***Karan's POV.***
"Are you sure about this, Kabir?" I ask.
"Yes. We need to take this risk to find the evidence. We don't have any other way to get it." Kabir says.
"Okay. Make the call." I say then look at Lalit and give him a warning, "And you better not ruin this for us or you will rot in jail."
"I will do anything to get out of this mess, Sir." He says, but I don't trust him.
"It's ringing..." Kabir says and Lalit looks at the paper again.
"Hello..."
"Hello, Sahni..." Lalit says.
"You again... What is it you want now? 5 crores... 10... or more... Ask for it so I can just laugh on your face and say no." Sahni says.
"I didn't call you to ask you about the money. Because I don't need to. Instead, I have found a new way to make money. Wanna know?" Lalit asks.
"Stop wasting my time." Sahni says and just as we expect him to hang up Lalit speaks up.
"So you are okay if I trade your secret to your boss in exchange for the money he is ready to pay me? A secret which only you knew about... until now." He says.
"What do you mean? What secret?" Sahni's voice starts to tremble.
"That you hold crucial evidence against the main boss which could take him down." Lalit says with a laugh.
"No... No... You can't know about this. I have hidden it myself and no one knows about it other than me." Sahni says in panic.
"Oh, but I do. I do know where it is and I am on my way to retrieve it. Soon I will be a millionaire but who could say the same about you? Bye..." Lalit says and we could hear Sahni asking to wait in panic but he hangs up at our signal.
"Now our game starts. Sahni would panic and run to find the evidence. And we have to just follow him one step behind." Kabir says and I look out of the car towards the hotel and wait for him to come out.
After a few minutes, Sahni rushes out of the hotel room and an unknown car pulls up in front of him. As soon as they start the car, Kabir starts following them. We drive for another 15 minutes before coming to a stop in front of Malhotra company.
The car leaves immediately after dropping Sahni off outside the company. I ask Kabir to keep an eye out from a distance as he follows me while I follow Sahni to the back of the company to the old warehouse which I was planning to reconstruct as a place to hold events for the company.
He pushes a metal sheet away from one section in the back of the warehouse and reveals a hole. As he disappears inside it, I follow through it and find him gone. Just to be careful, I pick a metal tool from nearby and start looking around the mess for him as silently as possible.
As I start to turn a corner, I hear noise in the distance and follow it. I find Sahni going through the rubble.
"Where is it? Where is it?" He keeps chanting as he keeps pushing the rubble away, "It should still be here. No one knows where I hid it. No one can know. I am smarter than them and if I am right..." He stops and I peek at him again only to see him smiling victoriously as he exclaims happily, "Found it!"
He takes his hand out of the rubble and looks at the tattered box which could be passed on as junk. Sahni opens it and takes out another small box from it; from inside, he takes out a pen drive.
"It is safe." He says, but looks around so I hide away.
I try to follow him again when I feel a sharp jab at my head and my weapon drops from my hand. I groan out in pain and hear footsteps coming towards me.
"Karan! What are you doing here?" Sahni asks.
"He was following you." A stranger says as I try to overcome the pain, "And looks like you have something for me right there, Sahni."
"It is nothing." Sahni says, his voice sounding scared.
"Really. But it looks to be something very important. I always had my suspicions about you. That you were hiding something against me especially when you behaved so smugly. Now I know." The stranger says.
"Please forgive me. It was to keep me safe." Sahni says, almost begging.
"I will forgive your transgression because I need you for my plan. But only if you hand over that drive to me." He says, and somehow I find the voice familiar now that the pain subsided.
"Sure, sir." Sahni says.
Before he could hand the drive over, I jumped at him and took it from him but before I could take another step, I was pushed to the ground then my hand was pulled behind my back even though I struggled hard. I almost cry out in pain when my head is forced back and finally see the stranger's face.
"I am so disappointed in you, Karan." Gagan Lohana, CMO of Malhotra Company says, "You have so much potential and yet you wasted it all to serve Shaurya. If only you had taken my bait and put that man behind bars, you would be ruling over the Malhotra Empire beside me. But you didn't and here we are, contemplating how to kill you and make it look like an accident."
"You! You are behind all of this?" I ask, still not believing.
"Well, I am smarter than I look, Karan. Drive." He says and his man takes the drive from my hand and gives it to him.
He crushes it under his feet as I shout in protest, "No!"
"There... Now the last piece of evidence is gone and I am safe again. I wish I could talk more, Karan. But I don't have time. I have to prepare for the takeover. Tie him up and burn this place. After I became the owner, I would build up a nice auditorium here where I could finally have a dance with my future wife." He says.
As he starts to leave, my phone rings and he orders his men to take my phone away.
"Puffy Princess!" One man reads, "Who is that?"
"Must be his wife. Haven't you seen her? She is hot. Maybe after he dies, I can get a chance." Another man says with a wicked glee.
"Sure, you will get a chance." I say with a smile, "To die by her hands."
He punches me with a force that I fall and the other man says, "Let him go. The boss will see what needs to be done with this call. We need to set this place on fire before anyone gets wind of it."
I spit out the blood and the next moment I am getting dragged to a metal post with another man carrying the rope. As they drag me, I snatch a piece of glass and hide it under my sleeves.
They start throwing petrol everywhere but not on me as Gagan is smart to know that postmortem would prove I was intentionally set on fire and that would get the police to investigate but the ropes around my chest won't.
With an evil smile, the men leave after setting the place on fire. As soon as they are out of sight, I take out the glass piece and start cutting my ropes. From what I heard, one man was holding my phone and talking to Siya about a few minutes ago.
"I know you will be here soon, Siya. I trust nothing would stop you from saving me but don't be a fool and come here. Please. Because I would be fine." I send out a silent prayer as I try to free myself.
I finally freed myself after ten minutes of struggle. Would have done it quicker if not for the blood pouring out of my fingers and making it difficult and slippery. And not to forget the uncomfortable heat around me.
When I look up, I find myself surrounded by roaring fire and say to myself, "If not for fire, I would definitely get crushed under the ceiling if it falls. I need to get out of here soon. Why is no one here yet to dose the fire? Maybe they are not in a hurry because they think it is empty. I can't use the front gate. Secret entry it is then."
I turn to do just that and challenge the fire to escape the warehouse when I hear it. The sound of the car's horn, continuous and so loud, and with every second it is approaching closer and closer until a car bursts through the door and comes to stand right in front of me.
"My car!" Someone shouts from the car.
The door opens and my wife, Siya jumps out of it and looks around until her eyes find me. The panic in her eyes subsides slowly and she runs for me. Her smile is so beautiful but as soon as she reaches me, I forget everything about it and admonish her.
"Are you an idiot, Siya?! You could have made the ceiling fall on you and me and killed us both." I shout in panic and look around to confirm.
"You are so stupid, Karan! Who shouts at his wife when she trying to save her husband's burning a**? And I rather have us both killed than live without you." She shouts back.
"Do you really think I would die especially with so many wishes and dreams yet to be fulfilled? No! I would have not died." I say.
"Sorry if I am not aware of the power of your determination to live. Because I don't have time to think about it when I am busy thinking about my husband burning a**." Siya says.
"My a** is not burning!" I shout.
"Okay, kids. No one uses the word 'a**' or they have to give up their pocket money to 'Be A Good Person' jar." I hear Parth Chachu and look to see him and Kabir in the car, "And young man, don't worry about your car. She sacrificed her life for the greater good."
"Can you both just stop arguing? We need to leave right now! I don't want to die yet." Kabir says.
I grab Siya's hand and rush for the car as she says, "I know the direction to the car."
"I am not guiding you to the car. I am keeping you close so you don't die and kill my heart with it." I say.
"Same goes for you." She mumbles and I try to suppress my smile, "What about the evidence?"
"It got crushed under Lohana's feet." I say as we sit in the car then smile as I continue, "Or so he thinks."
Siya's frown of disappointment soon turns into a smile and she looks ready to jump to kiss me when Parth Chachu intervenes reminding her that we are not alone. Siya backs away immediately remembering her promise.
Can't imagine I have to send someone behind bars for a kiss? But then again that kiss is from someone I love and all the more precious because of it.
I hid the drive during that struggle, exchanging it with mine which holds Siya and my wedding pictures. Good thing Mum has another copy of it. So no worries there. And the evidence was safe because of my good acting skills.
Kabir who was in the passenger seat before, is now driving the car and taking us out of the warehouse. As soon as we are out, I see employees looking in horror and I look back to see the warehouse crumble to the ground.
"See! A few more seconds and we have gotten crushed. All because of you, Karan. When will you realize not to argue with me?" Siya asks with a frown.
I open my mouth and close it again then shake my head and decide to keep quiet rather than start another set of argument with Siya. And at that moment I was distracted by something else.
I open the car door and come out to see police putting handcuffs on Sahni, Hina, Gagan Lohana and his goons. They look red with anger and embarrassment while Dad glares at them with dismay.
"What is happening here?" I ask in daze.
"When Dad heard you were in danger, he decided not to wait for the board meeting and filed a case against them before they could and start an official investigation on them. Kabir was delayed because he was hiding and recording to gather more proof. He took a video of Sahni and Lohana and gave it to the police officer. Also, remember the report that I was looking into... About those people who transferred funds to Harmeet Singh?" Siya asks.
"Yes. What about them?" I ask.
"Those people were employees at a small company that was run by one of Lohana's men. In the name of future funds or some tax, they used to transfer money and show it on their salary slips to make it white money. Those people are innocent and don't even know that they are about to lose their jobs." Siya says, disgusted by them and so am I.
"You are a genius, Siya. Wanna join my agency?" Kabir asks.
"No, thanks." She says then after a second thought says, "Unless I can become the CEO."
We all laugh and that's how my day ended. With my wife's hand in mine while the EMTs look at my wounds and smile on our faces knowing that we both saved the day.