suspicions in the town that endlessly discussed other's affairs. He needed to get out of there as soon as possible with everything he could swipe and escape without a trace.

He emerged from the aisles along with the boy who held several packets of eatables for him. None of those items were billed but Harshad did snatch the wad of cash from the man and distastefully shoved the boy in his direction in order to elope.

Before he could bolt out the door, a swarm of cops surrounded the shop and pointed their rifles at him, commanding him to drop to his knees, surrender his weapon, and slide it away – as far away as possible from him.

Handcuffs secured his wrists at his back and the money he mercilessly looted was returned to the shopkeeper despite Harshad's loud protests. The police in command said some customary sentences that Harshad was hearing for the first time, "You are under arrest on account of aggravated robbery. Anything you say in the absence of a lawyer may be used against you in the court of law."

𓆩𓆪

At the fourth ring, his phone was received. Nawab blew into the earpiece as his bare arms peeking through a red Ferrari tank grappled with a bench press in the rig, "Main Nawab bol raha hoon!" The line on the other side went quiet not just because of the mention of Nawab.

Madhyam had indeed failed to protect the one item he was entrusted with; it was haunting him day and night for the past three or so odd days and right now, talking to his enemy was the last thing that could help matters.

Stabbing the tip of his tongue in a cheek, Nawab mused while ruffling his hair as he plunged up from his set, "Kya bola tha tune uss din? Ahh... my family, our virtues and all... oh ho ho..." Sarcasm dripped through the dramatic gestures and intonations but a sleepless and otherwise horrified Madhyam barely faced its brunt. As if Nawab's only intention was to rub salt on his bleeding wounds, Nawab slipped the chip out of his shorts' pocket and eyed it as he gently asked, "Toh, Madhyam, aapka maal mere haathon main kaise aaya?"

The biting callousness of the statement was supposed to trigger him, point out the clan's incompetence, and question the ethics that they so flamboyantly proclaimed in the underworld but that was not at all what Madhyam was relaying. Sure, there was also incriminating evidence for what the Professor was up to but a majority of the secrets entailed in the chip were that of the Malhotra clan that – if it went into corrupt hands – was the end of over half the underworld.

And it was in Nawab's hands. For the very first time in what seemed like forever, he instead saw a flicker of hope in the form of a phone call.

"You found the card." Madhyam nearly gasped in excitement into the line, unaware of Nawab's prompt eye-roll. It was merely a moment of weakness that Madhyam had experienced out of desperation, but it would have to stop there; Nawab was his enemy – one that honoured even a rival as long as the person in question didn't go astray from their values, but an enemy regardless. Such obvious expressions of unhinged emotions usually only made room for trouble in their line of work.

He sighed heavily and let his heartbeat return to its normal resting state. "I'll text you where and when my guy will..."

Nawab studied his cuticles with a wicked smile. "You see, as lovely as that offer sounds, my well of trust is running dry at this stage. I want to meet Mr. Malhotra directly and see to it that I hand it over on my own. Just like how you paid a kind visit at Pecoraro that afternoon. Remember?"

Flustered at the bold threat that was uttered so politely, Madhyam staggered in his chamber. "Mr. Malhotra will not see anyone outside the clan. Tell me your price and I'll negotiate on your behalf."

"Unfortunately I think he will just have to make an exception if he wants what I have."

The phone went dead as Madhyam stared at the device wondering how in the world could he convince Mr. Malhotra of such a rendezvous with an ordinary member of the enemy clan.

Cabir who was walking around the mansion sending announcements for lunch stumbled into the room to see Nawab looking at the chip.

"Are we returning it?" He asked, making his presence known to Nawab and breaking him out of his thoughts.

In less than a minute, the rest of the clan that had followed Cabir regarding food entered the gym and read the object in question. "The material within it is worth a few thousand crores at the least. We can't settle for any less."

"I will return it. Directly." Nawab sternly stated, putting a stop to any further questions about how, what, when, and where the handoff would take place. "But guys, I gotta say... jitna mazaa aaj aaya, I swear... itne dino se nahi aaya. What we did there this morning... it was classy."

Cabir narrowed his eyes at the word classy, which seemed like an abnormal way to phrase what they had done. At best, it was an act of petty revenge that miraculously assisted in driving the bastard batshit crazy and abetting his own arrest. Had those circumstances not led to those subsequent turn of events, in that precise order, futile would have been a more accurate word to describe it. 

"Classy ka toh pata nahi but it felt fucking good!" Mukti stretched her arms and cheered for the team as she said it, not without adding, "That and now seeing him behind bars."

The whole group had watched the scene unravel from the terrace of Harshad's substandard tower and the most satisfying part of it for Mukti was him being dragged into police custody without a single rupee to sustain himself... not a single rupee he could snatch off the shopkeeper and hold on to.

That was exactly what he deserved for deriving shortcuts in a field that valued loyalty and mob safety above anything else. Even above money.    

Manik chuckled as he scratched an eyebrow, garnering some attention. "Fucking good se yaad aaya..." As he trailed off, his hand fell from his face. The rushing dopamine in his body from the workout only minutes ago violently crashed and a sense of inevitable destruction– a feeling he was unable to brush away no matter how hard he tried – poisoned its place. Outwardly happy, he mustered some strength to declare, "Mission Nandini Murthy, accomplished."

Dhruv looked at the ground, rocking back and forth on his feet.

Cabir's eyes popped out of their sockets. "HOW? When?"

"That night before we boarded the cruise."

Alia gushed at the sight of Manik's smirk and the lack of regard he showed for her as he spoke about her. Finally. Finally, she was out of his mind. Forever. "I knew it! I just knew you would have her!" That realisation had seeped out of her with unexpected thrill but now that she celebrated the anticipated demise of his fatal attraction for her, Cabir's changing expressions went unnoticed by her.

If only Cabir could disclose to Manik how enraged Alia had been that first night of the cruise when he had disappeared from the group for a long while and somehow the suggestion that he was spending time with Nandini nearly doubled her in fury.  

Mukti did not know what to add to the discussion except that she had no doubts about Manik backing down from the challenge. The news was not nearly as shocking to her as it was to Cabir, regardless of that she did have a few questions for her friend who made a brave decision when pining for a civilian. "Was she as good as you expected?" She asked as she had never slept with anyone who wasn't from the underworld.

"Haan?" Manik appeared distracted but conveniently blended it into his dialogue so as to not rouse more suspicions. "Better actually. YEAH! I mean..." He cleared his parched throat that had nothing blocking it. "I never thought a virgin could fuck so good!" The exaggerated excitement in his face lasted less than a second. 

"Maybe she wasn't even one!" Alia shrugged.

Manik did not spare her a look when he retaliated immediately, "Oh, she definitely was." He took a deep breath, feeling hollow but unable to pinpoint why, and reclined back on the bench that provided an escape from the mind-numbing seclusion, resuming his set. He lifted once, the weight barely hurting him. "Dhruv, ek aur weight daalega?"

"Lunch kab karna hai?"

"Baadme. Dhruv?" Dhruv nodded and picked up a disk, sliding it onto the ridged bar.

One more rep mildly anguished him.

"Ek aur."

He suffered excruciating pain from the minuscule ruptures as his muscles fought the newly added weight as well. Groaning and breathing heavily, he lifted once more.

Mukti's concerned tone came first, "Manik, you're going to hurt yourself." Cabir glanced at the man who was not ducking from the challenge and was trying to piece together a myriad of clues he had been a witness to over the last three days.

Precisely since the day before the cruise. 

Nawab pressed once more.

And once more. 

Unable to push further in his self-induced punishment, he sat up and wiped the sweat off the back of his neck and torso. Reaching for a Gatorade bottle by the side, he gulped down the contents urgently and brushed an arm over his lips. "Chal," He said to no one in particular.  

Cabir parked his thoughts temporarily and slapped his back as he led his friend out of the chamber first. "Chal, ab toh I owe you!" He reached into his wallet and sifted it for the condom he was to give Manik. "Three weeks, damn that's your record for the longest it has taken you to bed a woman." He waved the packet before Manik, who snatched it and stashed it in his pocket without a word. "Kisne kisne bet lagaaya tha ki nahi ho paayega? Alia?"

"Nothing of that sort." She flushed, beyond glad that was just a one-night thing.

The majority of the clan was glad about that one-night stand.

Except for one man who chose her comfort over his detest for darkness and had to deprive his heart of what it wished.

And one woman several thousand kilometres away whose light was completely extinguished as her heart was forever shunned from making decisions on her behalf.

𓆩𓆪

That's our villains taking centre stage and showing us what they're capable of at the first sign of danger. Unfortunately for our hero, Manik is only beginning to realise a weakness he did not have all these years.

The man who thought he had no ties to anything and no obligations to anyone is slowly unable to function without his girl :'( [great for us fans who are roooting for themmmmmm!!! :") ]

If you remember the synopsis of the story, there is a lot happening in the underworld that Manik too is unaware of and things are only going to get a lot dirtier from here.

And about MaNan – their meeting, their love story and what not – stay tuned because the shades of Nandini you've seen so far are only innocent and naive; you haven't seen her wit or her using her 95% marks wala brain to actually sort his life out for him :") <3

I know it's a little unconventional and not really a MaNan story but some feedback would be so so appreciated because this genre and the clues and the plot require quite a lot of thinking on my part and I would love to know whether my readers are bored/I'm explaining too much/giving too much details or backstory/leaving any questions hanging etc.

For those of you who made it to the end, thank you so much for your support <3