Chapter 28
CHAPTER 28
SHIVINA
R ani Ma was waiting for me in the sitting room when I got home.
“Are you all right, beta?” she asked worriedly, giving me a tight hug. “I heard what happened.”
I opened my mouth to reply to her but burst into tears instead. She held me tightly and just let me cry.
When my sobs became softer, she patted my head gently.
“It must have been very scary to be shot at from all sides,” she said.
I shook my head and wiped my eyes.
“I’m not crying for that, Rani Ma. I’m crying because it’s over,” I said with a loud sniff.
“What’s over?” she asked in surprise.
“Everything. Our marriage. My life. My future. Take your pick,” I said bleakly.
“Oh, my dear child! Don’t think like that. Have the two of you fought? It’ll blow over. These things always do.”
I shook my head stubbornly.
“Ranvijay has asked me to leave. He was quite clear about it.”
“He’s an idiot,” exclaimed Rani Ma. “I don’t know what’s got into that boy. It’s all this vigilante business. But don’t give up on him, Shivina. I haven’t seen him so happy in years.”
“I’m sorry, Rani Ma. But I can’t replace his first wife. I can’t fill that hole in his heart,” I said miserably.
“That witch was the one who blew a hole in his heart in the first place,” replied Rani Ma with a loud snort.
“What?” I asked, taken aback at her vehemence.
“Devika never made him happy. But her death did release him from the misery of those daily quarrels.”
She sighed heavily and led me to the big sofa.
“Sit, child. I don’t know what Ranvijay has told you about his first marriage.”
I let out a bitter laugh.
“Nothing. He’s told me nothing of value.”
“Then you need to hear this,” she said firmly.
I didn’t want to hear any more because it wouldn’t make a difference to our marriage. That was over even before it actually began. We’d never had a chance because Ranvijay didn’t want to give us a chance. But Rani Ma was determined to be heard.
“Devika married Ranvijay only for his money. She was in love with someone else, and she cheated on my son throughout their marriage. But she kept acting like Ranvijay was making her actively miserable when my poor son did his best to make her happy. Nothing he did for her was ever enough. He was never good enough. Eventually, he discovered the cheating. She was riding in the paddocks behind the palace with her lover when he arrived to confront her about it, and she took off at a gallop out of fear. He gave chase, but before he could catch up with her, she fell off the horse and died.”
My heart hurt for the betrayal Ranvijay had faced. It had turned his heart to stone, and clearly, my love wasn’t strong enough to melt it.
“When he decided to marry Kavya, I was sure she was just like Devika. But then, by a weird twist of fate, he married you, and for the first time in his life, I saw Ranvijay happy. I have arranged many happy marriages in my time, my dear. But even I couldn’t have arranged such a wonderful marriage for my son. So don’t give up on my hardheaded son yet, beta. Be patient with him and give him one more chance.”
I shook my head in denial.
“If I thought I had any chance of melting his heart, I’d give him as many chances as he wanted, Rani Ma. But he doesn’t want any. I’ve been deluding myself into thinking this was anything but a marriage of convenience, and now that I know the truth about how he feels about me, I refuse to stay where I’m not wanted,” I said firmly.
She sighed again, and this time, she looked like she’d aged ten years.
“What do you plan to do?”
“We will move out after Zarna’s exams. I don’t want her to know any of this until then.”
I left her sitting on that sofa and went upstairs, wondering how I could stay in the same room with Ranvijay for the next couple of weeks. But he didn’t put me in that position because he didn’t come home that night.
I cried myself to sleep and woke up in the middle of the night, thinking he’d come back. But his side of the bed was still empty. After that, I lay there hollow-eyed and wide awake until my alarm went off.
Zarna noticed my red-rimmed eyes when I went to her room to get her ready for school, but I passed it off as a cold.
“Don’t lie to me, Di. I know you’ve been crying,” she said worriedly as she shovelled some poha into her mouth. “Did you and RV fight?”
“It’s complicated, Z,” I replied as I made her bed.
She hugged me tightly, and it was all I could do to hold back my tears. But I refused to shed even one more for a man who didn’t care about me.
“RV is a good man. He’ll come back and say sorry. If he doesn’t, you’ve still got me,” she whispered.
I kissed the top of her head and sent her off to school. Isha and Diya kept me updated on Kuhu’s condition, and I knew they wanted to discuss my fight with Ranvijay, but they were kind enough to leave it alone for now.
Kuhu was doing well, thankfully, and had been discharged from the hospital.
I kept looking at my screen, wondering if Ranvijay was ever going to call. But he didn’t.
I decided to update my CV because I needed a job soon. The day progressed very slowly. I wanted it to be over, but I also dreaded the day when I’d have to leave the palace for good. My husband didn’t come home that night either, and both Rani Ma and Sannata Mausi were going around tight-lipped.
Meanwhile, Zarna looked worried.
“I’m fine, Zarna. It’s just a little fight,” I lied, not wanting to stress her out before her exams.
The next day, I decided to pick her up from school and take her for some ice cream. But when I got to the school at pick up, Zarna was nowhere to be seen. I made my way through the crowd of students and mothers and caught up with her class teacher, who looked surprised to see me.
“Your Highness, what are you doing here?” she asked.
A feeling of foreboding came over me, and I tried to ignore it.
“I’m here to pick up Zarna.”
She frowned at me over her glasses.
“But your friend already picked her up half an hour early.”
“What friend?” I asked shrilly. “I didn’t send anyone.”
“She was around your height but thinner. And Zarna called her Baisa, which I thought was an inside joke that I didn’t get. But she seemed okay to go with that woman.”
My insides went cold at her words. It could only be one woman. Kavya Baisa.
But why the fuck had she picked up my sister?
A slow fury began to simmer through me. How dare she try to play such games with me? She had no business going anywhere near my sister!
I dialled Kavya’s number as I ran to the car, and she answered immediately.
“Where is Zarna?” I demanded.
“Hello to you too… Rani Sa,” she drawled. “What can I do for you today?”
“You know exactly what you can do, you bitch,” I snarled. “Where the hell is my sister?”
“Chill, Shivina. There’s no need to call me names. Your sister is right here,” replied Kavya. “Say hi to your Di, Zarna.”
“Di! I’m sorry! I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have gone with Baisa. And now she won’t let me go… ummmmffff…”
Her words were cut off, and Kavya came back on the line.
“These kids exaggerate so much. I never said I wouldn’t let her go. I’ll let her go as soon as you come to pick her up,” she said sweetly.
“Tell me where you are,” I demanded. “I’m on my way.”
She sent me the location pin.
“And Shivina… come alone,” she warned. “I don’t want to see that husband of yours ever again.”
I gave the location to the chauffeur but asked him to make one slight detour. When I got back into the car and we set off for the location, my phone began to ring. It was Ranvijay. My heart leapt at the thought of speaking to him after two whole days of radio silence, but I rejected the call and turned my phone off.
I didn’t want to speak to him right now. He’d only tell me to go back home and let him deal with it, but I wasn’t going to leave my sister in the hands of one of the most sadistic bitches I’d ever met. I was going to rescue Zarna all on my own. And I didn’t need Ranvijay for that.
When the chauffeur’s phone began to ring, I ordered him not to answer it. He couldn’t disobey a direct order, so he didn’t even take it out to check who was calling.
Kavya’s location turned out to be a rundown mansion in the middle of the desert.
“This looks bad, Rani Sa. I don’t think you should go in there all alone. Let Hukum handle this,” begged the chauffeur.
“My sister is in there, Rajan. And I don’t know what that woman is doing to her. I don’t have the time to wait for your Hukum,” I said bleakly. “Besides, I know Kavya. She’s too much of a coward to try anything big. She usually gets her way through intimidation, and I’m sure that’s what she’s trying this time, too. When she realises that I’m not scared of her, she’ll back away. Look, if I don’t come out within five minutes, feel free to call His Highness.”
He muttered under his breath and kept his phone at the ready as I hopped out of the car.
The mansion seemed abandoned. There was a giant hole in the compound wall. I walked in through the hole because the gates were locked. There was nobody in the compound, but it felt eerie. The front door was unlocked. I walked into a central courtyard and found Zarna sitting on a chair in the middle of the courtyard.
Kavya was standing behind her with a creepy, welcoming smile on her face. She was unarmed. I wondered if all those drugs had finally wrecked her mind. What did she hope to gain from this?
“Khamma Ghani, Rani Sa,’ she cooed.
My sister was staring at me helplessly. I ignored Kavya’s greeting and wondered why Zarna didn’t get up and run to me.
“Zarna, come to me,” I said cautiously.
“I’m not allowed to get up,” whispered Zarna.
“She won’t do anything to you, baby. Just get up and walk away,” I said as I started walking towards her.
“You’re right. I won’t do anything to your sister, but I make no promises about him ,” said Kavya with a demented cackle. “So stay where you are, Shivina.”
That’s when I noticed a red dot dancing on my sister’s chest. It was from the laser sighter of a gun. Fuck!
I whirled around to see a sniper on the roof aiming a gun at Zarna. In a panic, I ran up to her and stood in front of her to cover her. And just like that, my chest was covered in red dots from different directions. When I looked up, there was a sniper in every corner of the roof. What the fuck was going on?
“I told you to stay where you are,” scolded Kavya. “See? Now you’ve made him mad.”
“Whom?” I asked, keeping a wary eye on the snipers. I made sure Zarna was fully covered.
Instead of replying, Kavya moved to the side, and a man emerged from the door behind her. He walked up to me and held out a hand.
“Ayush Goel at your service, Rani Sa.”