My Beating Pulse

Chapter 2

Vansh

They say when a king falls, kingdom ensues. My father ruled with an iron fist, but he was not a stranger to errors, the kind he did throughout his life. His first mistake was playing with my mother’s mental health. His second main mistake was trusting his old pals, thinking that they wouldn’t sway all these years. I warned him, there are new biker gangs rising, and other organizations are using them to do their dirty work, but my dad didn’t listen. Now we are loosing our edge and other gangs are closing in on us. Already, Deccan vipers are trying to conquer our lands on the east side. My father ignored all my warnings, and now they have entered the streets and are slowing killing our men there. Since they were our low-level workers, my father ignored it, saying, “We have to compete with bigger fishes.” Little did he know gradually he was losing his edge.

My car stopped at the mansion, bringing me out of my thoughts. My driver, Vaali, opened the door. I got down and buttoned my suit, moving towards the mansion. Our men were surrounded and some were even crying. They held my shoulder sobbing. I just moved ahead, without paying them any heed. I saw our caretaker, Tara Maa, standing by the stairs without any expression. I climbed the stairs and went straight to my father's office where he shattered my mother’s life and now saw him sitting on his chair with a bullet to his head.

A king beheaded on his own throne.

Vihaan came and pressed my shoulder. I met his eyes. They spoke loud enough for me to hear everything.

“What’s next?” came his question.

“To find your father’s killer,” came another voice, Mohan Dada, our father’s advisor and best friend. His voice held despair of loosing his friend.

“We will, but first we need to get our affairs in order,” I said, nodding at Vihaan. He understood and walked out.

“You don’t look too broken seeing your father like this,” he stated with a hard look.

“How I process my father’s death is for me and my family to know. I get it you were my father’s advisor and friend, but you are none to me. I also get that you are an elder in our organization, but that is it. You don’t need to concern yourself with how we take things from here on forward. Thank you for all your work. Appreciate it,” I said, staring at his eyes. My words were final. There is nothing more nor less.

He clenched his jaw and nodded before walking out.

I looked at my father’s face one last time. He looked like he died quickly without any pain. I walked out, not sparing him another glance.

“Make all the arrangements for the funeral,” I said to Vaali, who nodded and walked out.

All our men were standing in the foyer and Vihaan was standing near the end of stairs. He assembled them like I asked.

“Our king is no more today,” I raised my voice and some sobbed and some hung their heads low.

“We will avenge his death! We can’t let anyone who did this get away with it. We will catch them and make sure they question why they were born. We will wipe out everyone they love. Make it an example for everyone to never cross our path” came my sturdy voice. Everyone except Vihaan roared and agreed.

“But first, we need to keep our kingdom afloat. There are many gangs and syndicates ready to occupy our space. We need to show them that we are not weak now that my father is dead. I’ll be taking over, and we will make sure no one can stand against us, we will crush them all,” I roared, and everyone joined in thudding their boots to the floor. Their enthusiasm peaking, and I’m sure they forgot my father’s body is still up there in his office rotting away for a second.

I got down the stairs and clammed Vihaan’s shoulder.

“Vaali will take care of the funeral, help him. We will finish off the funeral first thing in the morning. We have a s**t load of work to get to,” I told him with my voice low.

“Okay, will text you the timing,” he said without an ounce of emotion. I nodded and walked out.

I’ll be the new CEO of Silver Gate Reality from now onwards.

And I’m ready to make some changes around here.

——————————————————————————————————

Arya

6 months later…

“I hate my life”

“No, you don’t.”

“How can you even say that? Of course, I hate my life.”

“Babe, stop being so dramatic.”

I threw my pillow at her, which smacked right in her face, making hairs scatter in disarray. I smiled at that.

“I don’t need your optimistic ass right now,” I grumbled and threw my laptop to the side to make room for my curvy self. Yes, I have an hourglass figure but no one except my friend knows, because I always wear loose dresses and shirts which make me look fat, but I really don’t give a f**k.

“Look on the bright side, you are working in your father’s company whereas your sister is getting set up to marry a stranger,” my best friend, Cherry, tried to comfort me, trying to show me that another’s life is way worse than mine. Yep, that’s cherry, who’s a sunshine, optimistic, warm and positive personality. Cherry is not from our world but she knows all about it. She’s an orphan, she grew up in orphanage and even though god has put her life through a ringer, she thinks she is lucky to have this life. She finished her studies in flying colors, and she got a good-paying job in one of the best companies, i.e. Silver Gate Reality. It’s her dream job. Since she’s an orphan, she thinks she is lucky that everything is going according to her plan and that is the reason she has taken upon herself to spread positivity and warmth every chance she gets.

And what she said is true, my father is Sumedh Raj, the owner of Royal Construction, which is a front for Pathan Syndicate. Yes, we are a mafia family. He is a hard ass, who wants everything just the way he likes. He barely tolerates my mom and my mom just says “yes” to everything he says. She doesn’t have much of a choice, he rules with an iron fist, and she acts like he is the best thing that ever happened to her. And the reason is money. She loves her money and her socialite group and doesn’t give two flying f***s about her kids. Oh sorry, that’s just me. She loves her elder daughter, a.k.a. my sister Myra.

Yesterday, my father announced that my sister would be getting married to someone he had chosen during family dinner. Chaos ensued. My mom was curious, while my sister was enraged. Her poor manicured nails did some damage to the dining table. I know the reason why she was angry, because she likes a guy or f***s a guy .. I don’t know but she is in a situation-ship with a guy who knows nothing about our world. I saw them once in our outhouse going at it like bunnies. Sometimes I don’t think she cares about him that much, because if my father finds out about him, he will be killed in the worlds possible way for sure but does my sister care? No. Her first argument when my father announced was that guy might be some old geyser!! It was so ridiculous that I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.

My reaction was a bit mixed. Don’t get me wrong, my sister is an A1 b***h to me, but she is also my only sister. I’m your typical younger sister who pines on her elder sister and thinks she is this beautiful princess that could do no wrong. To a certain age, my sister did behave like that. She helped me in school and social gatherings where I struggled the most, but when she turned 17 she just changed. She got herself some clique friends who made me barf. She became this queen bee and thrived in school and college while I continued to struggle with my social tendencies. Knowing my sister would be getting married and leaving the house felt like a bittersweet moment. I hate the kind of person she has turned into but there is still a hope somewhere that I could get my older sister back who cared about me.

“And what do you think happens next? Once she is married to someone who loves to kill and destroy people just like my father does, I’ll be married off to someone as well. My sister is lucky she is marrying someone who is 4 years older than her” All my father said to appease my sister is that the guy she is marrying is 28 years old, and we will be having dinner with his family this weekend.

“And you think he will force you to marry an 80-year-old?” She asked sarcastically.

“With my luck, I’m damn sure,” I said, hiding my face. My dad tolerates my sister but he hates me. My sister plays well into these societal norms, she acts like a lady. She’s size 0, into fashion and has a charming personality when she wants to, but I’m your plain Jane who is sarcastic, sassy and has 0 charm. What you see is what you get kind of person.

“Dramatic as always, leave that let’s concentrate on the present. Who do you think your future brother-in-law is going to be?” she asked, getting excited.

I have no freaking idea.

I really hope he is a sane one amongst our insane family.