Chapter 76: Chapter 76

Pitch darkness.

All that could be seen, and felt was darkness.

The only light was the moonlight coming from a small corner high up the wall with bars installed.

Shehryaar felt a lingering pain in the nape of his neck. The place smelled of bloodshed and gore. He was well aware of that putrid smell of blood. Many times, he had taken lives of shivering souls in a similar environment.

He found himself tied to a wooden chair with ropes and chains all over him like a precocious animal caught. His mind and eyes foggy. Unable to process anything.

And all he was able to remember and recall were those intimate moments with Shearzaad. While she was no where to be seen.

He couldn't decipher who had the audacity to put him in this stingy cell. His mind now running thousand miles per hour. The thoughts of him and his wife popping in front of his eyes. And slowly the memories began to sunk in further.

The kiss she had placed on his lips, uttering her goodbyes.

That knife jabbed in his arm. And he was now able to decipher why his arm was hurting.

And that injection entering into his system.

Those men invading his house.

And Wali's face came in his vision.

Talk of the devil and he seemed to be coming towards him.

He heard footsteps approaching him.

A dim figure reducing the distance between them but the facial feature were still lucid to him.

The door to his cell opened with a creaky noise and he came across that devil

Wali.

Who had a creepy smile on his face, as if he was looking at his prey.

"Wakey wakey Mr Syed. Hope you enjoyed your five star night," The man said.

The same man who has been trying to get hold on Shehryaar for unfathomable years. The same man Shehryaar loathed right now with burning passion of thousand suns.

Wali Khan a.k.a. The FBI chief.

Long ago, Shehryaar has come to know that he was the FBI chief. That was why when he disguised himself as a business man, Shehryaar accepted his offer, following the principle of, 'keep your friends close and enemies closer,'

But one thing which even Shehryaar didn't know was his interaction with Sheharzaad.

And before he could take Wali down. His wife, an installed spy by him, took him down.

In a bad way.

Bad, bad way.

He entered the cell in his full glory, smoke erupting from his lit cigarette forming a cloud around his aura.

"Finally I got you " said Wali, matching his eyes with the man in front of him.

Their eyes playing a game of its own, fighting for domination burning with pure hatred and yet a calm demeanor. A perfect storm in the making. His grey eyes boring in his blue ones.

"I can't tell you how much I have waited for this. I'm actually a big admirer of you Mr Shehryaar Syed, truly. I mean how capable you and your family would be to run this business for so many years without having any dirt on your reputation," He said, mockery evident in his tone.

"Now I don't think you have me here to sing my praises. What do you want?" came Shehryaar's  reply.

"Ahh work is worship I see. Don't worry. You are not here for this bullshit," Wali replied with a lop sided smirk on his face, tapping Shehryaar 's shoulder, " I got scores to settle with you personally The FBI case can be put aside for a moment for all I care," A line formed on Shehryaar's forehead, contemplating the motive of the man present before him.

Last thing he knows that this guy has been poking his bloody nose in the Syed business and not the other way around. Shehryaar has been aware that Wali had his personal motives for which he was working against his family due to which he had played the role of a good business partner.

But what?

What were his motives?

Why was he so adamant on making his family come to its knees?

As far as he knew, he wasn't an honest man either. He became the chief through corruption. The mafia of Khurram Osmani had been supporting him for a long while until Irtaza and him finally diminished it.

As if noticing him Wali bent down to his level, "You don't seem to remember me clearly dear, do ya? " Wali pulled a chair from a corner and sat in front of Shehryaar like a king on his throne, exuding arrogance.

Meanwhile Shehryaar remained quiet , just passing cold stare ahead with clenched jaw.

"Well my bad. We are related in ways that anyone in your seat would forget. So let me take you on a ride down the memory lane," he told and threw that cigarette away.

"I hope you remember your whore of a mother," Wali said with proud smile and demeaning eyes.

Shehryaar maintained his composure but he just wanted to cut his tongue into million pieces and those eyes of his to be gauged out by his bare hands.

"Judging by your silence I think you are aware that she had an extra marital affair," He told and confusion danced in his eyes.

How could he know that?

It was family secret

Nobody apart from the family was suppose to know that.

"Do you know the man whom he had that affair?" he asked, boring his eyes in Shehryaar's, "do you remember the painful death he had been given by your dearest grandfather?"

"How are you related to Umer?" he asked.

"Your mother didn't have an affair with an ordinary man. Umer Hayat Khan was my uncle. I was the only son of his brother who died in a car accident," Wali said dropping the bomb of revelation.

Now Shehryaar got it.

Wali and his obsession to take down his family.

The personal motive he had been carrying within him for years.

Years.

Wali's face completed morphed into that of a mad man waiting to set free his rage. "That's right you bastard! MY fucking UNCLE, who was killed brutally by YOUR dearest grandfather, who didn't deserve to die!" exclaimed Wali pointing his finger at Shehryaar, his eyes a shade of blood red.

All the while Shehryaar didn't give him what he wanted , a reaction . He didn't even blink which irked the FBI cheif who had waited for this exact moment for God knows how long.

"What's your point now? Are you here to plead innocence for your dead uncle?" Shehryaar replied not having his melodramatic episode.

"Plead? " Wali scoffed.

"We will see who will plead at the end motherfucker. We will see that when one by one I will take your family down by using you as a bait. The game has started, Mr. Shehryaar Haider Syed," Wali told.

"My uncle didn't die for nothing, mind you Shehryaar Haider. He loved your mother and so did she. He gave her what your incompetent father couldn't. He was more than a father to me. And I've sworn this at his grave that won't let his murderers live in peace till they suffer the same way he did," Wali made his intentions crystal clear to Shehryaar.

"It takes two to a tango Shehryaar, you hear me two. Agar majnu ko maut di tumhare dada ne toh Laila ko bhi khatam karte,"

(If Romeo was killed by your grandfather, the same fate should be for Juliet).

"But she isn't here so i have you to pay the price for it. And not just her. Of your dearest grandfather as well who has been controlling the subcontinent for so many years. He will come down of his throne and walk on his fucking knees, begging me for your life. Until then, you will be here," Wali said holding Shehryaar's collar in his vice grip and then left it with a thud.

"Your bad days have started Mr Syed. Thanks to your beloved wife who helped me get my hands on you," said Wali inclining back on his seat crossing his right leg over left. Shehryaar's eyes turning to another shade of grey hearing her name . He realised that all her wifely attitude was nothing but an act.

"That's right she came to me. She is under my protection. That beautiful woman," he said with lust and desire in his eyes, "And in no time she will be mine. All mine," revealed Wali nonchalantly as if it was obvious to him, smoking the last bit of his cigarette and then crushing it on ground.

Shehryaar's fist tightened.

But he controlled himself on giving any sort of reaction to him

"You just wait and watch. Every passing moment, day by day you will pay for your every deed. No mercy." as Wali finished, his thugs entered the cell with one thing clear in their eyes ' no mercy '

"I don't think I have to tell you guys your job. See ya soon Shehryaar " saying this Wali left the cell with a wide grin. And those thugs began the torture that he had been expecting to come.

.....

Irtaza worked on the top floor of the company his grandfather handed to him. Although he had passed much of his mafia authority to Shehryaar but there were things that required his expertise. He was waiting for Shehryaar to discuss some business opportunities in the West but so far he saw no signs of him which was very unlike him. Pondering over his brother' s absence, he received a call from an unknown number with no location or origin of the caller.

"Irtaza Haider Syed, Assalam alaikum," the caller had a recognisable voice. " No greetings from your side? Didn't your mummy teach you that it's rude ohhh my bad she was dead before the lessons on mannersim," the man at the call spoke with sarcasm.

"Who do you think you are?" Irtaza replied knowing very well that the man on the call must have a chip on his shoulder to talk to Irtaza Syed in this tone.

"Let's get down to business then, I have your dearest little brother by the balls. And I'm in mood of negotiations so don't waste our time on that. Just wanted to inform you. But don't try to find him because you won't be able to reach him. I never thought I would so badly want to see your pathetic face right now"

" What do you want ?" Irtaza said in a bored tone though he knew this person was serious.

"You don't listen? I have what I want. It's about time you realise who is in charge of the situation. Face it like a man,"

At this Irtaza gave out a scoff.

"You call yourself man? Calling me from a number that can't be traced. If you are man enough that come out of your daddy's protection" Irtaza said in a nonchalant tone.

His words fueling Wali's ego. "I will hunt your ass down and find my brother. Once I do, you will pray that you shouldn't have been born, Wali Umer Khan, " He had recognized who he was. The guy he warned Shehryaar about. Irtaza gave an ultimatum and cut the call.

Irtaza immediately called at his home to check the situation. He was informed that the newly wed had been missing. The security guards were dead. Only a few servants and a guard remained. The guard was about to call Irtaza when he had called him.

He made few more calls and it didn't take him much time to realise that Shehrzaad was the bait to get to Shehryaar. He should have seen this coming. He knew what lengths his brother could go for his obsession.

The news must have reached his family since it was his grandfather who was now calling Irtaza.

"Who is Wali?" His grandfather asked.

"Someone related to Umer, Dada," Irtaza told.

"Is Shehryaar really kidnapped?"

"Yes Dada (grandpa)"

"Alright. Come to the haveli," His grandfather said calmly, "be careful,"

"I am," he said and stood up, checked his guns into the holster and headed to the haveli.

.....

One month later

Irtaza had been trying.

Trying hard to find Shehryaar.

And so did Moosa.

The whole family was worried.

They couldn't find Sheharzaad either.

His family was devastated and praying every minute and second for Shehryaar's recovery.

As Wali had suspected that they would look for Sheharzaad, he hid her at his own home. He was successful in making Shehryaar's life a hell.

From physically to mentally torturing him, he did everything in his capacity. His hands were aiming for Irtaza now, who was being apt and a difficult fish to catch.

But he didn't let his cool alleviate. He will deal with the family with an iron fist and a cool mind. Currently, he sat in his office, thinking and discussing the ways of how to get Irtaza behind the bars with his second-in-command when Shehrzaad entered Wali's study. She didn't wait for his servant for pleasantries neither did she think twice about her surroundings.

"I want to talk to you," she immediately said and Wali sent his second-in-command away.

"Where is Shehryaar?" she finally aksed, the question which had been hanging over her mind.

"Why do you care?" he asked.

"I'll tell you the reason later. But first tell me, where do you have him? And what are you doing with him? You got what you wanted but why aren't you handling him to the authorities? I don't see any news of a case being filed against him? What is happening?"

"Ok firstly, we got what we both wanted. Secondly you don't know how things work here. It's the FBI case that's taking time. Shehryaar has been dealing in drugs illegally for so long. We are just going over that," Wali said while coming near to Sheharzaad.

He never revealed his true identity and his motives to her. Because if he did, maybe she won't help her. Rather he did not need his help anymore. But he wanted to keep her with him. That was why he was hiding the truth.

His ocean blue eyes lingered into his grey ones.

He would be lying if he said that he wasn't attracted to her beauty. She was one of her kind. While she was under the same roof as his, she always maintained her distance with him. Remained calm and collected.

He was now able to gauge out why Shehryaar liked her so much.

Rather he knew he loved her

No measures of torture worked on Shehryaar as much as the meere mention of Sheharzaad being under the same roof as Wali, worked. Despite orturing him inhumanely, he was still sme as day one. He did not loose a control over his emotions. Still.

He really wanted to destroy Shehryaar and that meant luring his wife as well.

"Now tell me, what made you say that out of nowhere today,"

"I took a test today as I had been experiencing certain symptoms," her voice shivered, "And I am pregnant " said Shehrzaad and then showed him the pregnancy test.

She had tears in her eyes. She never wished her life to turn out like this. She had forgotten taking the contraceptive.

A human life was inside her now.

She never wanted a man like Shehryaar in her life at the first place.

And now carrying someone who was associated with him?

What would she tell her child?

That what happened to her father?

Where did he go?

What her life has turned into....

Sheharzaad thought ruefully.

But no way would she kill this child.

That child had her name as well. Had her traits as well. Had her little self within itself.

She won't go for an abortion.

Wali felt a pinch in his heart. His jaw clenched. For a moment he didn't know how to react. But he had to play it smartly as he was so close to accomplishing what he planned day and night. He couldn't let his mere infatuation for her get in the way.

"Alright I'll see what I can do. Till then you just keep calm," Wali assuredly said to Shehrzaad.

"Will you release Shehryaar?" She asked.

Maybe somewhere she wanted that as well.

"I can't now. The case is out of my hands," He lied.

"Ok," she nodded and left.

.....

Shehryaar laid on the hard ground beaten red and blue and covered with scars, new and old. His days in the dim cell have been equivalent to a trip to hell. Everyday Wali's men would gift him same pain, same torture. It's time like this where his mind would take him to Shehrzaad's life in the cell he created for her. How he would inflict mental torture on her.  How brutally he made her witness Hannan's death. He would take all the beating quietly as he felt he deserved it.

After all Karma does pay back.

Laying on the bare ground, he would remember the sand of their time spent together. Each grain consumed more space than they had with each other. His legs quiver at the warmth of the ground beneath. He draws heavy breaths as he clutched to the barking silence. His eyes glance up every now and then.

His heart constricting with pain.

He wanted her.

He needed her.

This cell, this physical torture was nothing compared to the guilt and regret in which he was drowning.

And the more he drowned into that ocean, the more he got mesemerized by Sheharzaad and her antics. The more he would miss her.

He had realized, anywhere without her was a cell in this world.

"Sheharzaad," he whispered and a tear slipped out of his eye, "I need you,"

His obsession for her was endless...

Going through the same pain as her, he fell hard. Harder for her.