Chapter 36
A few days later, when Akansha walked into her office at the Secretariat, she immediately noticed the difference in people's behavior. Those who used to greet her politely now greeted her with far more enthusiasm and caution.
Other than that, not much had changed in the office atmosphere, and she knew Shaurya was responsible for maintaining that normalcy. She silently appreciated his efforts to make things easier for her.
But despite all his influence, he couldn't erase the fear from Mrs. Arora's and Mr. Samuel's faces. Both of them now fully realized whom they had been mistreating all this while — the wife of their state's Chief Minister.
And though they knew Shaurya's professionalism stopped him from reacting openly, that thought itself terrified them because they were well aware he had never liked the way they treated Akansha.
Akansha quietly settled at her desk and resumed her work, but nothing truly felt the same anymore. Everyone pretended things were normal, yet no one actually behaved normally.
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Just when Akansha was about to leave for home that evening, Shaurya walked into the department followed by Suraj and his security team. His face looked calm, but Akansha could clearly see the worry in his eyes.
"We'll leave from here", Shaurya said softly.
"I'm already leaving for home, Shaurya", Akansha replied in confusion.
"I know, but it isn't safe for you to leave this way right now."
Then he turned toward Suraj.
"Suraj... lead the way."
Without another word, Suraj moved ahead.
Akansha had no option but to follow them because the tension on both Shaurya's and Suraj's faces made it obvious something serious had happened.
Instead of taking the usual exit, they entered the CM Office through the internal passage connected to the Education Department wing.
"Sit down", Shaurya told her softly once they entered his cabin. "It may take some time for things to settle."
Akansha sat down silently without arguing.
Meanwhile, Shaurya picked up the glass of water from his table and finished it in one go. Even now, he couldn't understand how drastically things had changed within just a few days.
His mind drifted back to the call he had received from his private investigator, Ashwini, a few days earlier.
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"Sir... bad news", Ashwini said the moment the call connected. "Your father knows about your wife and daughter now."
Shaurya's expression hardened instantly.
"He obviously isn't happy. And though he's nearly powerless now, he's still the party leader, even if only for namesake."
Ashwini paused briefly before continuing.
"He'll approach you very soon. I'm sending you all the recent developments. Go through them and let me know if we can schedule a meeting to discuss further."
"Send me the details first. I'll look into them", Shaurya replied calmly. "As for the meeting... we'll decide later."
"Sir, he's a dangerous man", Ashwini warned seriously. "We both know what he's capable of. It's better we act before he makes the first move."
"Nobody understands the consequences better than I do, Ashwini", Shaurya replied quietly. "But meeting directly right now isn't wise. We'll discuss everything over mail."
Immediately, Ashwini understood why Shaurya was being this cautious.
Only he and Dev truly knew the extent to which Shaurya had gone to protect Akansha from Virendar Shekhawat.
Ashwini had seen Shaurya suffer every single day because of the pain he caused his wife, yet he also knew Shaurya had been trapped badly. It was as if Akansha had always been standing at the edge of a cliff, and one wrong move from him could destroy her completely.
Barely an hour after Ashwini's call, Shaurya received another call.
This time from Virendar Shekhawat himself.
After almost a year.
Shaurya stared at the screen for a moment before answering with a deep sigh. He already knew the conversation would push him to his limits, but ignoring the call wasn't an option.
"Yes", Shaurya answered coldly, masking his tension beneath a stern tone.
Unfortunately, that did nothing to stop Virendar's venom.
"If I had known you would grow up to become such a coward, I would've preferred remaining childless", Virendar spat harshly.
"Are you even a man? Running behind a woman who hates you?
And that child..." His tone turned even more poisonous.
"You're ready to sacrifice everything for a child who may not even be yours. "
Before he could continue further, Shaurya cut him off sharply.
"Papa... not another word." His voice had turned dangerously cold. "Before I decide to cut your tongue off permanently, say why you called and end this conversation."
Virendar laughed bitterly.
"So you still haven't learned your lesson, huh?" he sneered. "Don't you remember what happened the last time you tried supporting her?"
The fury in his father's voice instantly dragged Shaurya back to memories he wished he could forget forever, and unconsciously, his fists clenched tightly at the recollection of those incidents.
"How dare you call my wife a caretaker?"
Shaurya stormed into his father's study that evening after Meera left the house. His blood was boiling remembering the way she had ordered Akansha for a coffee. At that moment, he had genuinely wanted to throw Meera out of the house for speaking to his wife in that tone.
"Wife, huh? Since when did this happen?" Virendar asked mockingly. He had never seen his son this furious, especially not while talking to him in such a tone.
"The day I married her", Shaurya replied coldly, glaring at his father.
"Oh! I thought you were just..." Virendar stopped midway, about to use a degrading word, but Shaurya's deadly glare made him swallow it immediately.
"You know very well I am against the world knowing her as your wife", Virendar said firmly.
"I agreed to this marriage only after hearing your reason for marrying her.
You wanted me to wash my sins by agreeing to this marriage, and I did.
But letting that woman be known as Virendar Shekhawat's daughter-in-law is impossible. "
"Daughter-in-law or not, she is my wife", Shaurya replied sharply. "No matter why I married her, she deserves respect in this house. And if something like this happens again, I will move out."
Then his tone turned colder.
"But not before destroying your dreams first."
With that warning, he walked out, leaving Virendar stunned.
Shaurya had always been careful. He rarely acted impulsively or let anger control him. But that day, watching his wife get insulted had shattered his restraint completely and once he calmed down, he regretted it instantly.
Because he had challenged his father despite knowing exactly what kind of man Virendar Shekhawat was.
That same night, Shaurya called Ashwini and ordered him to double the security around Akansha. He also informed Dev about everything because if something ever happened to him, Dev would take over responsibility for Akansha's safety.
Soon afterward, Ashwini discovered that Virendar was actively planning to harm Akansha.
From that moment, Shaurya stopped Akansha from going outside entirely.
When she questioned whether it was part of his retribution, he agreed because he had no other explanation he could safely give her. He told her he didn't want her enjoying freedom or breathing fresh air like a free bird.
Dev blasted Shaurya for making Akansha hate him instead of telling her the truth.
But Shaurya's answer silenced him completely.
"My mother sees the problems between me and Akansha, and it makes her happy", Shaurya said quietly. "These misunderstandings are what's protecting Akansha from my mother."
His eyes hardened slightly.
"If I tell Akansha the truth, she'll understand my intentions. Our differences will end. Yes, she'll still have complaints against me, and she'll be right for having them... but eventually she will give me another chance."
Then his voice lowered.
"But what about her safety?"
He looked at Dev helplessly.
"I'm not even in a position to take her somewhere safe right now. You already saw how many attempts we stopped in just the past few weeks. Even thinking about one of them succeeding in hurting her gives me a heart attack."
He paused briefly.
"Right now only my father wants Akansha dead. If my mother learns how I truly feel about my wife, Akansha won't survive."
At that point, Shaurya had already tried shifting Akansha elsewhere for her safety, but the building he planned to move her into was blown up before he could do it. The cause officially remained unknown, though Shaurya knew exactly who was behind it.
He had no option except to keep Akansha within the ancestral property under heavy protection from his trusted loyalists. That was the only reason Virendar kept failing in his repeated attempts to harm her inside the ancestral property.
Shaurya tried again later after his father intensified his plotting, but this time the gas cylinder in the new property exploded just a day before the deal was finalized in Akansha's name.
Even after that, Shaurya didn't stop trying.
A few weeks later, he attempted once again to shift her somewhere safer because he hated watching her suffer mentally under the same roof as his parents. He had even planned to slowly tell her the truth once she was settled safely elsewhere.
But before he could do any of that, Akriti suddenly needed to be rushed to the hospital because both Dev and Rajnath were unavailable.
On the way there, they were ambushed.
Shaurya immediately locked Akriti inside the car and stepped out alone. At the same time, he activated the emergency alarm in his watch, which instantly alerted Dev.
Dev was already on his way, but until then, Shaurya had to hold the attackers back himself.
And from their conversation, he quickly realized something horrifying.
They believed Akriti was Akansha.
They were there to kill her.