Dushyant and purvi, reached down with their phone's flashlights on.

"yeh main switch kahan hai..." said dushyant as he looked around, and so did purvi, when she noticed something.

"dushyant..." called purvi, as dushyant turned to her.

"kya hua?" asked dushyant as purvi pointed to the guard, lying unconscious on the floor, with blood behind his head.

Purvi went to check his pulse, and dushyant flashed the light around, to see if someone was there.

"pulse chal rahi hai..." informed purvi, as dushyant had his phone's flashlight fixed on the ground, as he seemed to be following something.

"footprints hain...lift toh chal rahi nahi, bijli nahi hai, seedhiyon se hi kahin gaya hoga..." pointed dushyant.

"ek aadmi tha toh, kaali si SUV mein, shaam ko andar ghusna chahta tha, uski saasuma yahan rehti thi...phone nahi utha rahe the woh.." recounted purvi.

"black SUV?" confirmed dushyant as purvi nodded in agreement.

"ishita ka papa ki gaadi hai woh! Chodne gaya tha usse, parking mein thi, tabhi bataya tha usne...shit!" exclaimed dushyant.

"aur ishita ki naani..." remarked purvi.

"uski saasuma!" they both exclaimed in an union, as they ran to the stairs.

                                                          ***

Riaan managed to get ishita to her room, despite of the continous attempts of resistance. He threw her onto her bed, as finally her mouth was uncovered from his hands.

"what the hell are you doing!" exclaimed ishita, as she tried to catch her breath.

"toh kya soch rahi thi tum? Ki bas yahan bhaage ke aa jaogi, aur mujhe pata hi nahi chalega! Kamse kam, kahani toh dhang ki banati..." he retorted, standing right in front of her, as she managed to sit up on the bed.

Riaan sighed in frustration, as he placed both his hands on his hips.

                                                          ***

"yeh kahan reh gaya dushyant...." remarked satish.

"phone busy aa raha hai..." informed meera.

"kisse baat kar raha hai yeh!" exclaimed satish.

"yeh ladka bhi na..." worried satish.

"chinta mat karo, kahan jaayega, aata hi hoga..." assured meera.

"main dekh ke aata hoon..." announced kavin as he got up.

"tum mat gayab ho jana...dono ko kahan dhoondege iss andhere mein..." remarked meera, as kavin headed out.

                                                              ***

riaan was baffled, but he tried to keep himself calm.  

"dekho, main maanta hoon joh maine kiya, woh galat tha, lekin iss sab se humare rishte ka kya lena dena?" he attempted to convince her, but it was in vain, as she just raised his brow at her.

"mom is dead because of you....we both, had a horrible relationship, because of you! i can't live with you, you disgust me!" argued ishita, as riaan was starting to get enraged.

"aur, kaise rahogi tum, mere bina? Meri kamaai pe jeete the tum aur tumhari maa!" he yelled.

"meri maa kamaati thi, tum, uski saari thankua udaa dete the!" yelled ishita back, as he scoffed.

"bahaut smart samajhne lagi ho khudh ko..." he remarked, coming very close to her face.

"i'm smart enough to have a scholarship that pays for my college, and my mother was kind enough to leave some money for me to use, which you never had an idea about..maybe we both were smarter than you!" retorted ishita, as he was furious now.

He grabbed her mouth by her jaw.

                                                          ***

dushyant and purvi reached the fourth floor. 

"ambulance aa rahi hai..." said dushyant as he turned the flashlight of his phone again. 

kavin notices them both, climbing to the fifth floor. 

"arre, dushyant! purvi! ruko!" called kavin, but they didn't notice, so he followed them. 

                                                    *** 

ishita groaned in pain, as his grip tightened. 

"unlike you, your mom knew her fu***ing place!" he yelled, as he threw her on the bed.

"and now, you will know it too..." he remarked,as he started to remove his belt and unzip his pants. 

                                                                  ***

dushyant and purvi reached the seventh floor, to an appartment with it's door wide open. 

they rushed inside, only to find ishita's grandmother on the floor. 

"shit!" exclaimed purvi, upon seeing her body. 

dushyant bent to check for her pulse. 

"khoon nahi baha zyada..." he noted. 

"main paani laati hoon.." said purvi, as she walked to the dinning table, and started to pour in water. 

suddenly, a loud bang was heard, from ishita's room. 

dushyant and purvi exchanged perplexed glances. 

"chodo mujhe!" yelled ishita. 

dushyant was about to get up, when he noticed that ishita's grandmother was gaining consciousness, so he signalled purvi to go inside. she nodded in agreement, as she picked up the steel jug, she was pouring water from, about to go in, when dushyant signalled her to be careful, which she acknowledged. 

                                                         ***

(trigger warning: depiction of sexual assault in the scene below.)

purvi entered the room, to a riaan, on top of ishita, with his pants around his ankles. 

"leave me!" screamed ishita, as she tried to get him off of her. 

meanwhile, purvi froze at the position she stood in. 

ishita stopped resisting, when she noticed her, probably as shocked as purvi. 

seeing ishita, helpless, in a situation where her mom was, that too, because of the same man.....this was her chance, to unleash all anger on the bastard who got away last time. today, she will save someone, and there will be no one protecting him. 

she marched to him, and with intense fury, thrashed that jug on the back of his head. 

he stopped penetrating on ishita, and grabbed his head, that was throbbing with pain now, before he knocked out, and landed onto ishita. 

purvi, reckoning with what she had done now, was on the verge of a panick attack, as ishita, just pushed his body away from hers, and broke down into tears. 

                                                               ***

kavin came inside to a dushyant, resting ishita's grandmother on the couch in the living room. 

"dushyant, yeh..." pointed kavin. 

"time nahi hai,chalo mere saath..." commanded dushyant, as he pulled kavin to ishita's room. 

they both entered to an unconscious riaan lying on the bed, as purvi consoled an ishita, seated on the edge of the bed. 

they knew what had happened, but they didn't know, what to do about it. 

                                                             ***

author's note: so, this chapter depicts sexual assault, i tried to keep it barely graphic and alluded to it, to avoid triggering someone. but what i wanted to say through this, is that, something as disgusting as sexual assault, not happens because of lust, but a man's ego, that when is hurt, uses rape as a way to show the woman her place. so, a man does not do it as a mistake, or as an impulse, it is an action he's very aware of, and wouldn't shy away from raping his own daughter or wife, if he thinks he has to. moreover, ishita's grandmother, like many people of society in general, even us, can resort to victim blaming if the culprit is someone they are close to. recognizing these biases is first step to solving this problem, that not only can harm the victim, but anyone, even the family of the culprit.