~Edited.~

Please listen to the song above; it is a perfect description of Nandini...

At the start of every chapter, there will be a snippet of Nandini's past from the beginning.

~

Seated in the council room of the Assassins' mansion, Natasha Ivanshov leaned back in her chair. "It's past three in the morning," she said, adjusting the folds of her crimson silk dressing gown and crossing her bare legs beneath the wooden table, as a proper lady should before looking up to meet the eyes of Dmitri studying her like she was a painting encased in glass at the Louvre. "This better be important."

It was said that Natasha's face rarely changed especially in the presence of company; her poker face remained in spite of the circumstances and even now despite having been up all night and despite the tiredness in her eyes, she scowled at her Master, leaning back in her chair.

Her knuckles were bruised from the knight before where she vented her frustrations at a punching bag instead of punching Nikolai in the face for his disrespect.

"Perhaps if you actually went to sleep at nights, you wouldn't be so tired." snapped the young man seated across from her. She ignored him and studied the four other people assembled. All male, all far older than she, and all refusing to meet her stare. Picking at her manicured nails, Natasha schooled her features into neutrality. She almost rolled her eyes at the sheer cowardice.

The five assassins gathered at the long table—including herself—were five of Dmitri Hamel's most trusted companions. This meeting was undeniably important. She'd known that from the moment a servant pounded on her door, insisting Natasha come downstairs and not even bother to get dressed. When Dmitri summoned you, you didn't keep him waiting. Thankfully, her sleepwear was as exquisite as her daytime wardrobe—and cost nearly as much. 

Her beauty was a weapon—one she kept honed—but it could also be a vulnerability. Beauty may be dangerous but her intelligence was lethal; she liked being the smarted person in the room. And she was.

It had almost been a year since she was here and jealousy ripped through the other assassins as she climbed the ranks higher than anyone there. 

Dmitri Hamel, King of the Assassins, lounged at the head of the table, his hair shining in the light from the glass chandelier. His eyes met hers, and he frowned. Her stomach twisted into a knot.

"Robert's been caught," Dmitri finally said. "It was a trap. He's now being held in the dungeons."

Natasha sighed and rolled her eyes. This was why she'd been awakened? She tapped an impatient foot on the marble floor. "Then kill him," she said.

Robert had thrown a dagger at her head for it. She'd caught the dagger, of course, and ever since, Robert had borne the scar on his cheek from her return throw. No one had messed with her since. He was no one of particular importance but of course, he meant a great deal to some of the assassins here. To her, he was no one. 

"Kill Rob?" demanded Nikolai, the young man seated at Dmitri's left—a place that usually went to Michael, the second-in-command.

Natasha felt a little unhinged; there was no reboot system used here but her brain was so used to the treatment that it almost begged for ice baths which helped sate not only her bloodlust but also calmed her mind by preventing a murder frenzy. God know how messy that would be to clean up.

Natasha knew very well what Nikolai thought of her. She'd known since Dmitri took her in and declared her—not Nikolai—to be his protégée and heir. Queen of the Assassins, Natasha quite liked that nickname along with a plethora of the others she had collected- "bitch", "whore", "worthless", "bastard" but none of them mattered. She knew who and what she was and didn't need anyone's approval.

That hadn't stopped Nikolai from trying to undermine her at every turn. And now, he still hadn't forgotten that he would always be second best.

She raged at the sight of Nikolai in Michael's seat. Michael would probably throttle Nikolai for it when he arrived. Or she could just save Michael the effort and do it herself. Why hadn't Dmitri rebuked Nikolai for sitting in Michael's place? His face, still handsome despite the silver starting to show in his hair, remained stoic.

"If Robert has been caught," Natasha drawled, brushing back a strand of her long, brunette hair, "then the protocol's simple: send an apprentice to slip something into his food." The men around her tensed. "Just enough to silence him before he talks."

The location of the Assassins' mansion was a well-guarded secret, one she'd been trained to keep until her last breath. Anyone who blurted it out would face the consequences and anyone who heard would be eliminated. That is how the world worked; no one was safe.

"And if he's already talked?" challenged Nikolai. She almost snarled at him, she could take criticism from her master but Nikolai was beneath her and always would be.

"And if he's already talked," she said, "then kill everyone who heard." Nikolai's eyes flashed with anger as she gave him a small smile that was sure to irate him. She then turned to Dmitri. " You already gave the order, didn't you?"

Dmitri nodded his lips in a thin line. Nikolai scoffed slightly and looked at the table. She resisted the urge to smirk at him. 

"What else?" she asked, impatient. The other assassins focused on the table. Whatever had happened, they knew. Why hadn't Dmitri told her first?

Dmitri's eyes became steel. "Michael was killed."

Natasha gripped the arms of her chair. "What?" Her fingers dug into the plush material, her face not betraying her emotion and her voice steady. Michael, the ever-smiling assassin who had trained her as often as Dmitri had. Michael, who had once mended her shattered left hand; who had tended to her bruises. Michael, the seventh and final member of the inner circle. "What do you mean, 'killed'?"

Dmitri eyed her, and a glimmer of grief flashed across his face. Five years his senior, Dmitri had grown up with Michael. They'd been trained together. Her throat closed up at the loss but she knew better than to grieve in front of the men that would like nothing more than to remove this 'girl' from the table.

"It was supposed to be Robert's mission," Dmitri said quietly. "I don't know why Michael was involved. Or who betrayed them. They found his body near the gates."

"Do you have his body?" she demanded. She had to see it—had to see him one last time. And who she had to kill for revenge. A friend was killed and he had to be avenged; that was how the Bratva worked and this is no different to her.

"No," Dmitri said, his voice hardening. Natasha' brows shot up before she looked around the table and grimaced at the weak men, bowing their heads.

"Why the fuck not?" Her fists clenched and unclenched, her anger begging to be unleashed. This was a brotherhood and Michael was a dear friend.

"Because the place was swarming with guards!" Nikolai burst out, and she whipped her head to him. "If we'd grabbed his body," Nikolai said, refusing to back down from her glare, "it would have led them right to the Mansion."

Why the hell was Nikolai sent to retrieve a goddamn body? Natasha allowed herself only a second to breathe in through her nose instead of leaping across the table and tearing his throat out.

"You're assassins," she growled at him. "You're supposed to be able to retrieve a body without being seen." They had done it before.

"If you'd been there, you would have done the same." Nikolai stared right back at her, head-on refusing to accept that he was in the wrong and because of him, a friend might not be able to have a funeral.

Natasha pushed her chair back so hard it flipped over. "If I'd been there, I would have killed all of them to get his fucking body back!" She slammed her hands on the table, rattling the glasses.

Nikolai shot to his feet, a hand on the holster containing his gun. "Oh, listen to you. Ordering us about like you run this place. But not yet." He shook his head.

"Enough," Dmitri snapped, rising from his chair. He knew when to try and diffuse the tension because these two were always at each other's throat. Natasha and Nikolai refused to break their stare. No one else spoke but gripped their weapons tightly. "I said, enough."

If Nikolai took one step toward her, even thought of grabbing his gun, that concealed dagger in her robe would find itself a new home in his neck.

Dmitri moved first, grabbing Nikolai's chin in one hand, forcing the young man to look at him. "Check yourself, or I'll do it for you, boy," he murmured. "You're a fool for picking a fight with her tonight."

Natasha sucked on her teeth. She could handle Nikolai any night of the week; she'd always beat Nikolai.

But Nikolai released his hold on the gun. After a moment, Dmitri removed his grip on Nikolai's face but didn't step away. Nikolai kept his gaze on the floor as he strode to the far side of the council room. Crossing his arms, he leaned against the stone wall. She could still reach him—one flick of her wrist, and his throat would spout blood.

"Natasha," Dmitri asserted, his voice echoing in the silent room. trying to draw her attention from the insolent boy who did not know when to keep his mouth shut.

Enough blood had been spilt tonight; they didn't need another dead assassin.

Michael. He was dead and gone, and she'd never again run into him in the halls. He'd never set her injuries with his cool, deft hands, never coax a laugh from her with a joke or a lewd anecdote.

"Natasha," Dmitri warned again. Sometimes, he felt as though, Natasha got lost in her own brain and made it difficult for anyone to get in or even understand what was going on.

"Fuck this," Natasha snapped. She rolled her neck, running a hand through her hair. She stalked to the door but paused on the threshold. "Just so you know," she said, speaking to all of them but still watching Nikolai, "I'm going to retrieve Michael's body." A muscle feathered in Nikolai's jaw, though he wisely kept his eyes averted. "But don't expect me to extend the same courtesy to the rest of you when your time comes."

With that, she turned on her heel and ascended the spiral staircase to the manor above. Fifteen minutes later, no one stopped her when she slipped out the front gate and into the silent city streets.

"If they wanted Russia's Assassin, they'd get her. And God held them when she arrived." That thought had gone through all of their heads.

The next day, a funeral was held in the vast courtyard with rain pouring on them as though God himself was crying for their loss.

~

Nandini, having finally gotten home from the debacle earlier, decided to forgo dinner in favour of getting ready for her first night out in Mumbai and that too a club, not a society party. Dior was definitely for this occasion.  

Adorned in a one long-sleeve dress with the hemline stopping mid-thigh and a triangular fabric protecting her breasts from being exposed, Nandini stood in her jewellery closet before settling on a diamond choker and matching earrings. The fabric hugged her cinched waist, the velvet brushing her skin in an almost sensuous way. Her makeup was gold and glowing with hints of highlighter defining her cheekbones and her hair sleeked back in a side-part leading to straight strands. 

Just as she had stepped into her heels, the elevator dinged and the maids greeted her friend in the foyer. 

She wasn't surprised to know that her high school friend had gotten on the red-eye and travelled to India just for the night. Her and Ava had become fast friends when she had finally attended high school in America, albeit not best friends but close enough to party together. Ava was the epitome of American beauty- blonde hair, blue eyes and a figure like a barbie doll but like they say, every brunette needs a blondie. 

As Nandini stepped down the stairs, Ava approached her into a hug and kisses on both of her cheeks and Nandini smiled, happy to have even a little bit of her actual life in this godforsaken country. Her driver had been instructed earlier to take the Bugatti out and the doors were already open overhead as they both stepped in and Nandini put the car in drive, feeling the low vibrations in her body.

The beat is vibrating off the walls as you enter the admission doors; the crowd is out in force and ready to party. The drinks are flowing across the tables just as fast as the bartenders can make them, conversation is loud and patriots are struggling to hear over the thumping music and the dance floor is filled with sweaty bodies swaying to the beat. They reach the club just to start dancing and drinking shots. Nandini gets dared to do a body shot with Ava to which she agrees, How can she turn down a dare? 

She lays on the table as the boys in the club shout loudly. This gets someone's attention in the club. He turns around from his friends and gazes at the table top where Nandini is laying. Nandini inches her dress up to her belly button leaving her in her lace black underwear as the club goes wild; clapping and shouting and whistling. Ava puts vodka on her belly button and puts a lime in her mouth as she licks every drop of vodka from her stomach and places open-mouth kisses all the way from her stomach to her breast as they share a passionate kiss. Nandini pulls down her dress as Ava helps her up on the table and she purposely falls back into the crowd of boys who catch her, touching her hungrily. In the Upper East Side of Manhattan, this was very mild in comparison to what actually happened in their VIP section of the nightclub.

Then they sit at the bar side with Nandini checking out guys and Ava checking out girls and finally Nandini finds a guy who met her criteria for the perfect man. Ava wishes her good luck whilst chuckling, knowing she will never need it. Ava was Bi but she leaned more towards women. Maybe that is why they became such fast friends. They both were very open about their sexuality and Nandini mostly helped Ava look for girls.

She goes to him and crushes her lips on his lips while he remains shocked but responds after Nandini bites his lip. Nandini pins him to the wall, his hands travel to her waist, it was a wild kiss with a lot of lust. After a good 5mins, they break apart with swollen lips and take deep, heavy breaths. Nandini winked at him while he tries to peck her lips but she moves away from him and leaves without sparing another glance at him. Unfortunately for Nandini, someone saw her do the body shot and her kissing some guy. He was Manik, who came to the party with his friend at the new club.

Ava, who had situated herself in the corner of the club, making out with a gorgeous Asian woman, saw her start to leave and comes to big her goodnight before letting her know that she was going to get some action tonight. Nandini just chuckled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. At least someone was getting some tonight. At times like these, she really missed the two people in her life who she had been intimate with because it didn't feel right having a one-night stand because of them. Mentally, she cursed them for this burden,

The next morning, Alya has assembled all of Fab 5 in their practice room in hopes of making Manik release Nandini from the contract and like true friends, they work it out amongst themselves. They all go to Alya's house for a pool party in the middle of the college day, after Alya makes sure that Manik messages Nandini that she is free of the contract.

Nandini almost screams when she gets the message in Harshad's car who insisted on picking her up and she shows the message to both of them. Harshad, however, felt a little angry as he can't get Manik out of his sister's life whilst in the process, break Fab 5. They go to the Saxena house for a party, as Harshad wanted to celebrate. They walk into the house only to find Fab 5, swimming and playing music around the pool area and as soon as Manik spots them, he gets up from his spot and walks over to them, standing in front of Harshad as a challenge.

Harshad just rolls his eyes before letting Manik know that he doesn't want to fight and proposes separating the poolside into two sections and both the groups will stay in their designated spots. Alya immediately agrees and grabs Manik by the hand in order to lead him back to the rest of the group who were watching the drama.

Nandini looked around the backyard of the house and had to admit it was beautiful; the pool was almost rectangular surrounded by lounge chairs and tall trees.

Harshad, Navya and Nandini walk back into the house in order to get changed into their swimming outfits. Nandini walks into a room as per Harshad's instructions to change into the swimming costume she had picked up from her house. It was a burgundy one-piece with a low cleavage cut neckline and thing straps and high-rising on the hips. Her face was free of any makeup and her hair was out of its ponytail. She made sure to bring a one-piece in order to hide the scars on her back that were still slightly visible despite a professional's attempt at hiding them. Her arms, thankfully, were bare of any scars thanks to water-proof makeup but the small scars of different shapes and sizes on her legs maintained.

Nandini's body was tanned and curvaceous with toned muscles and tanned skin after being in the Indian sun for several weeks. Her breasts were full and her waist was slim leading to voluptuous hips and legs that went on for miles. She was a truly beautiful woman. So, Nandini walked out of the bathroom and headed to where Harshad and Navya were already residing, bathing in the hot sun. Harshad was bare-chested with swim shorts whereas Navya was completely clothed but was sitting on the side of the pool with her legs touching the water. 

Seeing Nandini in that costume, Fab 5 were surprised, to say the least. Manik was just looking at Nandini and her body, how her hair covered her face because of the air, how her whole body tilted back when she laughed and how gorgeous her body was. Alya was feeling very jealous, she looked down at her own body and then looked at Nandini's. Mukti saw Alya do this and gave her a side hug while squeezing her shoulder giving her a "You are hotter, babe" look. Dhruv let his eyes roam her face at first as they travelled further down, he gulped and looked away nervously.

Nandini suddenly realised that she had forgotten her phone inside and walked back into the room she had changed in and grabbed her handbag. Taking her phone out, she walked outside and bumped into Dhruv and before she realised it, she was walked backwards. She closed her eyes, waiting for the ground but felt an arm go around her waist. She opened her eyes and noticed that Dhruv had caught her was looking into her eyes almost passionately. Nandini smiled uncomfortably because she noticed that he looked a bit intense and wanted to get out of the situation. She looked away from him before looking back and waited for him to let her go. At the same time, Manik walks back inside and sees the scene in front of him and his eyebrows furrow in confusion as to what is going on between the two of them. He clenches his fists and grits his teeth, staring at them.

Meanwhile, Alya and Mukti are having a conversation about Navya and Nandini whilst making cocktails for the group. Mukti argues that she should teach the commoners a lesson for even coming her. Alya looks a little hesitant because she didn't want to create drama between the two groups when they had decided to just stay separate but Mukti convinces her.

On the other hand, Dhruv finally regains a bit of consciousness and lets go of Nandini who was still holding onto his jersey in fear of falling. Nandini smiles at him again and thanks him whilst Manik is still watching them. Alya walks away from the kitchen and comes to stand next to Manik, asking him if he is alright and why he isn't outside but Manik just disregards her questions and walks outside. However, Alya looks up and sees Nandini and Dhruv talking very animatedly as well as smiling at each other and she understood why Manik looked angry. That is when knew that Mukti was right and she needed exact revenge before she lost Manik.

 They all were outside, Dhruv was constantly looking at Nandini who was talking to Navya about changing her looks and clothes. Manik was keenly observing him and Nandini. He even asked Dhruv if he wanted to share something that maybe on his mind but Dhruv says "there is nothing on his mind."

Then suddenly crackers started bursting behind Navya, Mukti and Alya. They all jumped in the pool and in that process, Navya accidentally pushed Nandini making her fall in the pool as well. Manik suddenly gets up in order to dive into the pool to help her but Dhruv immediately jumps in, startling Manik because Dhruv didn't even like to swim and thus wasn't that good at it either. By then, Nandini had already swum back to the edge of the pool, leaning against the side and titling her head up, water running down her body almost like a waterfall. Her hair sticking to the back of her neck and her chest thrusted foreword. She watched as Dhruv came next to her and seemed quite concerned and she knew he had a kind soul for even jumping in to save her. He asked if she was okay, touching her back lightly and she reassures him that she is completely fine and thanks him for attempting to save her.

Manik watches this exchanges and gets angrier at their more than comfortable interaction and watches as Dhruv remains in the pool but with his eyes glued to Nandini's back as she climbs up the ladder of the pool and walks to the lounge chairs. Both Alya and Mukti get out of the pool without any help from their friends. Alya gets angry at Manik as she saw Dhruv jumping in to help but Manik remained on the side-lines. Manik disregards her concerns when she asks why he didn't help and instead tells her that he didn't see any of them fall and even though Alya is not convinced, she nods. Meanwhile, Harshad, who is still holding Navya who didn't know how to swim, warns Fab 5 to never play such a pathetic prank ever again; they all just ignore him and leave. Nandini wraps a towel around herself and walks back into the house.

 They all retire to their respective homes.

~

 Hope you enjoyed this chapter and please vote and comment on the chapter because it lets me know what you guys think about it.