Chapter 216 - Jackson Broadback (1/2)

”About a few months before she was born,” replied Bharat calmly.

”What?” asked Bhagvat surprised. He wanted to rile up his brother, make him angry, infuriate him. He loved Vrita even before her marriage, but let it go. It was only Bharat was declared as the next commander, he had an affair with his brother's wife. He wanted to see his brother who always had a calm and cool demeanour to jump at him in anger. He had expected the topic to rile up his brother, but Bharat's reaction was the furthest from anything he had expected.

”You think that it was kept secret from me,” smiled Bharat. ”It was never a secret. I had always known Parvati is not my daughter. Vrita she had the same face when she confessed to me about it and came to know that I had known of it.”

”No way. No way, you knew. Stop bullshitting me. I almost fell for it but bringing in Vrita. I knew that she would never confess to you. She promised me,” said Bhagvat.

”She also promised that she would be faithful and loyal to me when she married me,” replied Bharat. ”You were her plaything or maybe she was yours. I never could understand, but I agree that I never thought Parvati would betray me. That really hurt. Guess that makes you happy?”

Bhagvat didn't have anything to say. He was quiet and just sat down. He couldn't understand his brother. Any man would be angered by something like this. No one would accept it easily. It felt like he was talking to an alien.

”You are confused, right?” continued Bharat. ”Vrita was a friend since we were kids and truth be told, she never had much feelings for me, but she married me cause her father told her to. It was an arranged marriage. Neither of us had much feelings for the other till the end.”

”You shit. Then, why did you marry her?” yelled Bhagvat holding his gun at his brother's head.

”I had other things on my mind than love, brother. It was war all around. I married as I was told to. If you loved her, you could have told me. I had no intention to marry only her. I only came to realize about it later, but by then, it was too late. So, I let the pair of you be,” answered Bharat.

”So, I guess you were a saint, huh,” yelled Bharat.

”I am no saint. But it was just a marriage, but I was her friend and she mine. Marriage did change a few things though. We lived together and, in a few years, she came to know a lot of things about me and my work. She began to distance you, then. After her brother died, she was lot to the both of us.”

”Stop your bull shit. You just stay quiet till they come to arrest me, else I will put a bullet through your head,” said Bhagvat.

”We both know that you won't. You won't fire a damn round, if you want to survive the raid,” said Bharat. ”In spite of being a sentimental and emotional person, I know you wouldn't truly put your life at risk. Do you know why I and dad stopped putting you on missions?” asked Bharat.

”We realized that you were meant to lead. You treat strategy like a game of chess. It is just a game to you. In real-life, you are not considered a winner if only the king survives. You think that the remaining fighters wouldn't fight for their lives? We never fought wars in open. Our fights were in the dark and losing more than half the members for a temporary win was never worth it.”

”I don't need to hear this shit from you,” said Bhagvat hitting Bharat's head with a gun with the intention to knock him out. He heard the same reason from his father along with a bunch of other things even when he successfully completed missions. Then, later he had an accident, was considered dead legally and was told to not go for any missions any longer and work for his brother. It was clear to him that he was considered a failure by his father.

”You honestly think that would even register after my eye?” asked Bharat. ”Screw that. Since, we are having a rare moment of honesty. Just tell me one thing. Why did you come back into operations and do all this when I you were give a peaceful way out?”

”I never wanted out. I wanted to be the head. I wanted to be you,” yelled Bhagvat.

”Why?” asked Bharat perplexed. ”I am what you would call a cuckhold. Not much of an influence in these calm times. I am just another businessman working my ass off for a family name, just to keep a promise I made to dad when I was young and foolish.”

”Think about it. Do you want to really be me?” asked Bharat.

As he heard his brother's words, Bhagvat looked at him. ”I didn't mean that. I don't want to be you. I just wanted to be the head of the family. I don't want to be the same as you. You are,” said Bhagvat. ”I don't know what you are.”

”That is what it means to be the head of the family, brother. If you won't always choose the family, you would be replaced. You know the things I had to do for it. You think I liked the fact that you were involved with Vrita?” yelled Bharat. ”No!”

”It is not a privilege. It is a pain,” yelled Bharat.

”It is power, you fool,” interrupted Bhagvat with a shout. ”It is power. In spite of being a commander, you still don't understand.”

”Of course, it is power, but with its limits. You think there are no one else. There are nine other commanders as you have realized by now. Now, that is technically speaking a freelance organization. Something, that the alliance government allows because it has its uses. The way you operate, the ones you operate with will bring war,” yelled Bharat trying to make his brother understand.

”The ones I work with?” asked Bhagvat hitting him in the stomach and lifting him. He threw Bharat against the wall. ”What do you know?”

”I know what they want. I know that they have a habit of using people like you,” said Bharat with his face pressed against the wall. ”It is the knights of the old republic, brother. They are using you to fuel a war. They had been supporting you for a long time, but did you know why they pushed you to attack suddenly and threatened that it was your last chance. I bet they even threatened to kill Parvati. It was because we were about to find out about one of them. We had them in a trap and when they entered, we could have caught them. The only way out was to take me out. I was even on guard against you, just didn't expect you to recruit her. My daughter was my blind spot.”

”My daughter, not yours,” yelled Bhagvat. ”NOT YOUR'S.”

”Yes, a fat lot of good your stupidity is doing to her,” replied Bharat. ”She had everything before, enough money, family, friends. But in the past two years, you made her into a beast.”

Bhagvat turned him around and gave him a couple of punches in his gut. ”Talk about her again. I swear that you won't be talking for a while.”