Page 42 of Mrs. Pandey
Karthik grabbed my wrist, but I twisted and elbowed him in the stomach. Mr. Patel lunged toward me, but I dropped and rolled under a table, landing beside a heavy iron candle stand. I grabbed it and swung hard.
Crack. Kabir's lip split open. They stared at me with blood, anger, and disbelief.
"You're a liar," I gasped. "You tricked my family..."
Suddenly, Kabir lunged and grabbed me. We fell to the floor. I screamed, kicked, clawed, but pain sliced through my back like a hot blade.
I gasped, pulling away.
The knife had cut deep, burning fire through my skin. Kabir stood over me, breathing heavily, blood dripping from his mouth.
"Next time," he whispered, his voice cold and sharp as ice, "if you try to run...if you expose me... I'll kill you." His eyes burned with something sinister and dangerous.
Mr. Patel bent down, gently stroked my cheek like I was a child. His touch made me recoil.
"Be a good girl, Ira. No one needs to know this. We'll fix you up. Say you slipped and cut yourself. And in three days... you'll be a perfect bride."
He stood and walked out just like that, leaving me bleeding on the cold marble floor. My heart was pounding. The truth burning in my chest.
I bit my lip, tears streaming down my cheeks. But beneath the pain, something else awakened.
Fire.
I was not going to stay silent.
And I was going to take them all down.
______
Chapter 20
IRA
"Who did that to you?" Mom asked, dabbing antiseptic onto a piece of cotton. She pressed it gently against the cut on my back.
I didn't answer. I just stared out the window. The moon was unusually bright that night, almost too perfect, too calm, as if the universe had no idea what kind of mess I was living through.
I thought Kabir was a decent guy. I thought he was smart, charming, and ambitious-the kind you'd take home to your parents. But the truth? He was the worst kind of man. He was a liar, a manipulator, and a monster.
He was already married. And not just married, but abusive. He used to beat his wife, torture her, and tried to kill her, all because she filed a complaint against him.
When he left today, I rushed to find her. I didn't even know why, maybe instinct. I found her on the road, broken. She was shaking and crying like a wounded soul. She told me everything.
He had raped her multiple times and beat her even when she was pregnant. She lost two babies because of him. She used to be a doctor, a good one, but Kabir destroyed her career, her image, everything. She begged me not to marry him.
I never told Mom and Dad about him. I knew they wouldn't believe me. They never did. Not when Patel took advantage of me back then. Not when I needed them most.
I glanced at Mom through the window glass. Her reflection startled me; she suddenly looked older as lines formed on her forehead and worry etched in her eyes.
"Mom..." I said, slowly. "If I tell you something, will you believe me?"
"What kind of question is that, Ira? Of course, I'll believe you." She looked hurt by the question.
"Kabir did this to me." I pointed to the wound on my back. Her hand stopped mid-air as her eyes widened in shock.
"You asked me to go upstairs. I did. But I heard a woman scream. I followed the sound and found Kabir hurting a woman. His wife. Karthik and Patel were there too, just watching, like it was some sick show. I tried to stop them, and they attacked me. They threatened me. Kabir thinks I'm weak."
I laughed, a hollow sound. "He doesn't know I'm not that kind of girl."
