Sia freshened up before Ajay. Feeling restless with so many questions bouncing around her mind, she headed towards the media room. She needed to watch something. To be reminded that the world still remained normal around her. 

She began to search through her movie collection. She wanted to play something mindless where not much thought would be required.

There were several new titles. But they didn’t appeal to her. And so, she browsed through the movies marked as favorites by Ajay. He had made her watch them all before, and they seemed pretty apt currently.

A small smile began to play on her face as she scanned through the titles of the movies that starred Ajay’s favorite movie actor. Just when she was about to hit the play button on one of the titles, something nagged at her.

Frowning, she went back to the list and began to look at the titles of the movies again.

Ajay’s favorite actor acted in a lot of movies, but there was a common theme amongst most of the titles.

Mafia.

“No. That’s impossible,” she whispered out loud.

Why not?

It made perfect sense.

The things he knew about her...

The way he knew exactly when to turn up last night...

But... but... how?

She had thought that Ajay was simply tracking her using his technology. Never in her wildest dreams did she realize that she was the one feeding him most of the information!

Not wasting any time, she marched towards one of the spare bedrooms purposefully.

Ajay was shaving. When he saw her, a smile broke on his face.

Hardening her resolve, “Are you the MafiaBoy?” she demanded.

His smile slipped. And there was silence.

Oh my god!

“Sia... baby listen—”

“Answer me! Are you the hacker I hired to help me track my uncle?” She thought back to when she contacted the hacker. “Two years ago!”

There was a stretch of silence before he answered. “Yes,” he said.

She was stunned. “B-but how? I distinctly remember that the person was a teenager living in America.” She also remembered how that ‘kid’ had used a synthesized voice to speak with her when he did for the first time. At that time, she hadn’t cared. She had needed the information about her uncle and the Naidu Estate immediately.

“Sia, I have a lot of explaining to do. And I’m going to do it soon, alright? But Harsha is on his way with information we need,” he said.

As if on cue, the door bell rang. “Please answer it. I’ll join you guys in a few minutes,” he said.

She shook her head in frustration, but left him to answer the door.

 “Hello Sia,” Harsha greeted her politely at the door.

“Harsha,” she greeted back equally politely as she led him into the family room that offered them more privacy. Technically every room in the house had privacy, but the family room seemed more apt for someone like Harsha.

She had not interacted much with him. But Ajay spoke enough about Harsha to know that they grew up close, and they were family. She was also quite sure Harsha must have known about the MafiaBoy episode as well.

“While we are waiting for Ajay, can I ask you something?” she said.

A look of surprise passed on Harsha’s face, but he nodded.

“I know Ajay trusts you with his life. Enough to help him cover up a... murder. So I’m sure you must have also known that Ajay contacted me as a hacker named MafiaBoy,” she stated.

Harsha’s expression turned wary. However, he answered truthfully. “Yes,” he admitted.

“But how? He was right next to me when I received messages from the hacker.” She frowned as she still tried to wrap her mind around the revelation. “Did you also contact me as MafiaBoy?” she asked.

“No. It was always only Ajay. When he was around you, he simply scheduled them to be sent to you. I did offer to help, but he wanted to be the only one dealing with you. He didn’t want me to be involved.” As though an afterthought, he added, “At least not in the way it really mattered,” he added.

Sia was quiet. Her mind was still processing the news and trying to put together every little interaction she had with MafiaBoy over the last two years.

“Sia,” Harsha interrupted her gently. “Ajay might have started it as a way to get back at you. But as soon as he married you, he was always on your side.”

“But he even demanded money from me. Around a few million,” she stated.

“Only because he didn’t want to raise your suspicion. He used to donate all the money you had sent him. And lately, some of it had gone to bribe a few influential officials.”

“I see,” she said, her mind confused, warring between trust and suspicion.

With over fifteen years of conditioning, trust did not come easy. But she was determined to trust Ajay. She had nothing to lose at this point. Ajay did. If he got caught, the consequences would be devastating.

“Thanks Harsha. For trusting me with your friend’s secret,” she said.

Harsha smiled. “Believe it or not, I had huge doubts about you initially. I even begged Ajay to not pursue you. But when I realized that you were the only one he wanted to spend his life with, you became my family too,” he said.

Sia felt her chest tighten in guilt. Ajay had asked her several times to join him during his visits to the Colonel or even meet Harsha and Jo. She had always turned him down as she wasn’t willing to make any kind of attachments.

And now, the very people she didn’t want to risk bonding with—were the ones willing to put their life and freedom in line to save her.

A few minutes later, Ajay joined them.

Harsha gave them a detailed update on the things that had transpired since the time Judge Sundaram’s body was found.

“I think the fact that they found the incriminating tapes of Jagadish Naidu in Judge Sundaram’s house is enough to convict him for the conspiracy of murder. And the DNA and fingerprints results will also come out in a few days, making it the final nail in his coffin.”

“What about the security tapes?” Ajay asked.

“I checked. Apart from the car with visible nameplates, the tinted windows didn’t allow for anyone to see who was inside. It was way too dark.”

“Call logs?”

“I verified it again this morning. The code you put into the Mobile company’s encrypted server changed the call logs over the past ten days.”

“Bank account transaction still reflecting the same as yesterday?”

“Yes. A large amount of money has also been transferred directly from Jagadish Naidu’s account to Judge Sundaram’s, making it seem like blackmail money.”

Ajay nodded in satisfaction.

“And Commissioner Tarun Sharma?”

“He’s prepared. There won’t be any swaying of law this time. The political leaders are also antsy now. No immediate statements of automatically supporting their favorite leader.”

“Was Dr. Kranthi notified?”

“No. There are no phone or internet signals in those areas. It will be a good couple of weeks before anyone can notify him or reach him.”

“The truth pills from pharmacy?”

“Already shipped to the postal address.”

“Good.”

Listening to Ajay and Harsha, Sia felt hope.

Maybe there was a third option. An option other than going to jail or being a lifelong fugitive.

There was now a fighting chance to be free.

After the update, Harsha left, promising to stay in touch with updates on the ongoing investigation.

As soon as she closed the door, Sia asked Ajay a burning question. “Why did you do it?” she asked.

“Get in touch with you as MafiaBoy?”

“No. Harsha gave me some of the details. And I don’t care about it anymore. But everything else, Ajay. Why did you risk your freedom for my sake?”

He didn’t hesitate to reply. “Because I love you,” he said.

Those four words made her insanely happy and also incredibly sad at the same time.

“I don’t know if love if really worth one’s freedom,” she told him softly.

“It is definitely worth for me. Don’t ever doubt it,” he said.

Her heart leaped at his words. Since the time she could recall, other than Ajay, no one had ever displayed that kind of unconditional love towards her.

“I love you too, Ajay,” she said, giving him the words. She only wished she had repeated them more often.

But this time, Ajay remained quiet. And she could literally feel the waves of his disbelief.

Her heart clenched at the knowledge that she made a man such as him doubt his worth to be loved unconditionally in return.

“I have always loved you, Ajay. Desperately. How could I not?” she asked. “You were the only one who made me feel safe and well-loved. You have the power to make me feel worthy. You still do.”

“Then why did you leave me? Why didn’t you stay to fight together? Why do you want to do everything alone?” he asked.

In his words, she heard the pain of rejection and heartbreak.

“I wanted to protect you. I had to distance myself from you and Anika. So that if and when I was caught, you both wouldn’t be dragged in it,” she said.

He stared at her for a second and laughed out loud. And it wasn’t in amusement. “We both make quite a pair,” he said.

“Why?” she asked softly.

“You had murder on your mind, Sia. I knew it. And I tried my best to blackmail you emotionally to discourage you from that path. I wanted to protect you. Because I knew that if you go ahead with it, then I would lose you completely. You would have been killed or arrested or worse, haunted by it all your life.”

When she didn’t reply, he continued. “I knew right from the day your uncle and the others were caught during the child trafficking bust, they would be released from the jail using their political influences.”

She reared back and she stared at him with widened eyes.

He smiled sadly. “Yes. I knew right then, that in order to finish what you started; your uncle and maybe a few other pedophiles had to die. I just didn’t want you to be the one to do it.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I was planning on doing it.”

“What?” she asked in shock.

“Yes. I was putting together a premeditated plan to assassinate your uncle and the others without any suspicion. It was to happen after I had baited them with a possibility of having willing children for them to corrupt. Then suddenly, you dropped a bomb on me by wanting to divorce me. If I had told you of my plans, you would have stopped me with your misguided attempt to protect me. Even then, I tried my best to make you change your mind, asking you to choose between family and your revenge. It was unfair, but I felt compelled to do it.”

Heartbreakingly, she had chosen revenge over her family or happiness. “I’m sorry,” she whispered,

“Don’t be,” he said. “Believe me, I understand. You wanted to stop him from destroying other children’s lives at the cost of your own happiness. Not many women or men can make that call.”

“I still feel that way, Ajay,” she confessed.

“I know. I’m proud of you for your determination. But lucky for us, we don’t have to sacrifice our happiness or freedom. Your uncle is going to lose everything. He’s going to jail and then he’s going to lose his life,” he promised.

She nodded. When they began to eat, she asked another thing that had been haunting her since that morning. “What about Jyothika? This is the second time I’ve come in between her engagement to you,” she said.

Ajay looked amused. “I was never engaged to Jo. Harsha was,” he said.

“What?”

“I knew what was running through Varun’s brain that day when he followed Jo, Harsha and me to the jewellery store. I didn’t correct him and I deliberately let you think I moved on.”

She felt relieved that he didn’t jump into another relationship even though she had practically pushed him towards it. “So Jyothika picked Harsha over you?” she asked, unable to believe it.

He smiled. “Yes. Because she finally knew that he was crazy about her, and also because she loved him back equally.”

“Really?” she asked, looking unconvinced.

“Yes. Jo told me that the love she felt for me until recently was simply a longing for a childhood fantasy she had for a very long time since she was a little girl. She just wanted to love a boy who had desperately needed it at that point. And I did need her friendship and love,” he said, smiling fondly. “But over the last few months, she realized that a woman’s love was vastly different from a girl’s. Harsha was the one who showed her that. Jo’s family is thrilled. Especially her mother.”

“I see.” Sia was still skeptical. How could anyone not remain in love with Ajay?

He pulled her close, chuckling. “Even if Jo wanted to pick me, I wouldn’t have agreed.”

“Why?” she asked softly.

“I already told you why.”

“Tell me again,” she said. She would never be tired of listening to those words from him.

“Because, I love you,” he said, smiling.

And then she remembered something else. “What about me? Don’t you have any questions about me living with Varun? Or him staying here with me for a while? Won’t you ask if I cheated during that time?”

He didn’t even before for a second, before he answered. “Frankly, no.”

“Why not? Especially with a past like mine. You must know that by most people’s standards, you’d be considered crazy to get back to someone like me.”

He nipped her ear playfully, “You did have quite a wild past,” he said.

When she didn’t comment or react, he pulled away to look at her. Slowly his expression turned serious. “Sia, what you and I have... no one can understand it. And that’s okay. It might be crazy, but it’s real, and it’s how we both are. I’ve already told you this. We’re going to be together, no matter what.”

Listening to the conviction in his voice, her mind began to ease and she began to believe in what he was saying.