Rhea Mehra was striding towards them in mounting fury. Her eyes were filled with rage and denial.

"No! I won't let this happen. Ranbir you cannot marry Prachi. You are mine. Only mine." Rhea screeched

Everyone were stunned to see Rhea. Aliya, Pallavi and Pragya moved towards her.

Prachi too was shocked at the sudden turn of events. She knew the kidnapper said that they would release Rhea after her and Ranbir's marriage but she didn't expect it to happen as soon as they marry.

Ranbir, however, regarded Rhea and the unfolding scene with an unnatural serenity.

"I never was and never will be your, Rhea Mehra." Ranbir's visage was the image of calmness but there was a steely quality in the tone he used to address the spoilt brat.

"Ranbir! How can you say that? I know. I just know. It was this Prachi who kidnapped me so that she could marry Ranbir. And she succeeded. I won't leave you Prachi Arora." Rhea screamed like a deranged woman.

"Rhea! What are you saying? How did you reach here? And it was Prachi who kidnapped you?" Aliya showered her fake concern on Rhea.

"The kidnapper left me outside the hall, buji. We had reached a little earlier but he didn't let me go. Only when he received a text, did he let me go. I know Prachi must have texted him that the marriage is over and he can let go of me now." Rhea accused Prachi.

"Quite possible. After all Prachi wanted to marry Ranbir and we didn't agree, so..." Pallavi began spreading her venom.

"Shut up! Just shut up Pallavi or I will throw you out of my house as well as my life if you try to spread any more toxicity in my son and daughter in law's lives." Vikram roared

"Vikram..." Pallavi was stunned to see this avatar of his usually calm and quiet husband.

However, what Pallavi forgot was that even the meekest person would strike back when cornered or when their store of patience was exhausted completely.

"Not a word more, Pallavi. Or our relationship will break right here, right now. If you don't have anything good to say then don't open your mouth at all." Vikram warned.

"But Vikram, may be Rhea's right and..." Aliya began.

Before anyone else could utter a word, Ranbir stepped forward.

"Rhea is wrong. Prachi wasn't the one behind the kidnapping." Ranbir stated in a calm, matter of fact voice.

"Ofcourse Ranbir, when have you ever gone against her that you will go now? In your eyes, Prachi is the saint who can't do any wrong." Rhea poured out her frustration.

"For once you are right, Rhea. And you are the monster who can stoop down to the lowest level and can go to any extent to get what she wants." Ranbir looked at Rhea with scornful disdain.

"Then who is the person who had kidnapped Rhea?" Aliya wondered aloud.

"I am." Ranbir declared.

A stunned silence fell over the people who had assembled in the hall. Pallavi, Aliya, Pragya, Sahana and others, especially Rhea was looking at him in utter disbelief. Prachi too was stunned at the revelation.

"You did it? But why? I mean, I thought you were furious with me at the time because of...." Prachi trailed off.

"Because of the nonsense lies you had invented. Let me tell you this my beloved wife, you are one of the most terrible and unconvincing liars. And I know you better than I know myself. I was angry with you because you were trying so hard to spoil your image in front of me, breaking us up but not because I believed even for a moment whatever nonsense you told me about yourself. And if we go by logic, even then your theory proves to be a bogus one. You said you left me because for you money is important. You were with me because of money. Seriously? You want me to fall for that? Even after knowing that you are the elder daughter of Abhishek Mehra, a renowned and wealthy businessman? Had you really cared for money, you would have claimed half of chief's entire property as soon as you came to know about your true identity and no one, not even Aliya bua and Rhea, could have refuted your claim. You are a heiress in your own right. Why will you trap guys for money? Why not claim what is yours instead? Didn't even think about this little point, did you? Because money never mattered to you, this won't occur to you. I thought you are smarter than me, wifey, but sometimes you are so adorably naive." Ranbir smiled and pinched Prachi's nose lightly.

"What is going on? Why will Prachi say those things to you and why did you kidnap Rhea? I don't understand anything. And what if those kidnappers have done something to Rhea?" Pragya stared at Ranbir, befuddled.

"No one would have done anything to Rhea, Pragya aunty. I have made sure of that. Aryan, bring the kidnapper inside." Ranbir inclined his head.

Aryan smirked and moved out of the hall. Within minutes he returned with a masked man clad in black jeans and jacket.

"Now you can take your mask off." Ranbir instructed.

As the guy took his mask off, Prachi, Rhea and Sahana gasped in surprise while the others stared in confusion.

"Jay!" Rhea exclaimed.

"Yes, Jay. One of my closest and most trusted friend. He and Aryan took it in turns to keep an eye over you, though mostly it was Jay as Aryan was needed here. So, you see, Pragya aunty, your dearest daughter wasn't in any real danger ever." Ranbir smirked.

"But you still haven't answered, Ranbir, why Prachi lied to you and me too?" Pragya looked at them quizzically.

"I will show you. Jay." Ranbir nodded towards Jay.

Jay fished a pendrive out of his pocket and Aryan brought a laptop. They settled it over a counter top so that everyone can watch it. Jay inserted the pendrive and a video began to play.

The kidnapper was holding a knife against Rhea's throat while she was regarding him with wide fearful eyes.

"Now tell me, why Prachi broke it off with Ranbir? Why she is saying that she was with him for money but now got a more lucrative offer in the form of Parth? Why she agreed to that MMS? Was it really her in the MMS? Blurt out all the truth right away." The kidnapper commanded.

"Who are you? Why do you want to know all this? I don't know anything. Let me go!" Rhea screeched and squirmed, trying to free herself.

The kidnapper pushed the knife into the soft skin of her throat more forcefully, making her cry out in fear.

"Are you going to start talking or do you want me to slit your throat? I am a smooth operator. You won't even know when you died." The kidnapper growled.

"No! Please! I don't want to die. Okay, okay, I will tell you the truth. Prachi said all that to make Ranbir hate her and move on with me because I blackmailed her that if she didn't do it then I will separate mom and dad and if she did that I would get mom and dad marry. And Prachi wasn't there in that MMS. It was fake. I made it along with Parth to spoil Prachi's reputation. There I have said it all. Please let me go now." Rhea concluded.

The video came to an end at that precise moment.

Pragya was still staring blankly at the black screen, disbelief etched on her features.

"Ranbir! You shouldn't have done this. You will pay for it. If you can't be mine I won't let you belong to her too. I...I will call the cops and get you arrested for kidnapping." Rhea threatened.

However, before she could say another word, a slap landed on her cheek, making her stagger back. It took her a while to compose herself.

"I don't believe this! You still don't have an ounce of shame over what you have done and are threatening Ranbir? You are a disgrace in the name of a daughter, sister as well as human being. You bargained with your parents' happiness and spoiled your sister's reputation. You tried to snatch away your sister's love. Not contented with that, now you want to send Ranbir to jail? You won't be able to. Because I am going to send you there first. I am going to ask the cops to arrest your for making fake MMS as well as attempt to murder on me. Yes, I am going to start that case again. And this time I won't listen to anyone, even my mother. You know why? Because this time you have tried to harm my Ranbir. And while I can forgive anything you do to me for my mother's sake, I will never forgive anyone who tries to harm my Ranbir. Goodbye Rhea." Prachi declared

Prachi proceeded to call the cops. Rhea ran to her mother and clutched her hands.

"Mom, please tell Prachi not to do this." Rhea entreated

Pragya jerked her hands away from Rhea's. The next moment, she slapped Rhea, hard.

"Don't you dare call me mom! You are no one to me. From now on I will think my other daughter is dead. I have only one daughter. And she is Prachi. A girl who can barter away her parents' happiness and dishonour her own sister is no daughter of mine. Get lost." Pragya turned her face away in disgust.

Soon, the cops entered and took away a thrashing and screaming Rhea.

After the chaos settled down, Pranbir took blessings from everyone and except Aliya and Pallavi, everyone blessed them genuinely with a long, happy and prosperous life of togetherness.

The End

Thank you so much everyone for being part of this journey. Your love and appreciation has made this journey so beautiful. However, every journey comes to an end and this is the end for this particular one. Once again thank you so much to all my lovely readers.