Shackles of Desire - Chapter 36

Annie clenched her hands into fists hearing him. She was so angry that forming words had become too strenuous.

Breathing hard, she gritted her teeth and said, “When I saw you saving her, for a moment I thought maybe you still have something good inside you. But I was wrong, coz you are a maniac. You are a freak. You can give nothing other than pain.”

“Because that’s the only thing he is capable of.”

Rudra fumed with rage and was about to reprimand whoever had said that when he saw Annie rushing towards someone.

“Namish!”

“How is she?” the man asked concern highlighting his tone.

“I don’t know. They have taken her inside. Where are auntie and uncle?”

“They are on their way. Do they know about Rajneesh?”

Nodding, the man looked at Rudra who was still standing with his back at him enraged.

“I believe Annie told you to leave.”

Rudra turned and flicked his gaze at the man whose younger version had been a friend a long time ago.

Namish Solanki!

Now the name reminded him nothing but all that he had gone through.

Ignoring, he started to walk past them when Annie suddenly stepped in his way. Gritting his teeth, he looked at her and then shifted his gaze ahead.

“You are not needed here. Now you can leave.”

“I’ll leave when I have to. And for your information Ms Mohan if it wasn’t for me, your friend would be still in that icebox.”

“She didn’t need your help. Leave!”

“Ms Mohan, this happens to be my hospital so as I said I’ll leave when I want.”

Hearing him Annie lost it.

“Then we are taking her out of here.”

Rudra’s entire being fired up the moment he saw her striding towards the casualty ward. Controlling the rising anger, he closed the space between them and grabbed her arm.

“And where will you take her?” he asked whirling her around with force.

“Anywhere but here.”

“This is the only place she can be right now. I am the only one who can protect her. If you try and take her away from here, then I’ll stop you from entering this hospital and I bloody well have the right to do so.”

“You can’t stop me,” Annie replied standing up to him.

“I will Ms Mohan even if it meant throwing you out of this place.”

Annie’s sanity level burned with his words.

How dare he?

Looking up at him, she stepped a little closer.

“This is the reason you have lost everything because you are nothing but an autocratic and filthy bastard.”

“Annie!” Namish’s whispered warning her but it fell onto deaf ears.

“This is the reason you are alone.”

“Annie!” Namish again warned.

But Annie was digging deeper than what she had dug till now.

“This is the reason why your parents and sister left you.”

Just as the words landed on his ears, the demons inside Rudra’s head screamed with unbearable and aching anger.

“MS MOHAN………That’s enough!” Viman’s voice shot through the corridor as he rushed towards the group.

But Viman’s warning did not deter her. She stared back with hostility at Rudra’s as his demeanour changed from anger to demonic rage. Perspiration trickled down his temples as his jaw tightened.

“This is—”

“SHUT UP!”

Rudra breathed hard and closed his eyes trying to shove the monster inside him back into its cage. However, the images inside his brain had already started to take shape in front of his eyes and his control was quickly slipping.

“Rudra!” Viman whispered placing his hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“RAM!” Rudra called out as the tell-tale pain of his memories shot through his brain.

“MANNA!”

Both rushed to him and with one look both understood what was happening.

“Get me out of here,” Rudra commanded as he turned and briskly strode away.

The car started just as he managed to stumble inside.

“Genus NOW!” Rudra commanded hoarsely.

By the time they reached Genus, the thread of sanity was already into dying shreds. Breathing hard, he scrambled out of the car and rushed towards the lift followed by Ram and Manna.

“Hukum!” Manna called out to him the minute the lift doors closed.

But Rudra couldn’t answer him. All his energy was concentrated on controlling the rising storm in him.

Ram tried to steady him a little but he just jerked it off.

“Move!” Ram ordered the guards standing in the corridor as they exited the lift.

Rudra’s control disintegrated just as the door opened at his penthouse. He rushed inside his bedroom and collapsed on the bed.

The images were coming real fast now and there was nothing that he could do to control them. His demons broke the chains of restraint as the images formed shapes and figures and started to play everything that had happened like a movie.

Holding onto his trickling sanity, he flicked off his coat and threw it away.

“The shots!” he commanded, his voice trembling with effort.

As Manna got the shots, Rudra caught the two sides of his shirt and pulled them apart, ripping the buttons from their holds. He tore half the shirt in frenzy and took the shot from Manna. Positioning it on the right vein, he pushed the lever and waited for the liquid to get mixed with the liquid flowing in his veins. Just as he punched the second shot, his body slumped.

Ram was there to catch his falling body and as the pre-filled syringe fell from Rudra’s hand, he gestured to his brother, who took the other side.

Both straightened Rudra’s body on the bed and watched as the memories took hold of him.

Shivers and tremors rippled through Rudra as his brain replayed each and every detail of that night one by one, again and again.

******************

Almost an hour had passed since Ishani had been brought to the hospital but there was still no news of her health. Annie paced the corridor impatiently as ill-thoughts bombarded her mind.

Amar took off his mask and sighed heavily and after giving further instructions to his team, he slipped through the back door of the casualty ward to the attached washroom. As he washed his hands and took off his OT uniform, slowly his facial expression changed from nonchalant one to one of concern and worry.

Her condition wasn’t grave, it was critical.

And it was turning dangerously critical every passing minute.

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