Gaurav watched the shock on his captive’s face.

Disgusted, he let go of her and held her arm to drag her back into her room. She didn’t protest and followed behind him. He dropped her off next to her bed and turned to go back to his room.

“What do you want from Suraj?” he heard her ask softly as he neared the door.

He almost ignored her, but her next words made him stop.

“I know it’s not money. It’s quite obvious that you have something personal against him. What do you think he did wrong?”

He whipped around. “I don’t merely think he did something wrong, I know it for a fact.”

“What did he do?” she asked again.

He was angry at her probing. He didn’t owe her any explanation.

“You obviously think I’m somehow involved. But what if I’m innocent in this?” she pressed. “Would you still think I don’t deserve to know why I’m being kept here?”

“Doesn’t matter if you are innocent,” he said, even though he knew it would. “Your husband didn’t hesitate to strike at an innocent for his selfish reasons.”

“Who? Who was that innocent?”

His jaw clenched as he realized he had spoken too much. He was drunk enough for some of his defenses to be lowered. Maybe she knew that, because she kept pushing even more. “If you plan on torturing me and raping me to send those videos to Suraj, don’t I at least deserve to know the reason why?”

He watched her face while she looked back at him fearlessly, waiting for him to answer.

One of the reasons Gaurav didn’t want to tell her the truth was that there was a small amount of possibility of her being rescued. If that happened before he could gather evidence and destroy his enemy, then not only his entire mission would end as a failure, but he would be putting Khan and Vikram in danger as well.

“Whatever wrong you think Suraj did to you, I’m pretty sure having a discussion with him would—”

“Shut up.”

She fell quiet at his order.

If he had doubts about keeping her in the dark, those doubts disappeared completely, when she took her husband’s side without even knowing anything. “I already told you, I don’t think it. I know it. Your husband took the life of an innocent person. In fact, two innocent people.”

His anger didn’t seem to faze her. She continued watching him, trying to read his face. “Innocent people who were also your loved ones,” she stated softly.

He didn’t say anything.

“I know how it is to lose a loved one. I’ve lost my two sisters. They were the only family I had.” Her voice was calm and deeply sympathetic.

Gaurav froze when she said the word sister. A part of his brain said she didn’t know anything about him. But the other part urged him to fly into a rage and kill her right then, because she might have known everything about him, even before he had kidnapped her.

Shruti’s so-called suicide wasn’t covered in any of the newspapers, but that didn’t mean Nina Bhupati wasn’t aware of every evil order her husband had passed. Maybe she was the one who gave her husband the idea, just so her luxurious life style wouldn’t be threatened.

He slowly walked towards her and stopped right in front of her. He bent forward and held her neck, pulling her closer, until their faces were only inches apart. Right under his thumb, he felt the pulse under her soft skin of her throat beating rapidly.

Gaurav knew it was his grief that made him want to lash out at the nearest target. He tried to control the urge to snuff out the life of the woman his enemy loved.

“Please,” he heard her say, her warm breath falling on his skin. “I know grief and pain. I can see it in your eyes. I still mourn my sisters every day. Let me help you find the truth.”

Gaurav took several deep breaths as his hand on her throat trembled slightly.

End her! A voice inside him commanded. But slowly, and with great difficulty, he let his rational mind take over. He loosened the grip on her neck.

“Let me help you find out the truth and bring justice,” she said. “I know it won’t help you with the pain, but it will at least give you some closure.”

He didn’t remove the fingers he wrapped around her throat.

“Please. We’ve been through the same thing. Our loved ones were snatched away from us. Let me help you,” she repeated in a whisper.

He knew she was trying to establish a connection between them to invoke empathy towards her. She wanted him to think of her as an individual person with her own past and life, rather than a tool to be used.

It didn’t work. It just made him angry. “You can play your mind games all you want,” he snarled into her face. “But the only way this will end, and I’ll let you go free is, after your husband’s death.”

With that he let go of her neck and strode out of the room, locking it once again.

He headed up the stairs. “I’m going for a walk,” he told Khan who was waiting upstairs.

Khan looked at him and nodded grimly.

 

GAURAV WALKED THROUGH the familiar dark forest. Even though he had come to escape thoughts of what happened in the cabin a while ago, his mind still ran towards his captive.

 

“Why her?” Vikram asked, watching the couple on the TV screen.

Suraj Bhupati and his wife were in a government school. Nina Bhupati was distributing food packets and gifts to the children.

“Look properly,” said Gaurav.

Vikram frowned at the couple. “Yeah. Yeah. She’s Mother Teresa and Miss World wrapped into one. Bhupati is very lucky to find that bimbo. But what’s your point?”

“See how he looks at her,” Gaurav said.

Gaurav didn’t care about what Nina Bhupati was or how she looked. All he cared was how his enemy was looking at her. Suraj Bhupati was watching his wife with a tender look as she told the reporter about the importance of continuing the food program during the school breaks.

Vikram was silent as he took in that information.

“Neither of them are low-profile people,” Vikram warned. “If we get her, Suraj Bhupati is going to use his network and influences to get his wife back. We have to be prepared for a massive manhunt.”

“Of course. I expect the bastard to do nothing less.”

 

It was a well-known fact that Suraj Bhupati madly loved his wife, which was why Gaurav targeted her.

Nina Bhupati was close to her husband in all aspects of his life. Her husband had openly announced several times to everyone that his wife was his equal partner or was at least aware of every major decision he took.

Nina Bhupati may or may not have been directly involved in Shruti’s murder, but the fact that there was some chance of her involvement, automatically made Gaurav hate her.

He wanted to take from Suraj Bhupati what was snatched from him. He didn’t want Suraj Bhupati dead in a quick, merciful way. He wanted the bastard to slowly lose his mind. He wanted the bastard to lose all hope.

Just like he had.