Chapter 32
The war raging inside him had escalated by the time he entered his apartment. His mind wanted to believe that she had betrayed him in the worst way possible, but his heart… His heart rejected that outright. It kept telling him there was something else going on.
But what?
He stood inside his house, unmoving, staring at nothing in particular, trying to make sense of her words, feeling numb. Minutes passed. He wasn’t sure how many.
The doorbell rang, and he heard the keypad being punched in. The door opened, and Keya rushed in, with Kabier right behind her.
“Akash—” Keya pulled him into a tight embrace.
For a moment, he resisted, remaining stiff and unresponsive. Then something inside him gave way. He leaned into her, his head dropping onto her shoulder, his eyes burning, his breathing rough. He couldn’t speak.
Before he could even gather himself, the doorbell rang again. He pulled away from Keya as Kabier moved to open it. Sameer and Raashi stepped in, followed by Nirvaan and Rhea.
Akash stiffened. His gaze flickered across their faces, shock cutting through the numbness that was overwhelming him.
Sameer stepped forward, his expression grim. “Kabier told me everything. I tried calling Shauna, but I can’t get through to her. Her phone’s still switched off. It’s not like her to just… disconnect from all of us.”
Akash said nothing.
“Rishi and Mehak are at home with grandfather and my parents,” Sameer continued. “We’re all… disturbed. They’re trying to look for her. We just… we just wanted to come to you. To understand what happened.”
Before Akash could respond, Rhea rushed forward.
“I don’t believe she said all that to you,” she said, her voice urgent as she shook her head. “She loves you. I know it.”
Akash let out a slow breath. “You’re wrong.”
Rhea frowned, shaking her head.
Nirvaan stepped forward. “I saw you with her that night at Tryst. You both looked completely in love. I cannot believe she’d break up with you. There has to be more to it.”
Rhea took Akash’s arm, guiding him toward the sofa and gently pushing him down before sitting beside him.
“Tell me everything,” she insisted. “Every single word she said to you.”
Akash stared ahead for a moment, his jaw tightening. Then, slowly, he began recounting the call, the coldness in Shauna’s voice, the way she had dismissed everything, the calculated words, the finality.
The room fell silent once he was done talking. He raked a hand through his hair, his heart thumping hard, forcing him to relook at everything she’d said. He remembered all her cruel words, but he also remembered the hitch in her breath before she’d disconnected the line.
Fuck, was he grasping at straws? Trying to believe something that didn’t exist?
He turned slightly, looking at Keya. “I heard what she said. But my heart refuses to believe her. I know she loves me. I’ve seen it. Felt it. I can’t be mistaken about that.” He shook his head. “Fuck. Then why would she say all those things?”
Keya frowned, confusion crossing her face. She gave a small, helpless shrug.
Sameer exhaled, running a hand through his hair before looking at Akash, his expression conflicted. “As much as I don’t want to believe she hurt you like this, the truth is… Shauna has wanted Sehgal Media since she was a child.”
Rhea turned to him sharply. “No, Sameer. How can you say that?”
She looked back at Akash, her eyes fierce, unwavering. “She loves you. She’s my twin. I know her, and she is in love with you. She would never deliberately hurt you.”
Something about her words struck deep. Akash stilled. He remembered her face when she’d told him she loved him. He remembered her excitement when he’d spoken to her earlier, when she’d been forcing him to dance at their sangeet. No, something was wrong.
He refused to believe her over a phone call. He needed to see her, see the look in her eyes when she told him to his face that she’d played him. Only then he would believe her.
Abruptly, he stood. Pulling out his phone, he dialed Shauna’s number. It was switched off.
“Why would she turn off her phone?” he asked. “I wish I knew where she was right now. I just want to meet her and talk to her once.”
Sameer glanced down at his own phone. “I have her location shared with me. It’s showing her last location at your new house.”
Akash froze.
“What?” he said sharply. “That’s not possible. She told me she never went there today.”
Sameer held out his phone. “That’s what it says. Look.”
Akash took it, his eyes scanning the screen. The location marker blinked back at him, undeniable.
Confusion twisted into something colder. A slow, creeping sense of dread slithered down his spine. Something was very wrong. He was certain of it.
Without another word, he dialed her bodyguard. It rang. And rang. With no answer.
“Shauna’s bodyguard isn’t picking up,” he said urgently.
Kabier and Sameer exchanged a quick, sharp look. Kabier stepped aside immediately, already making a call.
Akash opened his phone. A thought had already taken hold in his mind. He opened the security app linked to the cameras he’d installed in and around his house. His fingers moved quickly, pulling up the live camera feed.
“Come on…” he muttered under his breath.
The screen flickered as he cycled through angles—the driveway, the entrance, the empty hallway, the dining room, the sunroom, the lawns.
He stopped, and his breath hitched.
Shauna. She was there.
In the dim light, she was digging into the ground with a shovel, her movements strained and hurried.
Akash frowned, confusion cutting through him.
“What is she doing?” he said, more to himself than anyone else. “Why is she digging?”
Murmurs rose around him as everyone peeked into his phone. He zoomed in. That’s when he noticed a man approaching her, giving her instructions.
His body froze, and something cold gripped his chest as he recognized the man. There was only one person who had been obsessed with that house. Only one man who’d been searching for something no one else knew about.
His grip tightened around the phone as he saw the gun in his father’s hand. A gun pointed at the woman Akash loved more than anything else in the world.
“That’s… that’s him,” Keya said, her voice shaking.
“Fuck,” Akash whispered. “Now it all makes sense. He made her do it. I’m sure he forced her to call me.”
Beside him, he heard Keya and Raashi gasp. Sameer and Rhea asked questions. But he wasn’t paying attention. Fear had blanked his mind. His father wanted something from that house, and he was using Shauna to get it.
He exhaled. Shauna needed him. He had to be strong for her. He would get her through this.
“I’m going there. To her,” he said, his voice cutting through the chaos.
“You can’t just walk in there and put yourself in danger too,” Keya said, sounding frantic. “He already has Shauna, and now you want to offer yourself too?”
“I love her, Keya, and she pretended to break up with me on the phone because I’m pretty sure he forced her to. Either that, or she was trying to protect me, to make sure I didn’t go there and become his target. You cannot expect me to wait around here knowing she’s in danger.”
Tears slipped down Keya’s cheeks.
“He’s right, sweetheart,” Kabier said, putting his arm around her. “You know I did the same when you were in danger once. You cannot stop him.”
Keya lifted her chin. “Then I’m going with you.”
“No,” Akash said. He wasn’t putting his sister in danger. Ever.
“Absolutely not,” Kabier yelled, his face filled with terror. “I almost lost you once, years ago. There’s no way I’m letting you do this.”
Keya lifted her jaw. “You can’t stop me.”
“But I can, and I will,” Akash said. “If you love me, then you will stay right here. You have a family. Your children need you. They are important.”
“So are you,” she shot back, her tears falling freely now. “I won’t survive if he hurts you.”
“I promise I’ll come back to you,” Akash said. “But please for my sake, don’t force this. Stay here.”
Kabier’s jaw was locked tight. He looked one second away from grabbing Keya and locking her up somewhere safe.
“Where is VJ?” Keya asked aloud. “Call him and ask for his help. We have to call the police.”
“I’ve already called him,” Kabier said, his expression grim. “He’s on the way here.”
Akash nodded. “You all figure that bit out. I need to go to her.”
Nirvaan touched his shoulder. “I’m coming with you. We can plan with the others on the phone while we drive there.”
Within moments, Akash was back in his car with Nirvaan by his side, and this time he kept his bodyguard in the back seat. There was no way he was allowing anyone else drive right now.
Nirvaan held Akash’s phone in his hand, watching the live feed and keeping an eye on Shauna. Akash leaned in, peering at the screen. She was still digging, just in a different spot now.
What the hell was his father looking for?
Nirvaan’s phone rang. It was Kabier. He immediately put it on speaker.
“I have VJ on the call with us,” Kabier said. “Let’s hear him out.”
“Hi, Akash,” VJ said. “I’ll be at your new house in a few minutes. I changed directions as soon as Kabier called me. Sorry I haven’t been in touch. I was waiting on more information before speaking to you… but I should’ve called sooner. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. None of us could’ve predicted what my father would do,” Akash said, anxiety creeping up his chest. “So, what did you find?”
“There are two things,” VJ said. “The man your father killed was an old associate of his. They started out gambling together… small stakes, nothing serious. But that didn’t last. They moved on to shoplifting.
Small-time jewelry stores at first. Then bigger jobs.
Robbing houses under the guise of repair work.
Electrical repairs, AC servicing… they’d pose as staff, walk right in, and walk out with valuables. ”
Akash’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. This was exactly how he must have entered his house. He must have been there working all along, and they hadn’t even noticed.
Fucking hell.
“They ran several of these operations,” VJ continued. “They were clean. Quiet. Never got caught. Until one day, no one knows what happened, but they got into a fight. And your father killed him.”
Akash exhaled sharply, pressing his foot harder on the accelerator as the road ahead cleared.
“So that’s it?” he said. “A dead end.”
“Not quite,” VJ replied. “And this is what I was waiting for: one of my old police contacts finally got through some old prison records and inmate histories. I learned that your father was eventually caught and imprisoned in Mumbai. But before that, he was operating in Devangarh. I went through records of heists in Devangarh around that time… and I found something.”
Akash’s grip tightened on the wheel.
“Right around when your father killed his partner,” VJ continued, “a necklace was stolen from my aunt, Sanchali Devi, the Queen of Devangarh.”
Akash’s heart skipped.
“A ruby and diamond necklace,” VJ added. “Worth thirty crores today.”
Akash shared a shocked look with Nirvaan.
“His time in Devangarh stood out to me because I remembered that theft,” VJ went on.
“I was young then, living in Mumbai, but I recall my father mentioning it during one of our calls. I was waiting to speak to my cousin Zorawar, Sanchali’s son, to confirm the timeline.
But he was unavailable for a few days, and hence the delay from my end.
He just called me a few minutes back and confirmed it. ”
“Fuck,” Akash swore.
It all was beginning to make sense to him now. He knew what VJ was going to say next.
“I think he may have hidden the necklace in your grandfather’s house,” VJ said, confirming his suspicions.
“That’s why he was in Mumbai when he was caught.
The evidence against him was substantial, and there were eyewitnesses too.
He pleaded self-defense and, with good behavior, managed to get out early. ”
“This makes sense,” Akash sighed. “The house was empty. I was away in college, and before Keya bought the apartment I now live in, she was staying in a rental. The house was the best place to hide something valuable. I’m sure he never expected Keya and me to succeed.
That we would, at some point, try and rebuild the house.
That’s why he came to see me at the office.
And when I didn’t allow him entry back into my life, he targeted Shauna.
I’m certain he knows she’s my weakness.”
“We will get her out safe and sound, I promise,” VJ said. “Now listen to my plan.”
Akash listened to him carefully, asking questions, agreeing to his suggestions, and pointing out what could go wrong. As the plan took shape, he hardened both his heart and his mind. He would get to her in time.
Hold on, Shauna, he said silently. I’m coming for you.
He wouldn’t fail her. He would get her back. And he would protect her. This would not be their end. That was a vow.