Twisted flames, p.1
Twisted Flames, page 1
TWISTED FLAMES
by
MV Kasi
Twisted Flames
All rights reserved
Copyright © 2023 by M.V. 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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
She stood still as his eyes fell on her. He saw the knife she held but didn’t stop. He came closer until he was barely any distance from her.
Silence prevailed, along with heavy, tensed awareness.
She tightened the fingers around the knife while she looked up at him. “We may be married. But if you touch me, I will slit your throat.”
His eyes flashed darkly. “Don’t threaten me,” he said softly.
“There isn’t a mere threat. I will kill you if you touch me.”
He watched her with a cold smile on his handsome face. “My dear wife, then you shouldn’t have tricked me and become my bride.”
She tensed at his words and gripped the knife tightly in her hand before raising it.
PROLOGUE
Singoor desert,
India
“There’s a storm coming!”
Men in different colored turbans and women with colorful veils that covered hair and a part of their faces scrambled around to seek shelter in the nearby building of a small local market.
Rishab Thakvar looked up at the sky that was a clear blue. But at a distance, he could see the sky turning brown, which was the swirling sand from the desert.
“It’s a sandstorm, sir,” said a nearby vendor whom Rishab had spoken to earlier. “Please go inside the building until it passes.”
Rishab knew the desert was prone to sandstorms. There was a huge sandstorm two days ago that lasted for nearly a day. He had been in the city at that time, but he had heard of it.
He hoped it wasn’t going to be that long.
Just when he wondered if he should take a chance and get into his SUV and try to head back home, his eyes fell on an old woman who was struggling to pack her goods on a small cart. He went to her.
“Let me help you,” he said before holding the ends of the large bright-colored cloth on top of which were handmade bangles and other accessories. He tied the ends of the cloth into a knot.
Holding the large bag, he led the old woman towards the old building where the rest of the people from the market were taking shelter. There were camels outside, and people covered the faces of the animals.
Finding a spot in the middle of the shelter, which was an old building, he placed the bag on the floor.
“God bless you, my son,” the old woman said gratefully.
He nodded with a small smile.
“Let me gift you some bangles that you can give your wife, sir,” she said, opening the knot on the cloth bag.
“Thank you, but it’s not required. I’m not married.”
The old woman looked at him for a long moment.
“A handsome man like you would surely have a special woman.”
Rishab had no special woman. He only dated casually, and he ensured right at the beginning that the women knew of that fact. At twenty-seven, he had no intention of getting married or being in a relationship.
“Take these gifts, sir, and you will surely get married within no time.” The old woman pulled out a few bangles and accessories from the cloth bag.
Rishab was amused. “I don’t want a wife, but I’ll take these.”
He planned to give them as gifts to his mother and sister, who preferred handmade trinkets to expensive jewelry.
The old woman nodded and took out more bangles and accessories. “These are from different clans in Singoor, sir,” she explained while packing the bangles and other accessories carefully in a small, colorful cloth bag.
“Do you go to these clans to purchase the goods?” he asked.
She shook her head. “My husband and I used to go until thirty years ago, but now, since there is unrest, the clans ship the goods to the nearby markets. My grandson helps me, but he’s now at the school. His school is far away. It’s in the Thakvar province.”
“I see.”
Rishab knew the old woman was talking about the unrest that began in the region when a statue of a goddess was stolen from the Singoor temple. Since then, a lot of people have left the region or stayed in confined regions within the desert without regular communication with other clans.
“Here are your things, sir.” The woman closed the small bag securely.
“Thank you.”
He took out his wallet and gave her cash.
The old woman shook her head. “But these are gifts to you, sir. There’s no need to pay.”
“This is for your grandson.”
The woman hesitated a moment before taking the money. “Thank you, sir.”
Rishab nodded.
The place began to get crowded as people took shelter from the sandstorm. Holding the small colorful bag in his hand, he maneuvered out of the crowd and went to the back of the building. He stood under the shade, but fine sand blew around him. The sky had completely turned brown with no visible blue.
Reaching for his pocket, he took out his satellite phone.
“Sam, I’m sending my location. Can you check how long the sandstorm will last here?”
There was a pause. “Sure, Mr. Thakvar.”
Rishab knew his security head wasn’t too happy about his boss getting stuck in a sandstorm. Along with that, the Singoor desert was considered to be dangerous to outsiders.
Many outsiders, who were mostly businessmen and a few tourists, were often found with their throats slit and their bodies decomposing in abandoned vehicles.
Rishab wasn’t too concerned about his safety. He was used to venturing on his own in many dangerous places across the world. He often chose to be hands-on and learn as much as he could about a place to determine the viability of doing business. That’s how he and his brothers were able to set up a successful mining and manufacturing corporation spread across many parts of the world.
But he wasn’t at the Singoor desert for business. He was there on a personal mission, and it was important for him to learn as much as he could about the history of the place and the locals.
Although it was his first visit to Singoor, he wasn’t entirely an outsider. His father and several generations of his father’s family belonged to a prominent clan from the Singoor desert. But until recently, his father had kept the existence of his children a secret. Rishab was yet to be known by the people of Singoor as one of the heirs of the Thakvar clan.
“Sir, the storm is intense but will last only for another thirty minutes. I’ll be sending a helicopter to the location behind the market building to pick you up in a while.”
“No, that’s not needed. I’ll head back to the Thakvar mansion in the SUV. Just ensure the team is continuing with the search in other markets.”
“Sure, sir.”
Rishab was at the market for an important purpose. He was searching for clues of a particular businessman. A man known as Tantra. Although that man operated from outside Singoor, there were definitely minions within the Singoor desert who were doing Tantra’s dirty job for him.
There had been multiple attacks on Rishab’s older brother in the last three months. The attacks happened in a manner that implicated a particular Singoor desert clan named Kabali.
However, the Kabalis were known to be savages and barely had the resources to plan an assassination in Africa, where the first attack had happened. The second attack was made in Singoor, but it was proven that the attackers were not from the Kabali clan and had deliberately dressed as them.
“I’ll check with you later when the sandstorm passes,” he said before ending the call.
He continued to wait outside.
While he looked at the sandstorm, he saw a small group of riders coming through the swirling sand. They were on horses, which was the mode of travel for the Kabali clan.
He turned alert. He was about to reach for his concealed gun when he noticed that the riders were not wearing black-colored clothes, which were the color of the Kabali clan. Instead, the riders were wearing sapphire blue-colored riding robes.
They were from some other clan and most likely seeking shelter from the sandstorm.
The people of Singoor were dressed similarly but with subtle differences that indicated their clan. Men wore turbans in different colors, and most women covered their hair and a part of their faces using different colored veils. And women whose faces weren’t covered had distinct patterned dots.
He had yet to familiarize himself with the clan colors and distinct markings.
The small group got down from their horses. But they didn’t run to the shelter right away. They covered the horses’ heads with blankets before coming towards the shelter.
Although they were definitely from Singoor, they looked different from the rest of the people in the market. The riding robes were of a more expensive material.
There were four men, three of them were tall, and the one standing behind in the middle was of shorter height. They didn’t go inside the building and stood opposite him under the shelter.
The four tall men assessed him while the shorter one in the middle looked towards the storm. It was only when he took a closer look he realized that the shorter one was actually a woman.
He couldn’t see her entire face as the top of her head and lower half of her face were covered by a shiny blue cloth matching the robe. But he could see neatly shaped eyebrows and the black dots at the center of the forehead and around the corners of the eyes, similar to most Singoor women.
The woman must have sensed his gaze because she turned her head and looked right at him.
Her kohl-rimmed eyes were dark and intent during the brief gaze. But a moment later, she looked away to give out a soft order to the man next to her.
The man bowed his head deferentially in response.
The men weren’t the woman’s brothers or related to her. Their body language indicated they were her bodyguards or people who worked for her. She was definitely someone who held an authoritative position in a clan from the Singoor desert.
A strange curiosity grew inside him to know how she looked and find out what clan she belonged to.
While he watched, the storm intensified, and the wind picked up even more in speed. The riding robe covering the woman’s head and lower face blew aside, revealing her entire face.
She had skin in the color of wild honey, high cheekbones, a small nose with a diamond stud and lush lips. The patterned dots on her face enhanced her features.
Fuck.
She was gorgeous.
Sand blew on his face, but he didn’t care. He stared at the exotically beautiful woman who was utterly captivating.
With a small frown, the woman pulled the cloth and covered her hair and lower face once again. But even though her face was covered, her exotic beauty was branded into his memory.
Sensing his gaze, she looked towards him again.
She caught him watching her. But this time, she didn’t dismiss his presence. Instead, her eyes slowly swept over him.
He saw her pause for a long moment on the brightly colored bag he held. When her eyes met with his again, there was a flash of something. She looked at his face closely then.
Was she trying to guess if the bag holding bangles and accessories indicated he had a wife?
His mouth twisted into a smile at her blatant staring, but she didn’t return the smile or even look embarrassed. She continued to watch him.
A thrill passed through him, which was shocking and a bit embarrassing. It took a lot more effort from many beautiful women to catch his attention. A mere glance from a woman had never thrilled him.
He didn’t know how long they held eyes, but soon, people from inside the building began to come out as the sandstorm had passed.
The beautiful woman looked away and said something to the men next to her, and they all nodded before following her outside. She went towards her horse and pulled away the blanket covered with sand before climbing on top with a smooth move. Then, throwing him one last sweeping look, she turned her white horse and rode away along with her men.
A strange disappointment pierced him as he watched his desert rose leave.
Fuck.
He let out a soft laugh at his fanciful thinking and shook his head at the absurd, smitten feeling he felt towards a woman who probably had absolutely nothing in common with him.
His preference for women ran towards modern jet-setting socialites, not a horse-riding woman from a desert clan.
Shaking his head again, he headed towards his SUV.
***
“We have covered three markets successfully today, Mr. Thakvar. Eight people seem viable as our contacts. They will pass on information about any suspicious activity.”
Rishab was heading back to the Thakvar mansion. He had lost time due to the sandstorm, but he hoped to catch up the lost time using an alternate route. Most of the narrow roads were covered by the sand, but the four-wheel drive made it easier to wade through the sand.
“Good,” he replied. “I will be leaving tomorrow, but the pace should remain the same. Gather as much information as possible about the clans.”
Rishab was flying out of Singoor the next day as he was taking his father to San Francisco.
“Yes, sir.”
“The focus should be on the West and South side clans—” Rishab broke off when he saw something in the sideview mirror.
Rishab frowned, trying to figure out if it was a vehicle at a distance behind him. The alternate route he was taking would not be accessed by regular vehicles unless they were four-wheel drives.
A moment later, he saw a flash of blue. He realized they were horse riders wearing blue robes, and they were catching up quickly as the animals could navigate the sand quicker than a vehicle.
His mouth twisted when he recognized the rider in the front. It was his desert rose. The beautiful woman he had seen earlier in the market during the sandstorm. Although her hair and lower face were covered, he knew it was her.
“Sir? Is everything okay?” the security head asked at the long pause.
“Yes, I’m fine. I’ll call you later tonight.”
With that, he ended the call.
Barely a few moments later, the woman caught up with the SUV and rode alongside him.
Their eyes met, and once again, he felt a jolt of thrill and excitement racing through him. The kohl-rimmed eyes on the exotically beautiful face utterly captivated him again.
While she rode, he could see the jewelry on her upper arm. It was an armband shaped like a coiled snake about to strike. He guessed it to be the insignia of her clan. Going by the gold jewelry and clothes, her clan must be one of the prominent ones in Singoor.
He was leaving the next day, but he badly wanted to pursue the woman. He wanted to speak to her and know more about her. Just when he wondered if he should signal her to stop because he wanted to talk to her, she rode past him.
He shook his head.
Stop getting distracted.
She may be beautiful and rides a horse like a boss, but there were a shit ton of important things he needed to do before obsessing about a woman who was a stranger to him.
The rest of the riders remained behind the SUV while the beautiful woman rode way ahead. He kept his eyes in the front and saw that she had stopped at a far distance and was facing him. She was right on his path as though waiting for him.
She is bold.
It made her all the more captivating because he preferred boldness in a woman rather than meekness. He always went for women who knew what they wanted.
He continued to drive, keeping his eyes on her. He decided to talk to her.
As he neared, he watched as she pushed back the hood of her riding robe, revealing her hair and face. Just when he thought she was doing it to entice him, she reached for something from her back.
He couldn’t figure out what she held until she pulled out something else and then aimed it towards him.
