"Take Me Back"

Episode 9: The Shadow from London

The woman’s voice on the phone had turned the office air from electric to ice-cold. Kabir, who had been inches away from me just seconds ago, was now standing like a stranger. His face was deathly pale.

"Who is she, Kabir?" I asked, my hand still trembling as I held the receiver.

Kabir snatched the phone from my hand and slammed it down without a word. His breathing was heavy and ragged. "Aria, you need to go home. Right now. I’ll... I’ll handle this."

"Handle it? Like you 'handled' everything five years ago?" My fear was quickly turning into a sharp, stinging anger. "Who was that woman? And what did she mean about your past?"

Kabir closed his eyes, as if bracing himself for a blow. "Her name is Natasha. When I was at my lowest in London, her father helped me. But that help came with a price—a condition I never accepted, but one she never forgot."

Before he could say more, the chime of the elevator echoed through the empty floor. At this hour, nobody should have been there.

"She’s here, isn't she?" I whispered.

Kabir looked at me, his eyes filled with a desperate, familiar helplessness. "Aria, please. Go through the back exit. If she sees you involved in this, she will destroy you. She’s not stable."

As the elevator doors slid open, the sharp click-clack of high heels sliced through the silence of the office. A tall, elegant woman stepped into the light. She was wearing a blood-red trench coat that looked lethal against the dark shadows of the room.

"Hello, Kabir," she said, her smile beautiful but poisoned. Then, her cold gaze drifted over to me, scanning me from head to toe. "So... this is the 'reason' you walked away from everything in London? She doesn't look like much of a prize to me."