Bargains in the Dark
Episode -------44
Morning broke thin and grey over Kolkata, the rain easing to a reluctant drizzle.
In the back room of Vishram Cold Storage, Aria jolted awake, heartbeat still tangled in restless dreams. The ledger lay under her arm, pages slightly damp but safe.
Lina sat by the doorway, dark circles under her eyes, keeping watch.
Ayan paced the narrow space, each movement betraying the pain in his ribs.
---
A heavy knock rattled the door.
Bashir entered, coat damp, eyes darker than night.
His gaze swept over them, landing on the ledger in Aria's lap.
"I bring news," he rasped, voice low and bitter.
---
Ayan stilled. "Good or bad?"
"Both," Bashir muttered. "The judge overseeing Raian's case… Malik owns him now. Money. Promises. Fear. Doesn't matter — verdict's written before the trial begins."
---
Aria's chest tightened. "Then… there's nothing we can do?"
Bashir's eyes flickered. "Not nothing. But nothing clean."
Ayan's jaw tightened. "Meaning?"
"Meaning," Bashir rasped, "if you want to save your mafia prince, you'll have to stain your own hands."
---
Outside, grey clouds gathered again.
Aria's fingers curled tighter around the ledger, pages cutting into skin.
Is this what Raian meant? That loving him would cost everything?
---
Lina's voice, soft but steady, broke the silence. "What are you saying, Bashir?"
"I'm saying Malik holds the city by the throat," Bashir growled. "You want Raian out? Either bribe higher than Malik… or put a blade where it hurts him most."
---
Ayan's breath caught, gaze darkening. "Blood for blood."
"And you'd do it," Bashir muttered. "Question is — can she?"
---
All eyes turned to Aria.
Rain dripped through a crack overhead, cold against her wrist.
"I'm a doctor," she whispered. "I heal. I don't… destroy."
---
Bashir's stare was heavy, almost pitying. "Then run, girl. Hide. Let the city swallow him."
---
Aria shook her head, voice breaking. "I can't."
"Then choose quickly," Bashir warned. "Because Malik's men hunt even now. And Raian… won't last the week."
---
Far across the city, behind iron bars:
Raian was dragged from his cell, chains biting into bruised skin.
Two guards flanked him, faces carved from contempt.
They led him down damp corridors into a windowless room stinking of mildew.
---
Malik stood waiting.
Black coat immaculate, silver cufflinks catching the flicker of a dying bulb.
Eyes dark as midnight oil.
---
Raian stiffened, every muscle coiled tight.
"Still breathing," Malik drawled, voice soft as poison. "I expected chains to break you faster."
---
Raian's mouth twisted into a humorless smirk. "You overestimate iron."
"And you underestimate the price of defiance," Malik murmured.
---
The older man stepped closer, shadows etching cruelty deeper into his features.
"You killed Rajveer," he said, almost conversational. "And for what? To protect your little doctor?"
Raian's jaw clenched. "To stop him from spilling more blood."
---
Malik's laugh was low, bitter. "Blood is the business, boy. Did you forget?"
Raian's voice rasped, raw from nights without sleep. "No. I remembered too well."
---
Malik's eyes narrowed. "And now look at you. Chained, waiting to hang. And she? Do you truly think Aria can save you?"
Raian's chest tightened, but he kept silent.
---
Malik leaned closer, breath cold as winter. "You could still serve. Bend the knee, and she walks free."
Raian's heartbeat thundered. "And if I refuse?"
Malik's smile was cold as steel. "Then she dies before you do."
---
A breath hung heavy between them, thick with unsaid violence.
Raian forced himself to meet Malik's stare. "I'd rather die her enemy than live your dog."
---
Malik's hand closed around Raian's bruised jaw, squeezing until pain sparked white behind his eyes.
"Then die you shall," he hissed. "And pray she doesn't see what crawls from your corpse."
---
Back at the warehouse:
Ayan's voice broke the silence. "We can't buy the judge. Malik bleeds gold."
"Then we bleed him," Lina murmured, voice shaking but resolute.
---
Aria swallowed. "What do you mean?"
"Take what Malik values most," Bashir rasped. "A brother. An heir. His fortune. Or… his reputation."
---
Aria shook her head. "If we do that, we're no better."
Lina's eyes glistened. "Aria — he will kill Raian. And then come for us."
---
Rain drummed harder, like war drums on tin.
Ayan's hand closed over Aria's wrist, rough, trembling. "I won't force you," he rasped. "But decide. Because dawn brings Malik's knives."
---
Aria's breath trembled out.
She looked at her hands — healer's hands, scarred from years of saving lives.
Then at the ledger, ink smudged where her tears had fallen.
---
Raian trusted me. Even chained. Even damned.
She lifted her head, voice cracking but clear. "Then we fight."
---
Ayan exhaled, shoulders sagging with relief and dread. "Then we fight," he echoed.
Lina nodded, jaw tight. "Whatever it costs."
---
Bashir's stare turned calculating. "Then keep the ledger dry. When the hour comes, you'll need its fire."
---
In the prison:
Guards shoved Raian back into darkness, iron door slamming behind him.
Pain flared along bruised ribs; sweat cooled on broken skin.
Yet even through pain, one thought burned clearer than hate:
Hold on. She hasn't given up. Neither will I.
---
Night fell.
In the warehouse, Aria dipped her pen in black ink, copying names from the ledger by flickering candlelight.
Ayan kept watch, blade balanced on his knee.
Lina rested, head on folded arms, but her eyes stayed open.
---
Outside, thunder rolled again — closer this time.
The storm had not passed.
---
Teaser for Episode 45:
Bashir arranges a secret meeting with a journalist willing to risk everything. But Malik's men draw closer. In the prison, Raian braces for the price of defiance — and a memory that might yet break him.