by MV Kasi
Ruthless
by
MV Kasi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
DESCRIPTION
BOOKS BY MV KASI
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
EPILOGUE
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
ABOUT MV KASI
MV KASI BOOKS LINKS
THAT SAME OLD LOVE - SAMPLE
THE HOLIDAY AFFAIR – SAMPLE
Ruthless
All rights reserved.
COPYRIGHT © 2017 by MV Kasi
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
DEDICATION
To all the children and adults survivors of abuse, bravery isn't enough praise.
And to ALL my readers and VIPs!
Thank you for everything.
I love you all!
DESCRIPTION
Sia and Ajay's story began where most romances ended. Instead of a happily-ever-after, their marriage began with Sia's manipulation and lies. However, over the course of time, they opened up to each other, each willing to work it out between them for the sake of their unborn child. And soon, it wasn't just about the baby. They had both fallen in love with each other.
But their happiness didn't last long. Dark secrets and betrayal were revealed. And this time, it was Ajay's manipulation and lies that were threatening to tear them apart.
Will Sia and Ajay find their happily ever after? Or was their love doomed from the start?
Find out in—RUTHLESS.
WARNING: This book contains sexual content and some disturbing themes that are intended for mature reading audiences only.
BOOKS BY MV KASI
Match Made in Hell Series
THAT SAME OLD LOVE (Book #1)
THOSE SAME OLD DESIRES (Book #2)
THE HOLIDAY AFFAIR (Book #3)
The Revenge Games Series
SOULLESS (Book #1)
RUTHLESS (Book #2)
PROLOGUE
Chaos was all around.
Several people surrounded a prone body of a woman on the stairs. His entire body shaking in panic, Ajay pushed them aside and knelt down next to Sia. "Somebody help me! Please! Call an ambulance!" he yelled.
He lifted Sia's hand and began to frantically search for her pulse as help began to arrive. And only when he could feel a faint pulse, did his own heart begin to beat again in hope.
He assessed her for other injuries, and he saw that her head wound was still bleeding.
Quickly he tore open his shirt, and shrugged out of it, and held it against the wound to stop the blood flow.
He could hear the conversations around him. Calls being made, giving out the address and the details of the accident.
He held Sia close against his chest, cradling her in his shaking embrace, gently rocking them back and forth. "You'll be okay baby. I know you're going to be okay. God, I love you. I love you so much. Don't you dare leave me! Do you hear me? Don't you dare leave me!"
Sia's eyes remained close and her face had paled considerably due to loss of blood. Even her lips began to turn into a bluish tinge. He could hear sirens blaring at a distance.
He kept watching her, recalling their happy times together.
Sia rolling her eyes at the movies he had made her watch. Both of them having a food fight because he had teased her about her culinary skills. Sia watching him with a soft look when he held her pregnant belly and spoke everyday to their unborn child. Sia had been smiling all those times.
She was happy.
They were both happy when they were together.
They will be happy again!
His vision blurred, and he felt strange as tears burned his eyes for the first time as an adult. The last time he had cried was as a child when his mother had killed herself.
"You'll be fine," he kept repeating to Sia, desperately hoping it was a nightmare that he would wake up from soon. A horrible nightmare for having kept secrets from her.
He would do anything if this turned out to be just a nightmare. He would sell his soul to the devil to have her safe and sound, tucked next to him, and sleeping peacefully on their bed.
But he knew. Both god and the devil weren't listening to him.
His chest hurt as it tightened with pain he had never experienced before, as he saw her still face, and felt her body getting cold in his arms.
CHAPTER ONE
"I'm sorry, Mr. Manthena. You need to make a decision. Your wife...or your child?" a somber looking doctor asked Ajay.
"My wife," he replied. "Save my wife at any cost," he urged.
"But Mr. Manthena, your wife has already lost a lot of blood. And based on her injuries, chances of her being brain dead are quite high. She might never gain conscious again. So, under these circumstances, usually the hospital's policy is to—"
"I don't care about the hospital's policy. SAVE MY WIFE'S LIFE!" he roared. "I already told you my decision. Stop wasting your time arguing with me. Save my wife! Even if there are less than one percent chances for her to live, save her!"
The doctor nodded and went back hurriedly into the operating room.
Ajay wasn't allowed inside. In fact, they told him he shouldn't even be waiting outside in his state. And that he needed medical attention himself.
He had already made a ruckus about that a few minutes ago. But when one of the nurses pointed at his shirt, he finally looked down and understood why.
Even now, he still couldn't get his eyes off his shirt. It was covered in blood. So much blood. And this time...his wife's blood.
Last time, fifteen years ago, it had been his mother's. He had found his mother lying on the ground, outside the three storied building of his school. She had jumped off the tallest building in the village on a Sunday morning.
To this day, he feared heights, and also seeing a lot of blood.
Ajay felt his b
ody tremble. It had been shaking since the last hour of hell. Right from the time when Sia had revealed the identity of her abuser and stormed out.
He had been searching for her frantically with a sick feeling churning inside his gut. And when he couldn't find her, he knew something must have happened to her.
He had torn apart the entire party hall, where they had been attending a charity function hosted by a friend. He had shouted at everyone and commanded them to find her.
A few minutes later, one of the guests did. Sia was found on the stairs. Everyone had though that she was already dead, the way she was laying still, bleeding a river of blood around her. But he refused to believe that she was gone or would ever leave him.
Ajay shuddered recalling those moments. He began pacing the hospital corridor, while other thoughts flew inside his head.
Was it an accident that she slipped on the stairs?
It was my bloody fault that I told her the truth so soon. I should have taken her home after she found out about me.
I cannot lose her. I know I won't lose her like this...
He didn't know how much time had passed until he was interrupted.
"Jay," a woman's gentle voice called from behind.
He swung around, to see Jo and Harsha standing right behind him, looking at him with pity and worry on their faces. He responded to them with only a nod. He wasn't ready to speak to anyone yet.
Some of his friends and well-wishers from the party had stuck along until a while ago. But they left when he had ignored them completely and asked them to leave him alone.
Until he knew for sure that Sia would be safe, he wasn't interested to listen to anyone's platitudes, however well intentioned they were.
"I'll get him some clothes to change into. I'll be right back," he heard Harsha tell Jo.
After Harsha left, Jo came closer to him and laid a hand on his arm.
"How is she doing?" she asked softly.
"Not good," he replied.
"What did the doctors say?"
"That it's going to be hard to save her."
She was quiet for a second. "What about the baby?" she asked.
"I told them to save Sia first."
Jo nodded, not saying anything. She knew him well. She knew that he hated pity or any kind of condolences. Especially when people said stupid things like 'It's going to be okay' when it was obvious that things were not going to be okay.
He had been hearing those platitudes since he was eleven. When his mother had killed herself. When she felt, her honor was more important than him.
He still recalled how people had pitied that newly orphaned eleven year old boy.
"I know your mother is gone. But don't worry; someone will take care of you. You will be okay soon."
"You are not the only one. There are lots of children in the world who lost their mothers. They are all doing okay. So you'll be fine too."
He didn't care about such platitudes then. And neither did he do so now.
Harsha returned with a shopping bag in his hands. "Change into these, Jay. Or the doctors won't allow you inside later," he said.
Without an argument, Ajay took the bag handed to him and went inside a men's restroom to change.
His movements were hurried. He began shedding his bloodied clothes, and then threw them in a trash can. Ripping a paper towel, he wet it and cleaned away as much blood from his body as possible, before wearing the clean clothes.
Once he was done, he washed his hands vigorously with soap to get rid of the dried blood. When he was satisfied, he splashed water on his face to stay alert and awake through the night.
He caught his reflection in the mirror for a brief second while wiping away the excess water from his face,
He looked like shit.
He even felt like shit.
Maybe because he ached like hell.
His head. His heart. He ached with emptiness and helplessness of the current situation. Before he could drown in self-pity, he shook his head and walked out of the bathroom.
Harsha and Jo were waiting outside.
"Did anyone come out of the operating room looking for me?" he asked.
"Not yet," Harsha replied, handing him a steaming cup of some beverage. "Have some coffee, Jay. It's close to midnight. You need to stay awake when the doctor calls you inside."
Nodding briefly, he took the cup from Harsha's hands and gulped a few sips, not caring that it burned his tongue or throat. His hands were still shaking.
Harsha nudged him towards the empty chairs, and gently pushed him down into one. Ajay just sat there for a few minutes, staring blankly into the cup.
"I met you because I hated you. I've hated you most of my life. My hate for you was what drove me forward, and made me achieve things that a normal child wouldn't even think of doing. I hated you so much that it became my very reason for living. My only ambition, even as an adolescent was to find you and destroy you."
The last conversation he had with Sia repeated inside his head, further intensifying the ache, until he felt like he would burst if he didn't get the words out.
"The last time I spoke to her, I told her I hated her," he said softly, as regret crushed him.
Harsha and Jo didn't respond. They sat on either side of him, placing a comforting hand on each of his arms while listening to him calmly.
"If I could, I would take back those words," he rasped out. "Even though they were true..."
CHAPTER TWO
Eighteen Months Ago
"The only way I can move forward is when I face my past."
Ajay was at a gym, lifting weights.
It was very quiet, owing to the fact that it was an ungodly hour in the morning.
His eyes took in the unfamiliar place that was a good one hour away from his home. It was his first time here. Only because he didn't really see the need to exercise outside his perfectly functioning gym at his apartments.
But he wasn't here for the exercise. He was here—for her.
Sia.
Birth name, Dharini.
Twenty four years old and the sole heiress to Blush Enterprises Ltd.
And also his long time obsession.
He had been tracking her movements for a while. Fifteen years to be exact. Long enough for him to know most aspects of her life.
He had tracked her through her social media accounts, her work email, her personal email, and also through some of the camera footage at her Boston home and office.
He knew it was illegal to be cyber-stalking her that way. He had gotten into trouble with the law as a teen when he had hacked into a popular social media server, only to track her movements in the accounts. But luckily, he was let go with a warning due to his age, and also due to the Colonel's contacts.
But that hadn't stopped him. It only made him think of smarter ways to hack into systems without getting caught. And he had been succeeding so far.
He wasn't proud of it. And whenever he pushed the limits by breaking into private networks, Harsha had begged him repeatedly to give up on his obsession.
"Jay, please," said Harsha."Stop! Why are you so determined to ruin your life?"
"I can't Harsha. I have to know how the girl who had ruined my life is faring. I have to know whether she is happy, while I lost the most important person in my life because of her."
In his mind, it was a strong enough reason to drive him into the darkness. But Harsha thought otherwise.
"She was a small child when she told that lie, Jay. You need to get over it. And her. You can't take any risks like the last time. My father might not be able to get you out of jail again."
"I know all that," Ajay replied, feeling torn and helpless as always when it came to her. "Look at her," he said, pointing at the screen that displayed a girl's picture at a party with a drink in her hands and white powder coating her nose. "Unlike my mother, that girl is still alive. She has everything handed to her. And what is she doing with her life? Just drinking and doing drugs. How can I eve
r forgive someone like her?" he asked.
With arguments like that, Harsha couldn't stop him from continuing to follow Sia's life.
Years passed, and he still kept tracking her movements. And with each year, his sickness and obsession towards her only grew further. Until it was put to a stop when she turned her life around. That was three years ago.
Suddenly, there were no pictures of alcohol or drugs filled parties. And suddenly she was working at her mother's company and getting appreciation emails and awards.
He felt cheated. He had wanted her to continue in the path of destruction, until she felt helpless and desolate, and maybe until she eventually took her own life.
Just like his mother had.
But that new phase of Sia's life wasn't a temporary one. It continued long enough, until his feelings towards her slowly morphed into something complicated. They were a combination of admiration and resentment.
She had become his daydream and his nightmare.
She had become his fantasy and his darkest desire.
But no matter what, his obsession remained constant. And now, the object of his obsession was close.
A month ago, when he had found out that Sia was going to come back to India, he knew that he had to see her. It would be the first time he'd be seeing her in person as an adult. The last time they had met, was when they were children, and her presence had barely registered in his mind.
Continuing to lift the heavy weights, he looked towards the second level of the gym, where he knew Sia would be practicing kick boxing.
The current gym specialized in it. And it was one thing Sia did religiously most of the days. She had begun to learn various self-defense techniques since she was thirteen.
He knew she would want to practice kickboxing even though she was extremely busy during most of the day. And so, he had 'suggested' the gym the night before on her phone browser results.