Ruthless (The Revenge Games Book 2)

by MV Kasi

  "Mrs. Manthena, let it go," said Judge Sundaram. "Like I said, spend time with your family. Don't waste your time for a bunch of nobodies. I wanted to tell the same to your husband. But he seems to be quite a hothead." There was another fleshy smile. "I really like Ajay. I've met him a few times before. I would hate anything happening to him or your beautiful daughter," he said.

  *****

  The next few weeks were devastating. Not only did the news channels dig into her murky past, but they made out her uncle seem like some sort of misunderstood hero.

  She didn't care what people thought about her. But she couldn't bear the thought of her uncle being hero worshipped blindly by his followers even though he was caught red-handed and there were videos of him being present in the party.

  "We have been living in the same village as him for over thirty years now. Not once had he made an overture against any woman, even though many tried to get his attention. How can such a person abuse a child?"

  "He has a son! How can a man who has intimate relations with his wife be a pedophile?"

  "Jagadish Naidu is god! He has saved so many children from being abandoned. How can such a person ever abuse and then sell a child as a commodity?"

  "It's definitely a conspiracy from that ungrateful lying niece of his. We all heard from her ex-husband about how she was a drug addict who slept around with several men. The poor guy even told how despite her cheating on him and dumping him after their marriage, he still came back for her all the way from Boston."

  "She's greedy that woman. She wasn't satisfied with the money her adopted mother left her. She wants to grab the Naidu Estate too. And in the process, she chose to defame her own uncle."

  "It's also been confirmed that Mrs. Sia Manthena, formerly, Miss Sampath was a troubled child. She was diagnosed with being delusional, having hallucinations and also to being psychotic."

  "She is definitely a psycho! Have you seen her face in those videos? And also when she confessed that her uncle used to abuse her as a child? She gave me the chills with her blank expression, and eyes devoid of any emotion. That's not how a person behaves if they were a victim."

  "Yes, Mrs.Manthena does portray the symptoms of a psychopath," said a so called noted psychiatrist that has never even met Sia. "Compassion, happiness, anger. She is incapable of experiencing any true human emotions. She can only just mimic those she observed once in a while. And she is also quite skilled at identifying the weakness of her victims, the way it suits her purposes. She knew her uncle loved to save downtrodden children. So she used it to falsely accuse him and his friends of being child abusers."

  Sia was more than just angry. Nobody even for a moment thought through any of the junk that came out of their mouths. There were some half-hearted discussions on the news about how a typical pedophile and their victims behaved. But people refused to listen to anything negative against their favorite leader.

  "Is there some kind of list with behavioral rules that victims need to follow, so people are satisfied that they are 'acting like victims'?" Sia raged when she spoke to Dr. Patel.

  "No," Dr. Patel replied."Everyone copes differently."

  "Apparently, I'm a psychopath. Because I didn't show enough reactions on my face."

  "You aren't the psychopath here, Sia. Your uncle is," stated Dr. Patel. "From what you have told me so far, and from what I've learned about human motivation and experience, he fits the profile perfectly. Despite his lack of conscience and lack of empathy for others, he is quite good at fooling others. And for typical pedophiles, having any kind of conscience would deter them from abusing."

  "There are clear proofs with videos. But no one is willing to doubt his innocence."

  "Sadly, there are many such cases. I'm sure some of his supporters will continue to invite him home and leave their young children alone with him."

  Dr. Patel was right. During the following days, her uncle's supporters grew in size.

  Sia was fed up and felt let down with how things were proceeding. Each day, she withdrew to herself. She longer wanted to speak with Dr. Patel to find any kind of logic or reason towards the things happening around her.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Several weeks had passed since the child trafficking bust. Ajay worked constantly with the legal team, leaving no stone unturned. But each time, they thought they could file charges again, they hit a dead end. He was frustrated. Not just with the way things were proceeding, but also with Sia.

  She stopped showing interest in the investigation. She became a shadow again. Going through the motions, with a vacant look on her face, lost in her own world.

  Maybe having Anika with them would have taken out some of the emptiness inside her, but she insisted that Anika remain with Jo for safety purposes.

  "Sia," Ajay called out to her one night after finishing another long call with the legal team.

  She didn't respond. She continued staring outside the window.

  "Sia, look at me," he demanded.

  And when she turned, she saw the frown on his worried face. "Why are you not talking to me? Tell me what is happening with you," he demanded.

  "I'm fine," she said in a calm, vacant voice.

  "You are not fine. You are holding in everything."

  "I said, I'm fine," she repeated.

  "No. You are not fine. If you were, then you would be speaking to me. And also be involving in some of the decisions I'm making with regards to the legal team."

  She looked away from him and stared outside the window again. "I just don't care anymore Ajay," she said.

  That made him angry. He held her shoulders and swung her to face him. "Don't feed me with bullshit. You care. More than anything. In fact you care so much that it is breaking you inside."

  That made her angry. "I'm not breaking. And instead of leaving me alone, you are the one forcing me to break right now."

  "You have been breaking down for a while, Sia. It started the day your uncle was released from the jail. You are forcing yourself not to feel any anger or hurt at that verdict. And you pushing me away or presenting a barrier between us is proof to you breaking down."

  "Leave me alone. I'm fine," she snapped.

  "No. You are in denial. I can see right through you."

  "Don't push me, Ajay," she warned, pissed that he could see right through her and wouldn't leave her alone.

  "I will push you, until you agree to get back to the living world again."

  She held a stony look on her face.

  "You have been living like a ghost these past few days. Simply existing," he said. "I left you alone initially thinking you needed time. But it has gone long enough."

  "What do you want me to do? I'm right next to you all the time. Every morning and night."

  "Yes, you are next to me. But you are not really there. Do you think I don't know that you don't go to sleep in the nights? You are lost somewhere deep in your mind, hiding from the reality."

  She responded by glaring at him.

  "Talk to me!" he demanded.

  "Is it just talking, or have you been missing something else?" she spit out. "You are just pissed off because I would lie next to you on bed each night, but I wouldn't let you fuck me anymore."

  His eyes flared and pulled her close. "Let go!" she shouted. But he held on.

  "You think this is about my ego?" he asked. "And all because I am not able to have sex?" He was fuming with anger. "If I wanted to, you know damn well I could have had you anytime."

  That made her furious. Because he was right. All he had to do was touch her, and she would be panting for him, begging him to take her, until he wiped away everything from her mind. That was one of the main reasons why she had been staying away from him. She wanted to continue to hurt, and keep everything bottled inside before it destroyed everything around her.

  Pushing his hands away from her, she ripped open the side zipper of her dress, and let it drop. She tore the hooks off her bra and threw it away. And then, she pushed down h
er underwear to stand naked in front of him.

  "Take me now," she taunted. "However you want and how many ever times you want. Maybe that will stop you from badgering me any further."

  His eyes remained on her face, and he looked infuriated. "Stop being in denial. You know damn well, it's not just your body I want. Without you being present, I have no use for your body."

  Her face fell at his words. And she looked away from him, feeling ashamed.

  "I am present," she whispered.

  "No. You are not, Sia," he said with frustration.

  She slowly raised her head to look into his eyes. For the first time in her selfish state of grief, she noticed how exhausted he actually looked. She hadn't even considered what he had been dealing with over the past few weeks.

  "I can't face the reality, Ajay," she confessed softly.

  His hands held her face. "You can. I need you to try, baby. If you keep it all in, you are going to snap."

  She stood quietly, not saying anything for a long time.

  Soon, his hands dropped from her face, and he looked at her for a few seconds before walking away from her without another word.

  She didn't try to stop him.

  She let him go.

  She sat down on the floor, naked and shivering. Leaning against the wall, she bent her head over her raised knees, willing her mind to clear up.

  She thought through what she had to do.

  Outrage and fury with her uncle and his cohorts, fought alongside sadness and longing for her husband and daughter.

  But soon, fury took over.

  She had mourned her childhood the way no other child should ever have to do. She had allowed the retribution to dominate her existence, giving her the will to survive. Without that need for retribution, she would be consumed with fear for her family and also loss of control.

  Right from the beginning, that had been her choice. The choice, she will now take up.

  But before she could begin implementing her plan for retribution once again, there was one more critical thing left to do. The right thing to do. To compensate Ajay for what she had put him through.

  The very thought of it, almost broke her.

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

  "Why?"

  That one little word from Ajay held anguish and anger.

  Ajay stood near the doorway of their bedroom, waiting for an answer.

  "I want a divorce," Sia declared in a quiet voice, not quite meeting his eyes.

  He took long, quick strides and stood right next to her. "I understood that as soon as I received those fucking papers you sent through a lawyer to my office," he growled out. "What I want to know is why!"

  "I'm signing away all the rights to our child. Anika will remain with you and—" she broke off.

  "Me and who?" he demanded.

  "Whoever you decide to marry or be with. I've already opened a trust on our daughter's name and gave you complete access to use it."

  He kept his eyes on her. "You want our daughter to be taken care by me and who?" he demanded again.

  "Does it matter?" Sia asked softly.

  "To you, obviously."

  "No. It doesn't," she lied.

  "I saw the date, Sia. Some of those papers were prepared a month after you recovered from the coma. You already knew you wanted to leave me and our daughter."

  Sia was quiet. "I've always known. Even before our marriage. I just changed the terms and conditions recently. Now, you'll have complete custody of Anika."

  Her words were not a surprise for him. When they got married, he knew she had planned to leave him at sometime. But after spending time together as a married couple, and after what they had been through, he had expected...

  He had expected bloody miracles apparently.

  Ignoring the pain, he continued pressing her for more immediate answers. "Who do you think I should be with?"

  "You already know."

  "Say it! I want to hear it from your mouth."

  She looked at him. This time along with pain, there was regret in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ajay. I can't be someone I'm not."

  "I've never asked you to be one either," he said angrily.

  "I love Anika. But she's better off with someone like Jyothika as a mother. I'm not a good role model for her. And I can never be one."

  Ajay watched his wife in disbelief.

  This wasn't the woman he knew and loved desperately. This was an entirely different woman. The woman he knew was bold, and could make decisions based on her ever present cool. This woman looked heartbroken and insecure while spouting nonsense.

  "According to the will—" he began, pushing everything else from his mind other than fighting for them. "—we are supposed to be married for at least a year after our baby is born for you to claim the Naidu estate," he said.

  "It was never about the money or the inheritance," came the quiet response.

  "I know. But with only six more months remaining to fulfill all the conditions of the will, why do you want to pursue the divorce right now? Why take chances? What if your uncle claims his properties and everything else back?"

  "I don't care anymore. Because, I can't keep yours and Anika's life on hold for the sake of a will. I don't want Anika confused, shuttling between me and someone else. She's already where she belongs—"

  "Don't ever say that!" he snapped, losing his cool. He gripped her arms, pulling her until her eyes met his. "She belongs with us! With you and me. In our house. Or wherever we both are."

  Her eyes fell. "Sign the papers, Ajay," she said softly. "I know this is abrupt, but if you think about it, you'll know I'm right. Anyone can see that. And they will advise you to do the same."

  "I don't give a shit about what others think." His face fell. "Don't do this to us," he begged.

  She didn't reply. Her shoulders hunched down in defeat, as though whatever was happening was beyond her control.

  "I refuse to divorce you," he said in a determined tone.

  "You'll have to, Ajay" she said softly. "Because I can't be with you anymore."

  "Just tell me why? And don't feed me with the some bullshit lies about not being a good mother or wife."

  She didn't say anything.

  He shook her. "Tell me why!" he begged again.

  She looked torn. "Why would you want to be with me in the first place?" she asked. "I manipulated you. I lied."

  "Yes, you did all those. And I hated you for them. I told you that already. And I also told that I love you more than anything in this world."

  "It won't last Ajay. Just let me go. Please. You'll be fine," she whispered.

  "No. I won't be fine. I cannot simply fall out of love with you."

  "You know you are only prolonging the inevitable, just because you are not ready to let me go," she said.

  He was quiet. He knew she was right. She had already made up her mind. And knowing her, nothing will change her decision.

  His hands dropped from her shoulders in defeat.

  "Promise me something, Ajay," she pleaded. Her chin wobbled and her eyes began stinging with unshed tears.

  "I would promise you the entire bloody world if that will make you stay with me," he said.

  She closed her eyes. "Just promise me you'll be happy," she said.

  He didn't answer. He was too furious to do so.

  When she opened her eyes, he continued to watch her angrily.

  Looking at him for a few more seconds, she walked out of the room.

  His past, his present, and his future, walked out of his life, leaving him helpless. He wanted to shout at her, and then drop to his knees, and beg her to stay. He wanted to take her into his arms and let her know that everything would be okay.

  But he knew that their life cannot be magically okay.

  That her quest for revenge wasn't something he could compete against.

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

  Sia moved in with Varun for a couple of days. Until Ajay packed his stuff and moved back to his apartment.
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  A month later, Ajay signed the divorce papers.

  Even though she had more or less blackmailed him into it, she felt the razor sharp agony of a bleeding heart, aching for him and their daughter. She missed them.

  Sometimes, she was tempted to pick up the phone and beg him to take her back.

  If only life had offered her that chance.

  But no. Life was a piece of shit. It gave her a taste of what happiness looked like, only to snatch it away from her, and remind her that she was all alone in the world.

  Chills wracked her clammy body as she lay on the bed, holding Ajay's and Anika's picture in her hands. She was in the empty nursery room that Ajay and she had put together.

  It was not supposed to end this way.

  But this was it. It was the end of her happy life that she could only experience for a brief while.

  Her thoughts were scattered and confused while she ached for her husband and daughter.

  She still craved his love, his touch and his kisses. She wanted to hold her daughter close and promise her that she would make the world a safe place for her.

  But she couldn't do any of those things.

  She was amazed how much a heart could take. She felt broken, devastated, but her heart continued to beat in her chest.

  "Sia," a deep, quiet voice called out to her.

  It was Varun. He was watching her with an impenetrable look.

  "What is it Varun?" she asked, blinking her eyes rapidly to get rid of the unshed tears.

  Bracing her hands on the bed, she pushed herself up to sit.

  "I saw them today. Ajay is getting engaged to Jyothika."

  Her body froze, causing the photo she held in her hands to fall down. Lifting it quickly, she ignored the pain in her chest. Why did that news hurt her more than the lifetime of loneliness that waited for her?

  This is what you wanted for him—to get married to Jyothika. A woman who would make him and Anika happy. A woman who could give them things that you couldn't.