The Game Begins

Ryan's untimely death has brought both happiness and gloom to Khatris, Rashids and Salvatore. Ryan was a big man in the Underworld and also was the target of many aspiring criminals who wanted to establish their positions. But, killing Ryan not only made the competition more tough but also brought more danger on the aspiring criminals like Charan. Many warlords like Jimmy and Rubisco are trying to find the killers of Ryan, along with U.C.I.D and FBI. Now, the iron is hot and the first man to hammer it will become the new emperor of the Underworld.

The whole place was entangled in sadness and mourning filled the whole house. Arman was speechless and Ejaz was busy informing everyone about the last night. Vivek was consoling Shirley who was crying immensely and Charan was busy controlling every evidence and confirming no one saw anything. Alia was serving water to the guests and was wearing goggles to hide her tears. A huge photo of Survi was kept on a podium with flowers near the stand and a garland around her photo.

Three Rolls Royce stopped near the gate and Vanessa came inside the house. She was wearing a black gown and a veiled hat as per custom. As it was a condolence meet and the departed must be respected, no one kept a gun or any other weapon with them. Vanessa surrendered her pistol on the door and went inside. Everyone looked at her with astonishment, but seeing her attire everyone understood her motives. Ryan was dead and Gonzalez is history now, everyone was showing compassion towards Vanessa. She came near the podium and put a round flower bouquet near Survi's photo. She too has tears in her eyes as she didn't stop that monster Ryan from raping Survi. She went and sat near Arman and kissed his forehead as a symbol of her compassion for his loss. Alia offered a glass of lemonade to her without sugar, as eating sweet on funerals is considered unethical. Arman fell on Vanessa's lap and started crying. His screaming and shouting brought Ejaz and Charan to the room. Ejaz went near Arman and hugged him. Vanessa kept patting Arman's head and saying, "She's gone. There is no use crying. It will only make her soul restless." But, Arman's overflow didn't stopped. After half an hour of screaming, he fell asleep. He was hugging a photo of Survi which he took on their first date. Everyone left and again, the criminal business started. Vanessa went inside Charan's cabin, along with Vivek, Alia, Ejaz. Shirley was in a shock as she had brought Survi to London and now what she is going to tell everyone. Vivek drugged her and let her sleep for sometime.

Charan was walking from one corner to another with his hands tucked in his pocket. Ejaz was sitting, drinking sour lemonade and Vivek was reading a book. Alia went outside to help Andrews and Ralph to burn Survi's clothes as a symbol of burning her mortal body. Vanessa was inspecting the room. Ejaz broke the silence and said, "So, what now? Gonzalez are gone and apparently we really don't have any more enemies left." Vanessa replied, "But, there are going to be many enemies in the near future." Charan asked, without looking at her, "Like whom?" Vanessa replied, "Many. The list is very long. But the foremost people are Jimmy Law, Alphonso Rubisco, Gangchun Tomako." Ejaz said, "They won't waste their energy on us. Anyway, they are always in the radar of police, military and other secret organizations. They are not our primary problem." Vivek asked, "So, who are?" Ejaz replied, "They don't have any name, they can be anyone. So, guys beware of any kind of dangers." Charan asked, "So, Vanessa? Are Salvatores with us?" Vanessa replied, "Of course. But, remember once you become our partners, everyone will recognize your face and you will be constantly in danger from criminals and police." Charan thought for a while and then replied, "Ok. I, Arman and Ejaz will be the face of this partnership, while Vivek, Alia and Shirley will take care of the family businesses." Everyone nodded. After a while, Vanessa left and then all went to normal.

Vivek decided to take Shirley on a mini date to freshen up her mood and ease her pain. Shirley was still sad and silent, losing a dear friend is a very big pain and she was suffering from that pain. Vivek brought two smooches for her and got in the car. He gave both smooches to her and said, "Here, eat it before it melts." Shirley gave a weak smile and started eating the smooches. Then, a perfect cappuccino coffee, some lovely gifts and lots of love finally brought the smile back on Shirley's face. The date wasn't pre-planned and soon Vivek had to rush to his office for work. Shirley insisted to go with Vivek and Vivek had to take her with him.

Vivek's office was not an ordinary office but an enormous junction of skyscrapers. Being rich has it's own perks and having such a huge office is one of them. Vivek took Shirley's hand and took her inside his office. Shirley was mesmerized with the grace and beauty of the building and wanted to explore it. Vivek said, "Ok. My meeting will be finished in an hour. You explore the place." He kissed her lips and went away. Shirley decided to check from the lower floors and went down. She was roaming around when she clashed with a young man. All the files and documents flew in the air and scattered here and there. Shirley said shyly, "Sorry. I didn't see you." The young man replied, "No, problem. It's just an accident." Shirley helped him gather the documents and then she went away. The young man was still looking at Shirley's direction and then went away with a smile.

Vivek has conducted the meeting to discuss new strategies and plans to increase their productivity and profits. Charan's criminal life and Vivek's professional lives were quite similar, both doesn't like hurdles in their business. They got this trait from their father, Raman Khatri who also was a ruthless businessman in his time and had connections with many criminals. Charan got his father's cruel criminal mind and Vivek got his father's ruthless strategic mind. Vivek stood up and said in a grim voice, "Listen, fellas. We are short on time and have much big problems to solve, so I am going to make it short. As, you all might know that our previous managing director had passed away six months ago and we had failed to find a replacement for him. That is the core reason for the degradation of our financial resources and the advancement of our rivals. We are not taking the matters seriously and the lack of attention is harming us in many stages of the business. But, our wait is finally finished and we had found a new managing director for our company. He is young, diligent and practical in his ways and perfectly fits the description of a perfect employee. This meeting is primarily conducted for his welcome and introduction. So, please welcome our new managing director, Stephen Mathews."

A young, tall man came inside the cabin with some documents and a briefcase in his hand. Nicely combed hair and sparkling white shirt with black jeans gave him full marks for his first impression. He came and shaked hands with Vivek and went on discuss his strategies. He started, "As you all know that our company is suffering from some heavy losses and is merely striving on a tinkle of profits; I would like to present some able and innovative solutions to this problem. As we know, our main business is of import and export and constitutes the lion share of our profits. But, nowadays both corrupt officials and crafty politicians take a big portion of our share and the remaining share is divided by criminals and what is left is for us. But, from now on we won't do such things as we will be revolting against corruption." One of the board members asked, "But, how are we going to fight corruption?" Stephen laughed, "By resisting it. People will only scare you and then use you as a dummy. But, if we don't obey their wishes and revolt against them, after all how much can they do." Vivek asked, "But it still won't be useful for us? We need profits, not morality." Stephen replied, "That's the thing. Let me show you." He opened his briefcase and took out his laptop. He plugged it in the nearby projector and showed them some charts.

He continued, "These charts show the annual sales and profits of our company. The red lines show declination and blue lines show progression. The last two years of chart shows that we have been on a succession, but the past six months show a significant decline in our productivity. So, to keep our company running, we need to cut unnecessary spending like giving protection money to criminals." Vivek understood from his talks that he is an honest man and very much naive to the dark side of the world. After half an hour, the meeting dispersed and all went to their work. Shirley was waiting for Vivek and on seeing him, went and hugged him. They went inside their car and went away.

Stephen was waiting for his car and minutes later, a BMW stopped before him. The driver opened the door and Stephen sat inside. Minutes later, a call came on his phone. He received it, "Yeah. The work is done. We can start doing our job from tomorrow. Vivek has no idea that who I am. He will pay for his stupidity along with his pesky brother, Charan. He will never know that I am Alphonso Rubisco.....