This is it. No turning back.

Sia repeated those words like a mantra while standing in front of a bathroom mirror, staring at herself.

She hated what she saw. Because she hated what she was. She hated it all.

She was not destined to be with a loving husband or a child to cherish. The moment she decided to set her course towards retribution, all her dreams had vanished.

Reaching a trembling hand, she touched her reflection.

For some reason it felt safe doing that. She needed this distance tonight. Because after the night was over, she was going to be left with two choices.

She was either going to be arrested or she will be a lifelong fugitive.

There was no turning back.

With those kinds of choices, any other sane person would rethink their course in life.

She had no second thoughts. Especially now. Because the reflection she saw was that of a nine year old girl. The same nine year old girl whose soul was ripped away.

Similar to all those other children who suffered abuse at the hands of monsters she was determined to destroy.

Her heart began to pump harder as the feelings of rage and sadness took over.

She knew she was stronger than the pain. She had to be. She couldn’t knowingly let any other child go through the same things that she did.

The monsters had to die.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned forward and turned on the tap. Placing her palms under the running tap, she wet her hair slightly. Parting her hair in the middle, she twisted each part, and pulled it across one another at the back of her head. She secured her hair with small pins until all her long hair was fixed tightly against the scalp.

She couldn’t risk any hair strand to fall to leave evidence that night.

Then taking a wig cap, she slipped it on top of her hair. It also held the earpiece for her to stay in contact with Varun.

Over the next ten minutes, she adjusted the wig cap until there were no imperfections. Bending slightly, she tightened the holster around her hips before smoothing her black top over it. Her black slacks and boots would also blend in with the dark.

She stood still in front of the mirror, looking at herself from all the angles.

Satisfied, she grabbed a small handgun and placed it in the holster concealed near her waist.

“This is it. There is no turning back from this,” she told herself out loud.

She didn’t have any regrets. The man whom she was going to kill that night had admitted to having no regrets while destroying many innocent lives. He even dared to threaten Anika and Ajay.

And lately, each night she had a nightmare, along with her uncle’s face, she also saw the other man’s face too. The horrible smug grin he wore while thinking he was beyond law.

She could not let it go. The need to kill him was strong and raging within her.

She wanted to get to her uncle first. But the fact that he was surrounded by his minions to console him, made her choose the other animal first. After this, she wanted her uncle to live in constant fear. Until she killed him as well.

 

* * *

 

An hour later, she stood outside a large house where the bastard judge lived. It was close to midnight and nobody was around, either on the road or around the house. There were two security guards at the front gate that were fast asleep. Thanks to the meals they had that night.

“I’m still not comfortable with you going in there by yourself, Sia,” said Varun. He was dressed in all black like her. But unlike her, he was to remain outside and keep watch.

“We have discussed this before. We can’t afford to make any mistakes or deviate from our plan. Just... keep an eye and alert me if anything goes wrong.”

Varun nodded reluctantly. “You remember all the instructions?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said.

And then, taking a deep breath, she began to scale the wall easily from a corner, and jumped inside the compound. The wall had an electric fence, but their hacker had deactivated it currently until the morning.

Taking out a flashlight from her holster, she flashed it towards the obvious camera on the outside wall ceiling near the doorway, blinding the camera’s sensor. According to the hacker, there weren’t too many cameras placed in the judge’s house.

She pulled out a master key and unlocked the main door with it. Scoping the place thoroughly, she noticed that there were four exits on the ground floor. The main entry, backdoor, the French doors to the outside patio and also to the downstairs bedroom. It matched with the information she got from the hacker. She kept flashing the beam of light on two other cameras, she encountered.

Walking up the stairs, she adjusted her gloves and opened the bedroom door with the master key.

The room was semi-dark with only a reading lamp turned on next to an empty bed.

Her heart jolted, wondering if her prey wasn’t at home that night. But she had gotten the confirmation that he would remain home that night.

Just then, she heard the sound of a toilet flushing.

She waited quietly, standing in the shadows while looking around the room, not touching anything. A few minutes later, the portly shape of the judge emerged.

The man jumped and then froze when he saw her emerging from the shadows. With great effort, he schooled his features to a normal look.

“This is a pleasant surprise, Mrs. Manthena,” he said.

She watched him calmly, even as her fingers itched to draw out her weapon right then, and to keep pumping bullets into his worthless body.

He sighed dramatically. “We already spoke Mrs. Manthena. I thought this whole thing was over with. And it’s already been proven that I’m not guilty.”

“No. It’s not over. Far from it,” she said softly. “You need to pay. And I’m here to make sure you do.”

He got agitated by her tone and stance. “You and your husband have already ruined my reputation. Even though I’ve been proven not guilty, a lot of people are worried to be seen with me, or be with me. You don’t think that’s enough?”

“No. For what you did to those children, not even close.”

His pudgy hands clenched. She knew that he badly wanted to call for help or at least do something.

“I didn’t kidnap any of those children, you know. Most of them were sold to me by their poor families or guardians.”

“What about the ones missing from the orphanages?” she asked.

He narrowed his eyes. “Why does it matter, Mrs. Manthena? Why don’t you get to the reason you are here. Information? Confession?”

She looked at the man in front of her. “No. I don’t care for your confession. Because nothing can excuse it. You are not only a sick man, you are deliberately evil,” she stated.

She knew she had to hurry and finish the job she had come for. She couldn’t afford to waste any time talking to him, or bother to try making him see the error of his disgusting ways.

She just couldn’t move to draw out her weapon.

She thought she was mentally prepared to take a human life. Even though the said human was piece of shit. Still she felt sick. Her head began to throb and she held her breath to appear steady in front of him.

The judge studied her face quietly, searching her face and posture to look for any signs of weakness. “So you decided to take law into your own hands and... maybe make me confess while you take a video or something? That’s what you people already tried before, right?”

She heard the sound of the French doors near the balcony sliding open. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Varun’s tall figure dressed in black moving towards them inside the room.

She kept her attention on the judge’s face as he tried to look around for something, maybe a weapon or to simply alert someone from outside.

She whipped out her gun from the holster. “Don’t move or so much as raise your voice or you’ll feel a bullet in your stomach. Heard that’s a painful way to die,” she warned the judge.

At the word ‘die’, and looking at the gun, there was fear in the judge’s eyes. Almost as if until then, he hadn’t considered the possibility of her being there to kill him.

As soon as Varun stood next to her, she hissed out in frustration and anger. “Dammit. I explicitly told you not to come inside. Get out of here right now!” she ordered.

There was no reply. He simply stood a few feet away from her. Something about the stillness made her glance towards him.

The tall figure wasn’t as tall as Varun. He also had a leaner muscle definition than Varun’s. His face was covered with a woolen mask.

Sia felt paralyzed, and for a second her mind couldn’t process what her brain was trying to tell her. Until, she met a pair of familiar angry eyes that were dark with intensity.

Ajay!

She was stunned at the discovery.

“W-who are you?” the judged asked.

To her shock, Ajay drew the woolen mask and some kind of goggles away from his face, completely revealing his identity.

“Mr. Manthena! Ajay! Thank god, you are here. Your wife was about to do a grave mistake. Tell her—”

“She doesn’t want to be my wife,” Ajay interrupted coolly.

“What?” the judge asked in confusion.

“She doesn’t want to be my wife anymore. We are divorcing,” Ajay stated as though it were the most important information he had to impart right then.

“Well, whatever the case, Ajay. Tell her she’s wrong to threaten me this way. Life is not black or white. People make mistakes. There is law—”

Ajay smiled chillingly. “We tried the law once. But you know what happened,” he said in a polite tone.

“No. No. You are both making a huge mistake—”

The judge broke off as Ajay carefully pulled out a transparent plastic bag from his waist pocket and opened it to draw out a gun. He screwed on what appeared to be a silencer on the gun and pointed it towards the judge.

“The only mistake that happened was that you were let go. On top of that you threatened my wife, using me and our daughter as pawns. That pushed her away from me. That made her want to divorce me to protect me and my daughter.”

“Ajay,” Sia whispered with shock. “What the hell are you doing? Put down the gun.”

Ajay looked at her again with a look that scared her.

He looked cold. Emotionless.

He looked like a killer.

He turned back towards the judge. “Maybe if you were rotting in jail like you deserved, you wouldn’t have uttered those threats to her. And maybe... just maybe you wouldn’t have to pay such a heavy price,” he said, moving quickly behind the judge.

Before the older man could get away, he was held in a chokehold.

The next few seconds were a blur to Sia.

The judge struggled for a while, gasping because he was unable to make any noise. There were three silent pops, and then his body became limp. Ajay released him slowly, and the lifeless body fell on the floor with a thump. Thin streaks of blood began to pour out from the body where bullet holes were present.

Ajay carefully held the gun and placed it back into the plastic cover. She noticed that like her, he had worn gloves. He then walked towards the closet and opened it to reveal a safe box. Punching in a code, he placed something in there.

She was still too stunned at the events that happened so rapidly in the space of a few minutes. “Ajay,” she whispered.

He ignored her, and began to rumple the bedding, and pushed down the lamps and other knickknacks in the room making it appear like a struggle. She joined him, helping him. Meantime, he pulled out another small plastic packet and then pulled transparent strips and pressed them to few of the fallen objects.

She didn’t ask him any questions. She didn’t think her voice would even function through the shock that gripped her body.

She jumped when she heard him speak after a while. “It’s done. We are heading back now,” he said softly.

She thought he was talking to her, but the stillness of his form and the expression on his face, as though he was listening to something, made her aware that he was speaking with someone else.

“Whom are you talking to?” she asked.

He looked towards her. “We need to get out of here,” he said quietly.

She didn’t argue. She simply nodded quietly.

“Follow me,” he instructed. Then he pulled out a pair of goggles from his pocket that was similar to the one on top of his head. He wore his and slipped the other one on her face.

They were night vision goggles. He began to move. He didn’t look back to check whether she was following him. He went towards the balcony and slid down a thin rope that was suspended.

Taking a deep breath, she followed behind him. Just when she was about to drop on the ground from a four feet height, she felt his hands on her waist to assist her.

Again not bothering to ask her if she was fine, he tugged the rope several times until the other end with something shiny attached came free and fell at their feet. Rolling it smoothly around one of his hands, he began to walk towards a wall in the backyard. It was pitch dark on this side of the house with no lighting seen anywhere but with her night vision goggles, she was able to see everything.

“You go first,” he said, indicating up with his chin.

When she hesitated, “Do you need help?” he asked coolly.

“No,” she replied and climbed the wall smoothly. On the other side of the wall, there was a car parked.

She didn’t recognize it. But she had other concerns. “Where’s Varun? He was waiting for me on the other end of the house.”

“He’s fine. We asked him to leave.” Ajay didn’t elaborate anymore.

Moving towards the black car, “Get in,” he instructed, indicating again with his chin.

Sia began to get angry. More than that she was upset. She was also damn freaking terrified.

Ajay must have sensed some of those feelings. He turned her way.”I know you have questions, but we need to remain quiet until we reach your house,” he said.

She wanted more than answers. She wanted to attack him for the stunt he just pulled. But she remained quiet, shaking with the adrenaline still coursing through her body.

Fifteen minutes later, the car stopped near another residential area. Ajay’s car was parked there.

“We need to change cars,” he said.

She nodded jerkily. He paused and looked at her for a while.

“Take off everything. Your wig and clothes, and hand them to me. I’ll be right back with a change of clothes,” he said.

He returned when she removed the last of the pin and held the wig in her hands.

“You clothes too,” he reminded.

Not bothering to ask him to leave, she began to undress. He didn’t speak or show any reaction on his face when she was left mostly naked. Once she was done, he placed a bag on the seat and took the wig and the discarded clothes into his hands before disappearing to the other car again.

Soon he returned to the passenger side of the door and opened it.

“Come out, we need to switch cars,” he said simply.

She saw that Harsha was in the other car, but he came towards them and got into the driver’s seat of the black car. Not wanting to risk wasting any time by asking them about the entire plan, she got down the car and sat in Ajay’s car.

Soon, they headed towards her house.

 

* * *

 

A few minutes later, Ajay drove them into Sia’s garage and parked the car.

Not waiting for her to get down from the car, he went towards a door and punched in a code along with a retina scan before going inside. She followed behind him.

The door closed shut behind them. Sia wanted to demand answers, but Ajay was busy looking around the house he had called home for nearly a year. She knew it had really changed a lot since the last couple of months he had been there.

The house was back to being the cold and bare shell it once was, with family pictures of them during her pregnancy and of their daughter missing.

“Looks like you redecorated,” he remarked.

Not answering his casual offhand remark, she walked towards him and stood right in front of him. When he looked at her, she slapped him. Hard.

The impact was powerful enough to whip his face towards the side.

“You’ve ruined everything!” she shouted, finally letting her emotions show, and breaking down due to the events that had transpired during that night.

Ajay turned his face back towards her. His eyes held rage. Alongwith some kind of other emotion that she didn’t care to know at that particular moment.

“How could you do it, Ajay? You killed a man!” she shouted at him.

“Oh? I didn’t know you went there to have a pleasant chat with that man,” he replied in an even tone, gritting his teeth.

“Oh my God! You weren’t supposed to kill him!”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I was supposed to!”

“Why?” he growled out again.

“Because he deserved it! I had a plan in place. You were supposed to take care of our daughter. Be safe, move on, while I—” she broke off not wanting to complete the sentence.

“While you did what?” he demanded.

He was in her face. “While you rotted in the jail? While you possibly died during one of your revenge games? Is that the great big sacrifice you’d planned?” he taunted.

That was the plan. But he ruined it. Instead he put himself in danger. The adrenaline rushing through her body picked up even more. She was shaking in fury.

She pushed him away from her. “I hate you so much for this. I’ll never forgive you for ruining it,” she hissed out.

He closed the distance between them again, and held her arms. “You hate me? Show me how much you hate me,” he growled, pulling her even closer. “Prove it to me,” he whispered the challenge against her mouth before kissing her hard.

She bit him. Not the gentle bite that she used to love doing, to drive him crazy. But a punishing bite, hard enough for her to taste the metallic tang of his blood.

He didn’t flinch, and neither did he release the hold on her. She felt a strange combination of bloodlust, and another kind of lust coursing through her veins. Before it consumed her completely, she shoved him away, hard.

With blood tricking down his lip, he watched her with an intensity that made the blood roar in her ears, making it deafening, muting any reason or sense that would stop the madness taking over her.

He wiped his bloody lip with his thumb and smirked. “I’m glad you had no one to take your pent up aggression out on. You are more than welcome to take it out on me,” he said.

Hearing his taunting words, she lost it completely. She attacked him like an animal.

Baring her teeth and nails, she literally jumped towards him.

He was ready for her. He wrapped both his arms around her possessively, crushing her close until she could barely move.

He kissed her again.

She struggled furiously, but he didn’t release his hold on her. He continued kissing her, almost robbing her breath along with her reasoning. His strong fingers dug into the skin of her back. She could feel the throb of his aroused body, and it made her tremble violently.

Slowly and involuntarily, her lips parted wider, while her whole body shuddered, feeling his warmth. He dug the fingers of one of his hands into her hair at the back of her head, forcing her head back, and exposing her neck to him. His mouth moved away from her lips and he kissed her throat upward, until he found her mouth again, and took her bottom lip between his teeth.

Trying to pull in the last shred of control together, she hit his chest again, until he released her lip.

She wiped her mouth. Trying to remove the addicting taste of him from her. “You think you did me a great favor by trying to protect me?” she snarled at him. “You did not!”

He growled, dragging her to him again. “I can say the same thing to you!” he said and crashed their lips together, kissing her ravenously.

Gasping and moaning, she kissed him back. She was reminded once again, about how much she had missed him. She wanted him with a violence that stunned her.

“I want you inside me,” she gasped out, unable to bear it anymore.

“Believe me, I plan on being there pretty soon,” he gritted out.

With joined lips, they fumbled and tore through their clothes.

She wrenched her mouth away from his again. “This doesn’t change anything,” she panted out.

He looked annoyed and furious. “We’ll see about that,” he snapped, pulling her back to him

He picked her up and threw her on the nearby sofa. And then crawling on top of her, he began to kiss her again while shedding his torn pants with one hand.

Her eyes flared in surprise and heat before she narrowed them in a glare at his dominant position. A small smile broke on his face, remembering her need to control and be on top. But he had no plans to accommodate her this time.

Getting hold of her hips, he tore away her already ripped clothes. Her gaze continued to burn bright with anger and arousal. She dug her nails hard into his shoulders, drawing blood.

Another growl erupted from him as he snatched the last of their clothes. And then, finally she felt the heat of his naked body on hers.

She wrapped her legs around him, crushing him with her thighs, pushing herself towards him so she could feel the hardness of his aroused body against the soft wetness of hers.

Groaning, his mouth left her lips to kiss her neck, and then down her chest, until his teeth found her nipples to bite them hard enough to elicit a pain and pleasure filled gasp.

He raised his head until their eyes met again. There was still anger, hurt and a raw suppressed emotion that they were both unable to express in form of words.

She tugged him upward to kiss him, but he resisted. Instead, he slowly began to slide inside her, until she could barely keep her eyes open anymore. Her legs trembled, and her body shuddered with small tremors that began to explode inside her almost immediately.

Gasping, she shoved her hips forward, forcing him to go deeper.

She had never imagined that she would be able to be with him again that way.

He raised his body from hers, balancing his weight on his knees between her legs, and grabbed her thighs in his hands. Pulling her towards him, he controlled the movements, going so slow that it drove her mad. But with each thrust, he pushed in deeper, until her thighs began to tremble, and she couldn’t hold them steady around his hips anymore.

She arched the back of her head against the soft cushion, moaning and gasping, digging her fingers into the flesh of his hips. Finally, he moved faster, thrust harder, became ruthless, and out of control. She moved her hands to grip the cushion hard, pressing against the sofa arm, forcing herself against him, feeling him deep inside her.

He swept her in his madness, overwhelming her.

But instead of taking them to the finish line, he collapsed on top of her, and she could feel the wetness of his mouth on her breast. She felt it moving up towards her throat and then her lips. She felt his heartbeat thumping against her chest as he paced himself again, moving slowly.

She knew he wanted to prolong the feel of their bodies joined intimately. His movements were slow, and his kisses were deep, hot and hungry.

Curling her fingers into his hair, she gripped him tightly, moaning into his mouth. She had missed his taste and the feel of him moving inside her.

They continued moving against each other, until they realized that they couldn’t prolong it any longer. Feeling attuned to each other, they found their release together. Even when he finished, he didn’t stop moving. He kept moving until her body stopped shuddering, and until her legs stopped trembling.

He rested his head across her breasts as he held her close. She brushed her fingers through his sweaty hair, and they stayed that way for a long time, lost in their thoughts and memories.

She broke the silence with a confession. “I still see Anika on the cameras,” she said. “And you too, because you are with her most of the time.”

“I know,” he replied.

“Where do we go from here?” she asked softly..

“We’ll figure it out,” he said, his arms squeezing her gently, as though in reassurance.

There is another long stretch of silence between them.

“I’m still angry with you, Ajay. I can’t believe you would do something like this, and not even warn me,” she said. Her tone calm. “I had everything figured out. I was prepared for... anything.”

He lifted his face to stare down at her with an intense look. His hands moved until he held her face in a firm grip. “You are mine, Sia,” he stated. “You alone don’t get to decide if you want to sacrifice your life or not. Because when you do, you are destroying me along with you too.”

His eyes were dark and glittering, openly showing her everything he felt.

Love.

Lust.

Anger.

Protectiveness.

It was the last emotion that softened her.

“Tell me what you planned,” she ordered softly.

“I can’t,” he said. “I know it’s hard for you, but I need you to trust me on this time. It’s critical that your reactions remain genuine tomorrow when things begin to fall according to my plan,” he said.

She had a million questions she wanted to bombard him with but he was right. She had never trusted him completely before. Right now, she wanted to. She had to.

After all, he had just killed a man for her.

“Alright, I will trust you,” she said.

That earned her a smile. She couldn’t look away from his lips as they tilted in that smile. All the months of anxiety and loneliness washed away from her. His smile always had that effect on her. It gave her a feeling of a strong connection between them.

He raised his body away from her and balanced his weight on his elbows. She watched as his biceps flexed.

“Baby,” his voice came out husky. “I know we have a lot to discuss. I promise that I’ll tell you everything soon. But first, I want us to make up for the lost time,” he said.

She could see that his smile had disappeared, and in place was a look which she also loved. “How?” she asked huskily.

He didn’t reply. He preferred to show it in actions.