She sat in the chopper till its blades had come to a complete stop, unbuckling her seat belt only when she was convinced that she was back on land.

It wasnt flying that she was afraid of, it was the height. An extreme fear of height, which she did try to overcome to the best of her abilities but somehow that was one fear she had never managed to completely get rid of it.

The Manager and the Secretary, rushed to the helicopter as it stopped, opening the door.

She ignored the outstretched hand of support and got down from the chopper.

“Welcome Madam Chairman”, said the Manager.

The She-Devil, The Iron Maiden, The Frozen Bitch…. she had many names. But Madam Chairman, thats what they all called her to her face.

Infact thats what almost everyone called her. It had been a long time since she had heard someone call her by her name.

She owned one of the largest Pharmaceutical manufacturing company in the Country. Third largest in the world. Just in this Country they had around 23 factories making various products, and employed more than 40,000 people. She had started from scratch, an unknown name in the business world then and built up her Empire in a brief span of around 30 years in a history of sheer ruthlessness that had shaken everyone in the business world who had watched her rise to fame.

The Manager stared at her in awe. This was the first time he was meeting her up close. At the age of 60 she made a formidable figure. Dressed in a crisp pale saree with a sober background, her greyish hair with no pretense of any hair dye pulled back severely into a tight bun, she stood with her back straight and moved with a grace which would belie her age.

“We were quite surprised that you wanted to come and see this land yourself, Madam Chairman”, the Manager continued waving his hands at the large expanse of land, “This is it….all 25 acres of it, just the right amount of land that we need for our new factory…..ofcourse we have other places, but since you wanted to see this one first…”

She looked around her as the Manager continued to speak, the sun shining at her from the clear blue skies as she breathed in the fresh natural air which felt so different than the clogged air of the city. Her gaze fell on the clump of trees casting its cool shade on the ground below.

The shade of the trees creating a feeling of calmness under the otherwise harsh sun. He had knelt down on his knees with the ring in his hand as she coyly rested her back against one of the trees. He had held her hand in his and confessed his undying love for her. “I will cherish you for eternity if you will only be mine”, he had said as she had nodded with a smile. He had slid the ring on her finger and kissed her, very lightly at first and then insistently with passion. She had always remembered that kiss, even after they had got married. Somehow that kiss remained embedded in her mind, perhaps because it was her first.

“Would you like to see the rest of the land, Madam Chairman?”. The Manager’s voice interrupted her trance.

She started walking further without looking behind, the Manager and the Secretary in tow.

A glass shattered under her foot as she firmly strode ahead. She stopped and looked down at the empty beer bottle lying on the ground right near her feet.

He had come back drunk that day. More drunk than ever before.

“You are f@#%@#@# bad luck for me. From the time you have come into my life all I have had is bad luck. My parents died, my business is gone, you even lost your own parents. All because of you…”, he had screamed as she backed away from him towards the door.

She had tried to placate him, reason with him, but to no avail.

“Let me work. I have a Masters degree. I can get a good job with a good salary. It will help our finances”, she had pleaded but her cries of despair had fallen on deaf ears.

“Your degrees are worthless. You are worthless. You think you can earn money? The only way you can earn money is by selling your body…and even that is not worth anything”, he had raged as he smashed the beer bottle in his hand on the door besides her, the slivers of glass flying off everywhere, some digging sharply in her face.

She had cowered in fear and shrunk down to the floor in a ball, not making a sound, hoping his anger would subside.

“The youngsters, Madam Chairman”. The Manager’s voice came from behind her. “You know how they are. They find an empty place, they sit and drink. But dont worry, we can always get the place cleaned out as soon as we make our decision to buy. Once we have our people here, these things wont happen”, he continued.

Ignoring the Manager, she started walking further, coming to a stop a few paces away from a small broken house in the middle of the land, blackened by the sands of time, portraying a very dismal picture of doom.

“Lets sell your house in the village”, he had said, “that will give us enough money for me to restart my business. Then we will live like Kings again”

“No. Thats the only thing I have left. It belongs to my Parents. I cant sell it. I have memories. We have memories”, she had cried.

“Screw the memories !! Memories wont feed us. And your parents are dead. They didnt do us any good when they were alive, might as well do us some good now that they are dead”, he had exclaimed

“Dont use such words about my parents. I am not going to sell the house”, she had said firmly.

That was when his fist had smashed against her face. That was when his heavy shoe had come down on her stomach as he walked out leaving her on the floor writhing in pain. That was when she had decided to leave him, the city, his world and go back to her village.

“This is just a ruin. It has been abandoned for ages. The last owner had sold this place off in a hurry for a throw away price to the current owner. How I wish, we had bought this place then, it wouldnt have cost us such a bomb now. But dont worry Madam Chairman, we will bulldoze the house and you wont even know it ever existed”, said the Manager with a wide grin on his face.

She turned around to look at him and there was something in her eyes which wiped his grin off the face. She looked him up and down, her eyes devoid of any expression briefly resting on the Manager’s paunch.

She started walking again, away from the house towards the lone tree standing by edge of the land.

The Manager pulled his stomach in, with an embarrassed look as he rushed to keep pace with her.

“Madam Chairman, Madam Chairman”, the Manager shouted, even as she almost reached the tree.

When she had reached the tree, he had already been sitting there for quite sometime, if the half empty bottle of whiskey besides him was any indication of that.

He had shoved the papers into her face.

“Sign these”, he had commanded.

“Are these divorce papers?”, she had stammered

“Divorce? Haha you wont get rid of me so easily you bitch. This is the sales deed of this land. I have sold it off. As soon as you sign these papers we will have sufficient money to restart my business”, he had gloated

“I am not going to sign these papers. I told you I will not sell this land”, she had said as she started to move back to the house.

He had grabbed her hair, pulling her back and she had pushed him….pushed him with all the strength she could muster, catching him completely by surprise.

His hand was still grabbing her hair as his foot slipped on the edge of the cliff. She had grasped the tree to save herself from being dragged along with him. She had turned around to look at him. His face was inscrutable, surprise, astonishment and fear written all over it at the same time. His hand had started slipping as she had held on to the tree. She had watched his body fall down into the valley. She had held on to the tree as she kept staring down as his shocked face was finally out of her sight, disappearing into the big black hole of darkness.

She had steadied herself as she had looked around her. The sales deed papers strewn everywhere.

“Sign these and we will have sufficient money to restart my business”…. He had said.

She had hastily gathered the papers and had started walking towards the house, her back straight, never looking back ever again…..

“There is nothing beyond the tree, Madam Chairman”, said the Manager standing behind her. “Just an empty bottomless valley. If someone falls down there we will never be able to find his body”, he said with a laugh.

She turned around and gave him a look that shut off his laugh just as soon as it had started.

“So, Madam Chairman, what do you think?”, he asked meekly

“Buy It”, she said

“You know that this is almost twice the cost of the other lands which we have shortlisted, right, Madam Chairman?”, said the Manager.

“Buy It”, she said.

“Okay. So this is where our factory will be then”, said the Manager indicating the secretary to take notes.

“No”, she said.

“But….then what will we do on this land”, asked the Manager, a bit taken aback.

“Nothing”, she replied calmly

“Ummm… okay and the factory?”, enquired the Manager

“It will be built on one of the other lands you have shortlisted”, she said in a firm voice.

“So would you like to see those lands, Madam Chariman”, asked the Manager as the Secretary stopped taking notes.

“No. Get the Managing Director to choose one”, she said.

“And you dont….”, the Manager continued..

“Go Away…Now”, she said with a command in her voice.

Without saying another word the Manager motioned to the Secretary as they started moving back towards the car. They both turned around every now and then to look at their Madam Chairman as she stood besides the tree.

“So we are going to buy this land and not build a factory on it, isnt that stupid?”, asked the Secretary in a rather surprised voice.

“If thats what Madam Chairman wants, thats what Madam Chairman gets”, said the Manager with a frown on his face.

“But it is stupid. What a waste….Sometimes I wonder, Sir, how do these rich people become so rich when they are so stupid? How do they make their fortunes….”, the Secretary continued shaking his head from side to side.

“You know what they say, my boy”, the Manager said, grinning at the Secretary as they turned around for a last look at her…she appeared to be looking down into the valley, almost searching for something, her hand firmly holding onto the tree next to her, as if she would fall down the cliff and be surrounded eternal darkness…”Behind every fortune….there is a crime”

Disclaimer: All the characters and situations in this story are purely a work of fiction. The story does not intend to make any judgement whatsoever on “Crime” and “Punishment” and should be taken purely for entertainment value. The readers are always free to form their own views. Feedback is appreciated as always.