Chapter 10

abjeya

@abjeya

Chapter 9

Arjun could see Riya’s eyes widen in realization and her heartbeat increasing to what could amount to dangerous levels. Slowly, he strokes her forehead and said “Calm down Riya, everything’s fine.Nothing has happened. Everything is fine.” Her heartbeat, slowly calms down listening to his voice. He keeps an eye on the monitor and continue stroking her head. Her eyes slowly flutter shut but she struggles to keep her eyes open.Arjun silently shook his head, and Riya’s eyes finally shut trusting the silent sentinel to guard her secrets.

Arjun heaves a sigh of relief as her breathing slowly calms down. Knowing that right now alerting the nurse is not necessary, he sits beside her and holds her hand. Her chest rises slowly up and down indicating her sleep. Arjun could only hope that his words were true and nothing drastic is taking place anywhere.

Dadi’s hands touch her cheeks in shock and she looks up to see a girl she till now consider as a gold digger,standing in front of her, her hands tightened into fists, her entire body vibrating with anger. Everyone was too much in shock, too stunned to realize that the girl who always bought a smile in everyone’s face, who makes sure everyone’s happiness is fulfilled is capable of such anger. Dadi’s face became red with anger and she raises her hand to slap Khushi, but her hand is caught midway and she turns her head to see Arnav catching her hand.

Payal coming out of shock, went and stood beside Khushi showing her silent support at the same time holding her shoulders knowing in those few occasions that when Khushi was truly anger, she becomes blind to everyone. Khushi’s hands are still knotted in fists and Arnav dropping Dadi’s hand silently came and stood beside her. He holds her fists in his hands and silently said “Khushi.” Khushi fiery gaze shifted from Dadi to Arnav but the fierceness in her gaze lessened seeing the apology in his eyes.Before he could open his mouth, Khushi heard his silent words and said “You don’t have to apologise Arnavji.”

Everyone present is amazed with how Khushi is able to hear Arnav’s silence but right now Khushi and Arnav don’t care. They only have eyes for each other and their minds on making sure their other half is okay.

Khushi’s fists loosened and she joined her hands with Arnav. She said “I know that what steps you took was to ensure that I was happy. I am happy that I have got a husband who puts my needs and know what I think before. But Ri…..Lavanyaji, she didn’t deserve this Arnavji. And……….” Turning to Dadi, the fierceness back in voice, her every word bringing a flinch to everyone. She said “If you had reservations with me, then you should have voiced them. I would have been disappointed but I would have accepted them. I know Arnavji also wouldn’t have gone against your wishes even to marry me. But you didn’t do that. Instead you used an innocent person, our friend to fulfil your demands. You know Dadi, my Amma, Bauji and Buaji have always taught me that for a girl, keeping her family together is how she will ensure her own and her partner’s happiness. But today, after what you did, it would be wrong for me to even consider you as a part of family. You are not capable of being a part of any family, Subhadra Devi and I am glad for the fact that Arnavji is Nani’s grandson and his mother’s son and not your grandson and his father’s son.”

Before Dadi could say anything,the door opened and Rathore, Ayesha and Chotu entered. Arnav indicated to NK pointing to the DVD with his eyes and NK understood. He removed the DVD from the VCR and putting it in a case, hands to Rathore and said “Here, is your first suspect and your motive also Sir. I hope you can gather the evidence you need so that you can put her somewhere far away from my family.” Ayesha came and hold Dadi’s  arm leading her away from the Raizada family. Dadi protested her innocence but no one stood up for her. All watched silently as she is led away from them.

Seeing Rathore stand beside him,Arnav understood what happened. Rathore looking at Arnav and Khushi still holding hands but giving no reaction said “Mr and Mrs Raizada, you both have to come with me.”

Other's heads turns to look in confusion to Rathore. Rathore said “Both of your names have come up in the investigation as having something connected to Miss Kashyap’s attack. You both have to come with me so that we can question you. Please cooperate with us.”

And the next second, everyone started shouting out proclaiming Khushi and Arnav’s innocence. Khushi and Arnav looked silently at each other and nodded towards Rathore. Hugging his crying sister, and Khushi, her aunt and sister, both turned and in silence followed Rathore with no protest, everyone staring at them till they are out of sight.

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Rathore looked at Arnav calmly seated opposite him in the interrogation room. He made no threats to call the commissioner or to inform his lawyer. His only request was Khushi should also be interrogated with him. Finding it difficult to argue his reasoning when he stated that both of them have similar tales to tell and gaps to fill in each other stories, Rathore told Ayesha to bring Khushi. Hearing the door open behind them, His gaze doesn’t shift from Arnav and he could see the softening on Arnav’s face and a sigh of relief as Khushi is seated beside him.

Rathore looks at the both of them and said “You both were Riya’s informants. Arnav, you were the person Riya was using to gather information when she was undercover.” Both Arnav and Khushi look at each other and with silent agreement, they both said one word “Yes.”

Shree and Chotu look in surprise to each other at their calm yes. Rathore allows Ayesha to take the lead in the questioning. Ayesha starts questioning, “How did you both become informants?”.Khushi looks at Arnav and Arnav started, “Riya was sent to my office to gather information on how my company was working. There were suspicions that I was using illegal methods to grow my business. They were right in  a manner. My illegal method definition was that I would use my contacts to gather information and make surveys to get a lay of the audience preferences. Buying the opposite companies products available in markets, we used to see what designs were common and then make the opposite of those designs. Slowly our product became known for its uniqueness and the audience's demands slowly increased. We were struggling to meet the demands, so I had to sell some of my aunt’s jewellery to meet the demands. We met the demands in the time period allotted and that was when the competitors and the bank became suspicious on how the demands were met. That’s when Riya was sent to my office to work as a PR Manager. Her experience as a model made her in a uniquely qualified position to handle contact with models and coordinate the PR required for the events. And this put her in a unique position to be aware of some underhanded dealings which would have taken place.”

Arnav takes a sip of water for his dry throat and kept the glass down. Lost in memories, he said “Riya within 3 months proved that I wasn’t doing anything illegal in the criminal manner or in a manner which would make me open to a civil lawsuit. She was able to prove that my company was above board in its functioning.” Rathore asked“When did you come to know about Riya being an undercover officer?” How did you know about her being undercover?. Arnav said “ She herself told me about her being undercover.” All ETF Officers look at him in shock.

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Arnav smirks seeing their shock, he continues his story as he said “To understand why Riya did this, you also have to understand our world. The fashion industry is like a business industry on steroids. Here along with beauty and fitness you have to also use your brain and your connections to get what you want. That is why it is also often one of the most exploited industry as fake fashion agencies can often be set up to lure models in the name of providing them an opportunity in the fashion industry. But these models are then sold in online markets which the models themselves often do not know until they reach the place where there is no guarantee of escape. And who buys these models? The people who have the money to. Riya wanted to crack down on the Fake Fashion agencies but to gain access to the markets, she needed access and for the access, she needed someone  who had the money and the power.” Ayesha understanding the pattern finally said “And you had both.” Arnav nods his head. Arnav takes a sip of water and said “Riya approached as soon as she proved my innocence and was honest with me from the start. She using my influence was able to track down the buyers, sellers and the middlemen. Within two years, she had almost dismantled the entire human trafficking business with no linking back to my business or to my name. We were so close to taking down the main individual responsible for it.”

Rathore said “What happened?”.Arnav looks at Khushi and she nods her head to continue, Arnav said “Khushi happened.”

I hope you like it. I know that it has been a long time since, I have updated but I had writer's block and was really unsure on how to proceed with the story.

Now, Phase 2 of the Story begins.