Chapter 4

The, silent as the depth of night, washroom was filled with the sound of aggressive splashes of water and belligerent sobs.

Ishanvi perused the formed image in the mirror, the violently flowing tears had vanished between the layers of water droplets covering her face.

The girl infront of her appeared impuissant, defenseless, all she seemed capable of was shedding tears.

'Be my mistress'

'Warm my bed'

The echoing words, holding the capability of tormenting her ear drums, coerced her to cover her ears with her palms, exerting as much as force she could in an attempt of shutting down the voice reverberating all around her.

Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks, encountering herself in a state of arrant vulnerability.

The thought of resigning came across as sensible to her. Her mind was filled with chaos while her dead eyes were fixated at the image of her own.

The only choice she was left with was leaving her work. Resigning was the best and only option that made sense to her. She would not work in a place she did not feel safe. The nagging thought of her boss would not let her live in peace if she stayed and continued working for the company she was standing in.

She knew post a struggle for a few weeks she would find a job, but would not work for Shivaansh Shekhawat.

Constant ringing of her phone pulled her out of her dwam, the screen reflected the the name of her mother. Ishanvi's arched eyebrows pulled up into a frown as confusion laced over her.

Why was her mother calling her? She never ringed her during her working hours as to not disrupt her.

"Hello mom?" The sob filled voice of her ringed into her ears, she panicked thinking about the scenarios that might have taken place.

"Isha, come to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, your father- please come quickly" Tears poured down her eyes, anxiety engulfed her, her mother's terror-stricken voice did not help her situation at all.

"But mom, what happened?"

"Please don't ask questions, Ishanvi, come fast" Her mother cut the call. The amount of panic her mother held gave her an idea of the intensity of the situation and the lone thought of her father being in the hospital erupted goosebumps, shaking her body in a bad way.

She wiped her tears, running outside of the washroom, her mind was in a chaos occupied with too many happenings of the day.

She was not even half way through her day and here she felt suffocated and vanquished.

After informing her manager she left the office premises in a hurry, the thought of her father's safety was eating her insides. Never in her life had she found herself as vulnerable.



"Mumma what happened? Where is papa?" Ishanvi stopped as soon as she spotted her mother sitting on a chair with a tear stricken face. Her panting made it difficult for her to talk yet the dread in her voice was salient.

Her mother hugged her while she sobbed silently giving a raise to fear.

"Isha, someone has framed your father, they accused him for perfidy and duplicity. He was deposed from the company disrespectfully" Her mother broke out into scourged sobs. Ishanvi felt a severe ache inside the left side of her chest. Her heart burned after witnessing her mother's state and listening to what her father had gone through.

"After he came back ho-home he had a heart stroke- Isha I-I don't know what to do. The doctor says his situation is too critical he-he has lost the urge to live" Tears streamed out of her blank lost eyes like a weeping willow tree.

She felt helpless as well as crestfallen. She landed herself on the chair with exactly no expression on her face yet her eyes spoke volumes. The tears streaming down her almond shaped eyes did not stop yet conveyed her inner breakdown.

Why her father? Why her? Just why? What had she done that she was facing all these. This day was the worst day of her life. First her boss verbally molested her and then her father's condition.

At that point she wanted nothing but to give up. She was already tired!

Constant ringing of her cell phone pulled her back from the riverie of her miseries to the real world.

Her eye brows creased, pulled together in a confusion filled face after noticing the unknown number. She cautiously answered the call and kept it near her ear.

"Hello Sweetheart, how are you? Heard your father has been fired from his job? Give him my condolence" Shivaansh's mockery filled voice filled her ears. It had to be him. He did everything.

He made her father go through such humiliation just because she refused to sleep with him? Disgust filled her inside, her heart and mind drowned in the flood of hatred towards this man.

How could he steep so low?

"What do you want?" Her voice came out blank, even after going through a hurricane of negative emotions towards Shivaansh she could not express that. She heard him chuckle lightly at her question. He was having fun.

"Straight to the point huh?" His voice contained hints of teasing showing her just how entertaining the whole situation was for him.

He was enjoying her sufferings. Indeed he was.

"What do you want from me?"

"Marry me"

She stopped breathing for a few seconds as she sat numbly, her mind went blank, everything around her blurred. She could not produce a sound from her mouth. No syllable escaped her lips.

She was startled. She did not expect him to ask her for marriage.

"Marry me Sweetheart and I'll make it all right. I hope you must have figured out what I'm capable of. Be my wife and your father will get his job back as well as the respect he had lost"

One side she had to face the devil the other she had to burn in the fire the only difference was the fire could burn her closed ones as well while the devil gave her an assurity of not harming her closed ones.

But the devil was a danger to her.

And the devil was none

other than Shivaansh Shekhawat. For her he was no less than a monster in human skin.