(A/N) So, after a long time, here is the next chapter. It's quite crazy, but things will calm down as bit after this...kind of. I have a plan. I've been ill and still am so please excuse the lack of updates, however I hope to finish this story within the next two months so I should be updating quite regularly from now on. Thank you to anyone who reads!

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CHAPTER NINE

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Kiran awoke hours later after eventually crying herself into a fitful sleep. She tested the ropes that bound her, tugging at them with all her strength. When she realised that they would not give, she looked around the room for a sharp implement that she could hopefully use. As her gaze slid past the bare and useless dresser she gasped: on an old wicker chair, seated deep in the shadows, was Rahul, the whites of his eyes a visible gleam in the darkness.

"Kiran," his voice trembled with shame, "I am so sorry for scaring you. I'm not like that anymore, you must believe me, but I was so afraid of losing you again."

"Why should I believe anything you say?"

He jerked his head, leaning forward into the light, "You must believe me," he insisted, gripping the arms of his chair, "I love you Kiran, and I want to marry you."

"I'm already married," she spat, her eyes narrowing.

Rahul shook his head and stood up. Kiran watched him move across the room, holding her breath, and drew her legs up as he sat down on the bed. "You still don't understand," he sighed deeply and stroked her knee with his fingertips, "I wasn't looking for you, Kiran. You found me, you brought me into your life again and this time not as a villain. I was the one you went to for help, to escape from Sunil. You forfeited your marriage when you came willingly into my arms, now you're mine, truly, and when we get to India it shall be legal."

"India?"

"Yes, we leave today in fact. Don't worry, I have a whole suitcase full of clothes for you – I know your size."

"It won't be legal…I'm already married. I was married in India!"

"It will be legal if you're a widow…" a dark smile crossed his face, dimpling his cheeks with a sweet menace that made her shiver where she lay.

"What do you mean?" she asked fearfully, her breath catching in her throat.

"What do you think Sunil is doing right now…hmm? I think he probably sent that woman, Julie, home – he doesn't know her after all – and then started looking for you, sniffing after you like the disgusting dog he is. You probably told that blonde about me…"

"Natasha!" Kiran gasped.

"How long before she tells him who you've been seeing behind his back? How long before he comes knocking on my door, hmm, K…K…Kiran? You've been here for quite a while now, he must be on his way, in fact…"

Rahul glanced down at his watch just as a heavy pounding began to rattle to front door. Kiran stared at him in horror and opened her mouth to scream. She then sputtered as a white face cloth was shoved mercilessly into her mouth and secured there by duct tape.

Rahul reached for the radio, which was next to the bed, and turned the dial all the way up. Loud music filled the room, making her eardrums ring.

"Don't worry, Kiran," he kissed her forehead tenderly, "It will only take a minute."

…..

Sunil beat his fists against the door; hitting it so hard they almost bled. "Sunil, stop," Natasha pleaded, putting her hand on his shoulder to try and calm him.

Ajay the manager stood further down the corridor, seemingly ready to run at any moment. His left hand covered his mouth beneath his moustache and his eyebrows were drawn together in concern.

"Listen," he said, "I'll call the police."

"You call them," Sunil raged, "Call them and tell them my wife's been kidnapped."

"Look, she asked me to take her here. I don't call that being kidnapped."

"RAHUL! RAHUL OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!"

"Rahul?" Ajay the manager looked confused, "look, I don't know what's going on here, but…"

"WILL YOU JUST LEAVE?" Sunil bellowed.

Natasha smiled apologetically, "Thank you for your help," she said, "we can take it from here."

They were left alone, the sound of Ajay's retreating footsteps mingling with Sunil's constant knocking. He looked around for something, anything, that he could break the door down with but saw nothing. The hallway was dimly lit, the paint peeling, and the floor scraped and scuffed. To think that his wife - lovely delicate Kiran - had willingly walked through this probably roach-infested place and into the lair of the man who had tormented her for years, was almost unbelievable.

Suddenly there was a click and the releasing of a latch. The door opened to reveal Rahul, his eyes wide and innocent. He bowed his head to Sunil and clasped his hands together, "G…good evening," he stuttered bashfully, "h…h…how can I h…help you?"

With a roar of rage Sunil grabbed him by the collar, almost yanking him full off his feet, "Don't you dare pretend you don't know where she is!" he threatened.

Rahul looked down at where the tips of his shoes were barely grazing the ground and then laughed. It was a strange, girlish, giggle that earned him a punch in the face.

"Sunil!" Natasha begged, "Please calm down!"

"I'll calm down when Kiran is standing, unharmed, in front of me."

"Don't you want to know how I survived when you threw me into the water to drown?" Rahul asked, tracing his split-lip with shaking fingers, "don't you want to know the hospital visits I went through, the months my father made me sit in therapy, all because of you?"

"Go on then," Sunil struggled against Natasha's placating hold, "tell me how it's my fault you're a crazy fucking psycho?"

"Or should I tell you…" Rahul cast a sly glance back at his living room couch, "how it's your fault that your wife made love to me last night…right over there."

Sunil broke free and rushed towards the smaller man, aiming a blow to his face and then another to his stomach. Rahul grunted and dodged the next, managing to deliver a solid crunch to the larger man's nose. All the while the music pounded from behind the locked doorway of the bedroom, drowning the sound of Kiran's muffled screams.

The two men were locked together in a violent scuffle, crashing into bookcases and sending glasses and photo-frames to smash on the floor. Natasha looked around for a phone but saw none in sight. Quickly she rooted through her handbag for a mobile, intending to call the police, but her cell was dead.

"Stop, please…Sunil, we can get the police…" she had never seen or felt this level of hatred before, nor this violence. They looked as if they would kill each other. She had to stop them.

Frantically she threw herself into the fray, trying to break them apart. Someone's fist collided with her jaw and she tasted the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. And then a blow to her temple. The world went black as she stumbled backwards, tripping over her own feet.

Sunil threw Rahul off of him and watched in horror as Natasha fell, hitting her head off of the pointed edge of the coffee table. She lay on the floor, blood blossoming red in her blonde hair. With a choked cry he bent down to check her pulse, not noticing the vase Rahul held in his hands until it collided with the back of his skull. He slumped down, his eyes closing.

…..

Kiran sat in the car, her arms and legs bound and her shoulders tied to the seat. It was dark out and raining. Hours had passed since Rahul had answered the door. She had drifted in and out of sleep on the bed until he had awoken her gently and carried her out of the pitch black flat.

He had left her now, for only a moment, to go and get something he had left behind. She couldn't reach the horn or she would have hit it none stop until the whole neighbourhood woke up.

Her mind was racing from thoughts of Sunil and Priya, to pangs of guilt, to incomprehension about what had happened, to debilitating fear and back again. She gasped, choking on her gag, when the car boot opened and something was shoved and pushed inside.

When Rahul got into the driver's seat she stared at him, her eyes wide and bloodshot.

He tucked a loose curl behind her ear and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Then, with a confusing gentleness, he removed the tape and gag from her mouth. She coughed, sucking in clean air.

"W…Where are we going?" she asked.

He smiled, "Home."

He started the car, revving the engine before pulling out of the parking space. The streets were deserted aside from one homeless person curled up in a doorway. Two of the streetlights were on the fritz, eerily blinking yellow and black shadows over the wet road. The backseat of the car was loaded with suitcases. Something shifted loudly in the boot as they hit a speed bump.

"What's in the boot?" she asked cautiously, her voice hoarse.

Rahul didn't even look at her. "Sunil," he answered casually, and began to hum an old tune.

Jadoo Teri Nazar,

Khushboo Tera Badan,

Tu Haan Kar Ya Naa Kar…. Tu Hai Meri Kiran….

..Tu hai Meri Kiran….