LOT Part 24
Lack of Trust Part 24
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Author’s POV
She was passing across the storeroom when a hand suddenly appeared in her vision and before she could do anything it pulled her inside the room. He pinned her against the wall sending dread waves to her spine and she opened her mouth to scream for help but another hand presses tightly on it muffling her upcoming screams.
Her eyes widened with fear as her heart started pounding.
She thrashed in his grip in panic but her body turned still as she heard his voice ” It’s me”
And that’s enough to make her relax as she sighed heavily, he took his hand away from her while setting his eyes on her who was staring back at him.
“Why did you call me here??” She huffed, pushing him aside before fixing her nervous gaze on him as she didn’t know how he will react “Ratna has been shifted from here last night and I don’t know where she is, it is only the work of Digvijay Raghavan as he was anxious after the last attack, he has planned all this secretly and now we are at a loose end without any clue.”
“What the fuck” These were the only three words that come out of his mouth, he never imagined that Digvijay would do something like this.
This was not good, for the last nine years he had been tempering with Ratna’s treatment which had kept her in a coma till now but now the situation had slipped out of his hand.
“What will we do now?” The fear was clearly visible in her voice.
“I fucking don’t know, I shouldn’t fucking have listened to you, I should have killed her a long time ago” he growled making her flinch. He never wanted to keep Ratna alive but she didn’t
let him do it, her being in a coma and dead were the same but he now regretted why he listened to her.
“But…” He cut her off by slamming her back into the wall and choking her
“Enough, not a word, I don’t know how you’ll do it but you’ll dig out where he kept her” he snarled on her face while she thrashed under his grip to get her free but she was no match for him in strength.
“You are safe as long as she is in a coma otherwise you know what will happen to you.” he stormed away with his last threat to her leaving her anxious.
She slipped against the wall while folding her knees to her chest as tears rolled down from her eyes “I can’t do it anymore. I hate being a sinner.”
Khanak turned around with her heart thumping as she heard her name but before she could see anything an ice cream truck stopped in front of her blocking her view.
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She didn’t know why but she like he was calling her as her heart throbbed wildly in her ribcage. She took step to pass to the other side of the truck but her feet halted in midway when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Her heart raced faster and her body started trembling. She froze in her place That same hand turned her around and she found baffled Ashish in front of her who was staring at her with worry and concern.
“What happened Khanak?? We have been calling you for so long but you are not responding??” he asked scanning her carefully who was not looking well to him, he could see emotions swirling in her eyes which he couldn’t decipher.
“You were calling me??” She asked him sceptically as if the voice she heard was just an illusion, he couidn’t be here.
“Yes, Trisha and I were calling you, now let’s go as there is an emergency” he said holding her hand, while taking her to the car and made her sit inside while her mind was still in daze. G
He settled inside the car. Trisha was in the backseat playing with his phone
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She turned around to check if it was really just her illusion but it turned out that it was when she didn’t find him there but her heart was screaming something else” I can feel him”
Ashish started the car with tensed face, it was visible on his face that something was bothering him but what?
She was still confused if the voice she heard was his.
Her eyes shifted on him to see he was looking a little worried.
“Did you call me Khani??” She asked him to clear her doubts to which he gave her look but before he could open his mouth Trisha interjected “No I called you Khani but you were not listening.”
She peered at her with a pout adorning her face.
“Ohh” this was all what came out of her mouth before she casted her eyes out of the window as her heart was still N
screaming that she heard his voice.
“He is in Mumbai so how can you hear his voice” her mind made its point which was correct but still something was nagging her
She glanced in the direction of the ice cream Parlor to see nothing except that truck.
“It must be my illusion” She sighed closing her eyes to calm herself down.
The car pulled off in driveway of her Apartment making her drag out of the havoc bursting between her mind and heart but her eyes widened in shock to see the scene unfolding in front of her eyes.
“No…. she is safe” her heart thumped with angst and uneasiness.
She was unable to process anything, first that familiar voice and now all this.
“Chachu (uncle) what is the police doing here??” Little Trisha asked peering at the police with curious eyes.
Ashish turned towards Khanak who was
was doing the same
“Why are they dragging that uncle” she asked pointing her finger at the police who are dragging a man along who was shouting loudly to let him go which brought Khanak out of her trance.
Sweat beads formed on her forehead to see that the man was none other than Pragati’s husband.
“Pragati” a whisper escaped out of her mouth and a wave of worry raised inside her thinking what could have happened here, is she okay?? Has this man done something to her??”
She literally jumped out of the car and ran straight towards her apartment ignoring Ashish who was calling her name. he took Trisha from the backseat to run after her.
Khanak’s heart started beating faster in anticipation when she saw a crowd gathered outside her apartment and the door of her apartment was widely opened.
She stumbled in her steps but Ashish held her from behind.
“Bhai, Pragati” she mumbled to him to which he nodded “Come inside”
“Please move aside” he said to the people who were blocking their way. They made their way inside the apartment and what Khanak did was that she ran straight towards Pragati’s room.
The door of her room was already opened with a lady constable was standing near the door but what she saw in front of her felt like someone had ripped her heart apart.
There she was sitting in the bed with head down, her body was shaking with every sob that left her mouth, she could see that her clothes were torn at some places from which scratches were peeking out.
“Pragati” she whispered her name in hoarse tone getting her attention as she lifted her tears eyes to clash with her worried one and very the next second, Khanak was on bed beside her while Pragati was vigorously crying in her arms like a small child clutching her tightly. It felt like someone stabbed her heart mercilessly.
“D……Di” It didn’t take her time to figure out what might have happened here, she wanted that man dead but right now she was more important to her.
“Shhhh… stop crying, I am here, I won’t let him hurt you.” she cooed in her eyes to calm her down while stroking her back gently but nothing was working.
“Khanak” she craned her neck to find Ashish walking inside with Trisha who was looking at everything with bafflement and frown on her forehead but she didn’t spoke a word and doctor Rita followed him with pity in her eyes for Pragati.
“Let me check her” she used her words carefully making Pragati panic who started shouting while tightening her grip on her “NO, DI DON’T LEVAE, HE WILL HURT ME, HE IS MONSTER”
They tried to calm her down but she was still in trauma and they had no other option but to sedate her.
She covered her with the blanket pressing a kiss on her forehead while wiping the tear slipped out of her eyes “I’m sorry, I failed to keep you safe.”
She stroked her hair before moving out the room to meet the police inspector who was waiting for her but she froze on her place as her eyes fell on the person standing beside Ashish.
“S…Shiv”
“What the fuck, how is this possible??” he growled in frustration. He was not ready to accept that what he saw a while back was just an illusion. He really saw her and he couldn’t never make any mistake in recognizing her.
“Boss please calm down” Nayan requested him but instead of calming down he shot him unreadable look making him uneasy and anticipated too.
No, it’s not a good sign.
“Where is Khanak??” he asked without beating around the bush making him stunned as his eyes widen with alarm. He.
knew this menacing look “No nonsense, straight to the point”
He gulped down nervously averting his gaze from him which didn’t go unnoticed by him.
He was definitely hiding something from him.
“Nayan, I asked you something where is Khanak? Do you know something that I don’t know” this time his voice was sharp like his blazing eyes which was enough to increase the intensity of his bubbling dread.
“Why are you asking me? Khanak is where she should be, in the jail” he trailed off without making eye contact as he knew he will read his lie in his eyes which he already did.
“Okay so you don’t know anything” he asked him again to which he shook his head.
“You know she was sentenced to ten years and now she has one more year left ” he said in his defence which worked as he watched Danish sit down on the couch. with a long sigh.
Danish buried his head in his hands as the reality dawned on him. She still had one more year left to complete her sentence.
He is right but why does he still feel that he is lying??
“I think I am going crazy” he muttered to himself rubbing his face up and down while his heart went into protest mode that he really felt her presence there.
Nayan filled a glass of water for him from the jug on the table and offered it to him.
He could understand the turmoil rising inside him but he couldn’t help him, especially not now when he didn’t even know where she was.
He had put his best sources to find her as he got that she was freed from prison two years ago but he found nothing, it seemed as if she had vanished into thin air which was eating him from inside.
Something is not right
“Drink some water, you will feel a little better” he urged him to drink.
He lifted his head taking the glass from his hand, drank the water before giving it back to him.
He got up from the couch “I am going to my room so don’t disturb me unless it’s very important”
He left.
As soon as he was out of Nayan’s sight he immediately took out his phone to call someone who picked up the call in second ring.
“Hello I am Nayan Vasant, I need your help with something” he said.
“Yes sir tell me what is the work?” he heard a voice from the other side.
“I need the footage of Pearl icecream café from 6 to 8 pm” he ordered as this was the only way to tell if what Danish saw was real or just his illusion as after Varun’s disclosure that Khanak was released from jail two years ago, he couldn’t ignore the possibility of her. being there. “You will have the CCTV footage in the next 30 minutes he heard and said OK before disconnecting the call
“I hope it was you Khanak he prayed silently
On the other hand, Danish threw his coat in a corner of the room before slumping on the bed and closed his eyes as he replayed the incident in his mind again which still seemed real to him.
“Why did I feel that it was you Khani?? Why is there this strange restlessness?? Were you really my illusion” he asked himself which he didn’t want to believe
“It can only be your illusion because you have destroyed the reality with your own hands” a voice from inside him spatted him, drowning him in guilt.
“She tried to kill mom” he weakly tried in his defines to which it retorted “Do you really think she could do that?
“It doesn’t matter what I think or not because what I saw with my own eyes that night was enough” he snarled as he had
“You will regret not trusting her one day”
“I….” his phone put a break on his inner battle.
He got up with a growl taking his phone out of his pocket but as he saw Digvijay’s name on it his face turned white as he knew what was coming for him. He picked up the call and before he could even utter a word, he heard Digvijay’s stern voice from the other end “I know you are in Jaipur and I will not argue on this as I think it is good for you to be there 11
His eyebrows narrowed in disbelief that how did he agree so easily when he was totally against him coming to Jaipur, something is fishy.
“Are you sure you don’t have any problem with me coming to Jaipur” he asked him doubtfully as he didn’t believe it yet.
“Yes, I am sure I don’t have any problem with it because I read the report that Nayan collected and I think your
executing Raghavan Textiles by going there in person is the best option and “Digvijay stopped in middle to make his point look Important
He got up from the bed and asked him walking to the window “And what dad??”
“I spoke to Sneha’s in laws and I have told them to fix the marriage date as we have already delayed it for a long time and it will be better if you meet them personally and discuss it and it will be a good chance to know them better ”
Digvijay knew what he was doing. He wanted to keep Danish away from Khanak’s matter and for that he had to keep him away from Mumbai unaware of the fact that she was already here in the Jaipur
He didn’t find anything wrong in this as if his accident hadn’t happened, they would have been married by now.
“Ok dad” he said to him and was about to hang up but Digvijay stopped him “Yes I forgot to inform you one thing, they have invited you to their house
for dinner tomorrow night. I know you don’t like all
this but don’t forget that you are bride’s brother and you also have some responsibilities.”
“Ok” he spoke just this one word as he knew he had no other option.
