Both the girls looked in the direction of the voice and saw a man standing on the staircase. He stood casually but Sneha could easily read his expression. He was concerned...for his sister. It was easy for her to recognize this tall, well-built and cold-faced man.

Viraj Khatri

She noticed his attire. He was wearing a formal suit and had his hair properly done. He was holding his phone in one hand and in the other hand, he held a gun.

A gun. A real gun. Sneha couldn't help but panic. Would he kill her...for saving his sister, she wondered.

When he came downstairs and stood in front of them, she looked at him again. He was caressing his sister's head in a brotherly manner with a concern-filled gaze. He took out his blazer and covered his sister with it as he noticed her tattered top.

"You gave me a heart attack today." He said as he hugged his sister.

"Bhai, I couldn't find the driver in the parking area. Then the strange men followed me. In fear, I ran away as fast as I could. But, then..." Ananya started talking in a slow voice, like an obedient child. Sneha would never have thought that the bold girl in college was like this at home!

"Shh! It's okay. I am here. I won't punish you this time." He said in his usual strict tone.

Turning to his man, he gave an order.

"Gaurav, I need you to find her driver and kill him on the spot after hearing his reasons. No one messes with my sister's safety." Viraj ordered in his cold tone.

Sneha stood like a rock.

Punish? Kill? These words revolved in her mind. This guy was crazy! She concluded.

Finally, he turned towards the other girl in the room who was held firmly by two guards.

"Who is she?" He asked. Sneha looked up at him to introduce herself but Ananya spoke before her.

"Bhai, she is Sneha. She saved me today from those men. And, Sneha, this is my brother. Viraj." Ananya introduced them.

Sneha nodded her head once in acknowledgement. For a second, she was confused to say 'hi' or 'namaste' because Ananya's brother did look to be about 30 something. So, she kept quiet.

Viraj walked towards Sneha and stood in front of her. She took a deep breath as his cologne hit her nose. She never had thought that she would stand this close to the mafia leader of Mumbai...without even committing a crime. She only stared at the floor, unable to look at him in the eye.

"What's your name?" He asked.

Sneha looked up to see if he was crazy. Didn't his sister just tell him her name?

"Sneha." She still answered, a little intimidated by his height. She barely reached his shoulders.

"Full name." He added, a little irritated.

"Sneha Bohra." She answered trying to appear confident. He was playing with his gun over his fingers and that scared her too.

"Where do you live?" He asked.

This time she looked at him head-on. Was he serious? Why is he interested in knowing where she stayed? She didn't want to tell him the answer because...well he was a criminal!

He quirked his brows when she didn't answer him and only stared at him.

She gulped and looked at Ananya, in hope of some help.

"Bhai." Ananya called for her brother.

"Go to your room, Ananya. Sleep. It's already late. You have college tomorrow." He ordered.

"Yes, bhai! But, she also has to go to college. She is my classmate. And it is quite late too. She needs to go home as well. Her family would be worrying about her." Ananya added cautiously. She knew how her brother's anger was.

Viraj only gave her a sideways glance.

"Should I repeat myself, Ananya?" He asked in a tone that chilled Sneha to bones.

"S.sorry, bhai." Ananya said immediately. She threw an apologetic glance at Sneha and hesitantly walked towards the stairs. However, she managed to signal her to be quiet as much as possible by keeping her finger on her lips. Sneha understood her signal. If she wanted to survive tonight, she will have to be careful with her mouth.

"Now, your address." He asked.

"Plot 23, sector 2, Vijay Nagar." She answered hesitantly.

"Gaurav, get me the list of the people who are living in this address and match if she actually lives there. If yes, since when. Now." Viraj told his man. She concluded that Gaurav must be his assistant or something because all of his orders were given directly to him.

"Shiv, bring the lie detector here." He asked another man. She was being confused now. What was happening?

"What are your possessions right now?" He asked further.

"Huh?" She asked, not understanding his question.

"Possessions. What do you have right now?" He asked again with narrowed brows.

"Umm...aaa...This bag." She answered.

"That's it?" He asked.

"Yes."

"No, boss. She also has her cycle. It is parked outside." The guard on her right said.

"Why didn't you tell me about the cycle?" He asked.

"I...didn't think...it was important." She answered truthfully with confused eyes.

He only glared at her for a few seconds.

"Ask one of the men to search her cycle properly. See if she is hiding anything there." He asked someone.

"I...am not hiding anything." She said slowly.

"Did I ask you?" He asked her in a serious tone. She looked at him slowly but on seeing his cold eyes, she lowered them quickly and shook her head negatively.

He walked backwards and sat on the sofa. She merely looked at him.

"Now, Sneha. You might be honest here. But, we don't take anything lightly. I need to make sure that you don't mean any harm to my sister. So, I will ask you few questions and you have to answer them truthfully. If you lie and the lie detector senses it, you'd be in real trouble." He said as he crossed his legs and sat like a king. She wanted to roll her eyes.

"Lie detectors are not 100% correct." She pointed out.

"Mine is." That was his only reply. Meanwhile, his men arranged the machine in front of their leader.

"Come and sit here." He patted the spot next to him. She gulped again and walked near him.

"Would you like to have some drinks before we start?" He asked pointing at the bottles on the table.

"No." She replied quickly.

"Drinks might help you relax." He added, a little amused by her reaction. She wasn't even looking at him...as if she was repelled by him.

"I don't drink, thank you." She answered.

"Okay!" He said and gestured his man to set up the device.

"Boss, there are 4 people currently living at this address. Shankar Bohra, Meena Bohra, Sneha Bohra and Priya Bohra. And her parents have been here for 30 years." Gaurav said as he stood next to him. She was amazed by how he got the information at such short notice. It hadn't been 5 minutes. Does he have the electoral list or what? She wondered.

Viraj nodded.

"Search her bag. If she is carrying her phone, search it thoroughly." He said.

Sneha panicked. Her bag? It was clearly intruding on her privacy.

"Why...my bag?" She asked hesitantly.

"Why? Are you hiding something there?" Viraj asked.

She shook her head negatively and gave it to Gaurav. Gaurav took the bag and went inside a room with 3 other men following him. What are they going to do with her stuff? She wondered. She hoped they wouldn't steal anything.

"I was just trying to help Ananya. I saw her in trouble, so I helped her." She finally explained herself.

Viraj looked at her, surprised.

"I am sure you would have. But, with my sister, I can't take any risk. You might be sent by my rivals to get information from my sister. You might have taken admission in the same college as my sister's in order to get close to her to eventually mess with me! I need to be sure." He said.

She sighed. What sort of nonsensical conclusion was this?

"Today is the first day when I have talked to Ananya. If I had other intention, why would I wait for one and a half years?" She asked.

He ignored her question and asked for her hand. She reluctantly gave it to him. She was glad that he did not touch her hand in any inappropriate way. He touched only wherever was necessary.

He applied something in her fingers and then connected the cords. After the set-up was ready, he began shooting his questions.

"Let's begin with a very easy question. Just for calibrating purpose." He said as he focused on the machine. She too kept her gaze at the instrument.

"What is your name?" He asked. She slowly looked at him in confusion. But, when he raised his brows, she realized that he was being serious.

"Sneha Bohra." She answered nonetheless. The needle pointed at the green spot.

"Were you following my sister today?" He asked.

"No."

Green.

"Why did you help my sister?"

"She was in trouble. The three men were clearly going to...assault her."

Green.

"Why did you help her when you could have been in trouble yourself?"

"Well, firstly I couldn't leave a girl like this when I could have saved her. Secondly, I am good at self-defence, so, I was confident of saving her. Thirdly, I had pepper spray to shoo away them. Oh my god! My pepper spray! I left it on the road!" She smacked her head as she realized the loss of the resource.

Green.

Viraj ignored her reaction over something as irrelevant as a spray. However, for her, it was a loss of a new bottle worth 350 bucks.

"Do you work for my rivals?"

"No! I just work in the library near the college. If it is owned by your rivals, then I am not sure."

Green.

"How much do you know about me?" He asked.

She looked at him again.

"Nothing much. Only that, your full name is Viraj Khatri and that you are Ananya's elder brother...And..."

"And?"

She hesitated to answer.

"Umm...You are in illegal businesses? But, it's what I have heard. I don't know for sure." She added quickly.

Green.

He only smirked at her answer. The girl was quite innocent.

"The entire state knows about me. So, relax. What do you know about my sister?"

"Ananya! Well, she is my classmate in the EVS lecture. She...bullies other students. She bunks a lot of lectures. She has two friends who are almost always with her... That's it." She said. He only nodded.

Green.

He then asked many more questions about her life, her friends even her relatives! It took a complete set of 30 minutes. Every time, it was a green signal.

The last question however took her off guard.

"How many boyfriends have you had?" He asked his final question to know her relationship history. He would interrogate her past and current boyfriends if required. Someone might use her as leverage. He thought.

However, she took the question in a completely different way.

"Wh.why is it important?" She asked slowly.

He raised his brows.

"Just answer."

"I don't have any." She answered reluctantly to which he couldn't help himself from smiling weakly.

Green.

"Okay." He removed the cords from her fingers and turned towards Gaurav who was waiting for his chance to speak and update him about her things.

"Yes, Gaurav?" He asked as he relaxed in his seat.

Sneha immediately stood up from the sofa and maintained a huge gap between them. This did not go unnoticed by him but he didn't comment.

"Found nothing here, boss. Just some college documents stating that she is a merit scholarship student in the college. So, it is highly impossible that she is being sponsored by anyone to spy on Ananya. I think she is innocent and we should award her for saving Ananya. Her phone has no relevant data. It is an old-style keypad phone and has no memory card. It also has no hidden chip to record anything. We searched thoroughly. Other things were the usual girls' stuff." Gaurav said and Sneha smiled in his direction. He was the first guy in this mansion to have spoken well about her.

Viraj saw her expression and his eyes automatically narrowed. Why was she smiling at Gaurav, he wondered. His suspicion grew even more.

"Well, then. I will have to check the last thing. Gaurav, check her if she is hiding anything in her clothes." Viraj said professionally as if checking a woman's clothes or body was a casual thing.

"What?" She asked completely shocked.

"Yes, boss." Gaurav came in front of her while she stepped away from him.

"Have...have you gone crazy? I am not letting any man touch me." She warned Gaurav and glanced at Viraj too.

Both men shared glances as another guard brought a small metal detector.

"The way you are resisting implies that you are indeed hiding something under your clothes. Put it out and we will not have to force you." Viraj said as he stood up.

"I am not hiding anything! I just saved your sister because she was in trouble. I didn't save her to get assaulted myself. I...I won't let any one of you touch me." She warned again while looking at every man in the room. Everyone was staring at her in curiosity.

Viraj looked at her body from head to toe. She felt uneasy. She wanted to go home.

"Please, bhaiya (an endearment for 'brother'). I am telling you the truth." She said a little softly to Viraj.

Viraj noticed how she referred to him as bhaiya (brother), but he didn't correct her.

"I will be quick." Gaurav said in a serious tone. He could see that she was innocent but in order to calm Viraj, he will have to do as ordered.

"No! If...If you want to check me, then please ask a woman to do so. I won't let any man come near me." She suggested.

"We don't keep women guards." Gaurav answered directly while Viraj merely stared at her resisting. He concluded that either she was guilty of hiding something or she was a virtuous woman.

He stepped closer to her and she looked at him warily. If the need arises, she will hit him to save herself. She told herself.

"Don't come closer. I am warning you. I will hit you so hard that you will see stars. I am ready to be checked but only by a woman and that too in an enclosed area. Not here...not in front of men." She said in a serious tone.

"You will...hit...me?" Viraj asked arrogantly with an amused expression. He didn't know women could be daring!

"I am a blue belt in karate. I won't hesitate to protect myself even if I have to die." She said seriously. One thing that she had been taught since childhood was to protect her virtue till death. This is why her father forcefully enrolled his daughters in self-defence classes since their teenage years.

Viraj nonetheless approached her. He bent to her level and looked at her in the eye.

"What if I say that I hold a black belt in karate and so do all the men in this room?" He asked with a playful smile.

She stared at him and gulped in fear before replying.

"I don't care." She almost whispered while looking here and there rapidly. He could see that she was scared. And, it amused him even more.

To play with her further, he brought his right hand slowly towards her face. But, before he could touch her, she slapped his hand away...hard.

Gaurav and everyone's eyes bulged outwards as they witnessed their leader being slapped.

Sneha's eyes filled up when she realized what she did. She was in deep trouble, she knew.