"phir zarre zarre mein deedar aaya hai,

behad aur beshumaar aaya hai."

"Muh khol warna aage kabhi ise kholne ke layak nahi bachega," I threatened the man sitting on the floor, his body tied with ropes as one of my bodyguards kicked his ass.

[Open your mouth or you won't be able to open it in the future.]

He groaned in pain, tears staining his stupid face. He looked like apes do, big and round nostrils with a dark skin tone.

And the tears made him look even more uglier than he already was.

"I don't know anything, sir! I was only ordered to guide those men and tell them where to kidnap the girl from," the man blurted out while crying.

"Who ordered you?" I asked, expecting him to take Aryan's name, but his response made me frown.

"I don't know her name, but she was a woman."

Confusion was the only thing I could feel at the moment. A woman?

How can a woman be involved in this if it's all about Aryan Arora trying to harm Aakriti?

"How the hell you don't know her name if she's giving you information?" I asked, standing on his fingers.

He groaned in pain, "I d-don't know, sir. I'm not lying...I don't even know whose orders she was following."

I sighed in frustration and turned around to walk outside the room, which was one of the rooms from the same abandoned hospital building.

One of my men had called me that they spotted one man here when I was standing outside the temple, and I wasted no time and rushed here to see who was hiding here.

And he turned out to be the one who was ordering those kidnappers and giving him details about Aakriti.

But this man is not the one directly in contact with Aryan. There is a woman involved in this too, and she is probably the last person in the chain and also the main character who is having a direct contact with Aryan.

But what's more puzzling is finding who that woman is. From all the proofs we have gathered about Aryan and his men working for him, we haven't found any traces of a woman being involved in this masterplan.

And Aryan was never the kind of bastard who would keep women to work for him. Women were always in his territory to please him.

He was the man who believed women were meant only to be men's slaves and to be caged by them, there is no way he would let any woman be involved in this task.

But there is nothing else I could do about it right now.

"Sir," Nikhil's voice snapped me out of my deep thoughts.

"Vihaan had checked through his phone, and we didn't find any call recordings of him with that woman, neither we could trace the number she texted him with," he informed, while I massaged my temple with my eyes closed.

"Just ask him to continue with this, and take this man to the police station too, let those officers work a little as well," I said, while he nodded and turned around to go back in.

I didn't follow him back inside, and went downstairs to go back to my car. I have to go back home and be with Aakriti.

In this past month, I never realised the closeness I developed with her. I never knew I'd do those things with her while being drunk - I swear I often had an illusion that she was my Aakriti.

I always blamed her for the faults she wasn't supposed to be accused of. I never thought I'd start falling for her when mom started taunting me almost everyday after that incident with her at the temple.

She'd always tell me that my Aakriti left me seven years ago, she might be reborn as someone else now, who doesn't even know me.

And there is no point if I keep remembering her and never move on in life.

And not only this, the care in Aakriti's eyes when I got back injured after a fight with Aryan's men on the night of her muh dikhai spoke a lot.

I hate that I made her cry the other day, saying she enjoyed my touch and what not.

Maybe, just maybe, she needs a chance?

Or maybe I need a chance to try and move on?

No matter how hard I try, my Aakriti's photo frames on the walls of the room always stop me.

Mom asked me to remove those after I got married to Aakriti Arora, but I didn't.

I thought I would betray my Aakriti doing that.

☆

I slowly opened the door of the room, expecting it to be locked, but it wasn't.

I glanced at the couch and saw Aakriti sleeping there, holding her phone. A small smile unknowingly tugged at my lips while I slowly closed the door behind me and walked towards her.

I knelt down and removed the strands of her hair from her face, taking her phone from her hands and placing it on the table.

She was wearing the same blue kurti, without her dupatta which was snatched and almost torn by those bastards.

And because her dupatta wasn't covering her front body, the deep neck of her kurti revealed her cleavage a little.

I gulped, diverting my attention back to her face.

Fuck you, Nirw.

I slowly stood up, sliding one hand behind her back and the other under her legs, scooping her up in my arms.

She was so light weighted and small in front of me. I glanced at our reflection in the mirror and a smirk automatically crept its way on my lips when I saw how fragile she was.

There was no way she could escape me if I ever hunted her down.

But I know I will never need to do that. She would never do anything that will make me hate her again or not want her as my wife.

She is my fate, and I can't reject her when she's the one who I'll end up my life with.

I lay her on the bed gently and lay down beside her, a little closer from her body.

I traced the love bite I carved on her neck with my index finger, and her eyes snapped open immediately.

She was breathing heavily, her chest was heaving up and down, while she touched her breasts.

What is she doing?

She turned to look at me, her eyes widening. She sat up straight, looking down at me and removing her hand from her chest, "Nirwan ji, are you drunk again?"

A soft chuckle escaped my lips while I shook my head, "No. I'm not."

Her cheeks turned pink in an instant, while she fidgeted with her fingers. She let out a soft moan, touching her chest again.

"What happened? Are you okay?" I asked her, sitting up beside her. She bit her lower lip and shook her head.

"You can tell me," I encouraged her, while she breathed heavily again.

"Nirwan ji...I...it's hurting," she whispered slowly, making me frown.

"What's hurting?" I asked, while I noticed tears slowly welling up in her eyes, my heartbeat fastened a little.

"H-here," she replied slowly, pointing at her chest.

A wave of wild emotions rushed through me, while I tried to keep my voice calm, "Tell me properly, jaan."

Her eyes widened slightly as she looked up at me, before grabbing the hem of her kurti and pulling it off her.

She was only in her bra, and that made me harden as hell.

She doesn't know what move she is pulling. I didn't know my effect on her would last for so long.

I saw the desperation in her eyes the moment she kissed me on the road, but I never thought she would still be so desperate.

For my attention.

"It hurts so much," she whispered, leaning her front with my chest.

Fuck.

Don't do this, Aakriti.

I wrapped my arms around her, while my fingers instinctively opened her hooks, her bra straps sliding down her arms, revealing her bare chest.

I pushed her on the bed and attacked her hard buds, like a beast attacking on its prey. She moaned, her fists grabbing my hair tightly.

I sucked it harshly, while I cupped the other one with my hand.

I know nothing is hurting her. She is alright.

She is just desperate and needy. She had tears in her eyes because the unfulfilled desires in her were craving to be fulfilled.

She was on the verge of crying because she needed my attention so bad that she was craving for my presence over the call.

And even she can't realise her needs yet. She doesn't know how to identify her cravings and things her body asks for.

I left a love bite on her chest, proceeding to kiss her neck. She stopped moaning and relaxed under my touch, probably falling asleep.

I slowly opened my eyes, rubbing them. I turned to look at my side and found Nirwan ji sleeping with his head on my chest.

And I wasn't wearing anything on the top.

My cheeks flushed with pink tint instantly, while I slowly tried to move without disturbing him, but I couldn't.

I slowly shook him by his shoulder, "Nirwan ji, get off me!"

He hummed in his sleep but didn't move, while I let out a frustrating sigh.

I pushed him, while he rolled to the other side, his eyes opening while he shot me a glare, "Kya kar rahi ho?"

[What are you doing?]

"Aapne kya kiya humare saath?" I asked, sitting up straight and covering myself with the duvet. I was feeling cold early in the morning, from the icy wind blowing outside.

[What did you do with me?]

He smirked, making me frown, "Aapko kuch yaad nahi hai, jaan?"

[You don't remember anything, love?]

A shiver ran down my spine while I shook my head. I do remember that I fell asleep while using my phone on the couch, while waiting for him.

And then, he did something to me at night but I couldn't clearly remember what because I was deep asleep.

He smirked, while I gulped and slowly reached out to pick up my clothes lying on the floor, wearing them before he changed his mind and ended up doing something early in the morning.

I stood up from the bed, my eyes roaming around the room. I frowned when I felt something missing from the room.

I looked closely at the furniture, it was the same. Nothing new.

I roamed my eyes at the walls slowly and then the ceiling.

And then back to the walls.

The walls.

The frames of Nirwan ji and Aakriti Sharma were not there. Not even a single photo frame of her or them together was there, except for one small frame in the corner in which Nirwan ji stood with his parents.

My lower lip trembled slightly at the realisation while I turned around to look at Nirwan ji. He was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, while I gulped and jumped on him, hugging him tightly.

I felt his arms wrapping around my body while he pulled me on top of him, "What happened?"

I raised my head up to look at him, tears welling up in my eyes, "Why did you remove the frames?"

He sighed softly, but closed his eyes again without any response.

I sat up straight, wiping a lone tear that slipped free from my eye, "You didn't have to do that, Nirwan ji."

"I had to," he said, opening his eyes again and sitting up.

"I couldn't love you and hurt you at the same time. I never thought I would remove those frames of her, it's not like I don't love her now. She's still somewhere in my heart, but she is not here physically with me. It's you who is here with me, and-"

I cut him off by placing my lips on his, helping his tongue make its way inside my mouth.

We kissed passionately, while I wrapped my arms around his neck, his arms wrapped around my waist securely.

We broke the kiss and looked into each other's eyes full of passion.

Our moment was interrupted by the sudden call on Nirwan ji's phone. I got off his lap while he picked up his phone, placing it to his ear.

"Yeah, I'll be there," he said, before keeping the phone back on the nightstand.

He stood up from the bed, "I'll have to leave to deal with those bastards and some other urgent work that'll take time."

"When will you be back?" I asked, while he looked at the time.

"Evening, I suppose," he replied, while I nodded slowly. He went towards the bathroom for a shower before leaving, while I glanced down at my hands.

Should I tell him?

I guess it's the right time now, he removed the frames, so he wouldn't be annoyed if I told him I read that journal.

I mean, there's no reason to be annoyed by that. I just read the journal, as simple as that.

I sighed and stood up too, walking out of the room. I descended the stairs, a frown appearing on my face when I saw bua roaming around the house.

What is she doing up early at this time?

Everyone is probably still sleeping, and she is awake alone?

She turned around to face me, flinching a little as she got known to my presence, "What are you doing?"

"I came downstairs to...have a glass of water?" I tried to sound both as a response and a question.

She nodded slowly, "Everyone's sleeping. Go to bed."

"It's six in the morning, I won't be sleeping now," I said, noticing the dark circles under her eyes.

She seemed as if she hadn't slept properly last night, she looked tired and worked up.

And also fucked up.

"S-six?" she asked while stuttering a bit, making me nod. She glanced at the big analog watch hanging on the wall in the huge living area, her eyes widening in shock to herself.

She slowly walked towards the stairs and rushed upstairs without glancing anywhere, in the direction where her room was.

What was she doing up here at this time though?

I went to the kitchen, feeling my stomach growl. The servants began preparing breakfast around seven on normal days, and there was no way I would wait one hour for it.

I opened the fridge, peeking inside to find something, but there was nothing.

I heard footsteps echoing in the kitchen after a few minutes of searching. I turned around to face Nirwan ji, looking absolutely hot wearing a silk dark brown shirt with black trousers. He handsomely rolled up his sleeves, staring at me.

"What are you doing?" he asked, glancing around and then back at me.

"I was just feeling hungry so I was checking up the fridge," I replied, sighing slowly in defeat.

He smirked, "You're hungry?"

I nodded, a shiver running down my spine looking at his smirk.

What was it for?

He walked closer to me, making my heartbeat fasten. He stood only a few inches away from me.

"I'll cook for you."

Spoiler: Something that will shock you is coming up!

Do like my book and comment!

With loads of love (ofc)

Ayra.