Bound by Revenge (The Singham Bloodlines) Page 4

  She moved her legs but they seemed paralyzed.

  She was stuck as the monster drew even closer.

  Anika woke up with a gasp.

  She was lying on a bed, sweating and shaking. Her heart was pounding in her chest, threatening to burst out. She shook her head, hoping to wipe out the nightmare that still left fear and anxiety in her mind. It wasn't just a nightmare, it was real—her reality.

  Still trembling, she slowly sat up on the bed, noticing she was all alone in the same room she had been in the previous morning.

  Had it only been twenty-four hours since she got here? It felt like an eternity. She had seen and experienced so much within a day—it threatened to drive her into a state of shock. She didn’t react to the clock ticking somewhere in the room, taking her closer to D-day.

  It was the day before her reckoning.

  In one more day, she was to be offered as a sacrificial lamb to a man who was more of a beast. And she had no choice or say in it.

  She was now resigned to the fact that she was trapped inside a fortress, both physically and mentally, with no escape. Even if she could somehow find a way out of the house, it would be at the cost of her family.

  Tears gathered in her eyes as she recalled her loved ones. She missed them. She wanted to hug them, until she knew they were going to be safe and free from any threats.

  Stifling the urge to break into hysterical sobs, she got out of bed and walked towards the large window. The outside was bustling with activity. People scrambled around, filling the courtyard with flowers and other decorations.

  The entire area was being decorated as far as the eye could see. The long road leading to the house from the main street was lined with banana tree trunks, connected by endless rows of flowers. The harsh concrete walls that were surely splashed with blood at some point, gleamed with new life making her feel even deader on the inside.

  Like everyone her age, she had thought about her wedding day before, but never in a million years did she imagine it to be the way it was—out of her control. It wasn’t just her marriage, she had no control over her life, and that infuriated her. She was being reduced to a pawn on the chessboard that was being manipulated and sacrificed for the sake of the ruthless players.

  How can I simply resign myself?

  What else can you do?

  With that defeated reply, it felt like she was not the same person she had been before. Most of her life, she had thrived on challenges and overcoming obstacles, but right then, she couldn’t come up with a way to get out of the mess.

  She walked away from the window, and opened the door that led to a small balcony overlooking the back of the house. She took in the wide expanse of the barren brown land. Her fingers gripped the balcony rails as she recalled that the people believed the drought was due to a curse and not the effect of a climate change.

  “That won’t kill you.” Neelambari’s voice cut through her haze.

  Anika didn’t turn around, and kept her eyes focused on a faraway spot.

  “If you were considering ending your life by jumping off the balcony, you’ll only break a leg, and look horrible in your wedding pictures.”

  Anika refused to react to the taunt because she knew she had no fight left in her—not at that moment.

  “Prajapati women have the blood of the royals in them. They would never consider self-harm. But if you were indeed considering it, then it’s probably evident that your mom must have strayed.”

  Anika’s blood boiled at the slur on her mother. She swung towards the woman who was her father’s sister. “Stop it!” she hissed.

  “Oh… I’m sorry if I hurt you. I shouldn’t have said that about your mother. I don’t know what happens to me sometimes.”

  The sudden shift in her aunt’s tone scared Anika more than anything. Her aunt was like a chameleon, changing her behavior at will, never really showing her true colors.

  Striding over to the small patio sofa, her aunt patted the seat next to her. “Come, please sit here.”

  Anika ignored the request.

  Her aunt sighed as though she was dealing with a stubborn child. “This may all seem bad to you, Anika, but soon you’ll realize you are only embracing your destiny and helping with the greater good.”

  “Don’t. I don’t want to listen to any of that again.” She still couldn't wrap that insane reason—of curses and droughts leading to her marriage—around her head.

  Her aunt gave her a shrewd look. “Well, I will leave you to enjoy your solitude. But remember, no trying to escape or think that you have a way out of this marriage. You will get married tomorrow, or you will regret it for the rest of your life.”

  “I already regret everything that has to do with coming here.”

  “Not as much as you would, if you try to oppose any of the plans I’ve made. One phone call to the men watching your sister and parents, and you’ll not have a family living in the U.S. anymore.” Her aunt’s voice held a raw menace.

  Anika clenched her fists in anger, not saying anything.

  There was a chilling smile. “You know, maybe all this reluctance is also because your heart might have been otherwise occupied by a different man.” Neelambari tapped a finger on her cheek as though lost in thought. “Nathan… is it? One of my men informed me of a white boy that follows behind you like a love-sick puppy.”

  Anika then realized why the tattoo on the man’s neck who picked her up from the airport, looked familiar. She had seen it from a distance on the man Nathan had warned her about. The man who had been following them in San Francisco.

  “Don’t hurt him,” Anika whispered as fear and worry took over. “Nathan’s innocent in all this. Please. I’ll do as you say.”

  “Oh, that you will, my dear. And even when I’m not saying anything, you will cooperate with me. I not only have men following your family and close friends, but I also have their phones tapped and emails hacked. So if you think all you need is a phone access to get out of this, you are wrong. Dead wrong." Neelambari smiled at the pun. "One wrong word from your mouth, complaining to your husband—or anyone to that matter—about your family being held hostage, it will be equivalent to their death warrant. There is no way out. Even if you die by your own hand or by someone else’s, I won’t spare any of your loved ones.”

  Anika sat in shock, listening to the threats.

  Neelambari got up with a satisfied smile on her face. “I think you are smart enough to understand what is at stake here. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” Just before Neelambari opened the bedroom door to leave, she turned to look at Anika with an affectionate smile.

  “Enjoy your last day as Anika Prajapati, my love. Because tomorrow, you’ll be Anika Singham.”

  CHAPTER 10

  Anika stared back at the reflection of a terrified woman in the mirror. With trembling lips and widened eyes, she didn’t recognize herself.

  Despair welled up within her again as a feeling of extreme hopelessness enveloped her, for not being able to stop what was happening in her life. “She is going to ruin her makeup if she doesn’t stop crying,” one of the women told someone..

  Anika’s vision blurred as she continued trembling, but none of the dozen women around her seemed to care for her tears.

  “I don’t know why she’s sad. It’s supposed to be the happiest day of her life,” one of the women grumbled.

  The other women made several noises in agreement and simply went about decking her up like clockwork. They tugged and styled her hair, putting endless jewelry on her. They refused to recognize her state of despair, making her feel like she was an inanimate object with no feelings.

  Bile rose in her throat as she tried to sit through their ministrations quietly. She didn’t feel the happiness or anticipation she had dreamt of about the occasion.

  The occasion being her wedding.

  “Look at her. I need to fix her face again,” complained a woman, and began dabbing something under her eyes, to get rid of the moisture stains
.

  Didn’t anyone from this godforsaken place have any compassion or basic humanity?

  Losing her cool, Anika hissed, and grabbed the thing from the woman’s hands, and smashed it against the mirror. The antique mirror which had apparently been in her so-called family for several generations, cracked loudly.

  There were several gasps around the room, and then pin-drop silence. The only sounds made were of her rampage.

  “Leave me alone!” Anika shouted. “Why don’t you all leave me alone!”

  She shoved away the boxes of jewelry, makeup, and everything else placed on the dressing table to the floor. A million things hit the marble flooring with a loud crash.

  She was a generally a peaceful person who took pride at being rational. But at that very moment, even her rational mind wanted her to smash and destroy everything and anyone in her path.

  She was becoming a savage. They were turning her into a savage, just like them.

  When cornered, one apparently fought with everything they had. She wanted to, very badly, but she couldn’t fight back. They had her trapped.

  She kept screaming and crying, kicking at the objects that rolled at her feet, and threw the other exclusive things that were brought in for the wedding.

  A deep, commanding voice made her stop in her tracks.

  “Get out. Everyone.” A man’s voice jolted her from her outburst.

  “Sir. You can’t be here,” a wavering voice of a woman began to say. “It is considered bad luck—” The woman stopped speaking all of the sudden, and a loaded silence fell in the room.

  “Trust me. It’ll be even worse if anyone tries to stop me.” The man's voice stated in a chilling, dead calm tone that caused goosebumps to break out on her skin.

  Anika heard the rustling as everyone began to hurriedly clear the room, and went out of the door. She froze, wondering if she should grab the brief opportunity of freedom, and go along with them, but the cold voice of the man issued another command. “The bride stays.”

  She remained frozen.

  When everyone left, there was absolute silence.

  “Turn around and look at me,” the man ordered quietly.

  Trembling, and worried about the consequences, she slowly turned, raising her eyes towards the man.

  Her vision was still blurry from the residual moisture.

  She wiped her tears away and was met with the sight of the broad back of a tall man as he closed the door shut. Stepping back, she wrapped her arms around her protectively. She kept her wary eyes trained on him, waiting for what, she didn’t know.

  As soon as he turned, she felt like the air was sucked away from around the room, making her gasp out loud.

  He looked larger than life. And more importantly, he looked like he could easily kill her with a single blow.

  But the man who intimidated her badly wasn’t looking at her. His eyes first scanned the mess she had made, and then they slowly returned to her face to look at her dispassionately. She expected to see anger, but there was none.

  He didn’t say anything for a long moment, just kept his eyes firmly locked on her face.

  After an indeterminate amount of time, he broke the deafening silence. “So. You are my bride-to-be,” he stated, rather than asked, in a deep voice.

  The word ‘bride’ broke through her trance and made adrenaline course through her body.

  God, this is so messed up. Why am I cowering in fear?

  She knew she cannot—and should not—give up her fight because of brute force. She was a problem solver, a logical thinker who had succeeded most of her life convincing people to think from her perspective. She should be able to use reasoning to invoke some compassion within the man whom she was supposed to marry.

  “I don’t want this,” she whispered, unable to work up a louder voice. She kept her eyes on his face, pleading. “Please, stop this marriage.”

  He didn’t respond and neither did he react in anyway.

  Come on, try more. Keep trying! The voice in her head kept shouting at her.

  She gathered her courage to reason with him, but she knew next to nothing about him. Just what she had heard and seen the previous day.

  She shuddered, trying hard not to recall the events that still shocked her. The facts would only traumatize her again, and put her in a position where she wouldn’t be able to reason anymore.

  With great effort, she kept her eyes on the man’s face.

  Under the large skylight, the man didn’t look like a monster at the first glance—far from it. He was elegantly dressed and also good looking with perfectly chiseled features. He also appeared to be close to her age.

  But when she looked beyond the superficial cover, she noticed the truth. His eyes, although beautifully dark and intense, were also vacant of any emotions. They appeared cold, dead, and soulless. Like that of a monster who could beat someone to death.

  His clothes were neat and very expensive looking, but she couldn’t avoid tearing her eyes away from his bruised and slightly swollen knuckles. She shuddered as she recalled the violence she had witnessed the previous day.

  As she stood in front of the disturbing stranger, she realized the odds were stacked heavily against her. It would be next to impossible to convince someone like him of anything.

  He would be the kind to throw around orders, not listen to a rational discussion. She knew she had a slim chance, but she had to fight back or even beg her way to freedom.

  “I don’t want this wedding,” she repeated. “We can think of another solution. We should be able to come up with a reasonable… ” her voice trailed off when she saw him compressing his lips into a thin hard line as he began to walk towards her.

  Her pulse sped up, beating wildly against her throat. Her heart began to pound hard in her chest until it ached. She wanted to scream and run away in fear, but she held her ground, keeping her eyes trained on him.

  Through trembling lips, she spoke again. “I’m not from your world. I don’t belong in this place. Let me get back to my family,” she reasoned.

  She was close to being thrown back into a state of shock, reminding her once again that she was living in a nightmare. In a land of no rules, or humanity, or any compassion.

  The man stopped in front of her until he was too close for comfort. She had to raise her eyes to look at him. She flinched at the look he was directing towards her.

  His eyes were locked on her face as his mouth stretched into a sneer full of hate. “We are getting married because your precious family has been begging me to do so. So if you, or your fucking family, tries to pull any stunts during our wedding today, attempting to back out, I’m not going to spare anyone.” He spat out the words ‘your family’ like they were a curse.

  Slowly and deliberately, his eyes swept over her body dressed in traditional bridal attire. “Nothing and no one—including you—can stop this from happening. You will become my wife by tonight,” he vowed.

  Listening to those words, her legs gave out from under, and she collapsed on her knees, unable to swallow the defeat.

  How could she have let herself be trapped in this hellhole? Because of her one impulsive decision to meet her estranged family, she was going to lose everything.

  Her freedom and also her soul.

  CHAPTER 11

  Chanting of prayers filled the air, as several priests performed the wedding ceremony around a large fire pit, on top of a decorated stage. Hundreds of lavishly dressed men and women were assembled around a large courtyard to witness the wedding.

  As the ceremony progressed, the guests from the bride and groom’s side watched each other warily as they stood tensely. Even through the numbness, Anika felt a palpable tension among the wedding guests.

  Except for her aunt, Neelambari.

  Anika noticed that her aunt had a satisfied smile that bordered on manic as she watched the wedding take place. Sabitha was conspicuously missing.

  Anika’s grandfather was seated in a wheelchair next to hi
s daughter, watching everything with a grim look.

  “Sir, the wedding is now over. You and your wife are now free to take blessings from your guests,” the priest announced in a shaky voice.

  During the very few weddings, Anika had attended in her twenty-six years, she had noticed that the groom always smiled proudly after the wedding. He did so, because he felt like he had accomplished something wonderful, and even the bride always smiled back.

  But her newly wedded husband smiled grimly and calmly at the tense faces of the Prajapati family. Even through her daze, Anika noticed the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

  Not that Anika herself had bothered to smile at anyone. On the outside, she looked angry and stubborn. But in truth, she was so frantic that she could barely sit still during the main ceremony as panicked gasps escaped her. She had been praying for a miracle to occur—some last minute, desperate miracle that would free her from these people.

  “Come.” The man next to her—her husband—held her elbow.

  Anika jerked away, her stomach churning with fear and resentment at having to endure his touch. When he had threatened her earlier that day, she was in too much of a shock. Later, she slowly decided she was making things very easy for him and her father’s family. They have been getting away with a lot of things, leaving her no choice but to follow them.

  The groom frowned, his handsome, cruel face hardened. He held her elbow with a tighter grip and dragged her to another decorated dais where two heavily carved, golden throne-like chairs were placed.

  Anika was more or less pushed into one of them and her groom sat on the other. A steady stream of guests came to congratulate and bless them.

  “Fuck!”

  The crude word brought Anika out of the numbness. She turned to look at the man who was now her husband, but he was busy nodding regally at their guests. The crude word was uttered by his brother, Dev Singham.

  Anika briefly recalled being introduced to Dev Singham.

  She hadn't noticed much before, but now she saw that Dev Singham looked completely different from his brother. He was glaring at someone who was standing next to her.