The Devil's Harem

“Alex... Alex... Hey, wake up,” Jessica called out for Alex, who lay there beside the dumpster, out cold.

“C’mon, don’t do it to me now,” Jessica tried her best to lift him up, but she couldn’t move him as much as a foot. She tried, tried her level best, but she could do nothing in the end. Frustrated, she let go of his hands, and Alex ended up hitting his head on the wall. But Jessica did not have the energy to care about such a trivial matter. Tired, she also sat beside him cross-legged, musing over her life.

Everything that happened today had already taken a lot of toll on her, both physical and mental. In one day, just one day, she had an opportunity of meeting with Lord Yamaraj. Maybe the Lord was on leave, taking a stroll in his garden that he missed their appointment, leaving her soul for a later date. But she was grateful and hopeful that it should happen again.

The last few weeks have been nothing but a rollercoaster ride for her. She was pushed into a corner, bashed left and right. Being a target was nothing new to her or her family. She had been a target all these years. He has been used to living under this constant threat, confined and surrounded by tons of bodyguards.

During her college, boys avoided approaching her. Not that she wanted them to pursue her, but that made her college life dull. If not for the addition of Karen and Veronica to her life, she might have dropped out. Daniel also helped a bit, being a good family friend.

But when she had thought now that she was out of the family fold, there would be no one acting against her, the nightmare began. She met with a road accident about a month back.

.....

Jessica was on her way to Theation. Grabbing her coffee from her regular coffee shop, she had just gotten on the uncongested road, going around the city, when a truck came crashing into her car from behind, sending her to the side of the road.

Thank God her grandfather insisted on her using the modified custom made car that everyone in the family used. If not, she would have been nothing but a pile of meat.

Thanks to her grandfather, she ended up escaping with just a few scratches. Jessica had no idea how long she was out, but by the time she woke up, she was being carried into an ambulance while a nurse comforted her.

It took a couple of days for her to recuperate, and while she was there, the driver was caught as well. According to the police reports, the man was heavily on drugs when the police caught him, which they thought was possibly the reason behind the accident.

With the police investigation done and dusted at record speed, Jessica was willing to accept the incident as nothing more than an accident, and she was the unlucky one to be on the wrong end of it. But was baffled her was the news of the driver hanging himself in the cell he was being held. And if that was not enough, the officer on duty that night was found dead in the basement of his house by his son, shot dead at point-blank range. Both of the cases were closed as suicide.

What followed after that is known to everyone. Legal notices with copyright violations, plagiarism and others flooded the gates of Theation. The media camped outside their door. Their stocks crumbled down to record lows, and nothing was going her way.

Jessica had her doubts. She felt that the old hags were somehow involved in this matter. How? She did not know, but they were. And this became more apparent with how they reacted when trouble came knocking. These guys were the first ones to attack Jessica when she was low.

The old men pressured Jessica to resign as the chairman of the board of directors. But since she had the absolute majority of shares, they could not move the motion against her. But maybe they didn’t want that. What they were actually behind was money. The oldies demanded that Jessica compensated them for the loss, or they wouldn’t mind going public, defaming the company even more.

They tried to put the onus of the problem on Jessica, which they felt was the right thing to do. Helpless, Jessica could only buy a chunk of shares from them at higher prices than they were. She did not want to have another case to fight in the courts and malign the image of Theation any further. Jessica had to dig deep into her pockets to buy those shares, almost to the point of parting away with all her savings. She could have asked her grandfather for help, but she was too proud to do so. The only thing in her favour was that not all the board members were against her. However minuscule they were, she had a bit of support.

Filling up their pockets, the old men were very on cloud nine. All of them had gotten about three hundred percent return on their investment, which was better than they had expected, given the situation the company was in. But little did they know that this was the worst decision they had ever made.

Settling things with the greedy bunch, Jessica got back to handling the issues at hand. She, along with others, worked day and night, not caring about her health and braved the waves, coming on top. By the time things began to settle, what they considered to be the bane became a boon for the company.

All the commotion turned to nothing but free media promotion. Theation saw a rise in popularity, and it became a household name. The stocks saw the highest jump and skyrocketed. And with Theation, Jessica was also on high tide, sitting on piles of money. Her net worth quadrupled in a week, and Jessica could not be happier.

And when the boss is happy, everyone else is happy. Though not her idea, Jessica did not mind much when she got to know about the little prank her grandfather pulled. And with that, she was here in Ullu, but if she had known that it was going to be so messed up, she would have never stepped foot here.

‘Auhh... Grandfather, what have you got me into?’ How much Jessica wanted to curse her grandfather, but she couldn’t in the end. It has been a little more than twenty-four hours since she landed, and she has been attacked twice already.

‘Oh, God, what more have you stored for me?’

As she thought about the recent attacks, she turned towards Alex. If not for him, she would not have been able to make it through the first time, let alone the direct confrontation with the old man just now.

While she mused over her life over the past few weeks, anger began to build up in her heart. She wanted to vent out her anger on someone, and since Alex was the only one present, it had to be him.

‘You took me for bait, didn’t you?’ Jessica thought and, without wasting any time, slapped Alex hard across his face, “Wake up...” she called out.

But when Alex showed no response, she looked above and asked in frustration, “What wrong did I do in my past life, god? Is it my bad Karma that you are punishing me for?”

Then gesturing towards Alex, she continued, “I know he saved me, and I am grateful for that. Very grateful... But will you think wrong of me if I were to leave him here? I don’t have anything bad for him but look at him. You can’t possibly expect me to drag him from here, do you?” Jessica asked, sounding pitiful.

“Che... To think I thought you were someone with a conscience,” While Jessica was having her one-way conversation with God. She heard a weak voice from behind her.

When she turned around to look, Alex was looking at her with contempt on his face. He was very disappointed in her.

“You are awake...” Jessica cried out in excitement and hugged Alex.

“Oww... Oww... Ahhh... Get away from me, you numbskull,” Alex cried out in pain and tried to push Jessica away. Seeing him wake up, Jessica was too excited to remember about his wounds.

“You know how worried I was when you fell unconscious,” Jessica said.

“Yeah, I heard...” Alex smirked, looking at her, “I can assume how worried you must be that you didn’t even think of calling an ambulance.”

“That...” Then it struck Jessica. Indeed while thinking about her life, she totally forgot to call an ambulance. But she couldn’t possibly admit her mistake, and she began to think of excuses, “It was because you said no to going to a hospital. I... I was just respecting your... your wish.”

“Enough...” Alex was no idiot to believe her, “Here, give me a hand,” Alex said and reached out for Alex.

Jessica also, without wasting any moment, helped him get up.

“Let’s go.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“How did it go?” an old man asked over the phone.

“I would say, better than I had anticipated,” another man was heard over the call.

“Do you have the man?” Letting out a deep sigh, the old man asked. It was like a big rock had been roved from his heart.

“We have...” The man confirmed.

“Do you know who he is?” The old man asked.

“I don’t,” the man replied, “I think he is someone new in the game.” The man stated the possibility.

“So... What are you going to do now?” The old man asked.

“Well, leave it for us to decide,” the man said, “You only need to know your granddaughter is safe.”

“I don’t know how will she react if she knew I used her as bait?” The old man sighed, and the call ended.

* * * * *