Chapter 235 - Bodyguard to stalker...

The meeting place was very different from their first meeting. It was a private room in the Imperial. And the person tailing Malini had already reported that Malini came in alone and that nobody followed her here and that she did not approach anyone since the time they sent her the mail.

As soon as Shreya reached the Imperial, she got herself another new tail in the name of Pritham apart from Srinivas.

"Hey, Shreya. She is already here. I sat her in the room as you instructed. Its been 2 minutes max." Pritham said enthusiastically following her.

"Come on. Let's go. 2nd floor right? I don't want to keep her waiting." Shreya asked walking to the elevators.

"Yes… but Shreya… we did not even frisk her yet… or maybe I can do a full bug sweep before you go in. I can have the device in 5 minutes. But even otherwise, we can always just jam all the signals in the room as a backup, what do you say..?" Pritham asked getting into the elevator right behind Shreya. Srinivas went in the last and pressed 2.

But Shreya did not agree with his idea. "There is no need for any of it. If you had made sure nobody had followed her, it is enough."

"But Shreya, she is Malini Bharathwaj. What if she records everything we say today and uses it against us in the future… what if she is playing along now with an ulterior motive? You yourself said she was ruthless when it comes to winning…" Pritham persisted. He was so elated when Shreya asked him to the Imperial today morning especially when she said it was a secret meeting not to be disclosed to anyone else. He was like a little kid receiving a secret little extra candy from your dad without the knowledge of your siblings.

"She wouldn't do that, Pritham. I told you she was ruthless but I never told you she is dirty… she is as straight-laced as it can get… to the point where even I could end up feeling ashamed for the trickeries I play." Shreya replied with a straight face. She checked on her phones when the elevator stopped with a ding.

"How do you know? How can you trust her blindly?" Pritham complained. He was concerned but more than that he did not like the mad skills Malini has when it came to electronics. On a fair play, they were probably just equal when it came to skills. But because Malini has an upper hand when it came to maturity and keeping calm under pressure, the scales are actually against him and he did not like the odds. The only way he could beat her was by being on guard and cautious against her.

But Shreya did not agree.

"I am not trusting her blindly, Pritham. I have known her for 3 years in college. But even otherwise, we are for all practical purposes, threatening her. But instead of going to her father, she had come to me to help. A little bit of trust now is going to go a long way. I need her to work with me and it is not possible if I am not going to give her the least bit of trust in the first place. And remember, when you are in there, you do not disrespect her… she is not her father…" Shreya warned Pritham.

Only when Pritham reluctantly nodded did Shreya open the door.

Malini was sitting there drinking what looked like a tea in the middle of the room.

Pritham was dazed instantly. But just for a split second before averting his eyes and became hostile all over again.

"Sorry, I am late," Shreya said in politeness which was very rare for her. She was not really late actually. She was just on time. Shreya hated being late or early. So, she always plans it just to be on time.

But Malini was early. So, she ended up waiting.

Once again, Shreya and Malini sat facing each other.

Malini's eyes wandered around the two men standing behind Shreya...

"Oh, I forgot to introduce… this one is the technical guy you asked for, Pritham. And this one… Srinivas. Let's just say he follows me around everywhere whether I like it or not like a stalker…" Shreya smirked at Srinivas while Pritham let out a chuckle.

"What did you do that you became a stalker from a bodyguard in a couple of hours?" Pritham sneakily whispered to Srinivas.

"I just teased her," Srinivas whispered back but the atmosphere came back to becoming stagnant when Malini did not talk anything.

Shreya lost her patience pretty after 5 minutes of straight silence.

"Hey, you are planning to tell me why we are here any time today?" She asked.

Malini hesitated for a while. It was almost pitiful to see her fidget so nervously. Especially given how delicate she looked without her makeup or arrogance.

"You guys wait outside…" Shreya said suddenly. And Pritham and Srinivas exited the room without further question but they did not really leave far. They stood right outside the doors.

"Hey, you have come this far because you decided on something and something pushed you to that decision. Hesitating now is really of no use!" Shreya said. Her voice was actually softer. There was no arrogance that she had when they last met. It was not really because she needed whatever she had on her. Because in all probability, even without it, Shreya will find a way around it. But Shreya could actually sympathize with Malini and the graveness of the conflict she is facing right that moment. She could already guess the depth of thoughts she should have put and the will it should have taken for her to come here.

From this point on, her whole life was going to change based on what she chooses. Actually, it was not right… the minute Abimanyu decided on starting the syndicate, their lives changed! And it once again changed when they killed Shreya's parents. And it is going to go downhill from there no matter what choice she makes… Her choice is just going to decide the degree of shit she will be facing from thereon.

It is just so unfair that she had to be the one to bear the responsibility of her father's choices. She will be the one to bear the burn of a man's greed.

So, as far as Shreya was concerned, Malini is as much a victim of this as she was. That is why she could empathize with her… at least up to now. Depending on the choice she makes now, it might change though.

Malini took a deep breath and brought her hands over the table at last. She was clenching her right hand into a fist. She slowly let go of it and a pen drive fell on the table with a clink.

"This is what I found… It is… it's my dad's ledger. My dad is probably the one managing the finances of the organization. This is everything I found out…" Malini said, at last, gaining some composure as if she had come to a decision all over again.

"Pritham…" Shreya called out and both the men walked in all over again.

"Laptop…" Shreya asked for which Pritham extended the notebook in his hands and Srinivas quietly went and brought the pen drive to Shreya.

Shreya actually handed it over to Pritham while he switched on the laptop and open the drive.

"Password?" Pritham asked looking at Malini.

Normally, Malini wouldn't have trusted this��� no matter if she agreed with her dad or not, she wouldn't have brought incriminating evidence against him to a third party if only it hadn't been Shreya.

And the reason why she actually did find 'it was okay' to Shreya was actually two-fold.

One mainly because in this situation, Shreya deserved the power to decide her father's fate because she was the one who lost the most because of him between them. She deserved a say in what happens to him. And since Shreya promised not to look for revenge but justice, Malini was more at ease to give it to her.

But secondly, and most importantly, Malini could hear through the doors what Shreya had said on the outside. She did not know what the exact context was but she could hear Shreya telling people to trust her and that she was not her dad… somehow that trust she had given her, gave her the courage to trust her in retrospect.

"My birthday…" Malini answered without thinking while Shreya followed her and said, "January 15, XXXX,"

Pritham's hands worked on the laptop while Malini looked at Shreya and asked surprised, "You even know my birthday by heart?"

"I am just good with remembering numbers." Shreya shrugged. "I have known it from college days."

By then Pritham had pulled up whatever Malini had brought and Shreya's eyes instantly latched on to it. While Malini sat there fidgeting with her fingers nervously.