Page 78 of The Unwanted Husband
“Okay,” her voice was barely a whisper.
A few minutes into the hike, the landscape changed into thick shrubbery and they started to gain an elevation. She remained silent as she followed the overgrown path. It was indeed secluded and it made her wonder who else lived on the island.
“Who else lives on the island?”
“No one. It’s mine.” He didn’t stop walking or stop to look at her.
But she stopped. “What? What do you mean byyours?”
He turned to look at her, an amused smile on his face as he looked at her. “I wasn’t kidding. It’s mine.”
She scrunched her nose. “No one gets to be here?”
“Just my wife and children.”
His words made her feel a tug at her stomach. Just the thought of him being with another woman made her stomach queasy. All the more reason to not divorce him until the kids were older.
Was that the only reason?
Just as she was going to answer him with a follow up question, she heard some noise in the shrubbery. “Did you hear that?”
“What?” He looked around. “There is no one here. It is against the law for anyone but you and I to be here now. Only the staff comes in regularly when I’m not here to maintain the cabin and stock up on some food.
Isha’s heart was racing, her hackles up and a bad feeling ran up her spine. “We should call for help.”
“Isha, let’s go. There is no one here.”
“Ashok, you don’t understand.” Her breath was coming fast.
His expression shifted as he walked back toward her. “What is it?”
She shook her head stepping in closer like she didn’t want anyone to hear. “I filed a case against Paramesh Saini. That man will do anything to not have any legal proceedings.” She leaned even closer. “I hired a private investigator and–”
Her voice was lost in a blood-curdling shriek that tore through the evening air when all of a sudden, half a dozen shadowy figures burst through the dense undergrowth like predators emerging from their lair. The attackers were dressed in camouflage uniforms, their faces obscured by tactical masks,and Ashok immediately threw himself in front of her as they closed in with deadly intensity.
The attackers descended upon Ashok like a pack of wolves while two of them seized Isha’s arms with an iron grip.
“Let me go!” she screamed, her voice raw with terror and anger.
Panic clawed at her throat as her screams for help echoed through the wilderness, but the sound seemed to dissolve into the oppressive greenery around them. She watched in stunned awe as Ashok became a force of nature, his towering frame moving with lethal grace as he systematically dismantled his assailants. His fists connected with bone-crushing impacts, sending bodies crashing to the ground and sprawling across the forest floor, groaning in pain.
But even as he dominated the fight, she could see the exhaustion beginning to weigh on him. One of her captors abandoned his post to join the desperate assault on Ashok, leaving only one guard whose grip had loosened with the uncertainty.
This was her moment.
With lightning-quick thinking, she spotted a thick branch at her feet. With her captor in her peripheral view, in one fluid motion, she stomped down hard on their instep, causing him to howl and release her. She ran to quickly snatch up the branch and swung it with all her strength at the back of the nearest attacker who was restricting Ashok’s movement from behind.
The sudden impact sent the man stumbling forward, as Ashok drove a punch into the man’s chest. A few of the attackers lay on the ground, and she could not stand in the sidelines worried about the attackers possibly bringing more men for support.
“Isha, go!” Ashok shouted as he pushed one of the attackers toward a tree trunk. “Take the boat and get out of here.”
It should have been the natural thing to do.Self-preservation.
She scanned the ground frantically, and started to run down the path toward the boat. She knew she had to do what it took to be safe, for the kids’ sake. She didn’t need to go far. Just a few feet and she picked up two fistfuls of sand and hid her hands behind her.
She ran back to where Ashok was trying to free himself from the men. They had all managed to hold him against a tree.
“Let him go,” she shouted as she walked back toward him. “Paramesh Saini is a coward to keep doing this. It’s not him you want; it’s me. Come get me.”
