Chapter 84
"Bittuji I need you to get in touch with that contact of yours in the Lexus Dealorship. Tell him that I will purchase 5 Lexus high end cars from him but I want the GPS information of Deepali's car from the night of Madhu's disappearance till date immediately. I need you to understand how important this information is for me."
"Yes Chief." Bittuji answered as he got to work scrolling through the contact list on the other phone. "But Chief, don't you think we should inform the police regarding this, since they too are on the look out for some information regarding Madhuji. We can get this information legally with their help. (Note - I am not well versed in Indian law. But I assume that someone cannot get personal information of somebody else such as this without a subpoena)"
"We do not have time for procedures Bittuji. A second longer means a second delay in reaching Madhu and that is something I cannot live with and won't let you live too. Do you understand or will it take me sending you six feet below to make you understand?"
"Sorry Chief. Am on it Chief." Bittuji replied flustered.
"Bittuji I want the information sent to my phone in the next 10 minutes. I cannot afford to waste another second..." pausing for a brief moment, Rishab added, "Please Bittuji." Bittuji still couldn't fathom how much his Chief must love Madhubala. The conversation replayed again in the recesses of his mind as he paced around awaiting for information from his contact. His Blackberry beeped and he glanced at the email. Ah it is here..
*******
"And then came Rishab. When you two would look into each others eyes, it felt like the world around you disappeared. Oh how I hate Rishab. He came out of nowhere and it was like you were mesmerised. I had eyes only for you and you, only for him. I saw this sudden glow on you, like something had lit up inside you and this glow would get brighter every time Rishab laid eyes on you. And Rishab, the business tycoon, who only cared about about himself and his work, for once I actually saw Rishab care and take notice of someone else beside himself. I recognised that look in his eyes and that feeling, since I had held on to it for soo long." Sikander continued with his story, only this time looking sad and worn out.
*******
Rishab scrolled through the contents of the email on his phone carefully. "You say you were at home on the night Madhu was kidnapped, but evidence suggests otherwise."
"I was home sleeping. What evidence are you talking about?" Deepali leaned forward curiously trying to sneak a peak at the so called evidence.
"Don't worry, the truth will be revealed soon enough. For your sake I hope your on the right side of the truth or else you will have me to answer to first and then maybe whats left of you will be handed over to the police. But I doubt there will be anything left of you to handover." Rishab threatened as he turned the key in the ignition and released the hand brake.
*******
Sikander suddenly stood up and started pacing around, his stance a little agitated. Madhu was startled at his sudden movement but calmed herself down but her hands refused to listen as they shivered involuntarily in fear. He stopped abruptly and turned to look at her. "It was difficult but I tried very hard to let go of you. More than trying to convince Deepali to pick up the pieces of her broken heart and move on, I was trying to convince myself to move on..." He said with sincerity filled eyes. "I tried to move on. I tried being just friends with you. I tried shifting my affections in another direction. Harpreet is a nice girl. But... she just wasn't you. You have no idea how difficult it is to love someone and see her love someone else in front of you. You think I got off the mountain only because of Deepali? No... I was finding it difficult to think, act or for that matter breathe in the same air as you and Rishab. I got off the mountain so as to move on. Trust me when I say this, I sincerely wanted you and Rishab to be happy."
Madhu stood up and courageously walked the few steps towards him and looked into his eyes. She wanted to see lies and deception in them. But all she could see was truth.
*******
Rishab followed the directions as per the in-built GPS system in the Lexus and arrived at the destination. Rishab got off from the car and looked around for some clue of where Madhu could be held. Adam and Deepali followed suit and got out of the car, all the while Adam keeping a firm hand on Deepali, lest she decides to run. "Don't even think of running away." Adam warned. "Not that I have to answer to you. But I wasn't." Deepali retorted back stepping on Adam's foot. "Ouuuh.." Adam called out limping on his good foot. "Yeah that was dumb of me. You wouldn't run. That would require you to make an effort. Keep that up and soon you will develop cankles."
"Will you two stop bitching!!" Rishab cried out turning towards both of them. Silence prevailed in the air. Rishab stepped closer, "Deepali, if you were being truthful, then now is the time to prove it. Look around. Does this place seem familiar?" Rishab asked Deepali desperately.
Hearing and feeling the desperation in his voice, Deepali nodded and looked at her surroundings. There was silence all around. The place seemed deserted. Recognition hit her. "Yes... this used to be Dad's textile mill. But it closed down long time ago. Then when I was interested in art Dad converted the ground floor of one of these buildings into an art studio, because I wanted a place to work in silence. But that was a long time ago. After college Dad got me my own art studio in town. Since then I haven't been here."
Rishab curled his hands into fists as he looked back at the buildings. "Bhatia..." He called out through gritted teeth as he stormed towards the buildings in search of his Madhu.
*******
"Sikander..." she called out his name softly, "I didn't know that you..." she paused mid-sentence, "Uh.. I am sorry for all the pain I have unknowingly caused you. But like your heart loved me so did mine love Rishab and his mine. Please let me go and I promise you I will do whatever I can to help you forget about me and leave this pain behind and move on. Please let me go back."
Sikander gripped her hand tightly and shoved her into the wall behind her. She had no escape. She looked at him defiantly. She stepped to the side while parrying with her words. "Love is what you crave and love is what you shall never have."
His hand slammed against the wall preventing her from further side stepping. Leaning back out he took on a jovial if slightly maniacal tone. "Ouuhhh.. Didn't know you did poetry too."
He leaned closer so that he could whisper in her ear. "I know what you are trying to do. Don't bother, sweetheart. You're mine."
Before her angry retort could make it past her lips (and probably make the situation worse) he was kissing her roughly. She tasted blood in her mouth from the brutality of the kiss. He must have bitten her lip in his haste. With a lot of effort she managed to turn her head to the side.
"No, I'm not, never was and never shall be. I never was that attracted to pond scum."
Her sharp retort earned her a harsh encounter with the wall behind her. Her ribs ached from where he'd forcibly slammed her into the wall. At that moment more than anything she wanted
Rishab, no matter how angry they were at each other or how annoyed he was with her, he would always protect her.
Sikander gave a savage grin as she struggled with regaining her breath, "No you're his. Always have been. But not for long."
As he talked he imitated his words roughly smacking her into the wall and shoving his wrist to her neck imitating a blade while slowly crushing her windpipe.
"Why do you even love him? I have never understood that. Why?" He was snarling into her face while shoving her harder against the wall. His breathing was heavy and labored, "Why?"
Slam, she could have sworn she heard her ribs cracking over the rushing sound in her ears and the dots swimming in front of her eyes. More than ever she wanted Rishab there, she tried crying out his name but no sound made it.
"I always loved you." She didn't respond and he abruptly released her throat as if only suddenly realizing she couldn't breathe let alone respond. Letting herself go limp she kneed him hard in the gut.
"Why? Because it's him. Someone you'll never be."
Apparently kneeing him didn't have as much of an effect as it should have, as she was weak from the air loss. He looked at Madhu for a moment and she could see the struggle for control in his eyes and the exact moment he lost it. "Maybe you just like it rough."
She tried to make a break for it but he grabbed her by the hair, backhanded her so hard her vision faded in and out of black and began dragging her towards the bed. All the while ranting and muttering to himself.
"I loved you. But you didn't. I let you go. But destiny brought us back together. It wanted us together. How else would you explain out engagement. The moment I placed that ring on you, you were mine. But Rishab had to ruin it all. He ruined my father and then was going to go to your father to cancel our engagement. If that was not enough you too had to turn to him, always better than me. It must have been those no good friends of yours, Adam and Abby, who got to you. Those two meddled in our life and tried to ruin it. I had to get you away from everyone, all of them. Now you are mine... yes.. my fiance and I don't feel bad about having some fun with your gorgeous assets."
That was it, she wasn't going to stand for this little crazy obsessed man attempting to have his way with her. Realizing she was on her own and no white knight was going to come and save her she stepped up. She was dazed but the survival instincts were kicking in. She did the only thing she could, she started screaming for Rishab and struggling as she was dragged brutally. No one came flying to the rescue so she kept struggling making a mad grab for the foot of the bed and clinging for dear life. He kicked her hands off.
He threw her onto the bed, her hands searched frantically for a weapon but only closed around a bottle of water. She wouldn't go down without a fight, she'd use all of her resources.
"Sikander.." Madhu heard herself speaking as if through a haze, her voice hoarse. He stopped pushing, and merely held her down onto the bed. "Don't do this."
"Then you should not have gone back to him. Are you admitting it, he was a mistake?"
He was melting, she could feel it. He was putty in her hands but Madhu was bull headed and wouldn't take the easy way out."No, he was never a mistake. I love him. And if I die, I will live again to be with him, to have the life we never had the chance to live."
He looked at her. She knew she'd lost her one chance of escape.
Sikander was still wistful though, "Why him? Why not me? I love you Madhu, I would and still will do anything for you yet you betrayed me, betrayed out relationship for him."
Madhu could feel her annoyance, he needed to move on. It wasn't going to happen. "Some things have no explanation, Rishab and I understood each other like nobody else could. Why did you betray your family?"
He was angry now, he wasn't going to play her game. He sneered at her before answering, scorn filling his voice. "You... you are the center of it all. But now you are with me and I will never let you go."
"Rishab will not take kindly to having me taken in an underhand way and so far he's had a long time to dwell on it. If you don't let go of me now, I'll let Rishab have his way before the cops get a hold of you."
She watched impassively as his face lost all colour and he visibly gulped. He was terrified, that much was clear. Whether it was of Rishab or the cops or both she wasn't sure.
Abruptly he hardened again, regaining his control and the truce broke. She felt hands roughly grabbing her.
*******
Rishab ran towards the building Deepali recognised while Adam and Deepali followed. "Madhu..." Rishab screamed out her name as he entered its premises. His eyes scanned the area for any sign of life. He called out for Madhu over and over again. But there was no reply. Adam reached out and placed his hand on Rishab's shoulder, providing strength and comfort.
All of a sudden Rishab's shoulders grew tense and he looked around. "She's here" He exclaimed to noone in particular and continued his search.
*******
She opened her eyes slowly. Dazed she looked up to see Adam holding a bleeding Sikander in a death grip. She looked around in confusion, wasn't she on the bed before with Sikander attacking her? How did she end up on the floor with her dress partially torn.
Immediately Rishab was on the floor by her side looking over her; running his eyes all over to check for injuries. Madhu looked at him, there was a certain hardness in his eyes, a certain pain in his eyes. The pain of failure and disappointment in himself. Madhu could feel her heart shattering just looking at him.
"You saved me." She made it a statement in a vain hopes that he wouldn't contest it. No such luck.
"Barely, I should have come sooner." His fingers brushed the blood from her lips and a tortured look crossed his face. Deepali bent down to dab on a wet napkin on her wounds but backed off as she cringed. Her reaction was immediate, she shivered at the thought. "No! It is not you. But I don't want anyone else touching me right now." Turning towards Rishab, Madhu pleaded, "Take me home."
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