Chapter 23: chapter 23

MADHAVFREAKING HELL!If only I could get my hands on the bastard who tried to pull this stunt with Sruthi. She looks so pale and on the verge of passing out. Her breathing is heavy and the lack of her flinch at my touch says how scared and disturbed she is about the picture. She turns her head to look at the picture again. “Sruthi,” my voice is a loud command that takes her attention away from the picture. “Look at me.”She obeys me but I can see the anxiety taking over her. She is physically present with me but mentally somewhere else. Her eyes are hollow. I shake her shoulders again. For a moment, she comes back to her senses but then she seems to drift off somewhere again.“DAMMIT! SRUTHI, SNAP OUT OF IT,” I yell loudly. She blinks for a moment in confusion like she doesn’t know where she is. Then she tries to turn her head to the side but I cup her jaw and force her to look at me. She flinches at my touch and I am glad for it.“Eyes on me,” I say in a firm tone. She meets my gaze. I hate the look of fear in her eyes. Only this time the fear is not directed at me. “That paper..,” her voice trails away. “The message…”“Shh,” I say placing my finger on her lip. If not for the critical situation, I would have admired how soft her lips are. “That is some bullshit.”She shakes her head and I remove my finger from her soft lips, “No, it isn’t. My parents’ dead bodies were photographed by the police for evidence but no photo of it was released in the press or printed anywhere because that was a gory sight. Whoever sent that message should be connected to the police station.”“Or else, you could get it from the dark web,” I say putting my hands on either side of her shoulders. “Dark web?” she asks with a confusion.I nod my head, “A couple of years ago, there was a data breach in the criminal records department. A lot of case files and their details were leaked on the dark web. Your parents’ case was one of the files breached.”Sruthi wrinkles her forehead in concentration, “That is not a regular newspaper. It was custom-made for me. I think that this gift is from the prep trying to hurt me.”“I think the same,” I say as my thumbs draw smooth circles on her tense shoulder blades. Her body is still shaking in fear. “I don’t want to die, Madhav,” Sruthi confesses in a raw and vulnerable voice. “You are not going to honey,” I promise cupping her jaw gently and making her meet my gaze. “I will find the bastard who is behind this and I will—” I stop short not wanting to talk about what I want to do with the prep once I find him. I am sure Sruthi would find it disgusting to hear me talk about how I would torture the bastard.“I am not as angelic as you think me to be,” Sruthi’s sudden voice pulls me out of my thoughts. “What?”“I was not born hating violence and blood. I was born into a family that is known for bloodlust and violence. You don’t have to treat me like I am some fragile weak woman who cannot bear to hear all those torture treatments that are going through your head.”“I never saw you as some fragile weak woman. I just don’t want to trigger your phobia,” I say.“Seeing actual blood is what triggers it,” she admits. “The part where I hate violence is a side effect of the brutal fight I witnessed between the murderer and my father. I was unprepared for the picture and it triggered a memory that I wasn’t prepared for.”Her eyes flicker to the side and I know what she is about to do. “Don’t even think about looking at the paper again. Keep your eyes on me. ME. Do you understand?” my voice comes out fiercely and she gulps before giving me a stiff nod.“You are not going to die,” I say. “I will take out all the threats that you have. Because one thing you should know about me is that I am very good at eliminating them. I know that this marriage with me won’t give you the happiness you always wanted but I will keep you safe. But for that, I need your cooperation.”“What should I do?” she asks trying to square her shoulders and look fierce. Gosh! I could kiss this woman. She is afraid but wants to fight back. I can see the determination in her eyes.“For starters, I want you to learn self-defence,” I say.“Self-defence is not going to work out if snipers are involved,” she says.“No, it is not. But your brother has tightened the security in the capital to make sure that there is no other sniper attack. So, we will start with self-defence. I want you to be able to kick some ass when danger approaches you.”“I thought you would keep me safe,” she argues. “I would.”“Then why should I learn self-defence?” she asks in a nervous tone. I have no idea why she is so against learning self-defence. Vikram always complained about how Sruthi never took her safety seriously and skipped all her martial arts classes.“As much as I would love to spend each moment of my life with you,” I give her an honest answer. “But, that is not what is going to happen in real life. There will be times when you will be alone and the danger will come at you. I don’t want you to stand frozen like a princess waiting for a knight in shining armour. I want you to take charge of the situation and fight back.”She looks down at her lap, “Can I really do that? Fights make me nervous. I am not cut out for it.”“No one is cut out for anything, Sruthi,” I say tipping her chin up to look up at me. “It is practice that makes them cut out for it. You can do anything if you set your heart on it.”“That  is the problem. I can’t set my heart on learning how to fight.”I shake my head at her, “You are not learning to fight. You are learning to defend yourself. There is a big difference there. I am sorry, I wish things were different. But you have no choice now. I don’t want to take any risks. If you want to stay alive, you must learn how to defend yourself.”❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥