"You are making a mistake. Say yes..." said Raghu warned Manav.
Manav thinking, looked at Shivani and Mandira. They trusted Manav's decision so it was all on him now. He was a strategic planner in the corporate world, but he had never thought his career would take such a harsh turn toward the dark web.
Yes, the DARK-WEB-WORLD.
11 months ago.
Manav, as a strategic planner, developed and implemented long-term strategies to help corporate organizations achieve their goals. Sarang Co. wanted to merge with RaghuShell Co., and for that, they hired Manav to handle the merger. Using all his resources and talent, Manav convinced the CEO of RaghuShell Co. to merge, with offers and benefits. But RaghuShell had an internal whistleblower who leaked secret financial records of the last five years, revealing that Sarang Co. was nearly bankrupt. Even Sarang Co. had kept this hidden from Manav, and they only found out right before the closure meeting.
The clock struck 9 in the morning. Manav - 32 years old, was getting ready to go to the office. Shivani - 29 years old, his wife, came rushing into the room with two files in her right hand and a plate of Besan Chila and Haldi Milk on her left.
"Manav, have a look at the hidden accounts of Sarang Company," Shivani said.
"What is it?" Manav asked, buttoning his formal shirt.
"I think we are on the wrong side. The opposition played a fair game."
Manav looked at her from the dressing mirror. "Where is Mandira?"
"She already left for the Dot Solutions meeting."
"Okay, what is our safe exit game?"
"I think we..." The door bell rang.
"I will see. You finish breakfast," Shivani said.
Shivani opened the door. No one was there. She looked left and right outside, then closed the door. Stepping upstairs, again doorbell rang. This time rang multiple times in quick succession. Shivani went down and opened the door again, still no one was there. But she saw a small parcel box kept down alone. She picked it up. She saw pintu climbing up on a tree nearby. Pintu was the 16 years old, poor boy living at the corner of the street in a small hut. Manav, Shivani and Mandira take care of him in every way they could.
"Pintu, did you saw someone ringing the bell?" she asked.
"No I didn't see anyone. I just came here," Pintu said.
Shivani thought for a moment, "Okay..."
"What happened, Didi?" Pintu asked.
"Nothing... You didn't go to school today?"
"No. Aai (mother) was not well so."
"Ohh... what happened to her?"
"She was vomiting this morning. Don't know why."
"Okay. I will tell Mandira to check."
"Okay Didi. Thanks!"
She closed the door and looked at the recipient's name, it was addressed to Manav. She went upstairs. Manav was eating the chila roll and reading the files.
"Did you ordered something? Your name is this," Shivani asked.
"No... What is it?" Manav asked.
"Don't know, someone left it at the door. When I opened it, no one was there."
"Leave it... It's not urgent. See this."
Shivani kept it aside on the bed and sat next to him.
Manav read aloud from the file, "Here it is quoted that in any case..."
Suddenly, the box blasted like a fireworks and cofetti showering out with a burst of smoke. Startled, Manav and Shivani ducked near the bed. When the smoke cleared out, they saw pieces og confetti paper scatteed on the bed. Shivani saw something was written on it. She picked it up.
It was written, "You chose the wrong side and now I am the sailor of this boat."
She turned to show it to Manav, and he had already seen it.
"Who did this?" Shivani asked.
Manav thought for a momen. "We will think about this later. We have the closure meeting. Let's go."
"Is this some kind of threat? Shall we inform police?" Shivani asked.
"We will see..."
Both left for the Sarang Co. and RaghuShell Co. closure meeting.
At the meeting, Manav and Shivani turned down Sarang Co. and gave RaghuShell Co. a freehand to exit as Sarang had breached the contract. RaghuShell exited the deal.
One month later, Sarang Co., seeking revenge, sued Manav for alleged fraud in the earlier Cilar Co. deal. The notice demanded, either 30 years of imprisonment plus 1 crore of penalty or 100 crores of penalty without imprisonment.
At night, Manav was reading a notice in front of Shivani and Mandira.
"Manav, how is this possible?" Madira said.
"This is bullshit. This is actually a bullshit. One turned down deal and it all turns on us. What is he up to, Manav?" Shivani shouted.
Manav called Sarang.
"What is this Sarang? It is not true. We closed the Cilar Co. deal with consent."
"Lets talk in court Manav. Ohh... and I forgot to mention, if you choose to fight, your accounts will be frozen and your authority to work will be revoked."
"Why are you doing all this? Just because I chose the right side?"
"It is not about right or wrong. It is about commitment and money. You have 24 hours to reply."
Sarang disconnected the call. Manav sat helpless on the couch.
"What did he say?" Mandira asked.
"Yes, the Cilar Co. deal was closed in consent. There was no fraud in that deal." Shivani said.
"He just wants revenge. We turned his deal down in merge thats why he is doing." Mandira said.
"And now that his loss came out in public, he is trying to protect his reputation by accusing us," Shivani said.
"Manav, we are on the fair side. Let's fight it. Let's show Sarang his value," Mandira said.
"Manav, what are you thinking? Say something na," Shivani asked.
Manav pured himself a glass of water at the dining table. With each gulp, he was thinking about every angle. He sighed deeply.
"Okay. Practically, here's what will happen: We know we are innocent but if we chose to fight, all our current well known clients will be lost, they will take a safe exit. Our accounts will be frozen as a case of fraud to analyze the accounts, and at one point in fight, our past will come up. Even if we win this case, our past could drown us," Manav explained.
"What... No, no, no... Manav, there has to be some way," Mandira said.
"Past? What happened?" Shivani asked.
"Our first client," Mandira said.
"What about them?" Shivani asked.
"They lead us to the dark side of the corporate work at the start of our career. We helped them with a plan and they paid us crores. Later, we found out he was operating on the dark web," Mandira said.
"I didn't know this... So we are stuck?" Shivani asked.
"From where to bring this much money in 24 hours?" Mandira said.
"If we pay, everyone will think we are guilty," Manav said.
"Yes people and our clients will assume we did commit fraud," Shivani said.
"No, there has to be some way. I will see," Mandira said, opening her laptop.
The doorbell rang. Mandira stood and went to open it. Again no one. She returned to the dining table.
"Who was there?" Manav asked.
"I looked but no one was there," Mandira said.
Shivani and Manav glanced at each other and then looked at door and doorbell rang again. Mandira stood up again to open the door.
"Mandira wait. I will see. You both stay here," Manav said.
He picked up a bat and walked slowly to the door. The doorbell rang repeatedly. As he reached the door, he saw several envelopes being slid inside from the gap of the door. He yanked the door open, just a boy on a bicycle was riding away down the lane. Manav closed the door.
"What is all this, Manav?" Mandira asked.
He signaled her to step back. He was about to call police but there his phone rang. It was an unknown number. He answered. Silence.
"Hello.." Manav said.
"There are 7 envelopes, each containing a letter. Open them, then you will know what to do. Don't worry they won't explode this time," a deep voice said.
"Who is this?" Manav asked.
The call disconnected.
He opened the envelopes in order of number sequencing written on each.
1. Fight a case and win or lose yourself. You will lose anyways. Yes/No
2. Earn ₹130 crores but you must do one job for me. ₹100 crore for the case, 30 crores extra for you three. Yes/No
3. Join and work for me alone for life. I will pay the penalty, plus 1 bitcoin per month salary. Yes/No
4. Try to find me and I will make Shivani and Mandira's lives hell. I know you won't. Yes/No
5. Kill Shivani or Mandira. Make live video and upload it on link below. Earn 300 crores. Yes/No
6. Kill yourself and free Shivani and Mandira from all debt. Send Shivani to me as my PA. Yes/No
7. None of the above with consequences. I know you won't choose this. Yes/No
Manav, Shivani and Mandira were stood near dining table and each letter were arranged on table.
Manav's phone rang again. He picked it up.
"You have 24 hours to reply to the notice, but now you have 11 minutes to choose from these options. If you don't decide, I will pick option 7 and I will earn 300 crores." the voice said.
"Raghu?" Manav whispered.
"Your time starts now," the call ended.
"This was Raghu. The same Yes/No game he played with me two years ago. This was before our marriage. Mandira you remember our first client, reached us through mywork.com website."
"Yes.. we asked for meeting but he sent his PA for meeting." Mandira said.
"That time too he gave us a choice of Yes/No in place of crores. He brought a contract papers to sign with two cards.
1. Sign this contract and blank box on the next page for 1 crores INR. Yes/No.
2. Leave the dealand forget this happened. Yes/No.
"We said yes without thinking, looking at the money we needed to build our office," Manav said.
"They wanted my and Manav's sign as a medical practitioner and legal advisor to certify their product as safe and authorized. Later, we discovered they sold it on the dark web, millions of people have purchased it." Mandira said.
"What was the product?" Shivani asked.
"A tablet used for headache and body pain. I dig out the details about it and got to know its dark use. He is selling it on dark web illegally as a drug. When we mix this tablet with Methyl alchohol, it turns out to be the most powerful cocain drug. People used it to smuggle this in the underworld market." Mandira said.
"After knowing all this, we tried to contact him, but he was nowhere to be found. He credited 2 crores in our accounts. Moving ahead, we forgot it as a past and made a new start with the office and this is where we are." Manav said.
"But we never thought he would come back like this." Mandira whispered.
"Oh God... Now what?" Shivani asked.
"If he is on the dark web and did all those illegal things then he is the mastermind of how to run and hide. We being on the legal side, won't be able to fight. Either we have to choose him and say yes from these options or ignore him and fight for the consequences." Mandira said.
"No. This time I will find him. If he can hide then we can too..." Manav said.
His phone rang.
"I hope you chose well." Raghu's voice boomed.
"Raghu, it is NO. Do whatever you can. I want to see your power," Manav said.
"You are making a mistake. Say yes..." Raghu said.
Manav thinking, looked at Shivani and Mandira. "It is No. If you have any power then come in front of me then I will show you." Manav said.
Raghu disconnected the call.
Few seconds later, doorbell rang again. All three stared at the door. Manav picked up the bat. Shivani and Mandira each held to defend themselves. Manav opened it. It was Pintu holding a dabba (tiffin).
"Hii bhaiya. My Aai sent cake for you. She said, everytime you share with us clothes and food so this time aai said we will make something for them."
Manav took the dabba.
"Ohh so kind of you. Come in." Shivani said.
"No didi, thank you. I have some work to do." Pintu said.
"Okay no worries, we will plan it later. Thank you once again." Shivani said.
"Ahh didi, can I use the washroom? Its dark and i am scared to go outside," Pintu asked.
Pintu came in. Manav handed the dabba to Shivani.
"Okay leave it. I am feeling hungry. Let's have a dinner," Manav said.
"Yeah the food is ready, I will serve," Shivani said.
The three of them sat around the dining table and kept dabba on it.
Shivani served dinner in the plates.
A moment later - the dabba exploded. The blast killed them instantly. Blood splattered across the kitchen and dining room.
In the shadows, Pintu held up his phone, recording the carnage with "Raghu is live" displayed on the screen. A notification pinged: ₹300 crores credited. Comments showered on his phone, "Raghu you did it, well done," "Congratulations for becoming millionare on dark web," "Raghu work for me," "Raghu your tablets are mind blowing," and so on.
Pintu stared, trembling, then collapsed to the floor sobbing, whispering again and again:
"Yes… yes… yes… yes…”
And this is how a simple Yes or No, forgotten in time, came back to end everything.
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