'He was the black dahlia'
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Sinners playing as Saints
Warning: *Semi Mature*
"Aren't we perfect," A girl seductively leaned over Maaz. She gave small pecks on his neck. Maaz seemed clearly drunk and wasted spread on the sofa under a prostitute. He pushed her away with one hand and clasped his hand around the round glass table, and took the bottle of alcohol and attached the vent on his lips gulping three times before he put it down, the liquid splashed on the glass table.
His tone was curt, "Just fucking do your job,"
Jess's face tensed under his indifferent expressions. "You always ruin the mood,"
"Then leave, I am done with you anyways," Maaz pushed her way, but she kept attached to him, adamant. She sat back down on his side brushing her hand on his thigh. She pulled his collar and attached her lips to his.
"Ayat,"
Her eyes opened wide listening to the familiar name for the nth time, she had listened to it every time they were making out.
"Come one Maaz, it's not funny anymore," She left his lips, irritated. It felt like hammers in his already headachy head. He raked a hand through his hair and listened to her banter. "Who the hell is that bitch already?"
Maaz stood up and clutched her hair and pulled them back. "If I hear you call her bitch one more time, I will kill you and throw you somewhere no one will be able to find you, do you get it?"
Fear encompassed the girl, seeing raw rage grasp Maaz. "I am sorry, I am sorry. I won't say anything,"
Maaz left her hair, she calmed her breathing and clung to him again.
She brushed a hand on his chest and unbuttoned his shirt. A door knock interrupted their make out sesh. Shahzain and Danial entered with bags filled with breakfast in their hands. Looking fresh and prim unlike Maaz himself. That's when he realized it was morning already, in his fuzzy brain, morning, noon and night looked the same.
"Oh we're extremely sorry," Danial smirked and tried to go out. Shahzain held his arm to stay back.
"Enough Maaz, it is time for a sober breakfast and no women," Shahzain directed coming inside. They had been seeing such scenarios for a long time, since Maaz didn't really care about locking rooms. Shahzain was starting to act like Maaz's mom, trying to discipline him, he was getting out of hands, it was pathetic.
"See you tonight darling," She bit her lip, winking on her way out.
"We will see about that," Maaz was straightforward in his reply. He didn't want her coming to his room in slutty dresses when he wasn't in mood. Jess still blew him a kiss and sauntered off.
"You stole the fun from Maaz," Danial complained sitting down on the sofa where a passionate make out was going on only a few minutes ago, indifferent to the fact.
"Don't worry, she would be free tomorrow night, I will book her for you," Shahzain offered.
"That girl isn't my type," Danial lounged lazily, putting the straw in his smoothie.
Shahzain changed the topic. "Don't you think Maaz is crossing limits, I haven't seen him drinking so much in a long time, if this keeps going we will be locked up in a jail cell, his cleverness is what is keeping our business running and the underworld on its feet, and him drinking all day long like this makes him close to useless, he will poison himself,"
"Can't kill a man for having fun," Danial joked.
"I'll gut you, brother," Shahzain scowled, this wasn't to be taken lightly, his behavior was turning riskier day by day, they knew he was self sabotaging because he had failed at uncovering Khawar and his father's murderer and it needed to stop.
"I was joking," Danial confessed. "What's the plan?"
"Nothing, just get him back to his girl, and he'll be a well behaved boy again," Shahzain spoke, he had thought it over, now he only had to put the plan in motion. They discussed what they had to do. Shahzain took his own phone out of his pocket and dialed a number and put it on his ear,
"I know you think I am a sewer rat but listen to me once, you won't be disappointed," Shahzain spoke. Danial smirked knowing exactly well who it was, Shahzain sure did like to blabber about her when he was wasted, Haya this, Haya that. Her eyes, her voice, her personality, he just gushed about her over and over, and when sober acted like he hated her guts.
Danial called someone to put his end of the plan to motion. For all of this to happen, Maaz did take awfully long showers. The door to washroom unlocked and Maaz came out wiping his hair with the towel. He looked at both of them on the phone. His eyes scrutinizing two grown men, who dropped their phones in mild panic and struck their head while picking it up.
"Idiots," Maaz commented. Danial got up. "Tu agaya?" (You came?)
"Nahi ma abhi tak washroom ma hun, soch rha tha ke apna bistar bhi udhar he dalwa loon," He attempted sarcasm. (No I am still in the washroom, was thinking to put my bed there as well)
"Koi ghalat kaam tou nahi kar rhe the na,"(You weren't doing something wrong right?) Maaz gulped down his black coffee, it burned his throat a little and the bitterness penetrated needles in his tongue but he had gotten used to it and it would be like taking up a fight with him if someone offers medicine to him. Coffee did the trick for him. Since he was both an extensive drinker and a chain smoker. He might die before most of them, he didn't care.
"Nahi, chote bachay thori ha," Shahzain laughed nervously. (We aren't kids now)
"Ok," Maaz sat down with them dialing a number himself. "Hammad meeting at 12, new investors are coming right?"
"Yes sir," Hammad answered. Mornings were for legal deeds, Shahzain smiled, it was good that he cared about his business and the well being of his empire, but he was going to be better, while he didn't have any idea what he'd be struck with.
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Ayat had been at the far end of the ward from where Haya had been sneakily talking to Shahzain on the phone.
"It has been five days, and I still can't get to your thick head," Shahzain spoke from the other side. Haya physically rolled her eyes, wanting to get into the phone and punch his stupid ass head.
"It's not my fault, you all aren't entirely trustworthy, your friend murdered someone in front of my poor friend, and you literally covered it all up, you sewer rat," Haya spat, in her free style. Shahzain gulped down the need to spring an insult her side, he was losing patience with the innovative nicknames she'd been giving him for the past four days.
"For the hundredth time, and for the fifth day in a row, he didn't murder him, he was an foe's man who killed himself because he didn't want to give out information, you know what? Talking to you I was wasting my time, I would have gotten to your sweet friend Mirha, she looks like she's easily convinced," Shahzain spoke, it riled her up, fire sizzling in the nape of her neck, surrounding her head.
"Hey, hey, you have a better chance at convincing me, I am a hopeless romantic, so I might be convinced that whatever cheap shot things Maaz had been doing to Ayat is classified love, Mirha will never be convinced of that, she is more the practical type," Haya described impatiently. Although Shahzain had been having the worst possible day of the week and an even horrendous mornings, her agitation put a smile on his face.
"Maaz will come back to Ayat, and he will own her, have no doubts about that, because for your friend to escape that fate is highly unlikely, if you must have noticed, all I am trying to do is escalate it, so that she ends up with a Maaz who still has fragments of brain left, and he hasn't gone bat shit crazy, because no matter the questionable choice of Ayat Bhabhi, she is Maaz's stalk to sanity, so if you can help me good, because if you don't I have 99 ways I can do it myself, and there is a hundred percent chance your dear friend will not like it,"
"Ugh. Ok. Just tell me what I have to do," Haya finally gave in, he had a good point, and for the sake of her friend she had to believe that Maaz didn't murder that man, or maybe they did chose a likely candidate, because she was of all things gullible.
Haya cut the call putting her phone back in her white coat, a senior doctor walked in with a scowl all so familiar to Haya, she was in for a scolding.
"Dr. Haya, using phone during work premises again," The senior women started, staring her down, Haya felt scrutinized under her eyes. Ayat caught the scene from where she was tending to a patient, and as always jumped head first to help her friend.
"Dr. Naila I need your help with this please," She asked for the doctor who's attention was now on Ayat, who acted as if a simple procedure was confusing her. The mission was accomplished, the senior doctor bailed on Haya and went to help Ayat, after the situation was successfully dissolved, Ayat approached Haya with knowing eyes.
"What were you doing on your phone, knowing Dr. Naila was on rounds?" She spoke.
"Mirha. It was Mirha, she'd been bugging me for days for this dress I have she wants to take it on her trip to US," Haya immediately conjured an excuse, leaving Ayat kind of satisfied with the answer, but she couldn't glide past why Haya looked like she had committed a felony.
Mirha and Ali were going on a doctor's conference from their department, cardiology, all the way to US, and Haya had the perfect plan concocting in her brain.
"Ayat why don't we go to my parent's farmhouse, this weekend, my brothers just got it renovated last week, I am so excited to check it out, plus we have been working so much from the past days, and we deserve a break," Haya suggested, putting forth the offer, the first step in their plan, get Ayat away from her own house.
"Ok. Let me ask mum and dad first, I will let you know," Ayat spoke casually. Haya grinned, knowing well enough they trusted Haya and her family enough that they wouldn't mind her going with Haya for the weekend.
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Maaz's office was painted grey, and it had only one floor-to-ceiling window, which faced the main road. On the grey desk sat a laptop, a notebook lying open, and a stack of papers sitting under a turtle-shaped paperweight.
In a corner, the air conditioner was blasting at medium, and there was a swivel chair in the middle of the office. A bookshelf, lined with books was in a corner, with yet another stack of papers under a paperweight that was shaped to look like a tuft of grass. A few pens were lying on the papers, but some had fallen onto the top of the bookshelf.
He was sitting in his spacious office in a tuxedo looking graceful and dominant. People remembered his office by only one feature: where the tension became so thick and pervasive that it was hard to look more than a few centimeters in one direction.
He had only dismissed the foreign investors from the office, and crushed his cigar in the ash tray, his eyes strained and body aching, he closed his eyes.
"Come in,"
Hammad peaked inside before he entered with a box and a stack of papers in his hand.
"Did you bring the files?" Maaz's eyes still closed.
"No, sir they are still under preparation, actually someone sent a parcel to you," He opened his eyes, which now scanned the box in Hammad's hand.
"Sit down," He motioned, the man sat down in front of him. Hammad held a khaki paper, with a gift bow on top, he put it on the table in front of Maaz.
"Would I call someone else to open it?" Maaz proposed arrogantly.
"No sir," Hammad tore away the packing, a small box was kept, he opened the box, dried blood sat atop the silver emerald bracelet. His heart skipped a beat recognizing the piece of jewelry, the blood being the cherry on top, he had seen enough blood in his life time to recognize it to be real, this delicate piece had always sat on her dainty wrist, she never took it off.
His lips curled in anger and his fists closed up. "Who sent it?"
"I am not sure, boss, but there is a note," Hammad opened the khaki envelope and gave it to Maaz, who's eyes now carefully read what was written inside.
'If you want her well and alive come to Pakistan, asap, you bastard, regards Khawar,'
"That motherfucker," He kicked the chair he'd been sitting on away from him, and punched a crack on the glass table in front of him, raking a hand in his hair roughly, this is exactly why he'd been working day and night, so that he won't feel the way he was right now, sweating, sizzling anger, fear of losing control, fear of losing her, he could not. He couldn't. "Where are those idiots?"
"Who sir?" Hammad asked, now standing waiting for any command Maaz gave, he had gotten used to his anger, his fury, his rage, there were so many ways to describe it, but the best was that whatever he did feel it wasn't just rage, it was blinding rage, and when mixed with fear it became so deadly, even Maaz was new to it.
"Shahzain and Danial," He elaborated, already losing his patience.
"The idiots___I mean sir's are down in the conference room having lunch," Hammad stepped away as Maaz stormed out of the room with the bloody bracelet in his hands, clutching it hard, and for the first time in years praying that some power beyond him protected her.
"Do you both have any idea what has happened?" Maaz demanded as he shut the door to the conference room. Shahzain took down the last pizza slice as Danial took a long and fulfilling sip of his cold drink before he left the food, wiping the crusts from their mouths. They had to eat before Maaz put a eating curfew for both of them. His anger was sizzling. An animosity like acid-burning, slicing and potent.
"I told you to stay back in Lahore!" He shouted addressing Danial, who sat cross legged on his chair, groaning inwardly for the break in his food, he didn't like when people interrupted his lunches and dinners, Maaz was his boss, but if it was someone else, there were so many ways he could make them suffer.
"What happened?" Danial asked. His innocent façade was a killer in itself.
"That Khawar sent these," Maaz proclaimed in front of the men.
He threw the crumpled piece on the table. Shahzain took the note, his forehead forming in fine lines. "What? They even called you a bastard,"
Danial was about to give away by laughing but he coughed to control. Danial had written the note himself, and he knew who would actually rile him up, mentioning Khawar, Shahzain gave him a eye salute, this is why Danial wrote it, he was so good at making people angry.
"If only you weren't here downing tequilas she would have been safe there, what the fuck are your men doing in Lahore, hosting orgies?" Maaz spoke. Danial's eyes lightened in amuse, if Maaz would have been in his right mind he would have clearly noticed this was all a set up for him to go back to Pakistan.
"That's actually not such a bad idea," Danial spoke, Shahzain glared for him to keep in his douche self and act like Ayat was actually kidnapped, but there was so much you could do to keep Danial from fucking a plan.
"What the fuck? Are you bloody wasted?" Maaz shouted, clutching her bracelet until it sliced his skin, but who was counting those scars.
"Ignore him, he's had a lot to drink this morning," Shahzain said deflecting Danial's idiotic tendencies. Hammad again knocked the door soon after entering with two people, Ali accompanied Mirha, who was crying like she was in a daily soap, after all Haya was her mentor, at one point Ali was actually concerned when she suggested putting chili in her eyes for it to be more believable, what can you do, Mirha was dedicated.
"You are such a good actor," Ali mumbled under his breath, as he patted her back.
"Maaz Bhai," Mirha wiped the tears from her cheek, her nose turning red from the amount of times she had rubbed it, and from the equal amounts of times she had put blush on it. "You need to help her,"
"One day your friend is telling him that he's a murderer and now you are begging for his help, go tell her to solve it herself," Danial spoke, once again earning a glare from Shahzain, Mirha and Ali, who the hell was this man? Weren't they all on the same damn team? Mirha thought. Shahzain was now convinced Danial had day drunk again.
"Shut the fuck up," Maaz spoke to Danial, who smiled mindlessly, he was completely sober, he just was a little coiled up in the head, plus, he was having entirely too much fun with the beautiful girl who looked like she could kill him any second, a good actress indeed, but not enough to keep in her agitation for him, oh and he was loving the attention she gave him.
"Because you are also a gunda, aur gunday he gundon ko pakar sakte hain," Ali blabbered mindlessly. (You are also a goon, and goons can catch other goon)
Shahzain glared at Ali, indicating he was going too far now.
"Oh my god what will she do, I heard they so awfully held her wrist when they put her in the van and choked her throat to the point she was about to pass out," Mirha pleaded. "And the worst part is her family doesn't even know,"
"Where the hell did this happen?" Maaz inquired.
"She was with Haya returning home," Ali replied. Maaz paced back and forth. Different thoughts raced in his mind, her jaw clenched with fear, her eyes in horror, and she being so helpless, her wrists bruised, he thought of a thousand ways he was going to make Khawar suffer.
Shahzain and Danial were on the verge of laughing out loud. Shahzain stuffed the pizza in his mouth to keep him from laughing.
"We are going to Lahore, tell those imbecile men of yours I am fucking coming and they will know what it means when you leave my girl unprotected," Maaz slammed the door to the conference room in anger leaving the lying bunch behind, with Hammad following Maaz out of the room like a dog.
A triumph smile covered their faces back in the conference room. Now it was time for Haya to do her part right.
...
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*That was kind of a bribe*
Anyways.
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