“Talk to him,” Aaliyah mouthed to Emily, and the latter, still in shock, took the receiver with trembling hands.
“H-hello,” Emily’s voice shook terribly, and Aaliyah placed a hand over her shoulder to tell her she was there.
“Took you long enough to come out of the shock, no? As we were saying earlier. We know Aaliyah is at your house right now. Don’t even try to deny it because one of our men is keeping an eye on you guys right now,” The man said, and Emily looked at Aaliyah.
Since Aaliyah was standing beside Emily, she heard what the man said and immediately went to the window to see if she could find the person spying on them.
“Well, let’s not waste each other’s time and get straight to the point, yeah? We have no interest in your boyfriend or you. However, that girl at your place is quite dear to me. You can say I can kill your boyfriend for her -”
“No!!!” Emily screamed in horror, and Aaliyah’s heart squeezed in pain for the girl.
“No need to shout. That won’t exactly make a difference. The only person who can make a difference is present at your house right now. Why don’t you tell her to come to the base? We are at the construction site of Lane-7 near Chandni Cross street,” the man paused.
“And yes, don’t call the police, please. We won’t have a problem running away from here, but you might have a problem seeing your boyfriend dead. You are pregnant, right? Let’s not make your baby an orphan, okay? Be a good girl and send Aaliyah here,” the call disconnected.
Aaliyah walked back to Emily when she saw her falling on the ground helplessly.
“Hey, Emily. Don’t stress too much. We will get out of it,” Aaliyah tried to comfort the girl, but even she knew things were quite worse this time.
First, Aaliyah didn’t know who this man was. Whether he belonged to some gang or was one of their enemies. For him to kidnap Danny, it’s obvious he has been spying on her for quite some time, or he wouldn’t have known about Danny, who she rarely meets.
This man knew his girlfriend was pregnant, and Aaliyah would do anything to save them.
“How will we get out of it, Aaliyah? They have Danny, and they are demanding you. As much as I love Danny and don’t want anything to happen to him, I know he would die if he came to know one of his friends sacrificed herself for him,” Emily’s words melt Aaliyah’s heart.
In a situation like this, most people would’ve started begging her to save their family, but she was still thinking about others’ well-being.
“He doesn’t make friends. And for him to tell me to contact you if something happened to him, I know he cares a lot about you and trusts you too. No. I can’t let this happen. I can’t send you. We have to look for another way,” Emily shook her head, resolute.
Aaliyah took a deep breath before closing her eyes and sitting beside Emily. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes.
“Emily, hear me out, okay? I will go there. Do you know why Danny asked you to call me? Because he knows I have good connections. I am strong. He knows I can take care of everything. And believe me, he is right. I will go and bring back your Danny safe and sound. Nothing will happen to him,” Aaliyah cupped her cheeks.
Emily’s lips whimpered at the girl in front of her. She was not a fool to not know what kind of danger awaited Aaliyah in the place that man mentioned. And for Aaliyah to go there just to save Danny meant a lot.
“Take care of yourself, and don’t stress out, okay?” Aaliyah smiled before she walked out of the house, looking in a particular direction where she saw a shadow-like thing moving.
Going there without any backup would be pure foolishness. However, she can’t call anyone, or this person, spying on her would know.
Aaliyah can’t tell Dominic directly, or he would reach the base before her and might mess this up. Danny’s life means nothing to Dominic. He will only think about destroying the man who wanted Aaliyah.
Aaliyah needs to reach the place and free Danny from there before any action happens.
‘Damn it!’ Aaliyah pinched the bridge of her nose before hailing a taxi and telling them the address the man mentioned.
After forty minutes of the ride, thinking about who this person could be and what she should do, Aaliyah stepped out of the car and looked towards the construction site, the movement of two men going inside on the first floor catching her gaze.
It looks like the man is heavily armored and backed. Aaliyah walked inside the construction site.
“Come with us,” Two men appeared from behind her, and Aaliyah noticed the gun in their hands before nodding.
“Do you want to blindfold me or tie my hands?” Aaliyah asked, and the men looked at each other, unsure. This was probably the first time someone was so eager to get tied up.
Aaliyah had no interest in playing the hostage. She was just trying to discern if they wanted to harm her, and that’s why they wanted her here in exchange for Danny.
However, the hesitancy in their eyes told her there was a 20% chance they didn’t want to kill her. Though the percentage was less, it was something that gave her hope.
After walking for ten minutes, they finally reached an underground basement kind of thing, completely different from what was above the ground.
No one could guess there was a thing like this here.
“She is here,” One of the men announced to no one in particular, and Aaliyah tried to look around without moving much to see if she could find anyone she knew that might give her a hint about this man’s identity.
“Go,” one of the men pushed her inside the entrance of the large hall that was divided into segments.
The stench of blood and gunpowder was strong in the air. The random steel and iron chains everywhere made the place even scarier.
Everything seemed silent yet deafeningly loud to Aaliyah. She felt like she was in some kind of thriller movie where people would emerge out of nowhere and abduct her.
She has visited many gang places but has never been to one like this. Why was no one here to attend to her if they called her here? Was this some kind of trick? Or was someone playing a mind game with her?
As much as she wanted to meet the man, Aaliyah didn’t want to alert anyone either. It’s like her mind was preparing her for what was about to happen.
That man who brought her here had announced her presence too. So what could be the reason no one was –
“Mmmmmmmmmmm! Mmmmmmmmm!” Aaliyah snapped out of her thoughts with a shake when she heard the sound.
It sounded like someone was trying to call her, but his mouth was gagged or taped. Could it be Danny?
The clanking of chains and metal striking like someone was struggling against them resounded in the hall, and she walked a few steps before turning to her left side, where she noticed one person she didn’t expect to meet.
“Alex?” Aaliyah narrowed her eyes.
She was shocked to see him and even more shocked to see him in this condition. He looked brutally beaten. His body was hanging from the chains with his hands and legs clamped on the wall.
Just who was this person? Aaliyah thought he kidnapped her friend because he wanted to threaten her only, but now her enemy is also here?
Seeing the horrified look on Alex’s face, Aaliyah felt a pang of pity when she noticed his missing little finger.
She doesn’t know who this person was, but he was surely sick in his head.
“Mmmmmm! Mmmmm!” Alex struggled through the chains, his eyes pleading with her to set him free, and Aaliyah clenched her teeth.
She could only hope nothing had happened to Danny.
“Are you not going to show your face now? If that was the case, why did you call me here?” Aaliyah said to no one in particular.
“You finally said something. Do you have any idea how long it has been since I have been yearning to hear your melodic voice?” Aaliyah heard a voice, and her heart skipped a beat with dread.
This Voice. It sounded familiar. A bit too familiar, and important for her to not know who it was.
Aaliyah was shocked, and her body was doing a good job of showing it. Her fingers were trembling, making her clench her fists.
“Sage,” Aaliyah whispered, and the man behind the wall smirked before he walked ahead, finally coming out of the shadows, followed by his men, who had been hiding with him.
“My Aaliyah,” The boss, Sage, said with a gleam.
Though he was smiling genuinely, Aaliyah knew how hauntingly black his intentions and heart were. Aaliyah’s mind replayed all those haunting memories of being constantly stalked and provoked.
‘Miss Aaliyah, you are mine,’
‘I know you love chocolates. I will bring you as many as you want,’
‘If someone hurts you, tell me. I will kill him for you,’
‘Why are you not looking at me? It’s maddening me. What should I do? I can write a letter for you in blood. Who should I kill?’
‘Aaliyah Gold! You are mine! I will not let you go! You belong to me! Remember this thing and get this straight to your skull. Don’t push me too much,’
Aaliyah closed her eyes for a moment before opening them. She can’t show she was affected by his presence, or his delusional self would think she likes him and her heart is beating for him.
She should’ve known. There was only one person who would go to these lengths to get to her.
Aaliyah looked at her feet for a moment before looking up, straight into his eyes with a neutral smile filled with mockery.
“Why am I not surprised, Sage? So you kidnapped my friend to call me here?”
“I did,”
“What about this boy? Since you must’ve been spying on me, you should know he is not my friend,” Aaliyah looked at Alex, who started struggling immediately.
“I know, right? However, he infuriates me even more. How dare he even think of touching my woman inappropriately? Even I haven’t laid a finger on this girl s*xually, and he wanted to? Who is he?” Sage scoffed before he walked closer to Aaliyah, and she clenched her hands further to stop herself from stepping back involuntarily.
She narrowed her eyes when she noticed he didn’t come to her but walked to Alex instead.
“Hmm? How dare you?” Sage asked before he brought out his knife and made a cut across Alex’s face, making the latter scream in terror.
“Stop it. I said stop it!” Aaliyah shouted, angry beyond words.
“Where is Danny? You did all this to bring me here, right? I am here. Let him go,” Aaliyah tested her luck.
When Sage heard her words, he turned to her swiftly before shaking his head, amused.
“Do you think I am a fool? If I let him go, you will run away from here sooner or later,” Sage tutted before shaking his head.
“I won’t. I promise. Let Danny and Alex go,” Aaliyah glared at Alex, who looked back at her in pure terror, pleadingly.
“You promise? Well, that’s new. I know you don’t break your promises,” Sage thinned his lips before sighing and looking at her with love-filled eyes.
“Why are you so good, my love? I can understand Danny, but Alex too? This is what makes me fascinated with you. You are a dangerous angel that I want all for me,” Sage walked to Aaliyah before tucking her hair behind her ear, making her flinch.
This was just the starting. Today he is going to make sure he has her. Sage thought before bending to her eye level.