Zeeshan’s POV

“Adhvait Mehra,” her brother said, extending his hand in my direction for a handshake.

I obviously shook his hand, introducing myself, “Zeeshan Kapoor.”

He nodded and introduced himself to di and her husband as well. Bhabhi also introduced herself, and they exchanged a few pleasantries.

And she just stood there with a smile, looking as beautiful as ever. Everytime, our eyes met. She would give me her biggest smile, making me smile involuntarily.

Her brother was engaged in small talk with di’s husband, while bhabhi was talking to di like long lost best friends.

Ayesha and I stood at two different corners watching them get along with each other.

She raised her eyebrows in confusion, as our eyes met. I shook my head with a smile and sneakily pulled di toward where I was standing, positioning myself next to Ayesha.

Bumping her right shoulder softly, I whispered, “Hi.”

“Hi,” she replied, looking straight ahead.

“I was waiting for you,” I muttered, glancing at her from the side.

Come on, I can’t stare at her shamelessly in front of her brother. I don’t want to lose my chance.

And what did she do in response? She chuckled, loud enough for my di and her bhabhi to hear, making them look at us in confusion.

“Ladies,” she called out. Both of them looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

“Bhabhi, I want to introduce someone to you,” she said. Bhabhi and di walked closer to us.

Surprisingly, she held my bicep and said, “Meet my boyfriend, Zeeshan Kapoor. And Zeeshan, that’s my bhabhi, Sunaina Vashisht.”

Di gasped loudly. Bhabhi, on the other hand, had an amused expression on her face. And I? I was speechless because I hadn’t expected her to say something like that.

“Nice to meet you formally, Zeeshan,” bhabhi said, chuckling along with di, who looked at me teasingly. I could feel heat creeping around my neck.

“It’s a pleasure to finally introduce myself as Ayesha’s boyfriend, bhabhi,” I said, trying to keep calm, though I was anything but calm.

And, I joined my hands, bowed my head in respect, saying,“Thank you for trusting me with her. I will make sure she is always cherished.”

I was aware of the respect Ayesha holds for her bhai and bhabhi, and I didn’t want to respect them any less. Not just because it’s about Ayesha, but because they deserve every bit of my gratitude and probably more.

Bhabhi nodded with a smile, while di patted my shoulder, her eyes shining with pride. Ayesha looked at me softly yet expressively….With the same eyes I'd die for.

“Naina?” her brother called, making bhabhi turn in confusion.

“Let’s go in,” he said. All of us nodded and went inside, where Ayesha introduced everyone on the team to both her brother and bhabhi.

I glared at Vidit hard, and he met my eyes right on time, just what I wanted.

Gesturing for him to come closer, I looked around to check if anyone had seen me, but thankfully no one had.

“What?” he asked in confusion.

“I need your help,” I whispered. He raised his eyebrows, waiting for me to continue.

“I want to sit next to Ayesha,” I told him.

“Abbe sharam karle uske bhai k saamne thodi.” he hissed dramatically.
(Atleast have some shame in front of her brother.)

“Shut up and help me,” I muttered. God forbid a boyfriend wants to stay close to his girlfriend after being away from her for a whole day.

“But how?” Vidit questioned, looking around in confusion.

“Do you think if I’d known, I would’ve begged you?” I deadpanned. In response, he shook his head and left, patting my shoulder.

…What?

While I was planning, she was escorting her brother and sister in law, who obviously sat next to each other, and she sat beside her bhabhi.

And to my utter disbelief, Ritika sat next to Ayesha.

While I stood there watching, all of them settled down, and there was only one seat available, which was next to Vidit, right in front of Ayesha’s brother.

Sighing, just as I was about to sit next to Vidit, Ritika called out,
“Zeeshan bhai, would you mind if I sit next to my boyfriend?”

“I-I don’t,” I said, making a mental note to name half of my property after them.

Leisurely, without showing any reaction, I sat next to Ayesha. She sighed with a smile. I gave her a wink, cleared my throat, and looked straight ahead, nonchalantly of course.

“Let’s start?” Ishika asked, looking around. All of us nodded wordlessly in response. She began by briefly explaining the investigations we had done that week and the benefits of them.

Rotating my neck in all directions, I made sure everyone else had their eyes glued to the presentation that I had already reviewed after working until 6 am the previous night because I just merely wanted to spend some time with her.

Then, I leaned slightly toward her, taking her hand in mine discreetly under the huge conference table.

“Thodi doori banakar rakhiye kapoor sahab, isse pehle Mera bhai aapko pakad ke maare.” she whispered, leaning towards me slightly.
(Maintain some distance, Kapoor Sahab. If you don't want my brother to beat you.)

In response, I leaned slightly toward her more and muttered, “Aap kahe toh aapko utha k le jau?” Looking into her eyes, I added, “aapke bhai ki nazron se ekdum door.”
(If you want, I can just carry you away… far from your brother’s watchful eyes.)

Her cheeks visibly turned a soft shade of red. She smacked my hand lightly, pushing me back into my seat. I wordlessly tightened my grip, gently of course, biting back a chuckle.

Throughout the presentation, we sat there hand in hand. Her thumb softly caressed mine, giving my heart a sense of belonging, and I savored it with everything in me.

“And if we wish to file a petition against him, we need at least a few victims to sign it, along with all the proof that he used his sources to suppress the facts. The more, the better,” bhabhi added, offering her valuable insights.

“Right, we are in contact with many families he has ruined,” Ritika said.

“Great. So let’s file a petition with the district magistrate first,” bhabhi said, looking at her husband, who nodded thoughtfully before she looked around at the rest of us.

Out of nowhere, a loud gunshot rang out from the direction where Ishika was standing.

“Ishika!” Dev shouted, jerking her toward him. But it was too late. The bullet pierced through her stomach. All of us stood up from our seats in shock and urgency.

“FUCKING GET UNDER THE TABLE, EVERYONE!” he shouted, pulling Ishika under the table, which was thankfully huge. All of us followed, making sure to stay away from the windows because the gunshots coming from outside wouldn’t stop. The window glass shattered, and everything turned into chaos.

Though all of us were trained for such situations, we couldn’t walk into open fire when it was clearly a suicide mission. We had to take proper precautions to stay alive.

Author's POV

“NONE OF THE FUCKING GUARDS ARE RESPONDING!” Dev shouted, desperately tearing off his shirt to use it to stop Ishika’s bleeding.

“Wait, use this dhuppata, it’s cotton fabric,” Sunaina said, handing him her dhuppata. Dev nodded gratefully, wrapping it around Ishika’s wound to stop the bleeding as much as possible without worsening it.

“Sir, I checked with my security too. They are not responding,” Devika said tensely. Zeeshan’s jaw clenched in anger.

“Alright. CBI officers, are we ready? We've got to end this shit.” he asked. His rage was evident to everyone who felt the same anger bubbling within them.

“Yes,” came the response.

“KARAN REDDY YOU COWARD I WILL NOT FORGET THIS!” Vidit shouted, unable to stop himself from venting his anger.

“Alright, no one, I repeat no one besides the CBI officers will be involved in what we are doing right now. We do not want any legal problems on our heads amidst all this chaos,” Zeeshan stated firmly.

“But this is not safe for them. We need to get to a safe place first,” Ayesha added thoughtfully. Zeeshan nodded in agreement, as did the others.

“There’s a room I noticed next to the kitchen,” her brother added.

“Right. I know you guys are trained in self defense, so I am sure you can crawl there. No standing up, only crawling along the wall. There are no glass pieces near that wall,” Zeeshan instructed, pointing toward the wall at the right corner to give them a clear idea.

“But-” Adhvait was still unsure about leaving his sister behind. Her bhabhi, on the other hand, had a strong grip on Ayesha’s hand.

“I promise on my life, I will keep her safe. She is as important to me as she is to you,” Zeeshan said reassuringly. His eyes spoke more than his words, making both Adhvait and Sunaina slightly less worried.

“I’ll come back alive, I promise. Now go fast,” Ayesha said softly, holding her brother and bhabhi’s hands.

“Bohot maar khaegi iss baat par tu baad mei eshu.” Her brother kissed her forehead lightly and gave her cheek a soft pat. Ayesha nodded reassuringly at him.
(You are in so much trouble for saying this, Eshu.)

“I promise,” Ayesha repeated when Sunaina still could not bring herself to leave her alone.

Sighing, Sunaina nodded along with Adhvait. There was nothing they could do because they were aware of Ayesha’s duty as an officer and they respected it.

“Come back alive, all four of you,” Viraya said softly. The others echoed in agreement and one by one, they crawled into the room. It was a huge risk, but there had been no casualties so far.

“Dev-”

“I can carry Ishika and crawl there. I am trained for the worst, and you know that.” There was nothing that could change Dev’s firm decision.

It was shocking to see him so fiercely protective of Ishika when he had sworn never to love someone romantically because of his risky job as a private investigator.

No one stopped him. They let him handle it the way he wanted. It was not easy. In fact, it was extremely difficult because he was trying his best not to cause Ishika any pain as she lay semi conscious against his chest.

“Leave me. Don’t risk your life for me,” Ishika whispered, loud enough for Dev to hear.

“Over my dead body. Would you like to try?” he challenged, his focus still on reaching the safe room where he might find something to temporarily dress her wound. His hand remained protectively around her.

The CBI officers, Zeeshan, Ayesha, Vidit and Ritika, on the other hand, began planning their next move.

They were unarmed and had no backup, but with a good strategy and teamwork, they were confident they could handle it.

With their experience at the CBI office, they knew someone would eventually break in, maybe through the window, from the terrace, or worse, through the main door. However, they had no idea how many people were outside, which made the situation a hundred times more dangerous.

“How are we going to fight them if they break in?” Ritika questioned.

“Remember you learned some useful acupressure points? Use them. Do not worry about the consequences. Kill them if needed. I will handle everything else,” Vidit replied firmly.

“Let’s somehow try to reach the kitchen. We might find something useful,” Ayesha added.

“It is very dangerous. We will be completely exposed from behind, and they will take advantage of it,” Zeeshan said immediately.

“And we are CBI officers. We are trained for it,” Ayesha countered firmly. “Besides, we can use this table as our shield.”

“But-”

“We do not have time, Zeeshan. Let’s do it,” Vidit said, cutting him off.

“Fine. Lekin agr kisi ko kuch hua, zinda karke dobara maarunga ek ek ko,” Zeeshan stated, “Except Ayesha and Ritika ofcourse.”
(Fine but if anything happens, I will personally bring you back to life and kill you again.)

“Saale seedha bol na tujhe merse badla lena hai.” Vidit said, looking as betrayed as he'd never looked.
(Just admit it,  you want to take revenge on me.)

“Naak mei damm kara hua hai tune ofcourse I wouldn't want to lose my chance,” Zeeshan replied with a wide smile, merely trying to lighten the mood. The girls chuckled softly. Vidit nodded dramatically, acting as if he had been heartbroken for the second time.
(You've irritated me a lot, of course I wouldn't want to lose my chance.)

But they were back to business within seconds. The boys held the two corners of the table while the girls held it from the middle.

And, on the count of three, they lifted it. It was huge and very heavy, but they had to manage. With teamwork, they reached the kitchen while continuous gunshots echoed, hitting the table hard enough for them to feel the impact.

Once inside the kitchen, they quickly grabbed whatever seemed useful to them, knives, chopsticks, red chilli powder, pans.

“Switch off the lights,” Zeeshan said, knowing very well that Karan Reddy’s men were more cowardly than him. The other three were aware of that too.

Just as they had predicted, after about fifteen minutes, when the drawing room and kitchen were pitch black, they heard broken glass crunch under footsteps.

They exchanged silent glances and inwardly chuckling they prepared themselves. It was clearly a single man entering. When he stepped into the kitchen and no one followed him, they were certain that only he'd entered who now looked around, struggling to see in the darkness.

He squinted hard to get a clearer view. Once convinced that no one was in the kitchen, he turned to leave. A mistake, the next moment, his mouth was suddenly covered, and a painful kick to his sciatic nerve made his legs give out.

As he tried to recover, someone struck his ST6 point with precision and force, knocking him unconscious instantly.

(You can check the article attached for better understanding about the sciatic nerve and ST6 point.)

“Good job, girls,” Zeeshan said proudly. The girls smirked and nodded.

Vidit quickly searched his pockets for any weapons and tied his hands and legs with rope, stuffing his mouth with tissue papers.

Seven or eight more men entered, and all of them were tackled the same way using vulnerable acupressure points.

None of the officers touched the criminals’ weapons or even used their own sharp kitchen knives because their strategy was enough to take them down.

For the next forty minutes, no one came. Just as they were about to switch on the lights, they heard approaching footsteps again. They quickly hid behind the middle counter, beside the refrigerator, next to the water cooler, the same they'd been hiding in for the past hour or two.

“What-” he began, freezing at the sight of his men tied up beside the counter with their mouths stuffed with tissue paper, thermocol bowls, kitchen cloths and paper plates.

“Aap kya khana chahoge meri jaan?” Vidit whispered from behind, kicking the back of his knee and forcing him to crouch in pain without giving him a chance to react.
(What would you like to have, my love?)

“Aur kitne log hai?” Ayesha asked, forcefully making him look up. He remained silent.
(How many of you are still outside?)

“Jaldi bol.” She gritted her teeth. When he still did not respond, she shoved a spoonful of chilli powder into his mouth, making his eyes widen in agony as the spice became unbearable.
(Speak fast.)

“PAAANIIIIIIIIII!” he screamed, gasping for breath and trying to stand up.
(Waterrrrrr.)

“Kitne log hai?” she repeated, kicking his other knee and forcing him down again with a painful scream.
(How many of you are there ?)

“N-na” he stammered, unable to form words.

Having had enough of it, Ritika then slapped him hard, making his ears ring. Vidit hissed in satisfaction.

“Agli baar garam paani tere muh mei jaega jaldi bol,” Zeeshan said calmly, his voice dangerously cold. The man shook his head vigorously and joined his hands, tears streaming down his face.
(If you don't speak now, I will pour hot water in your mouth.)

But they had seen worse and dealt with worse. They stood there emotionless, waiting for answers.

“VIDIT GARAM PAANI LA AUR TU MUH KHOL BEHEN K LAWDE!” Zeeshan shouted, having had enough, forcefully grabbing his jaw.
(Vidit bring hot water and you open your mouth.)

“N-BTA-TA H-U,” the man stuttered, desperately gripping Zeeshan’s hand while shaking his head.
(I'LL SPEAK.)

“BOL,” Zeeshan said, shoving his hand away.
(SPEAK.)

“Ten. I was assigned to be the last person,” he stuttered, desperately gulping down cold water that Ritika handed him.

“Fucking weakling,” Vidit muttered, walking away, in style.

“Abbe saale waps aa isko bandhna bhi toh hai,” Zeeshan shouted, glaring at Vidit, who had walked away dramatically.
(Hey idiot, come back here we have to tie him.)

“Kahi ni jaega ye iske pairo mei jaan ni hai Zeeshan bhai,” Ritika said, laughing.
(He won't go anywhere Zeeshan Bhai, his legs wouldn't move.)

“We should not take any risks,” Ayesha said, lightly smacking Ritika’s arm. They tied him up anyway and discreetly checked outside. They could not trust him.

Once they were sure no one else was outside, they called everyone out. In the meantime, Dev had called for backup bodyguards, and an ambulance was on the way for Ishika.

“RITIKA MOVE!” Viraya shouted, pulling Ritika toward her. The others turned in confusion, only for their eyes to widen in horror.

A man from behind had shot Ritika.

“RITIKAA!” Vidit shouted, quickly turning her around. She closed her eyes with a gentle smile, her body going limp in Vidit’s lap.

The article - https://www.blingsting.com/blogs/news/human-pressure-points-to-disable-attacker-for-self-defense?srsltid=AfmBOoq7JFmazwBfQMCK5tujG6WwqTLQVQ9jpEzuHrgb0zblK09BtaD0

Do let me know if you are not able to access the link, I'll share it in the comments!
PS- No trauma, I promise.