The Game of Thrones

"Why is it always the innocents who suffer most, when you high lords play your game of thrones?"

-George R.R Martin

Mishti groaned and felt her head lolling to the side as she struggled to be fully conscious of her surroundings but she kept drifting in and out. She desperately tried to pry her eyes open but her temples were aching and her throat was dry, her whole body felt stiff, she felt like ages had passed before she could wake up fully and keep her eyes open.

Fragments of earlier events rushed back to her as her eyes scanned the darkened room in which she was currently tied to a chair. A surge of panic went through her body as she moved her hands trying to fight against her restraints.

"There's no use. I've been trying for at least twenty minutes," Mishti heard the familiar voice and her head immediately whipped to the side to see the face of her sister-in-law. She felt a wave of relief at realizing she wasn't alone and Shruti was okay.

"What happened?" Mishti asked. The last thing she remembered was hearing noises in the house and stepping into the hallway to see what was going on.

"The Russians!" Shruti bit out with a hint of venom in her voice, her upper lip curling in disgust at the mention of their captors. "They used some kind of gas."

"Ronobir..."

"I'm sure they're fine Mishtu, don't worry," Shruti's voice softened as she gave her a sympathetic smile, "They will come for us."

Mishti was just about to respond when the noise of the metal door opening made them both turn their gazes to the front. A switch was flicked on and the room was instantly illuminated. Mishti examined her surroundings trying to get a clue that could help them escape, but the room was completely bare except for the chairs on which they were bound.

"I'm glad to see you're both awake," the man who had entered the room spoke in a thick accent and his lips stretched into a smile that was both charming and spooky at the same time. "I was starting to think it might have been too much gas"

The man who Mishti assumed was Salim walked towards them. He was tall, his eyes were light green, and held a ferocity that Mishti had never seen before. "How long have we been here?" she asked.

"For about half a day, give or take," he said with a smirk.

Mishti's heart started beating wildly in her chest, she could only imagine how furious and scared Ronobir must be if they had been missing for so long. She felt a longing stronger than anything she had ever felt before at the thought of her husband alone at home, she wanted to feel his warm skin against hers and his soft lips on hers as they embraced each other never to let go.

"Where are we?" she asked as he stood in front of them.

He made a tsk sound with his tongue and threw her a look full of evil glee, "Why ask questions you won't get an answer to." His attention was quickly diverted toward Shruti sitting next to Mishti. His eyes were full of hunger as he looked at her, "You are so beautiful!" he said as he leaned down and traced a finger over the length of her cheek.

She recoiled and spat on his face, "Don't touch me!"

He chuckled as he leaned in even more and ran his nose along the side of her neck, "And feisty, I knew from the moment I saw you that I couldn't allow that filthy Chatterjee to have you," Shruti threshed in her seat until he backed away with an amused laugh. The girl's jaw was clenched in complete rage as she stared daggers at the man as he moved away from her.

"What are you going to do with us?" Mishti asked again, wanting to divert the attention of the Russian from her friend.

His amused eyes moved towards her again, "Now don't be curious Mishti, remember what happened to the cat," he said in a gleeful murmur before turning around and walking towards the door.

Mishti's turned to her best friend who smiled reassuringly at her, "It's going to be okay Mishtu," she mouthed and for a moment Mishti almost believed her.

The door opened again and the girls realized Salim hadn't left the room but instead had let someone else inside. Mishti's breath caught in her throat as someone who she had known her entire life walked in sporting an entitled smile and a very expensive-looking suit.

"So it was true," she said in a horrified whisper and her eyes went stony as she stared at him disillusioned. Veer, the man who once upon a time she had believed herself to be in love with, stood in front of her now, her actual captor and the only monster in her story.

He chuckled as he crossed his arms in front of his body. Salim standing a few feet behind them looked thoroughly entertained by the scene in front of him, "If I'm honest I'm surprised it took you guys so long to figure it out. We never thought we would be able to pull it off so easily."

Mishti's blood turned hot in her veins at the sight of him, smug and victorious in front of her, "How could you?! We gave you everything!" she shouted in utter rage, "You were part of our family... I cared for you!"

He threw his head back and let out a sardonic laugh, the sound chilling her insides, "Cared for me? You threw me away the minute Chatterjee put his eyes on you."

Mishti felt her eyes filling with angry tears as she looked at him, "That's not true," she bit out.

He gave her a hard glare, "Lie to yourself all you want Mishti."

Mishti closed her eyes trying to regain control of her emotions whilst her fingers kept trying to find a way to undo the rope that bound her hands, "Ansh was your friend; he loved you like a brother," her voice sounded defeated as she spoke.

Veer moved an inch closer to her while his brother remained behind, "No he didn't, none of you ever did. You looked down on me like I was trash on your shoes," he spat out and the man Mishti was looking at right now didn't bear any resemblance to the man she had grown up next to and had once thought she loved, "The Kamalis are the only family I have, my loyalty is only towards them. Always and forever," Veer turned his eyes back to Salim who nodded in his direction.

Admiration and love shone in the younger man's eyes, a look she had seen Rishabh give his brother many times, "Why...?"

Salim finally moved from where he was and approached them with slow and graceful steps, a predator prowling after its prey. "Did you know Mishti that your loving father is the one responsible for my brother Sajid's death? He was only fifteen at the time, a boy with his whole life ahead of him until your father shot him straight in the head," he smirked when he saw the shocked expression on her face.

"Our blood is never spilled in vain you see. I had to make sure you all would eventually pay," his lips stretched into an eerie smile and Mishti felt like throwing up.

"And revenge is better served cold," Veer added as he looked at his brother then Mishti.

Mishti felt nausea and bile crawl up her throat as she thought of all the moments she had shared with this man while growing up, how she had trusted him so blindly, and how he had fooled her so easily. Because after all what did she truly know about him? There was always something about him that seemed so unattainable, so private. Now she knew what it was, "So all this time you were working with him... everything that...?"

He nodded excitedly, like a kid wanting to boast about his great adventures, "Missing supplies, missions went wrong. The same trouble with the Mexican cartel that put you in Ronobir's path... that was all me," he grimaced. "Though I might have made a mistake with that one, yes every single obstacle your father met along the way was because it was me who put it there."

"Even Ansh...?" her voice trailed off as memories of her dead brother's body came back to her.

He sighed, "I must admit that wasn't planned, I mean it was planned but not for it to be so soon. He caught me and there was no other choice."

Shruti sounded repulsed as she bit out, "You're disgusting...both of you are!"

Salim's eyes went to her and he smiled, "And you are adorable love!"

"You make me sick Veer... how could you look us in the eye, dine with us when you knew..."

"How could I? Yeah that's a good question," he said scornfully, "How did I have the stomach to watch the face of the man responsible for my brother's death, every fucking day? How could I grow up next to the guilty ones who had spilled the blood of my people?" He leaned down towards her until all she could see was his chocolate gaze, murderous and lethal, "Humiliation after humiliation I endured and then the one thing I wanted, the only thing I was willing to take for myself," he raised a hand towards her, "Was handed over to the man hunting my family."

His fingers stroked her cheek and she flinched backward, "Don't..."

He smiled coldly before moving forward and pressing a kiss onto the corner of her mouth, "No use in resisting sweet Mishti, you and I are going to be together forever," he straightened up and walked away with his brother on his side, leaving Mishti and Shruti with a feeling of cold dread wrapping itself around their hearts, a cold so deep it chilled their bones.

Ronobir shut the door of the ratty office with a bang, Mishti had been gone for over twenty-four hours and every single minute had been torture for him. His blood sizzled in his veins at the thought of his wife at the mercy of the Russian, his filthy hands on her. Images of her in pain agonized him and fear and anger in equal parts coursed through his body as he paced around in frustration until suddenly it was too much for him to bear, he picked up a vase from the desk and hurled it across the office in a complete rage, the crystal shattering as it hit the cream-colored wall and broke into million pieces. The thought of anyone touching her or hurting her was unbearable to him, each second that passed without her seemed interminable.

"You need to cool it off!" Rudra muttered harshly as he walked into the office as well.

"Cool it off? Are you fucking kidding me?"

"You need to get your head straight and into the game damn it!" Ronobir clenched his jaw at the words of his friend. He knew Rudra was right; he hadn't been able to think straight since Salim had taken Mishti. This was Ronobir's biggest fear, he had always known that it was only a matter of time before his affection for Mishti would come and bite him in the ass, steal his senses and ability to be a cold-blooded operator, and inevitably put her in danger, he had always feared that his love would be a problem.

"I can't Rudra... I can't!" Ronobir slumped into the brown fabric couch feeling more defeated than ever before. The Russian had moved the floor from under him and he had no clue how to regain his balance.

"Chill out Ronobir," his best friend sat next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I know you're feeling desperate right now," his voice was soothing as he spoke, "But I need The Iceman back, Mishti needs the Iceman."

Images of his wife appeared in his mind; her sweet laughter, her warm eyes, the scent of her hair, and the softness of her hands as she caressed his face. Without realizing when or how it had happened, he had let this one woman change him, she had awoken things in him he never knew he had inside. To some degree she had softened him, Ronobir was man enough to admit it, she had warmed his insides and unfortunately, now that was proving to be his demise.

He should have seen the signs; he should have known it was all a trap. The Ronobir he was a year ago wouldn't have made such a colossal mistake, and wouldn't have been so sloppy. He had let his guard down for her and now she was suffering because of it.

His friend was right; to save his wife, he had to once again become the ruthless man that had earned the fear and respect of every member of the Italian mafia. Mishti needed that monster to rise again and if unleashing him was the price to pay to have her safe and sound he would gladly pay it.

"Come on dude," Rudra squeezed his shoulder, "We have some answers to get." Ronobir nodded and both men stood up and headed out in direction of the spine-chilling basement of the warehouse in which they were currently operating.

His men had managed to drag out one of Salim's men alive from the fiery explosion. Said man was now hanging upside down from the ceiling as tears streamed down his face, Ronobir felt disgusted at the sight of him.

The place reeked and if he had been anyone other than Ronobir Chatterjee, the Boss, it would have been overwhelming but not to him. The man had pissed himself and was covered in dirt and blood, resulting in a combination of nauseous to anyone who got close enough, but what disgusted Ronobir wasn't his stench, what sickened him was the way the man was whimpering and begging for release.

"If you weren't strong enough you shouldn't have taken the vow, boy," his voice was chilly as he walked closer to him, the man's scared eyes found his icy ones and his whimpers became louder.

Pansy ass idiots, a man of his would have never cried or begged for his life, his men died with honor.

"My people here tell me you're being reluctant to cooperate," Ronobir took hold of one of the knives resting on top of a surgical-looking table placed near the upside-down man, "Why is that Mark?" Ronobir's eyes moved towards his brother and Sikander who were resting against the wall across from him, arms crossed above their chest and steely gazes following his movements.

"He will kill my wife... If I speak...he will kill her," the man shouted, his words barely understandable as he choked on his saliva and the blood oozing out of his cut lips.

Ronobir laughed then, a sound as chilly as frostbite, "You think keeping your mouth shut will keep her safe?" The Italian boss gestured for Rudra to move closer, "Sasha is a very beautiful woman, frankly, it surprises me that she agreed to marry a man like you." The man's eyes were frantic as they looked at Ronobir, his body fighting against his restraints, doing more harm than good from the position he was put in. "You think your boss could be more brutal than me?" Ronobir said as a smirk stretched across his face while Rudra handed him a manila envelope, "You've been here merely twenty-four hours and I already know where she is and what she is doing," Ronobir pulled out a set of pictures showing a pretty woman engaged in her daily activities and revealed them to the man whose cries became more aggravated.

"Please, please," he started begging once again. Ronobir threw the photographs on the floor with a repulsed growl and pulled out his knife, he took hold of the man's hand and jammed the pointy end into the inside of one of his fingernails.

The Russian's bloodcurdling scream resonated in the room, "I won't ask again Mark. Where is the rat of your boss hiding?"

"I don't know, please I don't know!"

Ronobir laughed that frosty laugh again as Sikander moved towards him holding a strange device in his hands, "One more time with feeling Mark." The brown-eyed man clipped the device on one of the other man's hands and leaned closer until his mouth was at the level of his ear, "Where is your boss hiding?"

"I don't know!"

"Wrong answer!" Ronobir screeched before pulling on the man's finger and removing his nail in one clean go, the screams were so loud and the scene so brutal that even Rishabh had to wince at the savagery of it all. "Next time it's going to be your wife."

Ronobir's eyes turned almost black as he clipped the object onto another nail. There was nothing but icy coldness in his expression and at that moment there was no doubt that the monster had come out to play.

"It's futile of you to refuse food," Salim said as he sighed. He had been trying to feed them for the last ten minutes but both women refused to eat anything the Russians bought for them, "By all means have it your way." He stood up exasperated as he threw the dishes across the room, the crashing sound startling Mishti as she watched the ceramic break on the floor.

"Why do you want us here?" Shruti questioned.

"I thought it was obvious," Salim said with a smirk as he moved closer towards the blonde, "You and I are meant to be together and my love-struck brother wants Mishti here," he gestured towards the brunette, "Call me poetic but I think there's something whimsical about taking not only Chatterjee's business but their women as well."

Shruti spit on his face in complete outrage and instead of getting angry the devil started to laugh, "I love your spunk sweetheart," he said as he cleaned his face with the edge of his shirt.

"You make me sick," she growled in his direction which only seemed to amuse him further, "Rishabh will come for me, you know he will. And you won't be able to get away from their wrath once they find you."

"Whose wrath? Your brother-in-law's?" he asked and something in his tone made Mishti's blood run cold, "How would he do that when he's six feet under?"

Shruti's voice wavered as she directed her worried gaze to her captor, "What are you talking about?"

Salim chuckled, his eyes sparkling with something akin to delight, "Oh, I forgot to mention that little detail? How rude of me," he took a hand to his chest in a mocking gesture and then leaned down as if he was going to tell them the biggest secret ever, "As of yesterday The Chatterjee brothers are no more."

Mishti shook her head vehemently, "You're lying."

"Oh no sweetheart I would never lie about that," he said with a devious smirk. "They went to the warehouse to find me, spoiler alert I wasn't there, something went wrong, and then poof they both exploded in a thousand million pieces alongside every single man they took with them"

"That's not true," Mishti's voice trembled as she felt her eyes filling with tears but she refused to let them drop. She was not going to let him know he had broken her, she couldn't. She could not even let her mind go to the dark place that it was slowly being pulled into, she could not imagine a universe without Ronobir in it, his arms wrapped around her, his face nestled on the side of her neck, his warm body flush against her as they slept together. His brown eyes and his love, she thought of the myriad of emotions between them, her journey to him from hate to love, from love to lust from lust to the truth. And the truth was that she could not imagine a Mishti without a Ronobir.

He let out a cold laugh, "Oh isn't it? And how do you know that my dear?"

She gritted her teeth as she stared at the devilish man in front of her, "Ronobir isn't dead, I would know it. I would feel it."

She heard the words the man spoke and a part of her knew it was very likely that he was telling her the truth but she couldn't let herself believe it, because if she did then she would crumble completely and there was something deep inside her that was telling her Ronobir wasn't dead, he couldn't be. Their love story was not going to end this way.

"Oh, how sweet!" he said while giving her a sympathetic look, "Don't worry you will get over him, there's no doubt you're still so young and naïve Mishti and if we think about it you're as stupid as your sister."

"What?" a frown appeared on her face and seconds later they heard the door of the warehouse being opened. Mishti squinted her eyes trying to see who had entered and her heart almost stopped in her chest at the sight.

"Oh look, here she is in person, the sister we were talking about," Salim chortled in wicked delight as he clapped his hands together.

Veer Kamali was walking towards them dragging a very distressed and crying Pari Khanna, by the hair. At that moment Mishti knew that her sister had gotten into something way bigger than her and she wasn't sure if there was still a chance to help her.