Mara had gone to attend Arabella's party leaving Siddharth alone. He made dinner and sat at his study table enjoying the view outside his balcony. It was dark outside reflecting his mood. the sinking feeling inside his stomach made him want to wring someone's neck. "How will I explain to Mara about Raiza, how will she react? Will she ever forgive me?" The thought of Mara hating him just didn't sit well with him. He had been hated by Raiza for such a long time he didn't want his life to go back to the same toxic relationship. What he had with Mara was what he always wanted. Someone so much in love with him that they put him before anything and anyone else. If it hadn't been for Mara he would have been lost after his divorce.
"Raiza had been stubborn and immature, she had been too much of a child to understand me or even care. She seemed to have loved me but she never really did. I should have never married her. The way she was in love with that Arjun, even though she has insisted it was just friendship, she never cared about me." Siddharth's dark memories clouded his mind. He sighed looking at the cold dinner. Unable to eat he walked up to the sink and dumped the dinner in the dustbin and then went to his room and rested on his bed. His mind conjured the memory of the day he had reached home hoping to find his wife waiting for him. She was not there the jealousy rose inside him. For so long he had made sure she was waiting at home for him that not finding her there was not acceptable to him.
"Where did she go missing now?" he wondered. "did she find another lover?" "has she gone to meet some other man?" Jealous thoughts were running in his mind clouding his judgement. He threw his laptop bag on the sofa and went straight to the bedroom hoping to find her sleeping. She wasn't there. He had started panicking as he checked each room in his huge bungalow and not finding her anywhere, he had returned to her bedroom and opened the wardrobe with fear rising like bile in his stomach. Some of her clothes were missing some left behind. He then checked her wardrobe locker. Some of the jewellery was gone most of it left behind. Her wallet, cash and credit cards were gone. He knew his fear had finally come true.
"She left our home, left me?" his mouth was tasting the bitter anger rising inside constantly. He ran to the toilet to throw up. Everything he had eaten was now in the toilet. He was feeling pain, hurt and disappointment. His eyes went to his mobile phone and he hoped again. "Maybe she is out shopping and simply emptied the wardrobe for some weird reason" He hoped against all hopes and dialled her number. "The number is switched off" message hit the nail of truth on the glass wall of hope. Hope shattered and he threw his phone shattering it just like his wall of hope had. He dialled Vidya's number.
"Hi Sid" she greeting him cheerfully.
"Activate tracking on my wife's number" he ordered.
His tone warned Vidya it was not the time for asking questions, so she simply acknowledged the request "Right away".
"Call the bank and initiate a track of all the transactions on my secondary credit card. I need to know the moment a transaction happens on it. if they give you grief remind them I can take my business to another bank" he declared.
"That won't be necessary your privilege account will allow us unlimited access to the details." she reminded him.
"Thank you" he sighed. "And Vidya, get me Shahan" he ordered before disconnecting the call.
He knew Shahan was the best private detective that money can buy. He will find his wife no matter where she was hiding. However, it took 4 months for her to be traced. She had not used her credit card for a long time until one day she did. He didn't know why she did it at that time but he and Shahan had gone running behind her like hounds tracing her whereabouts. They had gone to the store with some local cops. Thanks to his contacts in the department, the cops got them her address. She lived almost 3 km away up a little valley in a farmhouse. He had discovered, it belonged to her friend Roina. When they landed at the front door and rang the bell no one answered. They kept at it for 20 minutes and were about to give up.
"Maybe it's the wrong address, Boss" Shahan had commented.
"I did the background check, it's not a coincidence that this house belongs to her friend and is located less than 3 km from the store she swiped her card" Siddharth had declared.
When finally the door opened he saw a sleepy Raiza. The first thing he noticed was her protruding stomach and the weight gain. The shock of seeing his wife pregnant the joy of knowing he was going to be a father and the pain of being abandoned had hit him all at once. His anger got the better of him. She had been shocked and stared but he didn't care. She had abandoned him and she will have to pay.
He paced inside the living room while his trusted private detective stayed outside not wanting to interfere. Raiza stood frozen near the door. He studied her "She isn't remorseful, nor scared, she is shocked." as soon as the thought crossed his mind he wanted to shake her up and tell her to look at him and realize what her running away had done to him. He hadn't slept in the nights being angry and worried. A lot of scenarios kept running in his mind, her body lying in a ditch hit by some drunken truck driver, or being raped by some asshole on the street, he had not eaten nor had he been peaceful for four months and here she was standing and staring in shock.
"Are you shocked I found you?" he questioned trying to control his anger.
She looked at him and slowly recovered from her shock. "No" she replied to his questions.
"Oh you knew I was coming and you were waiting for me here is it?" he questioned.
"I swiped my credit card by mistake and realized it only last night. I knew you would be tracking me and I was planning on leaving this place as soon as possible" she declared her face demonstrating hatred.
"Running away again" he added.
"Yes running from you and your abuse" she retorted as she moved away from him.
It was not new to him she called him names but he didn't realize when her fear of him had transformed into courage. He moved closer grabbing her wrist. "You abandoned me and decided to take my child with you?" he thundered.
"Your shadow will not pollute my child's life" she screened.
The hurt of those words cut deep into his mind. "Polluting her life am I and abusing her, well so be it," He thought.
"He twisted her wrist and pinned her to his body. You will never escape me, no matter how far you run and where you hide I will always find you" Feeling disgusted at himself and angry at her he pushed her away from him. She fell forward but his instinct kicked in and he caught her before she could actually fall and hurt herself and their child.
"Don't touch me" she screened. "I'm not your toy anymore, I'm not going to let you abuse me ever again," she yelled withdrawing from him.
He walked up to her placed his hand on her belly and stared down into her eyes with all the intention of inciting fear he declared "My child will stay with me. If you try to take him or her away from me I will fuck you up. You will not leave me nor my child ever" he declared.
"Don't try to threaten me. I'm done with you and your bullshit. You will get the divorce papers soon, live with it." she threatened him back.
He started laughing "You think the court and the law will save you from me? Have you forgotten already what I did to your father? Remember he tried to take you away from me and ended up losing you forever." her face contorted from the memory.
"I was weak and couldn't protect my father from you but I will not let that happen to my child" she yelled.
"Protect her father?" he wondered "She was the one who caused his trouble, how was she going to protect him"
He noticed her breathing, she was struggling for it and clutching her back. He crossed the space between them and reached her forgetting their fight he held her shoulder "Sit down" he stated but sounded like he had just issued an order.
She moved out of his hold "Don't tell me what to do"
"You don't look good Raiza" he declared observing her struggle to breathe. "Here sit down" he ordered again.
"Let go of me" she whimpered "I'm fine"
"Shut up and sit down, if anything happened to my child I will not let you live peacefully" he threatened.
She hadn't heard him as she lost her balance and had fallen into his arm unconscious. Siddharth lifted her limp body and ran to his car.
"Shahan, start the car we need to go to a hospital" he screened.
They had driven down 3 km to reach a doctor. The only doctor in the remote part of the little town. His heart had been in his mouth thinking she was going to die or she goes into labour. The doctor completed his check-up and pronounced her all right.
"She is under stress, don't let her get worked up too much. It is a difficult pregnancy for her. I have told her before she needs to be careful. The baby is fine, she is a little weak and needs to be careful with her stress levels." he added.
Siddharth nodded to the doctor "Can I take her home now?" he asked.
"Yes, sure I have given her a sedative to keep her calm, she had woken up during the check-up and was looking worried and stressed" he explained.
"I will look after her doctor thank you" Siddhart declared before leaving.
That night he had brought her back to his home praying that their child will change things between them.