First and foremost.
Soooooo sorry for the late update.
Forgive me? 🙏🙏🙏

Moving on to the chapter. Onwards!!!

"Words in double quotes" - Talking

'Words in single quotes' - Thoughts

Chapter 15 - Hope

Ragini struggled to get free from the bonds that held her in place. She was locked in a room and her right hand was in chains, attached to the wall. There were guards outside the door, with no way for her to escape.

She pulled the chains as hard as she could, but it was worthless. She heard the door to the room open and Pawan strolled in.

"What do you want?" She asked him in anger.

"How dare you speak like that to Boss, girl?!" exclaimed one of Pawan's men.

Pawan held up a hand. "Relax. Don't get angry on her. After all, its because of her that Rishi is playing right into my trap." he spoke with a smirk.

"Rishi bhai will teach you a lesson you will never forget! He will get me out and get you arrested, mind it!" Ragini shouted.

Pawan looked at her in amusement and let out a manic laugh. Once he calmed down, he turned to Ragini. "You think your brother is in a position to fight against me? Did you forget that I threatened to kill you if he tries to act smart?"

Ragini smirked. "Then you don't know my bhai well. He will find one way or another to save me and punish you as well! Start counting backwards Pawan. Your days of freedom are over!"

Pawan rushed forward and held her face in a vice grip. "Listen here Ragini. I won't lose this time! It will be your brother that will lose his life. I will kill him! I've got you as leverage against him."

"Ha ha ha... Oh Pawan. Its so sad to see that you aren't man enough to face Rishi bhai on your own. That's why you need me as leverage. Face it Pawan. You're nothing but a pest from the lowest pits of the society!"

Pawan raised his hand to hit ragini. However, one of his men interrupted at the exact moment. "Boss, he's here."

"Is he alone?"

"Yes boss. We even checked him and found no weapon on him."

Pawan smiled at Ragini. "What do you say now? Rishi played right into my trap. Now, I will kill him with my own hands. Your brother lost Ragini."

"So what?! Bhai will find a way to fight back. I'm sure of it."

Ragini looked distressed. She had hoped that Rishi would have a plan. But now it looked like he was willingly giving up his life for her. 'No. No no no. I can't let this happen. I have to stop this! I must save Rishi bhai.'

Pawan got up and started to leave. However, he turned back to Ragini, deep in thought. 'She isn't wrong about one thing. Rishi is smart and even in such an impossible situation, he might get the upper hand. I need to make sure he doesn't fight back. And I know just how to break him.'

He looked outside and noticed the pipes on the wall. He broke off one and hit one of his men on the head, hard enough to bleed.

Ragini looked on in shock at Pawan. "How could you do this to your own men?! You monster!"

"Its not like he's dead." He turned to the other two guards. "Get him treated and make sure she doesn't escape." saying thay, he went away, carrying the bloody pipe with him.

Once the door was locked, Ragini began struggling harder to get her wrist out of the chains. 'I must help Rishi bhai somehow.'

#With Sanskar and Manpreet#

Manpreet drove his bike as fast as he could, breaking the speed limits. "How much further Sanskar?"

Sansakr was sitting behind Manpreet, giving him directions. "Turn right next, then take a left turn."

Manpreet did as he was told. Soon, they could see a barren land with old broken down buildings. There were no occupied houses anywhere to be seen near the place.

"Mani wait. Park the bike here. We don't want to alert Pawan and his goons." Mani nodded and stopped the bike. They got off and slowly made their way towards the broken buildings. "The Mehra warehouse is the last one among those buildings. Lets go!"

Sanskar looked forward with deterimation. 'Rishi, Ragini... We're coming. Hold on. Just don't give up hope.'

#With Rishi#

Rishi stood still as the goons kept circling around him. They had guns pointed at him and were keeping a distance from him. He let out a chuckle.

"Here I am, a single man without a weapon at your mercy. Yet, you guys are scared to be near me. What a bunch of chickens."

"Shut up or I'll shoot you right now!"

"No, you won't. Know why? Its because you don't have the guts. You're too much of a coward to go against your boss. Nothing but a chicken. Buck-buck buckahh! Buck-buck buckahh!" Rishi taunted.

"How dare you?! I ought to end you ri-"

"Stop Rajat. Dont touch him. He's my prey." Pawan said to one of his men.

"Oh. So this chicken's name is Rajat. Hello Rajat chicken." Rishi waved at him playfully.

Rajat looked about to explode from anger.

"Joke all you want Rishi. Soon you're going to die." Pawan smirked.

Rishi got serious. "Where is Ragini Pawan? If you have harmed her in any way, I swear I-"

"You'll what?" Pawan came near him and stood right in front of him. "You're in no positon to lay threats to me Rishi Bedi. You are at my mercy now."

Rishi looked at him distressed. "Look! You're enmity is with me. Leave her. She didn't do anything to you."

"Her mistake is that she was born as your sister."

"Pawan, you promised me not to harm her. Be a man and keep your word!"

"Oh Rishi. I would gladly keep my word, if she was still alive that is."

Rishi gasped in horror. "No... No it can't be! You. .. You promised you wouldn't harm her!"

"I didn't plan to harm her either. But your sister tried to escape and I had no choice but to shoot her. A pity really. " he smirked.

He was lying to Rishi so that he could see him suffer. He knew how much Ragini and Manpreet mattered to Rishi. Knowing that Ragini was dead was enough to break Rishi. 'Now he won't try to do anything. He's too broken and out of hope for that.'

"No. You're lying! You wouldn't have killed the only leverage you had against me. You... You're lying!"

Pawan threw the pipe he was carrying at Rishi's feet. "Look at that. It's still go your sister's blood on it. If you had just reached a little earlier, you may have saved her."

Rishi bent down to pick it up. However, he didn't have the courage to touch it seeing blood on it. Blood that Pawan told was his sister's. He broke down crying as he couldn't hold his tears anymore.

Pawan was enjoying Rishi's condition. 'I thought killing him would give me satisfaction. But this is much better. Its like he is dying over and over again, each second each minute. That's what happens when you dare go against Pawan Singh, Rishi. This is what you get!'

#With Sanskar and Mani#

Sanskar and Mani silently made their way towards the warehouse. Sanskar signaled Mani to hide. They hid and watched Pawan's men stand guard on each side of the warehouse. They were in the buildings at its right as well a in the left.

"How do we get near the warehouse? It almost seems impossible to pass throught the lot of them. Not to mention there will be more inside the warehouse."

"Don't worry Sanskar. I've got a solid plan." Manpreet replied, looking around.

Mani watched closely. He could see three men on the building to the right and three other on the other building to the left of the warehouse. "Now do as I say."

#With Ragini#

Ragini struggled hard to free herself. Her wrist was bleeding, but she didn't give up. "Just a little more. Just a little more!"

She fell back as her hand came loose from the chains. She eventually managed to slip her wrist through the cuff.

She smiled and go up on her feet. 'I can't escape through the door as Pawan's men will catch me. What to do, what to do, what t-"

She suddenly saw the ventilator in the room. She looked toward the side and saw some boxes. 'If I can somehow manage to reach that ventilator with the help of these boxes, I can get out.'

She started arranging the boxes one above the other as silently as she could. Finally, when she was sure she had enough of them piled up, she started climbing them. She felt herself swaying, but tried her best to maintain balance. At last, she finally managed to grab a hold of the ventilator. 'Rishi bhai, I'm coming.'

#With Sanskar and Manpreet#

"Hey, ugly!" The men looked down to see someone shouting at them. "Come and catch me if you can!" saying that, Sanskar started running.

The men looked at the one in charge amongst them. "Stop looking at me! Three of you go after him. Two of you stay with me. Move it!" They nodded and did as told.

Sanskar ran away with three men following him with guns. Manpreet peeped from behind a building. 'Nice going Sanskar. Now I'll take care of the rest three.'

He silently made way towards where the rest of the men were. 'Ragu, Rishi bhai. Don't worry. We'll get you out soon.'

#With Rishi#

Rishi was still on the floor, crying looking at the pipe that had blood on it. He couldn't believe that his sister was dead. 'Its all my fault. If only I was here earlier. If only I had hurried here instead of wasting time calling Sanskar. If only I had taken more caution and not let Ragini get kidnapped! I failed you Ragu. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry!'

Pawan straightened up. "Alright! I had my fun. Now its time to end you. Any last wishes Rishi?"

"Don't... Don't harm my family. Please Pawan. You already killed Ragini. You're ready to kill me. Please leave the rest of my loved ones."

Pawan's face scrunched up in anger. "Leave them? It's because of you all that I didn't get Tanuja! And that girl. She left me for you! Such disrespect!" However, he took a deep breath and calmed himself.

He looks towards Rishi and smirked. "Fine fine. I'll leave them. Besides, after the death of you and ragini, they will suffer everyday, knowing that they lost you two." He pointed the gun at Rishi. "Bye, bye Rishi."

#With Sanskar and Manpreet#

Sanskar ran as fast as he could, mumbling to himself. "Stupid Mani and his stupid plan. Those men have guns with them! What in the world was I thinging agreeing to his crazy plan?! 'Take some of the men away' he said. 'Keep them distracted' he said."

He ducked down as one of the men fired from behind him. "Mani, if I die, my ghost will haunt you forever! I will not leave you in peace!" he promised himself.

On the other hand, Mani was silently creeping up on the rest of three goons. He moved from pillar to pillar with stealth and could see two of the men at a close distance.

He hid behind the pillar of which one goon stood. He turned and grabbed his throat and knocked him out. The other goon noticed him and fired at him. However, Mani was able to hide behind the pillar. He heard the man approach him slowly and crouched low.

The goon raised his gun and proceeded to fire behind the pillar. The goon went behind the pillar and pointed at the spot where he thought Mani's head would be. However, there was nothing there. He looked down to see Mani smiling at him from his crouched position. Before he could do anything, Mani grabbed his gun and punched him hard. It took Mani only a few more punches to knock him out.

He picked up the gun and went in search for the last man there.

"Put the gun down!" Mani heard someone say from begin him and he froze. He slowly turned to see the last goon standing behind him with a gun pointed towards his head.

"Put the gun down boy if you want to live. Or do you want me to shoot ya!?"

"Okay okay. Chill dude. I'm putting it down."

Mani slowly bent to put down the gun. However, before the goon could anticipate his move, Mani threw the gun at the his head, knocking him out effectively. Mani looked at his fallen enemy proudly.

"Haha! Manpreet is great. Dekhlo duniya walo! I-" Mani heard some commotion outside and peeked down to see Sanskar heading his way, with three men firing at him from behind.

"Oops! Almost forgot about him." Mani took his aim and fired. It was a good thing that the gun had a silencer on it, so that Pawan wasn't alerted.

He hit one goon on the leg and the other on the shoulder. The third one paused and looked up towards where the gun shots came from. Sanskar took the opportunity to grab him from behind and take his gun. He knocked him out with a hit to the head.

Sanskar looked at the other two and knocked them out as well. Mani came down.

"Nice hit Sanskar." Mani praised, once he came near Sanskar.

Sanskar looked at him in anger. "Next time someone has to play bait, you do it!" saying that, he huffed and stormed past him in anger.

Mani was about to call out to him, when they heard a gun shot. They both looked toward each other in shock. At once, they rushed towards the warehouse.

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To be continued...

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~ 🌹 Mona 🌹