snatched Payal away from Nidhi’s bed and put her back in her room. Once Payal was back asleep, he sneaked into Neelima’s room. She was still asleep when the first blow hit her and Nishant’s belt ripped the skin off her. Nishant continued to belt her and she never got an opportunity to get up from the bed.
Her hysterical moans woke up everyone in the house. The commotion made Nishant angrier and more brutal. Neelima somehow dragged herself on the floor and Nishant started to kick her instead.
The first to reach their bedroom was Payal. She stood at the door, clung onto the doorjamb. She saw her father beating her mother mercilessly and yet she remained quiet. Malti had reached the room by now. She hugged onto Payal and covered her eyes. Shankar was on the doorsill and was pleading at Nishant to stop. Nishant hurled non-stop abuses at him and kept on beating Neelima. Out of nowhere, Nidhi appeared and she ran towards Neelima. Shankar tried to stop her but she was nimble and fast. She draped herself over Neelima hoping that Nishant would stop. It turned out to be a serious mistake.
Nishant was infused with more anger at the interruption. He tore Nidhi away from Neelima. He pulled at her hair and dragged her to the door where Payal, Malti and Shankar were standing frozen with horror. He was toostrong for the twelve-year-old Nidhi and he carried her like a featherweight pillow. Neelima crawled behind them. Nishant stammered, “If… if anyone dares to interrupt me, or stop me, he or she will go through the same treatment as this bitch.”
Neelima could tolerate any amount of physical pain but she could not let the monster hurt Nidhi. She mustered whatever little strength that was left in her and stumbled after him as he raced away towards the door of the house, still dragging Nidhi with her hair. Nidhi was falling, crawling, stumbling behind Nishant.
Nishant took Nidhi to the swimming pool in the garden. He was about to hurl Nidhi in the pool when Neelima finally caught his legs. She said, “No… Nishu… please…”
Nishant looked at her and laughed deviously. “What, no?”
“Please Nishu, don’t hurt her. I would do anything you say… please…”
“Anything?”
“Yes. Anything. Please don’t hurt her.”
“OK. Strip.” He said plainly. Devoid of any emotion.
“What?” Neelima could not comprehend.
“I want you to strip. Is that difficult to understand?” Nishant said in a slow measured tone. He was oblivious to Neelima’s injuries, the ones that he himself had inflicted upon her.
Neelima remained silent for a minute but then meekly obeyed. She was in a long tee shirt and it wasn’t difficult to remove.
“You’re so beautiful Neelima,” Nishant quipped and started to laugh hysterically.
Neelima was speechless. Physical abuse was something, but this, this was worse. She was naked and in the open. She folded her arms across her chest. She tried talking, “Nishant… so sorry… please…”
Nishant interrupted her. “What’s the matter, Neelima? You don’t love me or what? Why did you fold your hands? Are you feeling cold or something?”
Neelima meekly nodded.
Nishant yelled at the top of his voice, “You fucking bitch! You go around sleeping with everything that has a thing hanging between his legs and here you are pretending to be cold in front of your own husband!”
Neelima begged, “Don’t talk like that in front of Nidhi. Can we at least send her back to her room?”
“No, we can’t. She needs to see your true colours. Your character. She needs to see the whore of a mother she’s got. She has to know who her real father is. Because I definitely am not. And she needs to learn to stay away from Payal.”
“Nishant!” Neelima was angry and helpless. She knew that anything she said will make Nishant more irate. “I promise I would send her away from Payal. We can send her to a boarding school. I promise Nishu. Just let her go,” she begged.
“You think I am a
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