(Flashback)
"I know the current identity of Balraj and Bujang. They indeed faked their deaths"
"Oh" she looked seemingly calm but she was shaking within. She unknowingly rubbed her belly, a habit she started recently. May be it was her way of reassuring the baby that everything was fine.
"Don't do that Madhu"
"Do what?"
"That" he pointed to her belly. "Don't rub your belly."
"What nonsense? It's my hand and it's my belly. I will rub all I want and you have no say in that matter"
"When something is not obvious then don't make it obvious"
"I didn't get you" she frowned.
"Don't make it obvious to others that you are pregnant."
"I don't think only pregnant ladies rub their bellies... so I don't see any logic in your statement." She defied. "Look, you know I am pregnant so when you see me doing this..." she deliberately rubbed her belly "... it reminds you of the baby but it's not the case for outsiders. They will probably think either I am having a stomach ache or I am simply hungry."
"It just draws unnecessary attention." He reasoned out. She shook her head in disagreement. No use in arguing with his stubborn wife. Rishab sighed in resignation. "Okay fine, just make sure you don't give even the slightest of indication to our enemies that you are pregnant then it will be dangerous for our baby."
"Fair enough." She nodded her head. "Now come to the main matter"
Rishab got out of the bed and pulled his pants on and threw his shirt to Madhu. "Wear this. I will show you." he said and walked out of the bedroom to get his laptop. Madhu quickly threw 'his' shirt on her and buttoned up some three buttons and left the top 2 buttons undone exhibiting an ample amount of her cleavage.
She walked out of the bedroom and made a beeline to the kitchen to cook some midnight snack.
"What you doing here?" he walked into the kitchen area holding his 'Apple' laptop securely as if it was his baby.
"Cooking, obviously" She shrugged and poured water in to the medium sized pot placed on the stove. "You want some pasta?" she offered.
"Is this the time to eat?" he responded to her question with another question.
"You want or you don't want? No further questions! I'm hungry and I am gonna eat... and I don't care it's 2 in the morning!"
"I don't want"
"Expected. Well, now show me whatever you want me to see"
Rishab placed his laptop on the center counter in the kitchen and switched it on. Madhu walked around letting the pasta to boil in the stove and stood at the other side of the counter instead of standing beside her husband. She placed both her hands on the counter top and leaned her body forward admiring her husband's naked torso. Rishab looked up to see her but got distracted when his gaze fell on her pale white cleavage.
"Pervert!" she snapped at him, teasingly. Though she was also ogling at him she didn't let him catch her.
"Pervert? I'm your husband" He playfully slapped her cheek for calling him pervert and she laughed.
"Come this side woman so that you can see..."
"From here also I am seeing... clearly" she winked and teased his torso with the tip of her forefinger.
He shook his head and turned the laptop to her side and he walked around to stand beside her.
"I got this footage from the party night"
"Why?"
"To see whether Balraj was really in the hotel with us in the party night."
"How you got the CCTV footage?"
"You remember that teenage boy Sunny with whom you danced and pissed me off in your father's company's silver jubilee party?"
"Yeah. He worked as a part time waiter in Purple Orchid Hotel."
"He only helped me in getting this footage"
"Oh!" she said and closely scrutinized the video. It was the recorded video of the camera fitted in the hotel elevator
"This girl?" Madhu asked seeing a girl walk into the elevator. "Is she the one who bumped into me in the party?"
"Yep! And she is the one who broke into our house twice."
"What's her name?" Madhu asked as she couldn't remember her name from what her husband told the other day.
"Dipali. Dipali Bhatia" he said and moved to the next footage. "See this, before she ran into you she was talking to that man in dark suit." Rishab paused and zoomed for the close-up of the image for her to see clearly. "That guy is her father"
"He is the owner of the hotel right?"
"Yes and he is Balraj" Rishab blurted out looking at Madhu, gauging her expression.
"What!!!" Madhu screamed almost tearing his eardrum. "You sure?" she asked. He nodded.
"Can I see a clear picture of him? In this one I could see only his back"
"Yeah sure" he didn't show the picture of Balraj he extracted from the video instead he typed in Google 'Purple Orchid Hotel owner Kulbushan Bhatia' and it showed a cluster of his photos.
"I don't think he is Balraj..." Madhu shook her head doubtfully. If it was him she surely would have recognized him when they both searched for Dipali's images the other day when she broke into their house.
Rishab quickly opened a folder which contained details of Balraj and his pictures of some 15 to 20 years back.
"This is the guy who kidnapped you when you were a kid right?"
"Yes" she can never forgot neither Balraj nor Bujang. She loathed both the monsters with passion.
"Then wait a sec..." he quickly ran the facial recognition app to see whether both the old and new images match.
"Is this your intuition? Then to hell with it because I'm sure this guy is not Bal..." Madhu stopped her blabla seeing his laptop screen flash the word "Perfect Match" on and off with a green tick.
"It's been 19 years, Madhu. He has changed a lot. He is no more the ugly guy with full beard and thick mustache. He has groomed up to match with the elite class and he surely has put on some weight. You see, Balraj and Bujang went MIA for years and came out in the public with a new identity that was clear from any criminal records. He even cut ties with his underworld dealing for long but started again when Dutta was encounter." he said everything to her he found from his investigation.
"I still can't believe my own eyes, Rishab... this guy... Bhatia is so different from Balraj..." she said still staring at both the old and new photos projected on the screen side by side.
"How... how did you come to the conclusion that he is Balraj? You haven't even seen him as Balraj but only as Bhatia."
"You said in the therapy..."
"What I said?" she asked.
"First let me finish the sentence, Madhu, will you?" he asked. She nodded. She was so anxious to know so she was popping out question after question interrupting him and annoying him.
"In the psychotherapy session you said to Dr. Sameer that Balraj was shot in his knee by the police before he threw you out of the window. That incident left him with a pronounced limp I guess"
"Oh"
"Bhatia limps when he walks." he said as he clicked on the next footage.
"If you still have doubt then this footage will help to understand how I derived the conclusion."
He played the next video. In that the camera was perfectly angled to capture the movements happening in the narrow corridor leading to the restroom and then to the balcony at the end.
Madhu gasped and covered her mouth in shock. Seeing the same man in dark suit heading straight to the narrow corridor after she disappeared into the restroom.
"I knew it! I felt I was being watched by someone but then I thought I was just being paranoid. Omg! He was seriously in there. He wanted to scare me, Rishab... He... He could have..." the sound of Balraj's raspy whistle still rung in her ears. She covered her ears reflectively and shut her eyes tightly.
"Hey" he pulled her in his arms. "Relax" he blew cool air on her temple where sweat beads were formed.
"He could have killed me in there and then if you hadn't come in search of me" It was so clear from the footage that Balraj scurried out of the restroom when Rishab walked in to the corridor.
"Prehaps someone was communicating to him over the phone and warned him about you looking for me... That's why they didn't let you see him... The power cut was only in the restroom and corridor... So that you won't see him escaping from the ladies room... Oh God! It all makes sense to me now... They wanted to distract you... They knew I was scared of dark somehow... May be they still remember how much I cried and how terrified I was cooped up in small dark room. Shit! It's actually the restroom I was locked when they captivated me. I can tell that now for sure... They kept me in the fourth floor... Now it's the part hall in Purple Orchid Hotel...That's why I felt everything familiar about that place... " she started rambling and hyperventilating.
"Madhu...Madhu... Relax... Relax... I figured it out... You don't have to explain anything, baby and stop panicking.You are safe." at least for now. He wanted to add but he didn't not wanting to worry her more.
He pulled a stool and forced her to sit down and gave her a glass of water.
Then he turned off the stove and dished out the pasta in a plate for her to eat.
She didn't even realise he cooked her pasta amidst their serious discussion.
"Eat" he gently ordered. She kept staring at the plate. She lost her appetite by now as worry settled at the pit of her stomach.
"Eat, Madhu" he cajoled her. She reluctantly took the fork in her hand and dug into the food.
"Who is Bujang now?"
"I am not sure about his identity... Only you have to tell me by seeing the pic I show you now whether my hunch is right."
He took his phone from the counter top and opened the photo gallery. He clicked a pic and zoomed it. "Here" he passed the phone to Madhu.
"It's not clear, Rishab." she said. The guy in the pic had his head turned to the side and he was also wearing a hood. Madhu swiped over the screen and looked at the other picture to try and see whether she could catch a glimse of his face. And she did in one pic but couldn't recognize the face. "By the way who is this guy?"
"He was the suspect behind the elevator incident. I got his image from our apartment CC camera. If you could closely see he has a scar on his cheek which I presume you left it on his face."
She looked at him stunned.
"Madhu?" he gently shook her shoulder. She didn't bother to blink or breathe. She kept staring at her husband as if he was a ghost.
"Madhu, say something?"
"Are you for real? How could you possibly keep all the minute details in your head? And the way you put it all together... It's unbelievably perfect!"
"It's important for a police guy to keep track of things, Madhu. I don't do fault finding. I do fact finding. Only these little facts and incidents will help you big." he shrugged casually.
"Why can't you just go and arrest them, Rishab?" Madhu asked slowly chewing the pasta.
"So easy to say right? On what ground I will arrest those two bastards? They are not criminals anymore Madhu" he sighed. He wished they were criminal so he wont hesitate to encounter them and close the file. "Look, they both faked their deaths and now they have a clear image like I said before... Bhatia is one rich and reputable businessman... And this Bujang, he is not even in picture. People don't even know him probably. He is working for Bhatia/Balraj behind the screen."
"Then we will bring out their secret to the lime light."
"It's not easy. It will take time. I can't simply go and show all the evidences I have collected now. I am doing things off the record, Madhu. How many times I have to tell you that? Besides I have something else to worry about now" he said and pressed the bridge of his nose. He wasn't going to hold back anything from her. If he wanted her to be safe then she should be aware of every single detail.
"What is it?" she asked hesitantly. She had enough for now and her head was thobbing. She just wanted to crawl on her bed and sleep hugging her husband.
He looked at her for a moment and then took out an envelop from his pants pocket.
"Open it" he gave her the envelop. She shakily took the envelop in her hand and took out a photo from inside the cover.
"It's you, isn't it?" he asked. She slowly nodded her head.
It was her childhood photo. May be they took the photo when they kidnapped her when she was 7 yrs old because she was wearing the same school pinafore uniform in that photo. It surprised her that they still had her photo. "Seems like they seriously want to take revenge on me that's why they are still holding to my photo" she thought.
"I found this envelop this morning, stuck to our car. Turn the photo" he instructed. She did it.
She looked up at her husband in confusion. "24?" she asked. That was what written in bold red sketch pen.
"I don't know what exactly they are trying to say by this. It could be anything... They could do anything to you in the next 24 hours or on the 24th day of this month. If it's 24 days then we have 10 more days to track them down and take our first move before they do anything to you... But I don't think they will give 10 days time after alerting us..." he was still wondering why they even let him know about their next move. "are they giving me an open threat?" he thought. "Then be it... I will make sure they made the worst decision ever." he thought again and clenched his fingers to a fist.
"What they want from me, Rishab? They already fucked my childhood. I was in constant fear all my life... Only now when I started recovering with your help they are back with a vengeance." she started crying, hysterically. Rishab quickly hugged her and patted her head gently, soothing her.
"Why they are back after all these years?" she cried.
"Stop crying, Madhu"
"Answer me why they are back now when everything is going perfect in my life. I got you, my reason to smile... I got your baby... But I am going to lose everything."
"You are not going to lose anything. I promise."
"Why they are back now, Rishab?" she wanted to know so she repeated the same question for the third time.
"Why are you asking this question to me?"
"Because you have answer for all my questions" she chuckled and wiped her teary cheeks with both her hands.
"Because you messed with them again, Madhu" he gave her the simplest answer.
"When? When did I mess with them?"
"When didn't you?" he asked with a lopside smirk.
"No. You only killed Balraj's adoptive father, underworld don Dutta so you don't put the blame on me."
"Not that. It's Sultan. He is Bhatia's son. Dipali is his daughter. Now you connect the dots." Don't ask how he discovered the fact that Sultan was Balraj/Bhatia's son. He did his background check.
"Oh shit! You killed Sultan because he kidnapped me..."
"Not only for kidnapping you but also for raping and murdering two innocent girls and burying them in that forest we went for our holiday... " he said cheekily earning a steely glare from her."... And I killed Dutta because you fucking went to interview him and got trapped in his vicious plan and endangered your life..."
"Anyways you were going to kill Dutta right whether I had gone to interview him or not?"
"Yes but I would have done that without dragging you into the picture. Now you are the reason for his father and son's death. Oh and one more thing you did"
"What?" she almost groaned tiredly.
"That guy you helped me catch..."
"Which guy?"
"The other day you brought one chain snatcher to my station..."
"Omg! That Rahul guy? I thought he was innocent..."
"Will you tell me finish first, dammit?" he thumped his hand on the counter making her jump.
"Sorry" she mumbled softly.
"No. Not that guy. He is not innocent but not too bad guy. I am talking about the other guy... while going back home from my station your scooty got hit by a car... Inside the car there was a girl..."
"Yeah... Yeah... Now I remember..."
"He is also Balraj's man. He was taking that girl to them for God knows what purpose."
"How do you know that?"
He signed loudly. He was really tired of answering his inqusitive wife. She patiently waited for him to answer. She won't get her sleep until she got a logical answer for all his theories.
"The car in which he kidnapped the girl and we seized was registered in Bhatia's name."
"He could have stolen the car... You simply can't assume... " she was actually right. When Rishab inquired about that it turned out his car was stolen 3 days ago but his instinct said it wasn't true.
" Only after that night, the elevator incident took place. Bujang was in our building and malfunction the elevator... They wanted us dead... Because we fucked something big for them. Don't forget that girl Simmy is Mr. Harshavardhan Kapoor's daughter. You met the man in your father's company's party. Can't you see how stinking rich he is?"
"If you put it like that... It does makes sense to me... Thanks heaven we saved a young girl's life... Otherwise she would have had a traumatized life like mine."
Then they remained in silence for few minutes as she ate her pasta.
"Well, Rishab..." she broke the silence finally. He turned to look at her. "... It's you who killed Sultan... You killed Dutta... You arrested Dipali's husband on their wedding night and now he is in coma and Dipali is behind us to avenge for her husband... And you messed their kidnapping plan by arresting the guy and taking back the girl safely to her home... And I am no way connected to all this shit. I am innocent and I want you to agree with me too." she said with finality.
"What is it?" he asked. He can tell she wasn't telling him something which was worrying her.
She sighed and scooted closer to him and took her hand in hers.
"Rishab... I have been getting nightmares..." she said slumping down her shoulders. "It's a scary senario... You arresting me, my hands cuffed with the shinny metal handcuff... And my name being tarnished in 'Sakal' newspaper and channel, the press and media house I work for." she said dreading to even about what the headlines would be.
"Let me guess the headlines... Hmm... Police husband arresting Criminal wife! Right?" he asked laughing.
"Don't laugh. Promise me you won't arrest me"
"Don't be stupid, Madhu... Of course I won't do that come hell or high water..." she smiled in relief. "... If you are locked up in prison then who will give me company in my bed?" he asked playfully. She slapped his arm for teasing her.
"Alright! I will take all the blame and I declare you are innocent because it's true. So don't bother about your nightmare." he reassured her.
"Thank you" she kissed his lips softly.
"Now, come. We will go to bed... It's already late" he took her hand and dragged her to their bedroom.
"Should I stay home for the next 10 days?" she asked worriedly again looking at her childhood photo and the number 24 written at its back.
He took the photo from her hand and put it in his chest of drawers so that she won't keep looking at it and worry herself more.
"I realized our home is also not safe. When Dipali can tresspass our apartment so effortlessly then why not those bloody criminals? You can't even escape when they corner you here so it's better you go out... Be normal. Don't worry about anything. You are under my watch, 24-7"
"You track my phone... What if they destroyed it?"
"I have other means to track you, baby"
"Don't tell me you have implanted a chip in my body like they show in movies"
"Though the idea sounds good I didn't implant anything in your body... But... "
" Where?"
"In your new watch" he said sheepishly.
She turned and took her new watch sitting on the bedside table in her hand.
"Oh my God! I thought you got this gift, your first ever gift for me out of love... I... I... I really thought you wanted to present me something special and make my day happier but no! It's on purpose. Ugh! Of all the things you got only this watch... my favorite watch... to implant the tracking chip? Well, why am I shouting at you unnecessarily? When I am the stupid one here! I should have known already that my husband can never do anything romantic unless it has an ulterior motive! But I believed you like a fool that I am and really thought you got me a Valentine's Day special gift!" she cried.
"Trust me you will thank me later for doing this!" Rk said with his trade mark smirk.
She scowled at him but deep down she knew she will thank him when the watch play its purpose.
"Make sure you wear this watch always"
"Okay" she grudgingly agreed.
"Good" he smiled and pulled her down and settled her head on his arm and wrapped his other arm loosely over her chest.
"Huaband, I love you" she whispered making him smile wider and he kissed her forehead in return.
... To be continued!!!
Next update will be the last update, hopefully. I will take some time to post that update.
Oh and of course you will get epilogue for this story. D)
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