ARIYA FF StrawHouse //NOTE PG 34// - Page 20

Update soon

can't wait

Yes, please continue to raise my blood pressure.

Gone it seems

*cries dramatically*

I dont who to feel more sorry for, Arjun or Riya?

I have a strong gut saying the gone is referring to the kidnapping

Oh no

Please update soon

Hope Arjun will find riya soon

Ohh god plzzz...ariya ko alag mat karna...

Jaldi update dena

Omg shocking teaser

Hope it's just their plan

Cont soon

Chapter 15

Suffering is like anything else. Live with it long enough, you learn to like the taste.

Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)

"Riya " he calls out, his voice rough, stone on stone.

"RIYA!" she refuses to look at him ; she was so far away yet so close.

"RIYA PLEASE!" He begs, patting her cheeks in earnest. "DON'T GIVE UP!"

"DON'T GIVE UP ON ME!"

"RIYA "

He calls again.She turnd her head towards him, her chest heaving irregularly.

She reaches for his hand, her fingers drunk dancing on his hand, her touch as cold as ice.

She closes her eyes after sparing a final look at him.

Goodbye.

Arjun woke up with a start. Pain shot up in his head as the sudden action left him dizzy. The light stung his eyes as he tried to comprehend where he was.

A few seconds later, reality sets in. He's in the hospital. The white walls and the white linen, all too familiar. Beside him a monitor beeped, announcing his unsteady heart's state rather too loudly. He had a cannula on his left hand and a bandage covered the better part of his head. Arjun steeled himself, the pain getting too much to bear.

But what overpowered the pain, was his concern for her. She was nowhere to be seen, nor was anyone else. His brain tried to put two and two together, carefully ignoring the other part of the brain telling him to rest.

(Flashback)

She had turned towards him, and had touched his jaw. He had smiled at the touch and looked at her. He was about say something when.....

When he felt something ram in their vehicle, instantly knocking the two of them out of their respective seats. With a start, hea realised They were hit! By a large vehicle probably, only a vehicle larger than the SUV could do this much damage.

Arjun was doing perfectly, he couldn't day the same about Riya. He reached out to her, trying to pull her from under the debris of the broken car. He tried to hurry, she was loosing a lot of blood. He had almost succeeded in pulling her out when something falls on his head, numbing his senses.

As his nerves failed to help him, he struggles to her her. He could hear screams around him, a crowd had probably gathered. He tries again, using all the strength he had to pull her out. Something told him, it wasn't going to work.

As he stared into the eyes of death, there was only one name on his lips.

Riya.

Darkness takes over and he fades into oblivion.

(Flashback ends)

Arjun felt his chest constrict, it was as if the world lacked oxygen. With a raw scream, he pulls the cannula out of his hand, blood oozing from the veins in the process. Ignoring the pain, his head was gifting him, he jumps out of the bed, only to trip in his steps. He felt giddy and he clutched the railing if the bed for support.

A moment later, the door opens and in comes Yash with a nurse. As soon as the Second in command sees the Chief out of the bed, he rushed towards him, tackling him to the bed.

Arjun pushed Yash away, using all his remaining strength. Yash dodges his hands, and proceeds to hold him tight.

"Kya kar rahe ho! You need rest Arjun!" Yash tries to knock some sense in his stubborn friend's head. However Arjun had only question.

"Riya kahan hai?"

Yash could only think of a hundred excuses to dodge the question. Yet his lips refused to speak up.

The answer however, left hanging in his silence.

"She is gone "

And just like that, Arjun wished he'd rather met his death instead. He sunk to the ground, his eyes lamenting the loss of his loved one. He screamed, agony in every octave.

This time his heart shattered into a hundred million pieces. The only person who could put it together, now gone.

His pain a language that nobody could speak.

Yash watched as Arjun's face changed colours, the pain splashed on his face like an acid attack. Moments later, Yash realised what his tragedy stuck friend was thinking. Hurriedly he rushes towards the broken man on the floor and embraces him.

" Wait a minute Arjun!" He says, to the writhing man in pain "Wait a minute. Jaisa tum sonch rahe ho waisa nahi hai! ARJUN LISTEN TO ME!"

"SHE'S GONE YASH! SHE'S LEFT ME ALONE" Arjun cries.

"NO. No. No. Tum galat sonch rahe ho"

"Usse kuch nahi hua hai. She's alive. Riya is alive." "Yash explains, desperateness in his voice.

Arjun looks on, blinking. Not sure if it's just another of his nightmares or his broken reality.

Yash continues." She's alive. She is. It's just that..... She's..... She... They took her. " he breathes.

Arjun couldn't help but laugh at his fate. A moment ago he thought her to be dead. He had lost his will to live. His life went down with her. Now they think she's alive but those jackasses took her from the car.

He recalls how he had gradually fell in love with her. Her contagious smile seemed to break through his stone cold heart. Her beady eyes seemed to read the pain in his. Somehow, despite his very best efforts, he found her beside him,either in spirit on in person. No matter how he pushed her away, she kept soming back. With doubled forced. That day at the dam, as he watched her gulp the bacteria and fall to the ground, Arjun realised how much his broken heart had began relying on her large one to live. How he'd find comfort in the way she'd look at him. Her one look comforting him to no end.

He steels his will. He had to fight. For her sake. For their sake.

Pain was a language he'd make them speak.

_____________________________

Jameela Akhtar looks at the mirror one last time before her act. She looks nothing like herself. That's probably for the best though. She carefully runs her fingers over the gun in her hand.

"Fire if necessary" she was told. With her, necessary only meant trouble. Four years after disappearing into thin air, she was back. Back with a bang. She wanted to show the police that Jameela Akhtar is a smokeshow. She'd leave as soon as she had come. They never knew when they'd be hit by one.

Dabbbing the last part of the concealer under her scarred eye, Jameela looks into the mirror and whispers "For Sikandar."

______________________

She wouldn't wish love on anyone. It was the guest you welcomed and then couldn't be rid of.

Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)

Sakshi watched on as Arjun barked his orders to the petrified juniors. A certain madness had enveloped him the moment he had come back from the hospital. A madness to bring her back and wreck havoc on those demons that dared to touch his precious.

Anyone could swear that this Arjun was a far cry from the one that killed his wife's killer. This Arjun was more pronounced in his feelings, everyone in the room fully aware of his unkempt feelings bursting open.

The journalist watched on as Arjun loaded his gun and then proceeded to load another. He heads out to the interrogation room, Chotu on his heels. The muscular man had Girish, the head of operations,by his collar.

Sakshi prayed that they give Arjun what he wanted. The last thing they want is him letting his monster loose. She follows Shree and Aisha to the room beside the interrogation room. Their eyes never left the four men behind the glass. Two scared for their lives. Two the reason the others are scared.

________________________________

Girish had bawled his eyes out when he saw Pathan in the chair. His cover was blown! He was left to the mercy of a lone tiger. One who looked as if he's had a rough few days. He looked between the ACP and the criminal beside him.

Something in his dumb head told him to feign ignorance. He clears his throat and asks, " Kya hua Sir?" Why am I here?"

Having lost the last shred of humanity in him,Arjun delivers a tight slap upon hearing the enquiry. The audacity of this man!

Girish held his cheek ,anger rising in his being. He gets up , his face red,his cheek still stinging "HOW DARE YOU ACP ! HOW DAR---"

The rest of his anguish laden hate speech was lost in another loud slap dealt by the big,muscular man with the ACP." Chup Chap baithjao Girish. Ab koi faeda nahi" the big guy says.

Girish sinks down in the chair.,holding his face between his hands.So much for some extra money!

Arjun walks over to the one legged crook ,his loaded gun mercilessly dangling between his fingers."Speak up " he says, his gaze spitting fire. " Riya kahan hai ?"

"Mein nahi janta teri ladki kahan hai "

That elicited a punch on the face. "Karatl kahan hai ?"

"Pata nahi. Uska koi thikana nahi."

Chotu now turns towards the scared Girish " BOL"

"Mein.......sach keh raha hoon.........mujhe kuch nahi pata "

"Phir kis se milne gaye the tum us red door wale ghar mein 0701"

Girish was about to speak up ,when Pathan interrupts "If Kartal has your girl ,she is as good as gone.Bhul jao usse" As soon as the words register in the ACP's ears ,he jumped on the man ,insanity getting the better of him. He beats him black and blue with no respect for protocols or the cameras recording his act of aggression.The screams of the criminal ring in the air. Chotu jumps in to pull the ACP away while Girish finds a corner to shield himself from the blows .

The towering muscular figure could do nothing as he watched his boss lose every piece of his control .Arjun was about to stomp on the crook's broken leg ,his leg already mid air when Shree rushed in "We have a lead Sir!"

The ACP steps on the crook's face as his parthian shot.

Lesson # 1 Administered.

_________________________________________

THE MOUSE HAS BEEN CAPTURED

Get to the lab

Did everything go as per plan

YES. ACT 1/4 Performed.

Kartal smiles as he puts his phone down and proceeds to eat a big bite of the dinner served before him. He dug in, his scheming mind happy about at least one thing going potentially in the right direction.

Now that they have the girl, the professor could begin the biggest project of his lifetime.

He signals one of his pimps. The minion walks out of the room, only to return with a duct taped professor.

Kartal gets up, wiping his face. "Welcome Doctor. Time to make yourself useful."

______________________________

Arjun dashed out behind Shree, not wasting another second. It was already 1 am, been four hours since the attack on them. He was already running behind.

Shree jumps into his chair and begins typing furiously. A second later the screen lights up and a video began relaying on it. He had accessed the CCTV footage, albeit illegally, but hey that's what everyone was doing now, right?!

Everyone watched on with baited breath. A few minutes into the thing, they could see the truck crash into Arjun's car. They collectively winced, watching the car turn over, damage everywhere.

Arjun refused to let his emotions take over and concentrated on the truck. Standard transportation truck, yellow paint on its body and red designs on the tires. What caught his attention the most was the phoenix painted on right side of the truck.

A crowd gathers near the site of the so called accident thereby covering a lot of the footage.

"Shit. I logon ke wajah se we can't even see who took Riya away. Because jab hum wahan Pohanche toh Sirf tum the wahan Arjun." Yash says.

"Sir Gaadi ka number dikh raha hai MH 0000. Ye konsa number hua bhala?" Aisha wonders.

"They're trying to mislead us." Sakshi says.

"No. If anything, they want us to follow them." Arjun announces. All the eyes snap in his direction, he gazed at them suggestively. He couldn't shrug off the fact that there was this one pair of beautiful eyes missing. " If they've been taking so many precautions to disguise everything, they would've pulled off the number plate. Rather they put a unique number. Just for us." he explains.

"Toh.... Ab?" Shree asks, after a minute of uncomfortable silence in the room.

" We fall into their trap."

______________________________________

Yash slammed the door of his car. Their hunt for a certain Jameela Akhtar didn't yield any results. According to witnesses, if they were any good, she last seen three days ago, leaving her home with two huge blue suitcases. Nobody had been in and out of her home for as long as a couple of months. The only clues the police could lay their hands on was a broken piece of a Sim card and a box of a smartphone. Immediately Yash had taken them into his custody ; Shree could make something out of them.

As per his enquiries, Yash came to the conclusion that Jameela was about 5'7", dusky complexion, and long black hair. Her eyes, according to the neighbours were a startling green. She was seen leaving in a white shirt and blue jeans.

With a start, Yash realised Jameela is identical to their missing research specialist, sans the green eyes. Nothing that a lens couldn't help with.

A/N :I'm loving your responses so far. Thank you for reading this little piece of my heart. Also you might have noticed my obsession with Leigh Bardugo /Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom . She announced her new book the other day and I CANNOT KEEP CALM. To anyone who's into heist kind of stories please do yourself a favour and read the Six of crows duology. (Kaz Brekker didn't need a reason, y'all). It's jam packed with action and thrill. Also the amount of crime related details in there are truly marvellous. Kaz Brekker is a criminal Prodigy and the things I've learnt from him 🤯🤯🤯

Regarding PMs I'm unable to send messages to the following people : Lekha_Acharya, Fiona.

If there's anything I can do please let me know since I'm kinda (still) new to this stuff.

Anyways thank you for reading! Let me know what you think.

Awesome update

loved it so much!

I knew it! Riya has been kidnapped

Yash should really work on the choice of his words

Arjun is livid

They finally take Girish head on

The red door is still mystery

Damn! the crowd covered their suspects

Kartal is going to begin experimenting on her.... I hope the team reaches soon and break through whatever ambush that is waiting for them

So, jameela looks similar to Riya, now that's interesting. Will she be fooling the others?

cont sooooooon

p.s. regarding the pms. that poblem is occuring with a few users as in their name doesn't pop up in select friends or by typing it in the search bar. Not really sure why it's been happening. You can however, go to their profile and send them a pm from the option there. I do the same with Lekha's username and another.

Interesting

loved it

update soon

thnx for pm

Damn good update...

Jameela looks like riya... Thats interesting... Hopeing that she doesnt decieve arjun...

Wating for revelation of their relation...

Continue soon❤

Originally posted by: bloomie

Awesome update

loved it so much!

I knew it! Riya has been kidnapped

Yash should really work on the choice of his words

Arjun is livid

They finally take Girish head on

The red door is still mystery

Damn! the crowd covered their suspects

Kartal is going to begin experimenting on her.... I hope the team reaches soon and break through whatever ambush that is waiting for them

So, jameela looks similar to Riya, now that's interesting. Will she be fooling the others?

cont sooooooon

p.s. regarding the pms. that poblem is occuring with a few users as in their name doesn't pop up in select friends or by typing it in the search bar. Not really sure why it's been happening. You can however, go to their profile and send them a pm from the option there. I do the same with Lekha's username and another.

Thank you ! Here i was thinking there's something wrong from my side hehe