Chapter 48: chapter 48

MADHAV“You have exactly five minutes to speak with him,” the older policeman says looking along the corridor for anyone. I am at the police station that is near to my house. Vishnu is detained in the basement cell. Surveillance cameras monitor everything that is happening down here. The other policeman who met me in the hospital has gone to the control room to erase the records of the next five minutes.“I am will out as soon as I an answer from him,” I reply opening the door to the room Vishnu is kept in. The policeman mutters something like, ‘Good Luck with that.’The enquiry room is sparse with no furniture except for a table and a couple of chairs. One of the chairs is occupied by the man who has my blood boiling in my veins. Fury and anger spread through me as I look at the face of the man who nearly killed my wife. He looks uninjured. Not even a single scratch on his body. I want to take my sweet time in killing him. I want to give him back the torture he did to my wife. But, before all that, I need to know the motive. “I suppose you are here to ask me why I want to kill your wife?” Vishnu says in a way of greeting. The use of the present tense does not escape my attention.I grit my teeth, “Since you already know my question, why don’t you answer it?”Vishnu grins, “It is for revenge. Your best friend Vikram killed my brother. I just want him to experience the same kind of pain I went through. The grief of losing your sibling.”“Who is your brother?” I ask thinking of all the men who died by my hands.“Gowtham also known as the Shadowcaster.”“Isn’t he a drug lord?” I ask raising my eyebrow. “If I remember correctly, he tried to smuggle drugs into the country.”“Yes, he did. Poverty at a young age is what pushed him to turn to the drug-selling business. He was young and wanted to take good care of me and the money he got through the drug selling was too much that made him do it again. In the beginning, I had no idea what he was doing but once I discovered that he was getting money through illegal means, I made him see that he was on the wrong side. It took me months to make him see reason. But, in the end, he realized how big of a mistake it was and he was on the path of redemption. He promised me to right the wrongs he committed but the next day, he was found dead. He was trying to become a good man but Vikram sent his assassin to kill him.“Do you know the pain when your loved one is murdered and you are helpless to do anything? I decided that day to inflict the same pain on Vikram. I used all the old connections my brother had in the underworld and trained myself in fighting. I got close to Vikram and had my sweet revenge. It was satisfactory to stab—”I punch the man in front of me. Yes, what Vishnu said was indeed an emotional backstory. But, there is a major loophole in it. Gowtham had no younger brothers or brothers for the record. I was the assassin that took Gowtham’s life and I sure as hell did research on him before going in for the kill. I remember the details of the case because it was the very first assignment I got. It followed and tracked every moment of Gowtham for nearly a year and a half before things got too ugly. Gowtham sure as hell wasn’t on the path to redemption. He was on the way to destruction. I still remember the mad and frenzy look in his eyes when he tried to inject him with his drugs. His pale and sickly face still haunts my dream.Vishnu’s jaw hangs open in shock, “Cut the crap, bastard. Don’t try these emotional and teary stories with me. I am not going to fall for it. I need the real motive and not some brother’s love bullshit when Gowtham had no blood relative alive.”Vishnu’s face contorts in pain, “It is not bullshit. You don’t understand the pain of losing someone.”I pull him up by his collar and stare straight into his eyes, “Do you think it is easy for me to see my wife all injured and fighting for her life in the hospital? Everyone in this world has lost someone. Losing someone never gives you the right to take someone else’s life. Time is running out. Just answer me. Tell me the name of the person who sent you.”He looks genuinely confused, “No one sent me. I am doing this on my own. I was the one who put that strange gift in the wedding hall. I sent that courier with the warning and every other thing.”“Utter bullshit,” I say punching him in the stomach. He doubles over with a cough and looks at me in confusion. “Ouch, that hurts. I understand your pain of having your wife in the hospital. I am sorry that your marriage had to end like this but I had no choice. I made a promise to my brother when he was dying and I am just fulfilling it.”“Not that brother sentiment again,” I cut him off. “Gowtham never had a brother.”Vishnu shakes his head, “Yes, he did and that is me. He hid his connection to me from the world to safeguard me from the evils of the world.”“Stop with that bullshit or else I am going to strangle you to death,” the threat escapes me before I could even think about it.A strange emotion passes in Vishnu’s eyes and his eyes glass over with unshed tears. Before I could, ask him what is wrong, the door opens and the policeman looks at me. I check my watch. Damn it! The five minutes is already over but I still have no answers. I only have more questions now.❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥