Misc. Erotica After the Ashes (Completed)

[krish_999]

Chapter - Fifteen

As the muscular man pointed his gun straight at Anjali's head, the bearded man suddenly stepped in and grabbed her, pulling her backwards. He held her with his arms around her shoulders and locked her firmly in place.

"Wait a minute," Anjali heard his voice just behind her right ear.
Anjali felt a brief sense of relief as she saw the muscular man lower the pistol and slide it behind his back, under his shirt. But that relief lasted only a second. The bearded man’s grip tightened around her, his breath close to her ear, his presence suffocating.

She still thought Madhav had sent them, and that all of it was due to some kind of miscommunication. She felt she needed to tell them.
“I’m… I’m Madhav’s girl,” she said in a shaky voice.
The muscular man looked at her as if she had said something he didn't expect. He then looked at the bearded man, confused.
“What is she talking about?”
The bearded man didn’t reply immediately. Anjali turned her head to look at him. Their eyes locked for a second. Anjali hated the fact that his hands were around her, pressing the back of her body against his. His hands were unusually strong, and it annoyed her.
“She’s not making sense,” the muscular man muttered, then looked around. Anjali, too, looked around for the first time since coming out of the shock of the accident. There was nothing but trees and bushes around them. The road from which their car had dropped wasn't even in distant sight. She couldn't even guess which side it would be. In just one glance, she understood that no one would notice them unless someone had already spotted the accident and their car flying into this spot.
“What are you doing?” the muscular man asked, turning Anjali's attention back to him. He was gesturing at the way the bearded man was holding her.
“I don’t want to kill her,” the bearded man said quietly.
“We don’t have that choice now," the muscular man’s expression hardened, “since we got involved in it like this.”
"Because you said you wanted to ensure he's dead," the bearded man replied.
"That's because he was driving a high-end car. There was a chance he could walk out of that crash."

Anjali couldn't control her anger and confusion. "Who are you, for fuck's sake?" she asked, her voice louder this time. But the muscular man didn't care to react to her. His eyes remained on his partner. "She has seen us, and we don't have a choice."
Then he looked at Anjali. "If we had known he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, we wouldn't have had to meet. You just got unlucky, girl." His hand instinctively brushed the back of his shirt, where the gun was hidden.
"No, that bastard got lucky," the bearded man said. "I wanted him to know about us before he died."
The muscular man grinned at him.
The bearded man continued tightening his grip around Anjali and held her closer to him. "This isn't enough. I wanted something else. Our revenge will be complete only when his soul watches what we do to his girl."
Anjali’s body went still for a moment as the meaning of his words sank in. The fear that followed was immediate and sharp, spreading through her chest before she could even react.

Anjali was now convinced that these men weren't working on Madhav's instructions. There was something else going on. She was caught in a game she didn't even know existed.

She tried to fight back, trying to break free from the strong hands of the bearded man. She tried to push away his arm and twist herself free, but his hold only tightened in response. He adjusted his stance to control her movement more easily, his grip becoming more deliberate, more assured, as though he had done this before.
“Let me go!” she said, her voice shaking but forceful.
Her resistance did not weaken him; if anything, it seemed to amuse him.
“Keep trying,” he murmured near her ear, his tone almost conversational. “It won’t change anything.”
Anjali did not stop. She shifted her weight, trying to destabilise him, but he anticipated it and pulled her back, keeping her firmly anchored against him.

The muscular man watched the exchange with growing impatience, his gaze moving between the two of them.
“What the fuck are you doing? Stop wasting time and find a stone or something.”
“I’ll do that,” the bearded man replied without looking at him, “but only when I’m done with her. See how much energy she’s got. You can’t make it natural, buddy. We’ll have to take a risk. Then why not take one worth taking?”
Anjali knew where this was leading. Panic was rising for the second time, and this time she was clear that the danger was more than death. Even though the bearded man was holding her physically, she feared the muscular man the most. She knew she would not be a match if he joined the bearded man.

She turned her head slightly, forcing herself to look toward the muscular man.
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice steadier than before. “What do you want?”
Though she asked, Anjali’s mind had already begun connecting the dots. She had spotted the bearded man following her and Vikram at the river rafting camp. She had seen him moving away from Vinayak’s car.
“You were spying on us. You planted a tracker on his car. And you knew when we were getting back onto the main road. So you hit us with a truck. I know everything.” Anjali spoke what came to her mind, her voice gaining weight as she went on. “Why did you do it? Why did you want to kill him?”
The muscular man exhaled slowly, a hint of reluctant approval in his expression.
“Smarter than she looks,” he said.
Anjali barely registered the comment.
The muscular man took a slow step forward, his eyes fixed on Anjali.
“Do you really have no idea who I am?” he asked.
Anjali looked at him, forcing herself to stay composed despite the pressure of the bearded man’s grip around her. By now, she had understood that the muscular man was the main one in this, and the bearded man was his aide.
“It’s a shame if she dies without knowing who we are. She must be told, at least her,” the bearded man said, glancing at his partner. “I know you don’t like it, but let me take care of it.”
Anjali swallowed, steadying her breath before speaking. Panic would only make things worse. She needed to say something that would make them reconsider.
“I don’t care what you did to Vikram,” she said. “Whatever happened between you and him… it has nothing to do with me.”
She paused briefly, choosing her next words carefully.
“Just let me go. I won’t say anything.”
The muscular man watched her for a moment, then a faint, almost amused smile appeared on his face.
“I was thinking it was a shame that your friend didn’t get to see me introduce myself to you.”
Before Anjali could respond, the bearded man spoke again.
“She’s not just a friend,” he said. “She was with him. She’s his girlfriend.”
Anjali turned her head slightly, her eyes burning now - not with fear alone, but with anger.
“Who are you?” she asked again. “Why were you after Vikram? And why do you think you can just kill me for no reason? Just because I happened to be with him?”
She tried to push away his hands again, in vain. A low, amused sound escaped him.
“There it is,” he said, almost pleased. “She’s got fire.”
His hold became more controlling, and Anjali felt that he was deliberately pressing his arms against her chest. Her breasts were being squeezed under his strength.
“I’m going to enjoy this,” he added, his voice more expressive than the words. That was enough.
Anjali jerked violently against him, trying to break free, her restraint gone now. “Leave me, you scoundrel!” she shouted.
The bearded man laughed again, a rough, careless sound that carried no urgency, as if he had all the time in the world. His right hand moved, and he directly grabbed her left breast. Before Anjali could turn away, he leaned in, and his face brushed against the side of her neck, the roughness of his beard scbanging against her skin. The contact made her flinch instantly, a sharp discomfort running through her.
“Stop!” she shouted, her voice breaking through the silence, filled with anger and disgust.
She jerked her head away, trying to create distance, but his grip held firm. The more she resisted, the more force he applied, as if he were testing how much control he had over her.
The irritation on her skin only added to the surge of panic and rage building inside her. She twisted her body sharply, trying to slip out of his hold, but he adjusted again, refusing to let go.
“Stay still,” he said, his tone losing patience now.
“I said stop!” Anjali snapped, her voice louder this time, her strength returning with the anger.
The man only tightened his hold further when she struggled, pulling her back into him with more force. His rough cheek pressed against hers again, the coarse hair scbanging her skin and making her recoil. And his hand moved across her chest at will, feeling the softness of her.
Anjali felt a wave of disgust rise within her, sharp and suffocating. For a moment, her instinct was to keep fighting, to resist with everything she had.
But then she realised that the more she resisted blindly, the stronger his control became. He was expecting it. Enjoying it.
That meant she had to do the opposite.
She forced herself to go still.
“Come on, Jassy, let’s go before someone comes,” the bearded man growled, his voice low but impatient.

And it caught Anjali’s attention more than anything. A name had slipped out of his mouth.
Jassy.
Something clicked in her mind instantly.

Before she could process it fully, the muscular man spoke.
“Leave her, dude. Don’t mess things up.”
His voice carried irritation now. He was watching the surroundings. “Shit… it’s already a mess. What the fuck?” he muttered, then looked at Anjali.
He looked straight into her eyes, studying her with an intensity that made her breathing uneven. “Why didn’t you die?” he asked quietly.
“Hey, don’t try to play a hero in front of the girl,” the bearded man said, his tone mocking. “You love to fuck, no?”
He tightened his grip on Anjali and pulled her closer. Anjali felt something poking behind her ass. She knew what it was. But she was forced to ignore it.
“Let’s take her. We’ll dump her later, I promise you. Come on, bro. Let’s go to our car.”
He leaned in again and inhaled near her ear.
“I’m so intoxicated by her smell… mmm…”
He breathed in once more, longer this time, his hold growing firmer as his control slipped into something more aggressive.
The muscular man didn’t react immediately. His eyes stayed on Anjali, his expression hard, but his patience was clearly thinning.
“I’ll not tell anyone. I promise,” Anjali said. “Tell this bastard to leave me.”
She shifted her weight suddenly and brought her heel down hard on the bearded man’s foot. He was wearing knitted shoes, and the move hurt him badly. “Aaah!” he yelled, jerking slightly as the pain hit.
In the same motion, he lifted his right hand to strike her from behind. Anjali didn’t see it coming. There was no time to turn or block. The blow landed across her face.
“Haaa…!” The sound escaped her as her head snapped to the side, pain shooting through her jaw.
Before she could recover, he hit her again, harder this time.
The second strike threw her off balance completely.
Her body gave way, and she fell to the ground, the impact knocking the air out of her chest as everything spun for a moment.
“You hit me!” the man yelled, his voice filled with anger.
Before Anjali could move, he bent forward, grabbed her by the neck with both hands, and forced her upward. His grip was crushing, cutting off her breath as he lifted her off the ground. Anjali grabbed his wrists instinctively, trying to pull them away, but his strength overpowered her completely. Her feet struggled for support, barely finding balance.
“You’re going to enjoy this when I fuck you hard, bitch,” he grunted. His fingers tightened further around her throat, his control absolute as he held her there.
Anjali’s struggling movements became more desperate, her hands slipping, her strength draining as his grip controlled her completely. And then he leaned in.
Before she could turn her face aside, his mouth pressed over hers, landing a suffocating smooch on her mouth. It wasn’t the lip-sucking type, but more like his mouth pressing onto hers just to convince her that she was overpowered. The contact lasted only a few seconds, but it felt far longer.
When he pulled back, she gasped, her breath breaking apart. And the way he looked at her scared the hell out of her.
A sound escaped her - a raw, helpless cry filled with disgust and fury.
“Please leave me, please!”
But his grip didn’t loosen. If anything, it tightened.

However, the muscular man suddenly stepped in and pulled Anjali away from the bearded man’s grip, breaking the contact abruptly.
“So you do cry, girl,” he said, looking straight into her face. “Then why didn’t you cry when you saw him dead?” He pointed toward Vikram’s dead body.
Before Anjali could respond, the bearded man objected.
“Hey! What are you doing?” he shouted, stepping forward. “I want her. She’s mine.”
He reached out, trying to grab her back, but the muscular man blocked him with his arm and raised his voice sharply.
“Enough!”
The force in his tone stopped the bearded man. The muscular man turned his attention back to Anjali.
“Well?” he said. “Answer me.”
Anjali swallowed, trying to steady herself. Her breath was still uneven, but she forced the words out.
“I don’t love Vikram,” she said, and then added, “I… I wanted him dead too.”
She turned her head slightly, her eyes falling on Vikram’s lifeless body lying at a distance. Her expression hardened, filled with something deeper than fear.
“He killed my husband,” she said, tears forming despite her effort to hold them back. “I wanted him dead.”
Her voice cracked, but she continued.
“Trust me… I won’t tell anyone about you. I won’t say your names. Just… let me go.”
The muscular man was watching her closely.
“Do you know my name?” he asked, his eyes locking onto hers.
Anjali felt the weight of his gaze. She felt that he would know if she lied.
“You are Jasdeep,” she said, holding his gaze. “Mandeep’s brother.”
For a brief moment, nothing moved.

When she had heard the bearded man call him Jassy, something had stirred in her memory. The news report about the accident and death of two men, which Vikram orchestrated, had the names of the victims and their surviving close relations. The victims were Mandeep and Abhay. She had seen them at the café when they were alive, and this muscular man standing in front of her resembled one of them - the build, the structure, and the serious look on his face. The news report had a mention of his surviving sibling, named Jasdeep. And the moment she heard the bearded man calling him Jassy, her mind had started working on it.
She knew it all could be a wild guess, but she chose to stick to it, because her wild guess aligned with everything else, too. She now understood why they wanted to kill Vikram. It was revenge.

Jasdeep’s eyes widened slightly. “You know Mandeep?” he asked.
“No,” Anjali said quickly. “But I know Vikram killed him and his friend.”
She held his gaze, forcing herself not to look away.
“Only you and I know the truth,” she continued. “And Madhav too.”
Jasdeep frowned. “Who’s Madhav?”
“My father-in-law,” she replied. “He knows Vikram killed his son. He’s on your side too… only if you let me go.”
The bearded man stepped forward again, his voice rising.
“She’s lying. She’s trying to trick you…”
Jasdeep shot him a sharp look.
“Shut up.”
The word landed hard enough to stop him mid-sentence.
Jasdeep turned back to Anjali, his eyes narrowing slightly, studying her again.
“How do you know my brother?” he asked. Anjali sensed that his voice was much softer than it had been until then.
“I told you,” Anjali said, her voice steadier now. “I only knew Vikram.”
She paused for a moment, then added, her tone hardening,
“He’s a psycho...”
Before Jasdeep could respond, they heard movement from the side. A group of men rushed in quickly, and three of them were in uniform.
Jasdeep’s expression hardened, his attention snapping away from Anjali.
“What are you doing with the girl?” one security officerman shouted, and immediately directed the others. “Hold them.”

Jasdeep stood his ground, but the bearded man tried to escape. As one of the security officermen tried to grab him, he lashed out, shoving him back with force. “Get off me!” he yelled, hurling abuses as he pushed forward.
The security officerman lost his balance and fell to the ground. Two of the others quickly turned toward him. They didn’t hesitate. They moved in fast, closing the distance before the bearded man could react again. The first blow landed hard, driving him back. The second followed almost instantly.
Within seconds, the bearded man lost his footing and went down. Even then, the men didn’t stop. A couple of sharp kicks landed before they pulled back, leaving him on the ground, struggling to recover.
The outburst ended as quickly as it had begun.

One of the men from the group reached Anjali, stepping between her and Jasdeep, pulling her back with a firm, controlled motion.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Anjali took a step back, her body still reacting to everything that had just happened. Her first instinct was fear - that Jasdeep would reach for his pistol and open fire to break free.
But he didn’t.
Even as the men closed in on him and pulled him back, he didn’t resist the way she expected. His gaze stayed fixed on her, sharp and unblinking, as if the interruption had only angered him for cutting off what he wanted to know.
There was frustration in his eyes. Not panic. Not fear.
Just the unfinished conversation.
The man who had pulled Anjali away leaned slightly toward her, keeping himself between her and the two men.
“I’m with Madhav,” he said in a low voice. “You’re safe. Don’t worry.”
The words took a moment to settle.

Around them, the security officer had already moved toward Vikram’s body. One of them crouched beside him, checking for a pulse, while another spoke rapidly into his Motorola, sharing updates with his control room.
The scene quickly shifted, and with each passing second, a sense of normalcy returned to Anjali. Then she saw the men who had dealt with the bearded man turning toward Jasdeep.
“Wait!” she called out. “He was trying to save me,” she said, pointing toward Jasdeep.
The man near her looked slightly confused by her stance. “Are you sure?” he asked. He stepped closer and spoke. “We were told that you were in danger.”
Anjali didn’t hesitate. “No,” she said firmly. “He was trying to save me. Vikram was already dead, and I was stuck inside the car. He pulled me out.”
She raised her hand again, pointing directly at Jasdeep.
“He saved me.”

A few moments later, an ambulance arrived. It couldn’t reach the spot, so Anjali walked to it. Anjali didn’t need any kind of first aid, as she hadn’t had even a scratch on her body. Only she knew the mental trauma she had to endure after surviving the deadly accident.
Vikram’s body was soon carried out to the ambulance.

The area had settled into a controlled routine by then. One security officerman came and asked if she had faced any danger from the bearded man. They were suspicious because of his hostile reaction. Anjali thought that if he were caught by the security officer and taken for questioning, it would endanger Jasdeep as well. For some reason, she didn’t want that to happen. So she said she had no idea why the bearded man behaved like that, before adding that he was probably drunk.
Anjali answered all the questions without going into anything more than necessary. Her phone was retrieved from Vikram’s car and handed back to her. It had a lot of missed calls from Madhav.

She moved aside and dialled his number right away.
“Anjali…”
“Dad…” she began to speak, and her voice was uneven as a surge of emotion overwhelmed her. “We got into an accident… our car… Dad…” she paused for a moment to check that no one was hearing her before continuing. “He died on the spot, Dad.”
On the other end, there was silence.
Then Madhav spoke.
“Are you alright, dear?”
Anjali closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a slow, deep breath.
When she spoke again, her voice was quieter.
“I’m… at peace.”

Based on her statement, the security officer allowed Jasdeep and his companion to walk free. Jasdeep didn’t say anything to her. He just looked at her for a second, held her gaze, and gave a small nod before turning and walking away.

The truck that had hit Vikram’s car was still at the site, at the side of the road. Its front side had a huge dent. The driver had apparently sustained minor injuries. Both the driver and his staff had surrendered and told the security officer that the car had come onto the main road suddenly from a side road, without warning.
The men who had come with the security officer spoke to the officers, telling them they would take Anjali to the hospital.
They guided her to their jeep and helped her sit in the front row.
Once the vehicle started moving, Anjali asked them to take her to Madhav.

Madhav was waiting for her.
The moment Anjali saw him, she rushed toward him and collapsed into his arms.
She held onto him tightly and broke down.
This time, she didn’t try to control it. The tears came freely, her body shaking as everything she had held back until then poured out at once.
Madhav didn’t interrupt her. He didn’t try to calm her down or stop her from crying. He just stood there, holding her, letting her release it all, as if he knew she needed this more than anything else.
A few minutes later, as her sobs settled, he sat with her in the hall. Anjali wiped her face.
“Do you remember the two men killed in the accident last week? The brother of one of them - his name is Jasdeep - he orchestrated this one. It was revenge for the murder of his brother. I don’t know how they knew about it, but I guess they are also some sort of bad guys. They had been tracking Vikram, and today they executed their plan,” she said, and looked into Madhav’s eyes. “But I didn’t tell the security officer. It should stay like an accident.”
Madhav looked at her for a moment longer, then nodded slightly.
“You did the right thing,” he said.
Anjali didn’t say anything more.
She didn’t mention what had happened after that. Not the way the bearded man had behaved. Not the fear, the struggle, or the moments she had felt completely trapped.
Anjali leaned onto him and rested her head on his shoulder for a few minutes. Everything was soon becoming a memory, and her mind was becoming calmer.

She later asked quietly, “How did you know I was in danger?”
Madhav took a breath before answering.
“You told me someone was following you,” he said. “After that call… nothing felt right. So I arranged for a team to go out and look for you. I also pulled some strings to track your mobile phone location. When they gave me the location, I shared it with my team. They had crossed the accident spot by then, but they came back to find you. By the time they reached the area, the security officer were already there. Someone had reported the accident after seeing the damaged truck. They weren’t planning to escape. It’s a well-crafted plan, I guess.”
Anjali looked at him and gave a faint nod.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “For being… so alert.”
Madhav put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her a little closer.
After a moment, he asked, almost casually, “How was the river rafting… with Vikram?”

Anjali’s mind drifted for a second.
She saw the water again. The stillness of that pond. Then the rock, and the memory of her being pushed against it, and Vikram’s assault on her. She remembered the pain.
Then suddenly her memory shifted. She saw Vikram lying on the ground. Dead.
When she looked back at Madhav, there was a small, calm smile on her face.

“I’m glad I went with him,” she said.
Madhav just looked on.
“It ended well,” she continued, her voice steady now. “Justice… for Vinayak. For us.”
Madhav’s arm tightened around her slightly, pulling her further close.
“Yes,” he said quietly. “That’s all I needed to hear.”
Anjali turned toward him.
For a moment, she just looked at him. Then she leaned in and kissed him - slowly, gently - on his lips.
When she pulled back, she didn’t move away. Instead, she kissed him again, longer.
He didn’t stop her.
Neither of them spoke.
The silence between them wasn’t empty anymore. It carried everything they had just come through - and everything they had chosen to leave behind.

The next morning, they went to the hospital to receive Vikram’s body after the postmortem.
Vikram’s father, Shyamal Das, and Anjali’s father, Manohar, were also present at the hospital. They came to lend their emotional support to Anjali. She just stood there, pretending to still be in shock. At one moment, she looked at Madhav’s face and winked at him secretly. A faint smile appeared on his lips.
The security officer had registered it as an unnatural death, treating it as a road accident. Anjali was approached for a statement. She gave a brief account of how the car rejoined the main road and how the collision happened. She kept it simple. The officer noted it without pressing further.
The driver and his staff, who had surrendered, told the security officer that the car had come onto the main road suddenly from a side road, without warning. Anjali chose to support that account. It was the truth. Vikram hadn’t worn a seatbelt, and that had cost him his life.

After a while, she noticed Jasdeep at the far end of the corridor. Thankfully, the bearded man was nowhere around.
Jasdeep walked up to her and stopped in front of her.
“I came to meet you,” he said. Anjali looked at him, calm. “They’ve written this as an accident. That’s how it will stay now.”
Anjali didn’t say anything. She looked on, without even blinking.
“Thank you,” Jasdeep said.
Anjali nodded.
Jasdeep nodded back at her. “Take care, Anjali.”
He said it and walked away.
Anjali stood still for a moment, then went back to Madhav.
Anjali didn’t attend Vikram’s funeral. She was done with pretending.

On their way back home, Madhav told Anjali that he had been the one who pulled the strings to make Vikram’s business deal fail.
“Oh,” Anjali looked at him in surprise. “I’m glad you didn’t let him die a happy man.”
“What about you?”
Anjali looked at Madhav, then said quietly, “I had told Vikram about us.”
“He already knew that, didn’t he?”
“He knew about the first incident. I told him that we had made it a habit.”
“Oh,” Madhav smiled at her. “What did he say?”
“I told him everything,” she continued. “Even about the Friday night.”
Madhav’s expression tightened slightly. “And?”
Anjali took a breath. “He was furious.”
She paused, her eyes lowering for a moment.
“And he was… brutal.”
Madhav stopped the car and kept his eyes on her. But he didn’t ask anything further. He pulled her closer, his arm firm around her.
“It’s over now,” he said softly. “You don’t have to go through any of that again.”
Anjali leaned into him, letting the words settle.
Madhav started the car again.

Later that night, after dinner, Anjali walked into Madhav’s bedroom.
“Do you mind if I move in here?” she asked.
Madhav looked at her, amused.
“What happened?”
“I don’t want to go back and forth anymore. That time is over.”
She stepped closer and stood in front of him.
“I belong to you, Madhav,” she said, placing her hands on his shoulders.
There was no hesitation in her tone.
“I’ve spoken to Vinayak… in my own way,” she added quietly. “I’ve let go. And I’ve chosen you. I hope he’s at peace with it, and I hope his mother is happy for you.”
Madhav looked up to meet her eyes and said, “I’ve stopped questioning myself, Anjali. And I’m not going to let anyone question us anymore.”
Anjali smiled.
Then she bent forward to kiss him - slow, unhurried, feeling each other’s breath. Anjali’s arms surrounded his neck, and she slowly sat on his lap. Madhav’s arms circled her, welcoming her.
“Madhav…” Anjali gasped after a few seconds. “I will never call you Dad again.”
Madhav looked deep into her eyes. And he smiled. Then he pulled her close to kiss her again. This time, it wasn’t a soft one.
They had moved on. Moved on from the pain, loss, and the fate the world had given them.
After everything they had been through, the chaos had settled.
After the ashes, they had found something alive.
In themselves.

Two weeks later, on a quiet coastal cliff somewhere in southern Europe, a black car pulled up in front of a white villa with arched windows and a terracotta roof. Madhav stepped out of the car from the rear seat. He was wearing a suit. Anjali, in a soft beige dress, followed him.
A man stood waiting by the gate, holding a file and a set of keys.
“Mr and Mrs…?” he asked, glancing down at the file.
Madhav glanced around the whole place and at the sky above the sea, before turning to extend his hand to the man. “I’m Madhav.”
Anjali stood beside him, and she smiled gently. “I am Anjali Madhav.”
The man returned the smile, handed them the keys, and stepped away.
They stood there for a moment, side by side, looking ahead at the vast blue horizon.
It wasn’t a perfect world.
But it was theirs.
A fresh start, after the ashes.

THE END