Life's Second Chances

Forty

"You are a hard woman to get ahold of,"

"I'm here so, what do you want?" the wife of the man who murdered my boyfriend's parents. It's the strangest things how we are connected to people we don't even know. Sitting beside me, she tucks her open hair behind her ear, awkwardly resting her gloved hands in her lap.

"I need to know what happened to my husband, Anuksha. It's been seven years since he went missing,"

"And how am I to help with that?"

"Sidharth. I know he is behind it,"

My fingers gripped around the coffee cup turn clammy, shaking with a building nervousness from the rush of heat churning in my stomach. "Your husband is a murderer, who killed two innocent people in cold blood...I just hope he got the punishment he deserved,"

"I just want to know," she pleads to me exasperatedly. "Gautam was always a good husband and father, Anuksha. I never in a million years would believe he killed Naina and Raj. All I ask is to know what happened to him,"

Dumping my empty coffee cup, I stand struggling through my breath. "First I want to know how you knew about Panacea,"

"Little over a year ago a man approached me about Gautam. He said it's possible that my husband was killed for his organs. He was building a case, but he needed hardcore, firsthand evidence. So, I started working for Panacea so I could gather information and help him blow the case wide open,"

"Indeed, you did. But I'm assuming there was no evidence to link your husband's disappearance to the organ harvesting ring,"

"That's why I am here. I wish there were an easier way being that Gautam is your mother's brother but Sidharth would never meet me. He has every right to seek justice for his parents, I just want to know what happened to my husband," her voice fades as the rapid beat of my heart thumps against my ears. Despite the cold wind whipping my face a hot flash lashes through me making my head spin.

Maa's brother.

Standing in the now-empty living room of my apartment, I lean against the fireplace mantel taking in the sea-green walls, mahogany wood floors and the double sunburst windows letting generous shades of pale yellow and blood orange into the spacious room. My mind swarming with a bombardment of unanswered questions.

I've had so much thrown at me since I returned from California that the late, sleepless nights and hectic days are finally catching up with me. The launch of the winter couture line, starting up a new publishing house, moving in with Sidharth and the dealing with the never-ending problems of the investigation, I'm drowning in a sea of absolute chaos.

"Love? You in here?" his deep voice echoes through the empty apartment, rattling the silent walls from their foundation. He smiles seeing me braced up on the wall, the lines around his mouth curving in a broad smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. "Thought I'd find you here, saying goodbye to the old place,"

Stuffing his hands into the pockets of his impeccably tailored suit pants, he walks to the center of the room basking in the deep light of the sunset pouring through the windows. He absorbs the space around him, exuding natural confidence and charisma that sizzles through the air.

"You're not having second thoughts now, are you?" he tilts his head to the side assessing my silence, his brows crinkling on his forehead above his narrowed eyes.

"What's wrong?" hooking his fingers under my chin, he urges my eyes off the walls to his dark orbs.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I push a shaky breath out of my lungs, clamping down on my lips. "Why didn't you tell me it was maa's brother?"