Shadows of Kasauli Ch14

Vanya didn't blink. She let the phone slip into the laundry basket behind her, hidden beneath a pile of damp towels.

​"N.. No one Sameer," she said, her voice steady despite the roar of blood in her ears. 

​Sameer stared at her for a long, agonizing beat. He walked into the bathroom, the steam clinging to his expensive suit. He looked at her, then at the laundry basket. For a second, Vanya’s heart stopped. But then, a servant knocked on the bedroom door.

​"Sir, the investors have arrived at the site. The car is ready."

​Sameer grunted. "Fix your face, Vanya. You look pale. I want you glowing tonight."

​The resort site was a jagged scar on the mountainside, illuminated by massive halogen work lights. The investors—men in dark coats and women in heavy silks—stood around a ceremonial foundation stone.

​Vanya stood at Sameer's side, her hand tucked into the crook of his arm. To the guests, she was a beautiful accessory. To herself, she was a countdown timer.

​She felt her phone vibrate. Message from Arjun. The stay order had been signed in Shimla. The police were twenty minutes away.

​"Ladies and gentlemen," Sameer announced, raising a glass of champagne. "Tonight, we don't just break ground. We break the past. This land, which was tied up in petty feuds for seventy years, finally belongs to the future."

​As the guests cheered, Vanya saw a flash of headlights on the winding road below. 

​"Sameer," Vanya whispered, leaning into his ear. "I forgot the ceremonial silver trowel in the car. I’ll be right back."

​"Don't be long," he muttered, distracted by a handshake.

​Vanya didn't go to the car. She slipped past the catering tents, ducking into the deep shadows of the pine trees that bordered the construction site. She ran, toward the cliff’s edge where the old "Ghost Trail" led down to the back of Aashraya.

​Behind her, the music suddenly stopped.

​She heard a shout—Sameer’s voice, raw and animalistic. The police had arrived. The halogen lights flickered and died as someone cut the power, plunging the mountainside into chaos.

​"Vanya!" Sameer’s scream echoed through the trees.

​She didn't look back. She scrambled down the rocky path, her saree snagging on thorns, her breath coming in ragged gasps. At the bottom of the trail, a pair of headlights cut through the fog. A battered black Jeep was idling, the engine a low, rhythmic growl.

​The door flung open. Arjun was there, reaching out his hand.

​"Get in!" he yelled.

​As she leapt into the seat, a gunshot rang out from the ridge above—Sameer, in a final, desperate act of possession, firing into the dark. The bullet shattered a branch inches above the Jeep.

​Arjun slammed the vehicle into gear, the tires spitting gravel as they roared away from the site.