Chapter 48

Surprise 🫢 An Early Update 🎉

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The bucket of salt water hit Ashvik like a physical weight, jolting his heart into a frantic, agonizing rhythm. The brine seeped into the fresh brand on his side and the jagged cuts on his back, creating a stinging fire that made his vision swim in red and black spots.

“Wake up, little Goenka,” Petrov sneered, grabbing a handful of Ashvik’s hair and yanking his head back. “The Romano ‘s and your brothers are tearing through the city, but they’re too late. You’re already broken.”

Ashvik could barely breathe. His leg hung at a sickening angle from the shattered shin bone, and his breath came in shallow, wheezing hitches. “They… they’ll find me,” he whispered, his voice a mere ghost of its former self.

In between Avery left from there
, she was going to the Room Upstairs…. Leaving Ashvik with the Monster.The same Avery Ashvik has shared his food and Laughter with .

“Let them,” Petrov hissed. He walked over to a table and picked up a long, thin needle-the kind used for nerve conduction tests, but far more primitive. “Let them find a shell. Let them find the evidence of their own failure.”

He took the needle and drove it slowly into the space beneath Ashvik’s collarbone, searching for a nerve cluster. Ashvik’s entire left arm exploded in a sensation of electric fire and ice. His fingers cramped into a claw, and he sobbed, his head thrashing against the cold chains.

“Your stepfather took my brothers soul,” Petrov growled, his face twisting with a decade of suppressed rage. “And your brothers took his son . You? You are just the waste left behind.”

Petrov stepped away and signaled two guards. They unhooked the chains from the ceiling, but didn’t let him down gently. Ashvik collapsed onto the concrete floor, his broken leg buckling under him. He shrieked as the bone shifted, grinding against muscle and nerve. Before he could even catch his breath, they dragged him toward a large, rusted metal tank in the corner of the room, filled with freezing, oily water.

“Let’s see how much of that Goenka stubbornness you really have,” Petrov said.

The guards grabbed Ashvik by his hair and his blood-stained waistband, hoisting him up and plunging his head into the freezing water.

Ashvik panicked. He tried to kick, but his broken leg sent shocks of paralysis through him. He clawed at the sides of the tank with his mangled fingers, his lungs screaming for air. Just as he felt his consciousness fading into the cold gray, they jerked him out.

He coughed violently, vomiting water and bile onto the floor.

“Please…” he choked out, gasping for air. “I saved… I saved Ansh… I did… what was right…”

“You did what was weak!” Petrov kicked Ashvik in his fractured ribs, the sound of breaking bone echoing in the small room.

Ashvik curled into a ball as much as the shackles would allow, his body shivering uncontrollably from the onset of hypothermia and shock. He was losing too much blood. The floor beneath him was a dark, spreading pool of his own life.

Suddenly, the heavy steel door at the top of the stairs blew off its hinges with a deafening roar. The sound of rapid gunfire followed, screaming through the vents.

Petrov’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected them to bypass the perimeter so quickly. He looked down at the mangled, half-dead boy on the floor.

“It seems your brothers are here,” Petrov whispered, pulling a small, silver pistol from his waistband. “But they’re only going to find a corpse.”

He aimed the gun at Ashvik’s chest. Ashvik looked up, his eyes dull and glazed, too tired to even be afraid anymore. He closed his eyes, thinking of Abhimanyu’s stern face, Armaan’s strength, and Ansh’s laugh.

*I’m sorry I couldn’t come home,* he thought.

A split second before Petrov could pull the trigger, the basement wall exploded in a cloud of dust and concrete. A flashbang detonated, blinding everyone in the room. Through the smoke, a silhouette moved with the speed of a predator.

*Crack. Crack.*

Two bullets hit Petrov-one in the shoulder, one in the hand, sending his gun skittering across the floor.

“Touch him again,” a voice boomed-a voice shaking with a terrifying, murderous grief. It was Abhimanyu.

Behind him, Sebastian and a pale, barely-standing Ansh rushed in. Ansh saw the state of his little brother-the blood, the bone, the brands-and fell to his knees, a raw scream of “ASHVIK!” tearing from his throat.

Ashvik didn’t move. He lay in the middle of the carnage, a broken bird in a gold-leafed cage, finally surrendering to the darkness just as his brothers reached for him.

Abhimanyu’s eyes were wild, a storm of fury and anguish behind them. He barely spared Petrov a second glance as he moved toward Ashvik’s crumpled form, his hands shaking as they reached for his brother’s limp body.
“Stay with me, little brother,” he whispered hoarsely, brushing Ashvik’s blood-matted hair from his face. The warmth of his brother’s skin was still there, but the life-the spark-was gone.
Ansh was still kneeling on the floor, his own body trembling, his breath coming in shallow, desperate gasps as his hands hovered over Ashvik’s mangled frame. He looked at Abhimanyu, his voice breaking, raw with sorrow. “He’s… he’s gone, Bhai. I-I can’t feel his heartbeat.”
“He’s not gone,” Abhimanyu growled, his fingers pressing into Ashvik’s neck, the pulse weak but there, fluttering like a dying bird. “He’s still here. We’re not too late. Not yet.”
Sebastian stood at the door, his gun still raised, eyes scanning for any signs of movement, any more threats. Petrov lay twitching on the ground, his shoulder and hand wounded, but he wasn’t dead. Not yet.
Ansh’s gaze flicked to Abhimanyu, his expression wild. “Help him! Help him!” he begged, his voice cracking. “He’s bleeding out-“
“I know,” Abhimanyu cut in, his voice sharp and steady. “I’m not a doctor, but I can hold him steady.” He crossed the room quickly, kneeling beside Ashvik, a deep frown pulling at his brow as he examined the worst of the wounds. “Sebastian, I need you to hold him still. Ansh, stay close to him. We’re going to get him out of here. We can’t stay. Not with Petrov still breathing.”
Sebastian nodded tightly, already pulling Ashvik’s frail, bloodied body into his arms, cradling him like a child, his expression fierce but stricken with helplessness. “What do we do?” His voice was low, ragged. “Tell me, Abhimanyu bhai . What do we do to save him?”
Ansh scanned the room quickly, his gaze falling to the stack of crates against the far wall. He reached for a torn piece of cloth and pressed it to Ashvik’s side wound, applying as much pressure as he dared. “He’s losing blood fast. We need to staunch the bleeding, get him stabilized, and then move him. It’s the only way he’s going to make it out of here alive.”
“You’re not taking him anywhere,” Petrov’s voice rasped from the floor. His eyes were full of venom and hatred, but there was a tremor in his voice. “You think you can just walk out of here, like I wasn’t prepared? Like I didn’t make sure you’d all die… here?”
Sebastian looked at him, his expression hollowed by grief, and then his gaze flicked to the gun still lying just out of Petrov’s reach. He stood up slowly, his knees shaking, but there was a quiet, fierce determination in the way he moved now. He took a few steps forward, picking up the gun without hesitation, and aimed it at Petrov’s chest.
“Not today, I lost my one brother because of you not again”

Sebastian said, his voice steady despite the chaos in his mind. “We’re not done yet. You-you’re done.”
Petrov’s smile was twisted, but there was no arrogance left in it. He could barely raise his head. “You think you’re any different than me? You’re just , like your father. Weak. You’re all weak. It won’t stop here.”
Abhimanyu who was now holding Ashvik his grip tightened around Ashvik, and he turned his head to meet Sebastian’s gaze. There was a brief, silent exchange between them-understanding, resolve. The gun was the final answer.
“Put him down, Sebastian,” Abhimanyu said quietly, his voice thick with an emotion he couldn’t contain. “We’ve got him now.”
Sebastian didn’t respond. He pulled the trigger, and the sound rang out sharp and final, echoing in the steel walls of the room. Petrov didn’t make another sound. His body went limp, his head slumping to the floor, lifeless.
With a grim look, Sebastian slowly lowered the gun, but his gaze remained hard. “Let’s get out of here.”
Abhimanyu nodded. “Get ready to move him, Sebastian, Ansh . We need to get him to a doctor, fast , tell others to leave .”

Sebastian,Ansh and Abhimanyu were here meanwhile Dante and Xander were fighting people outside the basement.. and Luca was with the girls back in safe house..

Sebastian was already applying pressure to the wounds, his movements quick and focused. “We’ll need to patch him up on the move,” he said. “There’s a hospital nearby, but it’s a long shot. I can’t guarantee anything, but I can guarantee that we’re not leaving him here.”
“We’re not leaving him, never” Abhimanyu repeated softly, his voice raw with emotion. He glanced down at Ashvik, his brother’s blood soaking his clothes. “We’ll get you through this, Ashvik. We will.”
But as they moved Ashvik’s broken body, the harsh reality settled in-the journey wasn’t just about saving him. It was about revenge. About making sure Petrov’s death wasn’t in vain. About ending the cycle of violence that had been forced on them. And no matter what it took, no matter the price, Abhimanyu and Ansh weren’t going to stop until the blood of their family had been avenged.
But, for now, all that mattered was Ashvik-his life, his breath, his future.
And Abhimanyu wasn’t about to let it slip away.

To be continued 🔚