Chapter 11 #2
And what did she mean by 'any acquaintance with me will ruin your career'? Was she actually a part of them? Even that thought scared him. No. No. God couldn’t be that cruel. Fate had already given her more than enough pain in the name of him and her parents—not this.
He silently begged for it to be a lie.
She gave him an "I-don't-have-time-to-think-about-you" look, and he understood immediately.
"Fine, I understand it’s a waste of time trying to talk to you. Hear me carefully — I am not accepting any of your conditions, and I will take you out of here unscathed, with or without your permission," he said firmly.
"You won’t get the truth from them," Akansha said. It was her final weapon.
Shaurya looked at her with wide eyes. What was she saying?
Then his gaze shifted to the girls. Now covered in shawls, his sharp eyes quickly scanned the room — there were 16 already.
He frowned at the mismatch. They had presented 17 girls in front of him, while the DGP had clearly said there were only 16.
Shaurya understood there was something hidden, and he expected Akansha to reveal it if he agreed to her conditions.
Time was running out, and he had to get her out of there.
"Fine… I accept your terms. Now tell me," Shaurya said, desperate for the truth.
Akansha looked into his eyes and shook her head in a "No."
He let out a deep sigh and leaned against the wall beside him in relief.
A tear escaped his left eye, which he wiped immediately.
If it were someone else, they would have thought she was refusing to answer his question.
But he understood her "No" was not about the truth — it was an answer to his question: "Are you a part of them? "
She looked at him in surprise at his reaction, but it lasted only a second before her stone-cold expression returned. She would not fall prey to this again. It was not just her heart at risk this time — her daughter, her life, and her happiness were at stake, and she would not let him ruin it.
The disbelief on her face broke something inside him, but he understood it was the result of his own deeds.
The indifferent look on her face — as if seeing him after five long years meant nothing — was breaking him from within.
Still, he controlled himself. It was time to handle the situation first.
Shaurya walked out to settle the issue, and Akansha followed. She stood beside the girls, who looked at her in surprise.
"Do you know CM saab personally?" one of them asked.
Akansha nodded. They were not foolish enough to believe a "No," so she accepted the truth.
"How?" another asked.
"Just an acquaintance," she dismissed. She did not want to talk about him at all, and her disinterest was clear in her tone.
Though it was not loud, Shaurya, who knew her inside out, halted his steps hearing her words.
He wanted to react to her "just an acquaintance" statement, but restrained himself — because he knew her response was a result of his own mistakes, his own sins as he would call them.
"Really? I mean… how? He is a Chief Minister…" the first girl trailed off.
"No, it was years ago. He wasn’t a Chief Minister then… I met him once or twice," Akansha clarified, knowing it was necessary; otherwise, such speculations could destroy her life.
Shaurya clenched his fists, struggling to control his emotions. He stormed toward the DGP, anger rising with every step.
"Get me the DD entries," Shaurya ordered.
The DGP looked at the SI. Ankit immediately started sweating. The DGP signaled him to bring it. Ankit nodded and rushed to the table to fetch the register.
"I don’t have the whole day," Shaurya snapped, making everyone shiver — mainly because he was never the kind to lose composure.
Ankit quickly brought the register to him. Shaurya opened it, scanning the case details. His eyes stopped at his wife’s name scribbled at the end. His narrowed gaze turned red with fury.
"Commissioner in charge of this station?" Shaurya asked, looking at the DGP.
"Sir…" The commissioner stepped forward and saluted.
"Explain this," Shaurya said, throwing the register toward him.
The commissioner caught it and started going through it. Shaurya’s patience snapped.
"I was told there are 16 girls found, but here are 17 names," he said sharply.
The DGP’s eyes widened. So did the commissioner’s.
The commissioner shot a glare at the SI, silently ordering him to handle the situation.
Ankit stepped forward, unaware he was walking straight into a trap.
"Sir, I sincerely apologize. I was the one who informed higher officials that 16 girls were found. It was a mistake — the updated count is 17," Ankit said, glancing at Akansha, who gave him a disgusted look.
Hearing her earlier "acquaintance" statement, Ankit assumed Shaurya would not go too far for her and decided to take his chances.
"Oh! These are humans, not rice grains that you miscount. How did such a mistake happen?" Shaurya asked sternly, his voice dangerously controlled.
"My sincere apologies, sir. We found the last girl later, and she wasn’t a regular. She was hiding with her client, so we couldn’t locate them earlier… she—"
"Come here," Shaurya interrupted coldly.
Ankit stepped forward, unaware of what awaited him. Shaurya slapped him hard, shocking the entire station — especially his immediate staff, who had never seen him like this before.
"THE TRUTH… NOW," he roared.
Everyone froze, including Akansha — because even she had never seen this side of him. She didn’t even know it existed.
"Sir… she is lying… that’s not the truth…" Ankit tried to defend himself, but only fueled Shaurya’s rage further.
Suddenly, Shaurya’s eyes caught sight of small hands peeking from behind the side wall near the table. A teenage girl was hiding there.
Everyone turned toward her. The DGP instructed a lady constable to bring her forward.
"What is a teenage girl doing at the police station at this time?" Shaurya questioned. The commissioner cursed his fate and Ankit. The CM rarely visited, and all of this had to happen now, he thought.
"She... She..." Ankit fumbled.
Shaurya raised his palm, stopping him mid-sentence, and shifted his gaze to the girl. She looked terrified. His eyes softened slightly.
"No need to get scared. Tell me whatever your problem is. I will try to solve it," Shaurya said gently.
"Akansha aunty is innocent, free her... please... she only helped me," the teenage girl Sneha said.
"Okay. I will. Now sit there… have some water," Shaurya said, looking at his staff, who immediately offered Sneha water.
"You have 5 minutes. Out with the truth, or you know the consequences," Shaurya said turning to Ankit.
Akansha was terrified. What if Ankit, out of fear, revealed everything—including her daughter?
He always tried to exploit the fact that she was a single mother who had to be careful.
She cursed her brother for not being there.
But as if her prayers were heard, Akash Dixit stormed into the police station.
His eyes widened the moment he saw his sister there.
The situation in the villages was under control, so he had started toward the capital and switched on his phone on the way.
He found multiple missed calls from unknown numbers.
He first contacted his subordinate and most trusted officer, who updated him on the case he was handling—the 65 missing girls case from five years ago.
Sixteen had been found and were at Rajesh Nagar police station, so he drove there immediately.
What he did not expect was seeing his sister there.
He looked at Sneha, then at Akansha, and quickly understood what might have happened.
He tried to conceal the fact that he already knew his sister’s whereabouts, but Shaurya had already noticed his reaction.
It wasn’t the reaction of someone seeing her after five years—it was shock at her presence here.
Akash greeted Shaurya respectfully and turned toward SI Ankit.
"Divisional Commissioner Akash Dixit. I am in charge of this case. You will give me every detail of it. Now speak," Akash said.
Shaurya handed him the DD entries. Akash’s expression darkened as he saw his sister’s name written there.
"Sir… there are 17 girls we have found out of the girls who went missing five years ago," Ankit started.
"So you matched all these girls’ data with the 65 missing girls case?" Akash asked.
"Yes, sir," Ankit replied.
"So every detail matches with the missing complaints filed by their families?" Akash asked sternly. Ankit nodded hesitantly.
"You mean to say Akansha’s details match with the missing complaints filed for those 65 girls?
" Shaurya asked. He knew no complaint had been filed for his wife by him, his brother-in-law, or her family, as she had left willingly and did not want to be found.
Still, Shaurya had searched for her discreetly, knowing an open search could put her in danger.
"Y-Yes, sir," Ankit fumbled.
Shaurya slapped him again, shocking even Akash.
"No one filed a complaint for her... because she wasn’t missing in the first place," Shaurya said.
The CM personally defending her raised eyebrows. How did he know whether complaints were filed or not? Everyone thought. Akash stepped in to control the situation.
"Because she is my sister, Akansha Dixit, and I know where she has been all these years," Akash said.
This time, it was Shaurya’s turn to be shocked and unsettled, though he controlled his reaction.
Akash knew her whereabouts all along? He felt a wave of relief first—if Akash knew, she had been physically safe at least. But then regret followed immediately.
Mentally, she had suffered because of him. He closed his eyes in guilt.