#5 Ashlok Dark FF-My Ransacked Hear/UPDATED/Last Chapter(Pg-34,35) - Page 15

Judas In The Kingdom

Here it comes again

the pain of betrayal

just the price i have to pay

for being way too loyal

it hits me hard again

the pain of abandonment

just a follow up

on being naive and ignorant

there it is again

the pain of losing faith

locking away my feelings

fighting against the hate

i fall down again

the pain of shattered trust

is there no friend who's true

my spirit is being crushed

can't do this again

too many broken promises

maybe i'll just give up on friendship

my soul can't handle anymore bruises

~ The saddest thing about betrayal is ~ that it never comes from your enemies ~

"Astha it's about time that you tell me about him", Kalindi asked in a do-not-mess-with-me voice while stroking a napping Abhi's head in her lap. "About who?", Astha feigned ignorance and started to fold the already folded baby clothes. "Don't try to change the topic Asthu, it's about time that you should tell me about the boy's father, I have a right you know", she said in an irritated voice. "It's a long story mom", she sighed giving up folding the clothes as her mother grabbed her wrist to stop her from getting up from the bed.

"Oh mom I can only say that I love him like crazy, love him more than you can imagine", heaving a deep breath she lovingly placed her forehead on her mother's shoulder.

"Okay I get it that you love him whatever the circumstances were that brought you two together but why does he never come to meet me and what about you, why can't I live with you and still you haven't told me any news about your father, I am worried you know". "Woah, woah mom, hold on, how I am gonna tell you all in one single breath", she laughingly scolded her mother.

"Then tell me about your dad", her mother asked worriedly. "Don't mention his name mom, his was the worst betrayal", she closed her eyes painfully. "Betrayal, what do you mean by that Asthu", her mother asked sharply. Astha lifted her head from her mother's shoulder and taking a deep breath to gather her courage, clasped her mother's hands together. "I don't know how to break this to you, but mom dad is a gangster, an underworld don", she bit her lips nervously. "No, I don't believe you, I don't get it, you must be lying", Kalindi whispered in a shocked voice.

"No I am not lying mom, did you too ignored the scattered signs that were always there around dad, waiting to be guessed, well I did and you did too", she tried to break the news to a horror struck Kalindi in the gentlest tone as possible.

"No, I don't believe you, who told you that crap", she shook her head vehemently. "Did the man, who kidnapped you told you that?", she asked her daughter as something dawned on her with horrified consequences. "Mom you must have gotten the notes listing, Sanjana and Anjali didn't you?", Astha ignored her mother's question totally, putting emphasize over Sanjana and Anjali...

"How did you know, did the kidnapper said something to you, did he tell you about why he had kidnapped you?", Kalindi whispered as something akin to horror began crawling across her mind, putting two and two together to form a picture that Astha must be right in her argument. "Anjali was the kidnapper's mother and Sanjana was his sister whom dad, no whom Avdhoot Kirloskar brutally raped and then killed before his eyes", she swallowed bitter bile, explaining to her mother in one sentence.

The story still had the same effect of nauseating her to the core as it had affected her the first time, when she had listened it from Shlok's mouth. "No, no, no", Kalindi's trembling lips only formed no, as she clapped her hands to her ears, trying to shut down the booming echo of the truth that could be heard in her daughter's voice.

"Mom Avdhoot Kirloskar himself verified it with his own mouth, he is in the kidnapper's prison, I was only a bait", her sorrowful voice had the effect of making Kalindi shook her head harder. "You could be lying, maybe the kidnapper had brainwashed you, please Asthu come to your senses", she suddenly grabbed her daughter's hand, still trying to negate the truth, but this time her voice lacked conviction.

"Shlok is trying to take revenge on me", Avdhoot's frightened voice echoed in Kalindi's head, coming out of the yellow pages of her last memories that she had of him, before she had fallen off from the stairs and had went in coma. "He had come back", another voice came to haunt her and she left her hold on her daughter's hand as if her palm had been burnt accidently. "No, how could he, I don't believe it, but there were always signs, always something fishy about him that I ignored, but no, I dunno", she was getting hysterical pulling at the strands of her hair in frustration and despair...

"Mom, don't", Astha put a sympathetic hand on her mother's knee, but she knocked it off with a vehement no. Abhi took that moment to open his eyes and let out a high pitched wail, as if protesting against his granny's actions. Astha leapt forward and took him in her arms, cooing and swaying him to calm him down. Kalindi had composed herself by the time Abhi had went back to sleep in his mother's arms.

"The kidnapper, is he Shlok?", her mother asked in a raspy voice. Tears were still sticking to her lashes, one or two of them rebelling to fall down on her pinched and pale cheeks. "Yes, but how did you guess?",Astha turned to her mother in surprise. "Avdhoot took his name, saying that he is the one taking revenge on him, I could have never guessed otherwise", she bowed her head in resignation.

"Yes we could have never guessed", Astha pursed her lips in resignation too. "So how did you escape his clutches, did he harm you somehow I never asked you that", her mother clutched her daughter's shoulder in sudden alarm. Astha placed a sleeping Abhi on the bed nearby her than squeezing her eyes once faced her mother.

"Mom I have to tell you another thing too", she started in a hesitant voice. "What, don't scare me Asthu, your tone sounds ominous", her mother suddenly clutched her daughter's hand in a tight grip. "Nothing to be scared mom, I am alright now, look I am blooming can't you see", she squeezed her mother's hand in a reassuring gesture.

"Yes I can see that but what happened to your kidnapper, did your baby's father helped you in escaping him", she asked, her face showing confusion at seeing her daughter's calm and poised manner. "You can say that in a way, but yes and no mom", she smiled brokenly. "What do you mean that Asthu, don't confuse me more", Kalindi asked worriedly.

"Mom, I won't lie anymore, but promise me that you won't be shocked more", she sighed. "Just tell me, if Avdhoot's betrayal hadn't succeeded in giving me a heart attack than nothing could be more shocking than that", she hissed. "Okay, okay I get it mom, I have to tell you, I can't keep on lying I get it", she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"The thing is that Abhi's dad is...

"Shlok Agnihotri", someone spoke from the doorway and with strangled gasp the pair of mother and daughter turned to look at the giant of the man standing there, surveying them coolly with raised eyebrows...

"Shlok", Astha squealed with delight and completely ignoring her mother's gasp of horror jumped to her feet. "You decided to come here too", she rushed towards him to be engulfed by his bear hug. "Yes princess I guess I could never left you alone on your own", tightening his hold on her petite frame, he said gruffly.

"Don't tell me Asthu that he is the one who kidnapped you", Kalindi's disbelieving voice broke them apart. "Mom...", Astha started to protest, but Shlok broke in. "Yes I am afraid so", he refused to bend his gaze, staring straight into her mother's anger-filled eyes.

"Why...Oh...How shameless of you to stand there", Kalindi sputtered, fuming with anger. "Mom, don't say that he is my son's father and the love of my life and he took care of you too when you were in coma", Astha protested vehemently and came to stand infront of him, trying her best to shield him with her petite frame from her mother's furious gaze. "Mom, please try to understand him, please don't be harsh on him, for my sake please", she was close to tears at seeing both of her loved ones confronting each other in that manner...

"Get out of the way princess, it's between me and your mother", Shlok hissed behind her. "No way, you both control your temper, otherwise I am leaving right here with Abhi, and you two can continue the fight as much as you want", she said stubbornly, her patience giving in at seeing them looking at each other with mistrustful eyes.

"Did he force himself on you Asthu, are you with him by your will?", Kalindi asked in a furious voice still not looking away from Shlok's set and rigid face. "I...",furiously he started to open his mouth, but Astha knocked him in the stomach with her elbow, earning a woof and a curse from him. "No, he didn't, I jumped on him", she said clearly without batting an eyelash. "What?", Kalindi and Shlok said in course. Both of their faces showing comical disbelief.

"Yes it's the truth", she tried her level best to hide her bubbling laughter and masked her face in a cool expression. "And are you two married, is it the truth too?", her mother wasn't an idiot who couldn't see the careless way her daughter was talking infront of her captor. No tortured victim could act so coolly, lightly and at home infront of her kidnapper...

So if the victim is found to be behaving in this manner than it means that she must be close to her captor and they must have not the usual fear inducing relationship between them or maybe that fearful relationship had already been overcome by their love and understanding...

Kalindi's keen eyes could take it all in, the blooming warmth on her daughter's face as she was eyeing the young man confidently yet somewhat shyly and the stern and rigid pose of the bear-like man which had a hint of tenderness and worry for the petite girl and yes another thing too, which she could definitely see in his face. The rough hewn face, the broad intelligent forehead and the coal-black piercing eyes which were screaming the words ownership of her daughter at any person who could be in the periphery of the alpha male and that included her own mother too...

Now this had definitely come as a surprise, she smiled inwardly, it seemed her daughter was right she had chosen the best mate for her, or rather the alpha male had chosen her daughter a she-tigress as his mate. A mistake on his part, but a wonderful mistake, she could see it in his eyes, after all she was a mother and she could detect the feelings of the other person that he or she felt for her daughter. Be it good or bad, and the vibes that she could feel were coming from Shlok Agnihotri were of love. Endless, countless love for her daughter.

Suddenly she felt calm, if Avdhoot's betrayal meant that her daughter had gained love and trust which was her due and which her father had cruelly snatched it away from her than she, Kalindi was at peace. Maybe she had been afraid, tormented or tortured by that man, but she looked at peace now with a better future to look forward too with her son and her love , all that had happened to her was in the past now.

She would listen to it from her daughter's mouth, when the time would come for it, but now was not the time, Astha looked too much happy to be disturbed by her hand. But it was her right to ask the question, which she seemed necessary to ask and that was about their marriage. But with the way Astha and Shlok's nervous gaze had darted to each other, she had judged by the look of it they were not married.

"You know, with a child this size you should both be married by now, if you don't want him to be labelled a bas***d in future", she sighed shaking her head with disapproval at their silence. It was the only thing that she could come up with to say in the tense scenario.

"Don't worry mom, he will definitely marry me", she gave a narrowed side glance to Shlok, whose face had gone ashen with shock at Kalindi's eye-opener announcement. But still he didn't speak a word in his defence. Astha could judge by his looks that he wanted to say something to her and was at the end of his tether, so provoking him more could have dangerous side-effects on her later...

"Now mom, let the dead be buried dead, just you two better get along with each other, if you want to provide Abhi with a healthy and loving life, don't forget that Abhi is relying on you both", she tried to calm the simmering atmosphere down between them.

"I will", her mother said grudgingly, while Shlok compressed his lips into a thin line and clenched his jaw so tightly that bones protruded through the skin. "Now if the family show is over then I have to tell you something very urgent princess", he hissed which got through her mother's ears as such was indicated by the disapproving look on her face. Kalindi took a sharp breath at his rude tone, the man definitely needed some lessons on manners if not on love.

"Tell me then", wrinkles of suspicion had formed on Astha's forehead at seeing his worried expression. She could see that he was dying to tell her something but was controlling it in with great effort.

"Not here, outside", he pointed towards the door, throwing a cautious look at her mother. "Now, I am her mother young man, you could say anything which needs to be said infront of me, I won't bite", Kalindi started to say sharply but Astha held a hand to her mother, moving her eyes pleadingly, as if asking her to understand the situation.

Her mother bit back the angry retort that was just forming on her tongue. Shlok looked tense, and on edge, so she better though of closing her mouth and snapped it shut with a click. "Off you go then", she grumbled. "Okay, I am coming", she nodded at a rigid looking Shlok then waving at her mother to take care of Abhi she followed him outside.

"What", Astha shrieked as Shlok threw a bomb at her saying that Avdhoot has escaped by hiding in the trunk of her car. But now as his men had already searched the whole hideout plus the grounds here he was nowhere to be found.

He had already phoned his henchmen here telling them to search the trunk of the car as soon as the car would stop in the garage but to his alarm they had told him, that it was already half hour past Astha's arrival, which meant that Avdhoot had gotten all the time in that measly half hour to get out from the boot of the car and hide somewhere in the hideout.

No man had been found out escaping outside, the security on the gates was very tight, but it was more worrisome for them now, because it seemed that Avdhoot was still inside the gates, hiding somewhere in the hideout and probably hatching some evil plan of his to destroy them. Astha was more worried about Shlok and Abhi then for her because she knew that her father as evil as he was would never harm him, because she was his weakness, but she couldn't say the same for Shlok and her son, Abhi...

And don't forget her mother, with the crazy way he had hatched the plan and then escaped from tight security he was a man on the brink of insanity and on top of that the lowest and most evilest criminal on the face of the planet. He could do anything, harm anyone...

Shlok's ringing cell phone broke the spell. Shaken she looked at him as he stared suspiciously at the numbers blinking on it's screen. "Unknown caller", he mouthed the words to her. They had walked a long distance from the room and were now standing in a safe corner, of the hideout where they couldn't be eavesdropped on. There was only way inside from the grounds and on that doorway Shlok had posted many of his henchmen and more were looking for Avdhoot in the grounds and beyond the boundary out hideout.

Yet there had been no sign of Avdhoot that could be found so Shlok was hundred percent sure that Avdhoot was still wandering outside looking for a way in. Although there was a secret tunnel too located in the grounds that lead inside, but none of his henchmen knew about it other than his two most trusted henchmen. Ramlal and Shyam, so he was confident that Avdhoot would be ignorant of that tunnel and would not be able to find it even if he dig his way through the earth.

The phone was still ringing so Astha signed him to take the call. "Yes", he said in the mouth piece after putting on the speaker. And the voice which came out of the speaker made both of them jump with shock. "It's Shlok Agnihotri isn't it", a very well recognized voice asked in a malicious tone. Horrified Astha looked at a pale looking Shlok, whose blinking eyes had frozen into their sockets.

"A very good day to you Mr. Shlok", the man on the other side was laughing gleefully, almost with victory. They both could sense it, but what was he victorious about they couldn't comprehend it. And then the man's next words revealed it all.

"You thought you could defeat me, well Shlok your weakness is in my fist, beware for I have breached your walls", Avdhoot Kirloskar's venomous voice had the sting of a viper. Blood drained from Astha's face as her mind ripped away the veil hiding the message behind her father's words.

Shlok too could comprehend it as such was indicated by his stony face and still unblinking eyes. "He is inside, I've been betrayed", he whispered in a horror-filled voice. His face looked ghost like, too pale and his hands and feet felt numb, as if leaden with weight. He couldn't move a muscle even if he tried to.

"No", Astha clapped a hand over her convulsing throat. She could feel something ominously calm, something incredibly horrible in the atmosphere. Her sixth sense could judge that a hurricane was coming on the way, a torrential rain of destruction...