Red Oath [meenbabe]

Prologue

In the dimly lit quarters, the air was thick with tension, weighed down by generations of rivalry. Meena's father, a towering figure with a life-threatening expression, sat at the head of a large mahogany table. His eyes burned with a violent intensity as he addressed the guy seated opposite him, Aoom's father, whose demeanor was similarly imposing.

"Your people have crossed a line," Meena's father declared, his voice low and disturbing, as if it held a thousand threats. "They've stolen something that belongs to us, something that we hold dear."

Aoom's father, an imposing personality in his own right, was furious at the accusation. His jaw locked with barely inhibited outrage as he said, "And what exactly do you claim we've stolen? Your pride? Was it your sense of entitlement?"

Meena's father threw his fist down on the table with a crisp crack, his knuckles white with fury. "Don't play coy with me. You know exactly what I'm talking about. One of your pawns has been poaching our partners, cutting deals behind our backs."

Aoom's father's lip curled in a sneer of disdain. "And what proof do you have of these accusations? Or are you simply grasping at straws to justify your own failures?"

Meena's father rose to his feet, his massive frame casting a shadow over the room. His face was flushed with anger, his eyes blazing with fury. "You think you can mock me? You think you can disrespect my family and get away with it? I won't stand for it any longer. This ends now."

Aoom's father remained seated, his expression unreadable. "I assure you,, my family has no interest in your petty dealings. But if you insist on escalating this conflict, don't be surprised when the consequences come back to haunt you."

As the two patriarchs engaged in their verbal sparring, Meena and Aoom lingered in the background, their mutual animosity simmering just beneath the surface. Meena shot Aoom a withering glare, her eyes ablaze with a fiery determination.

"You think you're clever, don't you, Aoom?" Meena spat, her voice dripping with contempt. "But you and your family are nothing but thieves and charlatans."

Aoom returned the glare with equal intensity, her voice cold as ice. "And you, Meena, are nothing but a spoiled princess, sheltered behind your father's power."

As the heated discussion between Meena's father and Aoom's father reached a fever pitch, reactions in the room threatened to boil over. Aoom's father abruptly stood from his seat, his demeanor obscure as he confronted Meena's father.

"It seems this discussion has run its course," Aoom's father remarked, his voice piercing through the tension like a blade of steel. "We shall take our leave, but remember this - our departure is not a sign of weakness, but rather a calculated strategy."

As Aoom's father and the rest of his party left, leaving some obvious pressure throughout the air, Meena turned to face her father, her brow creased with concern.

"What do we do now, Father?" she said, her tone laced with apprehension.

Her father's stare was hard, his demeanor impenetrable as he rested a soothing hand on her shoulder. "We strike back, baby," he said, his voice low and resolute. "But not in the way they envisioned. We attack them where it hurts the most: where they least expect it."

"How much do you love our family, Meena?" her father inquired, his tone calm but demanding.

Meena's heart skipped a beat at the question, and her thoughts raced as she pondered the depth of her loyalty. "With all my heart, Father," she said without hesitation. "I would do anything to protect our family, to ensure that our heritage persists."

Her father nodded, a faint smile forming on the corners of his lips. "Very good," he murmured, his eyes brimming with with pride. "Because what we're about to do will truly put that love to the ultimate test. But together, we will emerge stronger than ever, and the others are going to regret the day they crossed us."

"We are going to lure them into a trap, Meena," her father said, his eyes filled with powerful vocation. "But it will be a trap of our own creation, one they can't anticipate being there. And when the time comes, we are going to unleash it, and our enemies are going to collapse like lambs to the slaughter."

Meena's pulse raced with excitement and trepidation as she absorbed her father's words. She understood their approach was risky, and the stakes were higher than ever before. But she also recognized that jointly, they were unstoppable—a force to be reckoned with.