Chapter 33
“There’s nothing here.”
Shauna straightened slowly, her back protesting, her arms trembling from the strain. Dirt clung to her hands, her clothes, and her hair. Every breath she took felt heavier than the last.
“Move to the next spot,” Keval said, his voice impatient. “It’s on the east side. I know it. Move to that corner there.”
Shauna followed his gaze, her eyes landing on another patch of undisturbed earth closer to the sunroom. Pain lanced down her back. Hell. The thought of digging again made her stomach twist.
She turned back to Akash’s father, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. “If you tell me what you’re looking for, maybe this will go faster.”
Keval’s expression didn’t change. “Just do as you’re told.”
Her jaw tightened. God, she hated this man. He had been forcing her to dig from one patch to another, and the entire exercise had been pointless so far.
“I know it’s here,” Keval said, his voice edged with frustration.
“Do you?” she shot back, straightening despite the ache in her body. “Well then, feel free to dig yourself. I need a break.”
His eyes darkened.
“Start digging,” he snapped.
Shauna didn’t move. Instead, she dropped down onto the ground, breathing hard. “No.”
Keval’s expression hardened. He waved the gun in her face.
Shauna didn’t flinch. She met his gaze, cold and unyielding.
“If you want to use it,” she said, “go ahead. The minute you do, you’ll alert security, who, as of now, think you and I are doing some ridiculous landscaping exercise together.”
She remembered the guards passing by earlier during their routine rounds.
Keval had tightened his grip on her arm, forcing her to smile and tell them how they were trying to level out the lawn.
It was a pathetic excuse. But they had bought it.
After all, they knew her. They knew she was marrying Akash.
Fuck. Even the thought of Akash and how she’d been forced to hurt him stabbed at her chest. What must he think of her?
“Get up,” he said. “We don’t have time.”
“I need five minutes,” Shauna shot back at him. “Can’t you see I’m exhausted?”
“Five minutes only,” Keval replied, his eyes scanning the lawn.
Shauna ignored him. She lowered her gaze to her hands. They were raw, the skin scraped and reddened. Her nails were chipped, and small cuts lined her palms where the shovel had rubbed harshly against them. Dirt clung to the wounds, stinging with every slight movement.
Her fingers trembled as she turned her hand. Her eyes fell on her engagement ring. She brushed the dirt off it gently.
She remembered the day he had given her the ring at that restaurant all those weeks ago. There had been so many words left unspoken between them at that time. And even then, despite how hard she’d tried to deny it, she had known what she felt for him.
She shut her eyes, her throat tightening.
Fuck. He must hate her right now.
The memory of the shock in his voice… the pain… the words she had been forced to say… the way she had broken him… All of it twisted painfully inside her.
The ache in her chest deepened. It had been the only way to ensure he wouldn’t come here alone.
“It was on the east side… I had hidden it on the east side,” Keval muttered to himself.
Shauna’s eyes snapped open. What was he looking for? And why now, after all these years?
His gaze narrowed on her. “That’s enough rest, Shauna. Get to it. Now.”
Shauna pushed herself up slowly, her body protesting.
Her grip tightened around the shovel once more. Sudden movement out of the corner of her eye distracted her. Her head snapped up, and her breath hitched as she saw Akash walking toward them.
“Akash,” she whispered, horror flooding her veins.
Keval turned sharply at the disturbance. In an instant, the gun in his hand shifted and was now aimed straight at Akash. Shauna’s heart slammed against her ribs.
“Why the hell are you here? And that too alone?” she demanded, panic lacing her voice. “Wasn’t me breaking up with you enough reason to stay away?”
Akash didn’t stop moving forward.
“Stop right there,” his father said, when he was a few feet away.
Akash halted. His eyes found hers and softened.
“I love you more than anything else in the world,” he said. “And I know you love me. I was hurt by what you said… but I figured out soon enough that you were only trying to push me away. To keep me from coming here.”
“Go back,” she pleaded, her eyes watering. “Please… just go back.”
He shook his head, his gaze hardening. “No. If you’re here, then so am I.”
“No one is going anywhere,” Keval cut in, his aim unwavering.
He addressed Akash. “Find a shovel and start digging. Both of you. I’m going to find what I came for, no matter what.”
Akash’s lips curved before he pulled out a small velvet pouch and held it up. “You mean you’re looking for this?”
Keval stilled. His eyes locked onto it, greed flashing in his gaze.
Shauna frowned, confusion slicing through her fear. What was Akash doing? How did he know what his father wanted? How did he have it? When had he found it?
“Isn’t this what you want?” Akash continued. “The ruby necklace you stole from the Queen of Devangarh? I believe its value is thirty crores today. I have it.”
Keval’s breath hitched, his gaze locking onto the black pouch in Akash’s hand, his eyes lighting up with a sharp, covetous gleam.
“I knew it,” he said. “I knew she would lead me to it, one way or another. And look at you… handing it over. Just like that. All because of her.” He chuckled. “I can’t wait to see this beautiful treasure I stole all those years ago. I killed someone because of it. I went to prison for it.”
Akash’s jaw tightened. “Funny how you care more about a piece of jewelry than you ever did about your own children.”
His father gave him a hard look. “Oh, please. You and your sister were always your mother’s children. I never wanted either of you.”
“We never wanted you either,” Akash shot back.
“See, I knew this is how you felt about me,” his father said. “You made it clear when I came to visit you in your office, trying to reconcile with you.”
“You just wanted a way back into our lives probably because you learned we had money,” Akash retorted, “or you wanted access to this bloody necklace you stole.”
“But you made it pretty obvious that you wanted nothing to do with me,” his father said coldly. “And so it occurred to me to maybe kidnap one of Keya’s children to get money from you both.”
Fuck.
Shauna’s blood turned cold at the casual way he spoke about doing something so vile.
“You would never have gotten within an inch of those kids,” Akash replied tightly.
“Why do you think I never tried?” His father replied. “I followed Keya and her children, but they were always fiercely guarded. But this necklace was a guarantee for me to live out the rest of my days well, so why bother with something that could get me back in prison if I failed at it.”
God, Akash’s father was a cruel, horrible man.
He shifted his gun and pointed it at Shauna, making her heart stutter.
“Give it to me or I’ll hurt her,” he said.
“I will give this to you,” Akash said calmly. “But first, you let her go.”
A tense silence followed. Keval’s eyes flicked between them as he calculated and weighed his options.
She knew the exact second he chose the necklace over everything else.
“Ten steps,” he said. “She walks ten steps forward.”
Shauna’s heart pounded. Akash’s gaze met hers, and he gave her a reassuring nod.
“Come to me,” he said softly.
She moved. One step. Two.
Every step felt like walking a tightrope over a fall she couldn’t see. Keval’s gun remained trained unwaveringly on her as she crossed to Akash’s side.
Once she was close enough, Akash moved and threw the velvet pouch high into the air. His father’s gaze snapped upward as instinct, greed, and obsession took over.
In that split second, Akash lunged forward. He grabbed her and pulled her down with him, twisting at the last moment so she landed on top of him instead of the ground.
A shot rang out. She gasped as the sound tore through the night.
She turned her head. Keval Karia lay on the ground, clutching his shoulder, his face twisted in pain. The gun had fallen from his hand and now lay across the grass, a little distance away from him. Akash shifted her off him and was on his feet in an instant, kicking the gun farther away from him.
Heart still racing, she rose to her feet as the police swarmed in from all sides, shouting commands. Keval Karia was hauled upright, struggling weakly as two officers twisted his arms behind his back and snapped the handcuffs into place.
Through the chaos, she saw VJ approaching, calm and composed as always.
Of course, VJ would have been informed the second Akash realized she was in danger.
And he always came for his friends when they called for help.
Always. She was eternally grateful to him.
Behind him, she saw Kabier, Sameer, and Nirvaan entering the lawn.
Relief hit her all at once.
But this was not yet fully over. Her gaze shifted to Akash. He stood a few feet away, facing his father. For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Keval let out a bitter laugh, wincing through the pain as he nodded toward the velvet pouch, its contents spilled open with black stones scattered across the ground.
“So, you didn’t have it?” Keval sneered. He looked around. “It is here. I know it. I had hidden it.”
Akash stepped closer, his expression cold. “If it is here, I will find it one day and return it to the rightful owners. You will never get your hands on it. You’re going away for the rest of your life.”
Keval’s jaw tightened, but Akash didn’t stop.
“And honestly?” Akash added, his voice hardening. “Good riddance.”
A flicker of anger and disbelief passed through Keval’s eyes, but Akash’s gaze didn’t waver.