'The evil is above all things, seductive'
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Hell is just a Sauna
Vodka poured out from the wine decanter into a wine glass, three delicate glasses arranged in a wooden tray on a yacht in the bright and early sun, and splashing waters of Laguna Beach, California.
One man from the three around the table took a sip and moaned. "Fine drinks, it has been a while, cousin,"
"Only if you visit us more often here Daniel," Shahzain answered instead. Maaz frowned lightly before commenting.
"Who would take care of business in Lahore, if Daniel spends all the time with us here,"
Daniel sniffed putting the wine glass on the table. "Obviously, business is first priority," Danial agreed with Maaz.
"When you both bastards start vibing together, it screams you are cousins," Shahzain laughed. Maaz hinted a smile, while Daniel gave a full teeth smile, like a tiger before having his meal. Danial was Khawar's younger brother , Maaz found Khawar's brother Danial when he investigated him due to Khawar's attack on Ayat and his fathers murder.
His father being mostly out of the picture he didn't have much of a relation with his paternal cousins, but Danial wasn't raised with his brother nor like him, on the contrary both brothers had spent lives in different worlds, Danial and Khawar's father Javed Chaudhry had always preferred his eldest Khawar over Danial making him more privileged than Danial. The brother's mother died when the were only young. Javed Chaudhry gave off Danial to his maternal aunt, who lived in Karachi and kept Khawar with him in Lahore.
Khawar was spoilt and rich, as their family legacy, Maaz thought he was a normal goon, with time to waste, turned out he had a good grip on Lahore and its surrounding territories. Khawar was a mob boss. After he had targeted Ayat, he became his prime suspect for his father's murder as well, but before that, he was on his hit list for even trying to hurt his bird. He'll skin him on sight when he finds him.
He did found Khawar, but to avenge him was beyond him for now, Khawar's security and authority was thick all over and he couldn't penetrate his area with anything, so he had to grow, he worked in silence and soon Khawar's authority deteriorated after Maaz's terror grew and his influence around the place became more auspicious.
Khawar also got the point that Maaz was no joke anymore, he had more area, more men and more authorities and politicians in his bloody pockets, even his little brother was wrapped around Maaz's pinky. He didn't know his uncle's son had so much potential, potential to be more pathetic than he was. Although Farooq Chaudhry was a side kick, his son was the king of the crime world. Khawar had motives unknown to Maaz, that included him being dead, but first he'd take away all kinds of happiness in his life, for the crime of taking all his charge away from the city, and sitting on Khawar's throne.
Each one of Lahore's mob bosses succumbed under the wrath and power of Maaz making him the richest and most unapproachable, and untouchable person alive. Even in US he sure lived in a respectable façade, but in truth he had the underworld in his grips.
Maaz was well versed in the tactics of the underworld, he knew that Khawar hiding could be him planning something big, and that could include Ayat, and he knew from last time just how much of a pain in the ass that man could be, so to avoid any more risks, he had appointed Danial the leader of the Lahore Mob, he trusted him like his brothers.
"Only if my elder brother Khawar wasn't that big of a dick head, I would have spent half my time here with you both, but obviously our precious bhabhi can't be left unattended, which I am not complaining, Khawar could be dead for all we know, and we got only dead ends investigating your father's murder , I think it's time you go back to her and for me to move to US, I can't bear one more taste of the horrific alcohol back in Lahore,"
Maaz stood from the chair he'd been lounging on and leaned over the grill that'd separated them from the water. "Not right now, she'd been safer away from me, I will not go back until I have found that bastard, and made him pay, and until I have found my father's murderer, I can't put her in danger again,"
They knew how stubborn he was, and nothing could convince him to go back to her, until he wanted it himself, until then they'd have to listen to him.
"We've got the intruders," Maaz casually stated. Shahzain knew what this meant, a day with him while he endlessly tortured someone, a night spent covered in blood, sweat and agony.
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The night had settled completely, dark and thick. It was nights like these, shadowed and haunting, where he remembered the light in his life, he walked out of the car and walked to the hell he called home, if he was a normal human being he would have been bummed because she now saw him as a murderer and the little affection she might have had was no more, trivial misunderstandings like these didn't matter for him, for all he cared, she could hate him severely, and he'd simmer in that hate, gladly knowing that it radiated from her body to his, that too was intimacy for him. There was nothing his little dove, could feel or do, that would drive her away from him, she was his to have, whether she liked it or not. On the right time.
When they got the call about the intruders, they didn't immediately go to them, it wasn't Maaz's style, he liked the anticipation his victims had of the kinds of horrors he was about to inflict on them, he made them wait, until they agonized in the thought of torture alone and what the future held for them, that was their first course of punishment.
The room was dead silent, the ticking of the clock was clear and so were the muffled breaths of the drug dealers who trespassed Maaz's territory for selling drugs in his area. Maaz loathed people coming near his things. At first it was usually a good old beating for such a crime, but now it had turned into a nightmare for those who wronged him, it made him feel like he was making progress, becoming ruthless, so that he'd become untouchable, so when he brings her in his life, she'd be untouchable, and no would dare pose a threat to him, he couldn't let history repeat itself.
He had kept the trespassers standing in his office, for half an hour until he ate dinner, when he was finally finished, he neared them. His slow pace, a torture in itself. One of the intruders, fell to his feet, begging for mercy. "Please, we would never come to your area, if we'd known we wouldn't have come, please forgive us!"
"You should have thought before angering boss," Hammad, Maaz's consigliere said in a rough tone. He was probably in his forties, with a clean shaved face and neatly fixed hair, a gun kept on his side all the times. To his legal field of work he was his personal assistant, but with time he had earned his trust and been promoted, which being Maaz had shifted him to his underworld life, people dove for such jobs, they paid much better than legal jobs ever could. Human's had little of morals when it came to money.
He kept everything in check. When you work in such a risky profession, you need to be up to date about everything that goes around surrounding and the more deeper you involve the more enemies you make, and the more you need to be tough and careful and that is what Hammad made sure that nothing went unnoticed by Maaz, even a little fly was notified. Hammad was one of the reason Maaz's life hadn't turned into pure chaos.
"Forgive us please!" Another muffled voice came from underneath the sacks Maaz had Hammad cover their faces with.
"Ceiling," He slithered near them, his strong presence indicating what was to come next. He was angry like any other day. This was his release.
"Rod," He ordered next.
Hammad immediately directed some men to hang the later to the ceilings and pass a iron rod to Maaz.
"You here for the fun? I guess I am out, I will puke if I watch him do this while I eat," Shahzain said taking away his burger. It wasn't his fault, crime wasn't his field of expertise, it was politics, and he was doing his part for Maaz, but he was the only one who noticed what the pursuit of power was doing to Maaz.
"Don't act like a lost teenager, Shazzy, this is the fun part of the day," Danial sat leg on leg completely encouraging Maaz who was now unbuttoning his shirt. He flexed his strong frame as he looked deathly towards the begging bodies. A smirk covered his face, his eyes were red. He gave a blow to the first one as he screamed in pain. He had their sacks removed, so that they could see their tormentor up-close, so they could see, how merciless he was.
The man swung with each blow his eyes barely open and a thick purple gradient. Danial smirked from behind the smoke the cigarette created, Shahzain was forced to believe that he was the only sane one amongst them all. He got up, this was too much for someone who just intruded his area.
"Stay back," Maaz growled, stopping Shahzain, Maaz was turning worse and worse by the day, and he didn't even realize.
He mustn't have known what he meant when he told her. 'You should be frightened of what consumes me when you aren't around' This is exactly what consumed him greed for power and control, and he'd stop at no cost until he had it all.
After the men were at lost of function, unable to speak, and the rings of their pleading had subsided, all the interest had vanished from Maaz. He wiped his hands with a towel and put his shirt back on, but it didn't stop there, when he went to his room, he took out his belt and welted himself on his back, blood trickled down his back, he didn't inflict harm on himself to build endurance this time, he did it to remind himself of his weaknesses, of being unable to find Khawar and his father's murderer, and when those scars pained, it reminded him to work harder, and when he couldn't take any more, he'd be reminded that he is the sole reason why he can't see his sanctuary, his little dove everyday, and for that he needed to suffer. Making himself and others go through hell was an art he had mastered because for him Hell was just a Sauna.
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Greetings Fellas
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