As Vansh looked at Riddhima and took a deep breath, he asked, "May I have my personal assistant prepare the documents for you to support my answers?"
Together, the officers discussed and gave a positive nod.
Angre, holding files, sat on Vansh's right hand side, keeping a foot distance.
"We are waiting for your reply, Mr. Raisinghania.", the officer stated.
"I have known her for the past 18 years. Miss Riddhima Dasgupta is now Mrs. Riddhima Vansh Raisinghania.", Vansh answered.
The officers furrowed their eyebrows.
"Ah! Lemme explain you. Riddhima is my wife. We got married a couple of months back and here is the marriage certificate.", Vansh said while passing the certificate to the officers.
He never forgot to see Riddhima's reactions with his peripheral vision.
She furrowed her brows and opened her mouth to speak, but after seeing the marriage certificate in front of her eyes, she refrained from mentioning anything at all.
The officer glanced at the certificate and asked, "So, what do you prefer to be called as Miss. Dasgupta or Mrs. Raisinghania?"
Riddhima remained blank and started playing with her fingers.
Seeing her body language, Vansh replied, "I would love if you called her Mrs. Raisinghania."
"Well, let's get straight to the point. So, Mrs. Raisinghania, let us know how those drugs reached your bag according to you?", the officer asked.
She was looking at Vansh and he signalled to tell them the story.
Calming herself, she slowly started to explain the story explicitly.
"According to the story, then you must be visible in the CCTV footage of the confectionery shop. Right?", they asked.
Riddhima gave a positive nod to them.
Riddhima was devastated by the 7-hour interrogation session. Vansh was a pro at this kind of interrogation. They felt amateurish in front of him because of his answers to their questions.
Riddhima was served dinner, Vansh was sitting in front of her.
She never looked at him after the interrogation ended, which made him restless.
He cleared his throat to get her attention.
"You want to talk about it?", he asked.
She kept nodding her head left and right, saying, "I understand, you're playing a trick on them to get me bail as fast as possible."
Vansh rubbed his brows and scowled, not believing that she thought that was a trick to have her declared as his wife in front of the world.
He gathered courage, "It was not a trick. You are my wife. I got married to you on your birthday this year."
Riddhima stopped eating and her mind wandered back to that day when she signed a lot of pieces of paper and she saw the marriage registration board outside the registrar's cabin.
Her eyes became red, she looked at Vansh while he was expecting some kind of out of the box reaction from his beloved wife.
She stood up and said, "And you've known me for 18 years!"
"I can explain you. Please listen to me first.", Vansh pleaded, in fear of losing her while saving her.
She showed her palm and pointed her finger towards the door, "Get out of here, right now."
Vansh could have forced her to listen to him if that was their home, but there he was bound by some disciplines.
Slowly he walked out where Angre was waiting for him.
Riddhima sat down, her tears started flowing. With another betrayal from the person she started trusting, she was broken: her parents left her, her own family showed contempt for her, the person she started believing and trusting betrayed her, and she was in custody in a false drug case. It seemed that her purpose in life had been sarcasm, the utmost goal of her life to figure out who murdered her parents and send them to prison gradually faded away as in these years she was unable to distinguish who was real and who wasn't.
Vansh was roaming around in his rented room because her reaction scared him.
He was unable to calm her down so that she could be ready for tomorrow morning's interrogation. Her outburst at recently learning the truth could land her in jail for a week.
Vansh wanted to focus on her bail, once she comes back to him, he would turn the world upside down.
Next morning:
The officers were sent to the confectionery shop to collect the CCTV footage, but they found out last night that the hard disk was stolen.
Media gathered outside the shop to get information from the officers.
A reporter asked, "Sir, how is Mr. Raisinghania related to that woman?", while trying to keep the microphones near the officer's mouth.
He sat in the car and said, "They're married."
"Sir, how is this possible?" asked the reporter again. But it remained unanswered as the car's engine was put to life.
"We will perform another set of interrogation after your meeting with your lawyers.", the officer informed her.
The lawyers came inside with notebooks to train her with the answers and their planning to present a bail plea in front of the Hon'ble Judge.
Riddhima didn't utter a word, didn't even look at them.
She was raging in anger.
"Ma'am, do you have any questions?", a lawyer asked.
She didn't reply.
Her lawyer understood that she didn't even bother to listen to what they planned for her fastest bail.
Without saying anything he dialed , "Mr. Raisinghania, your wife is not cooperating."
"I'm coming in 10 minutes, you stay there.", Vansh replied.
Vansh entered the room exactly 10 minutes later, and Riddhima was not surprised to see him.
He signalled the lawyer to wait outside.
"So, my dear wife, I heard you not cooperating with your lawyers.", Vansh stated with a smirk.
"I'm not accountable to you.", Riddhima said in anger.
He took out his phone and played a voice recording.
"Riddhima, you are listening to me, right. Please get yourself bailed out as fast as possible. As a result of Indian media reaching out to me, I am unable to visit the college. My friend, I wish you all the best. I'm eagerly waiting to talk to you the moment you come back home."
"Ritu!", Riddhima looked at Vansh, being flabbergasted.
"It's up to you now.", Vansh said and left, signaling the lawyer to continue his work.
At around 7.30 p.m:
"Boss, that man came for payment.", Angre informed.
Vansh gave permission to get him in.
"Take it, I'm impressed with your talent. I never thought you would mimic my sister's voice so smoothly.", Vansh said in his aura, as he paid his money.
Angre instructed the mimic artist to leave.
Vansh was having a meeting with the lawyers about their next significant move in the court.
He received a call from an unknown number.
"Am I speaking to Vansh Raisinghania?"
"Yes.", he replied.
"I'm speaking from NCB. Sorry to inform you that your wife was hospitalised half an hour ago. We urge you to come soon.", official informed.
Vansh stood up in a jolt and said, "Angre, get ready with your men. Something is off."
How was the chapter?
VOTE
COMMENT
SHARE
FOLLOW
Take care of yourself and your family......