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CHAPTER 7
DIYA
The only reason I got past Dheer’s security guards was the element of surprise. And the fact that the car had black tinted windows. Not to mention that I knew for a fact that the only person who drove this monster of a car was His Highness. It had rusted in the palace garage for years before Dheer’s father got it restored as a twenty-first birthday present for him. He had even taken it on a ceremonial circuit around the city after his Rajya-Abhishek as the new Maharaja of Trikhera. And I also happened to know that he called it Dhanno.
It was a vintage custom-built Rolls Royce, made for a Maharaja who liked to live big. Like literally. This was the biggest car I had ever seen. And it was gold plated. Like eww! Dheer’s ancestors might have had tons of money, but they had no taste. I didn’t know why he hadn’t had this monstrosity melted and scrapped for parts.
In less than five minutes, I made it to the dusty road that joined the national highway, and that’s when my plan started to fall apart.
When I tried to change the gear, the car began to drift sideways and it took all my skill to stop it from ploughing into the divider. I ignored the honking from the trucks behind me and tried to stay in my lane. Of all the cars I could have stolen, why did I have to pick this one?
Although, strictly speaking, I didn’t pick the car. The car picked me!
All I had done was sneak one hand into the drawer where the valets kept the car keys and pulled out the first one I found. It was the best I could do considering that I had climbed out of yet another window in less than twenty-four hours and slid down yet another tree to make my escape.
Isha was still asleep and barely stirred when I stubbed my toe against the bed as I dressed in the dark. I knew there were guards posted around the house because I had seen them walking past Isha’s window as they did their rounds last night. I had tried to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw that poor woman’s terrified face as Ayush shoved her off the terrace. My hands twitched with the memory of how it felt to run a knife across a man’s neck and sever his artery.
While Isha slept beside me, I cried silently until I had no tears left. I still couldn’t understand how my life had turned into a nightmare overnight. But that was no excuse for acting like a damsel in distress. I couldn’t sit around and wait for Dheer to solve my problems. Where did he even get off ordering me to stay put like I was a dog in need of training?
The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. I was sick of men who told me what to do, whether it was Ayush-fucking-Goel who told me to forget all about the woman he had killed in front of me, or Dheer who told me I couldn’t go back home without his permission.
I got out of bed and dressed quickly because I had a short window of time before the guards walked past Isha’s window again. I was taking charge of my life again, and any man who had a problem with it could go suck eggs, I decided as I climbed down the tree outside the window. Isha would understand. She chafed against the patriarchal rules that bound us as much as I did.
I knew I only had a few minutes before someone spotted me, so I snuck around the back of the house to the massive garage that housed Dheer’s car collection and decided to steal a car. Because, no matter what he said, I was going home right now, and there was nothing he could do to stop me.
The element of surprise worked and the sleepy security guard at the gate raised the barrier for me to drive past without realising that it wasn’t Dheer at the wheel. My luck held until I hit the main road, and that’s when I realised that a car of this vintage was safe only for ceremonial rides. Meaning it was too old and clunky to drive on the main road where I couldn’t plod along at the speed of twenty in a forty zone. Especially when heavy trucks buzzed past me in their hurry to get out of the city before their seven am deadline.
“Come on, Dhanno! Just get me home safely,” I begged, but the car refused to go any faster.
Just as I was about to make the turn to get onto the highway, something struck my side mirror and it splintered. I thought it was a stone, but the volley of bullets aimed at the car soon told me otherwise. Someone was shooting at me!
I ducked behind the wheel and the car swerved wildly as a bullet entered through the rear windshield and went out through the front. It narrowly missed me and I started to shake as I realised that I was in real danger. Two jeeps cut past me and flew ahead to block my way. There were two men in each vehicle, staring me down with guns aimed right at me.
I could have been walking for Schiaparelli at Milan Fashion Week right now. Instead, I was stuck in an ugly, gold boat of a car while strange men shot at me with big, scary guns. The fates really hated me, I thought miserably.
I knew that if I stopped, I was done for. They’d riddle me with bullets as soon as I got out of the car. So I did the only thing I could do. I kept going. In fact, I picked up speed because now I was pissed. I was so done with random men trying to kill me!
“Hold on, Dhanno! This is going to hurt,” I muttered, as I slammed the car first into one jeep and then the other.
The jeeps spun around like tops and crashed into the divider. The smart thing to do would have been to ditch the car and run for my life before the gunmen got out of their mangled vehicles and came at me again, but it felt like my fingers were glued to the steering wheel. I was frozen in place, unable to move.
I could hear vehicles honking behind me, and I just hoped someone called the cops. But I knew that was an empty hope. Who was going to get involved when faced with guns? And Ayush Goel had enough pull that even the cops would look the other way while his men hunted me down in the street like a dog.
I slammed my head on the steering wheel, hoping the pain would snap me out of this freeze and get me moving. It worked and my fingers finally unclenched, and I peered through the cracked windshield as I dealt with the seat belt.
Ayush’s men were getting out of their vehicles slowly. Damn it! I had to get out of there before they reached for their weapons. And then, it was too late. They started walking towards the Rolls with their weapons out.
I whimpered as I realised that this was it. I was going to die. All the vehicles around me had stopped to watch the spectacle that was unfolding, but not one driver stepped forward to help. Well, I wasn’t going down so easily, I decided fiercely. I’d take my killers down with me.
I turned the key in the ignition, but the car didn’t start.
“Don’t give up on me already, Dhanno,” I muttered. “Our lives are at stake.”
But the lazy cow refused to start.
“I promise I’ll buy you a Cartier hood ornament if you just help me out this time,” I begged, but she still didn’t start.
Ayush’s men were advancing on me rapidly, but they suddenly froze in their tracks. As I stared in surprise, they lowered their weapons and began to back away from my car. A sudden movement in my cracked side mirror caught my eye, and I cranked down the window to poke my head out and find out what was happening.
