"I said shut up."
"Are you new to this? You look new. Young." She kept her voice conversational, non-threatening. "How old are you? Twenty-two? Twenty-three?"
"I'm not telling you anything."
"Fair enough." She shifted, testing the ropes. A little looser. "But you should know, my husband is Sidharth Singhania. Do you know what he does to people who hurt what's his?"
The guard's Adam's apple bobbed. "Boss says he won't find us."
"Your boss is wrong." The rope gave a little more. Almost there. "And when he does find me—and he will—everyone involved in this is going to die. Badly. Painfully. He doesn't believe in quick deaths for people who cross him."
"You're just trying to scare me."
"I'm trying to give you a chance." One more pull and—there. Her wrists came free. She kept her hands behind her back, not letting on. "Walk away now. Disappear. Maybe you'll survive."
"I'm not—"
She moved fast, swinging her newly freed hands around and grabbing the gun from his holster before he could react. But she'd never handled a gun before, and her movements were clumsy. He recovered quickly, grabbing for it.
They struggled, both hands on the weapon. Advika kneed him hard in the groin, and he doubled over with a groan. She yanked the gun away, backing up.
"Don't move," she said, her hands shaking.
But he was already shouting. "She's loose! She's got a gun!"
Footsteps pounded toward them. Advika ran, heading for what looked like an exit. She burst through a door into blinding sunlight, momentarily disoriented.
Strong hands grabbed her from behind. The gun was wrenched from her grip. She was thrown to the ground, the impact knocking the wind from her lungs.
"Stupid bitch," someone snarled, kicking her in the ribs. Pain exploded through her side.
She curled into a ball, protecting her vital organs, as hands hauled her upright. Her vision swam.
The scarred man appeared, fury etched on his face. "Tie her properly this time. And if she gets loose again, I'm shooting whoever's watching her."
They dragged her back inside, bound her wrists and ankles this time, securing her to a metal chair. Her ribs throbbed where she'd been kicked. Her wrists bled from the rope burns.
But she'd slowed them down. Bought time.
Sidharth would come. She knew it with absolute certainty.
She just had to survive until he did.
Eighteen Hours Later
The location came from an unlikely source—one of the Khanna family's lower-level associates, who broke after fifteen minutes of Sidharth's... interrogation.
"Industrial district, warehouse 47," the man gasped, blood running from his nose. "Please, I've told you everything—"
Sidharth didn't wait to hear more. He was already moving, Rishabh and a team of his best men following.
They approached the warehouse at dawn, the sky just beginning to lighten. Sidharth's hand was steady on his gun despite the rage and fear coursing through him.
Let her be alive. Please, God, let her be alive.
"Four men outside," Arjun whispered, his night vision scope trained on the building. "At least six more inside, based on heat signatures. And one smaller signature, stationary. That's got to be her."
"We go in hard and fast," Sidharth said. "No survivors."
