Note : Recommended to read chapter 71 and 73 before reading this. (Since it's been too long!)

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Chapter 74 : Disappointment 

Aadarsh took a few deep breaths as he gently closed the door of the hall. He looked to his left and then to his right. There was no one there. Abhi and Ruhaani had probably headed downstairs. He let out a deep breath and walked over to the steps and sat himself down.

He felt like an utter failure. The twins were scared, Mukti had been crying and Nirvaan had been coming up with optimistic explanations to explain Pari's absence. Ashvi had gone silent, something she did when she was fearful. Abhi was restless. And Ruhaani... she was devastated.

He momentarily closed his eyes. He was scared, very scared. He had no control over the situation. There was no way he could undo any of his past actions or skew any of the future outcomes in his favour.

Pari was gone.

Pari was kidnapped.

"Go get any one thing from the store, that you like and want, but be back in five minutes. Time starts now."

Pari was gone because of him.

Pari was kidnapped because of him.

A lone tear streamed it's way down his cheek.

"You're a good father, I will give you that." Ruhaani had once said to him.

It was many nights ago. It was pretty late in the night and they were both having a random conversation about kids, something they had begun to do quite often.

He had turned to look at her. The sincerity in her gaze hadn't escaped his notice. Ruhaani rarely complemented him voluntarily. If she said it, she meant it. And to him, that meant the world.

She had then looked at him with a conviction, that had removed all lingering doubts. "I am glad Pari has you. Having a doting father, especially as a girl, is a very ...secure feeling, I don't know how else to describe that. It's like knowing, there will always be one man out there, ready to fight the world for you, ready to be there for you, ready to be your shield. To be there, when you need a shoulder to cry on, to make you smile again.

You know today, when Pari got her finger hurt, she ran straight to you. She didn't look for me."

Aadarsh, a bit confused had replied, "She would have run to you if she had seen you. It's a natural instinct."

Ruhaani had smiled—that heart-touching smile that came right from the depth of the soul. The one that could melt his entire heart in a blink. "Exactly. You've become her instinct. That's why you're a good father."

"Bhai,"

The voice made Aadarsh open his eyes and come back from that memory— a memory that was once a soothing warmth, but now hotter than burning coal.

He had failed Pari. He had failed Ruhaani. He had failed himself.

Abhi had ran up the stairs with Ruhaani following him.

"I printed some photographs of Pari." Abhi spoke. "Please let's go to the police Bhai. I am sure they'll find her."

"Abhi," Aadarsh uttered momentarily closing his eyes, considering the suggestion that had already crossed his mind about ten times since the time Pari was gone.

He didn't trust Devashish's team one bit, but he trusted Devashish. He had been with that man long enough to know that he may not look serious on the outside but he was always laser-focused on his goal. And right now, Devashish's goal was to get his daughter back.

However, in the current peril, he did have a few flickering second thoughts. Should he consider reaching out to the police? What if involving them could expedite finding Pari? Was it a risk worth taking?

No. The man who had taken her was undoubtedly deranged, reminiscent of his criminal brother. He had received unsettling threats from him before. There was a real possibility that involving the police might put Pari in harm's way. He couldn't afford to take that risk.

Moreover, if any past incidents resurfaced, there could be a potential legal case against him. Such an outcome would tarnish his reputation and jeopardize their financial stability.

No, he couldn't afford to take that chance. He had a family relying on him, he couldn't harm their financial stability.

He had to find Pari on his own and fast.

"Bhai, what's happening? You're hiding something from us, aren't you?" Abhi spoke, shaking his brother by the arm.

Aadarsh abruptly pulled from his distressing thoughts. He stood up standing before Abhi, unable to find his words to explain the situation.

"What's happening?" Ruhaani softly asked, "please tell us Aadarsh."

He momentarily met her eyes— filled with restlessness and worry. There was a faint flicker of hope in those eyes, to get an answer from him, there was trust.

"I had been receiving some anonymous threats from past few weeks. DV had a team looking into it. It turns out that same person took Pari away."

Pause.

Silence.

A horrified silence followed as the two listeners stared at him, bewildered.

"What do you mean took her away?" Ruhaani asked, a fire beginning to crackle in her eyes. Her restless worry transforming into a fearful anger.

"Threats? What threats, Bhai?"

"Random ...threats ..." Aadarsh lowered his gaze.

"What does this person want? Money?" Abhi continued, his hand reaching out to Aadarsh's arm to draw his brother's attention and gaze.

"I ...I don't..." Aadarsh fumbled with words.

"Give him whatever money he wants. Just get back Pari back!"

"You don't think I already would have, if the was the case!" Aadarsh snapped. He would sell every last part of himself if that meant he could get Pari back.

"What does he want Aadarsh?" this time it was Ruhaani's voice. Her eyes were fixed on him, there was an undertone of distrust in them. In just a few seconds, the trust in them had turned into ashes of distrust.

"He thinks I was involved in his brother's death about four years back. I don't know what he wants. I don't know what his goal is. But I.... I ...DV and his team are doing everything to find that person's location."

Ruhaani stared at her husband. A shiver running down her spine.

"Were you involved?" Abhi asked in a dreadfully even tone, not hesitating a bit. His gaze blazed into his brother's like a missile hitting it's target.

"What?" Aadarsh uttered shocked.

"Were you involved in that person's brother's death? Is that why you're not going to the police? That's the only explanation that makes sense."

Aadarsh swallowed the lump in his throat. It was a sickening feeling to meet Abhi's disappointed look. He hated that somewhere down the line, his actions had brought him to these crossroads.

Maybe if he was never overtly ambitious to make money he would have never got involved in the money laundering for the MLA. He would have never crossed paths with Harry and he wouldn't in some indirect way be relayed to his death.

"It was an ugly business deal. His brother Harry was..."

Abhi let out an audible sigh, pressing his palm on his forehead. "There's no time for justifying your actions, Bhai." Abhi spoke in a voice greater than his average decibels. "Pari is with him. And if he wants revenge ..." Abhi paused, "what are we going to do?"

Aadarsh could see the colour drain out of his brother's face.

No. Nothing was happen to Pari. He told himself again and again in his head. "I will find her and get her back."

"You better do!" Abhi shouted. "Otherwise this will be on you!"

Ruhaani's gaze lowered to the floor as she processed Abhi's words.

"Abhi, I..." Aadarsh began to speak. He didn't know this would come back to bite him.

"No. I don't need any justifications. I don't want to know what you did and why... but if you're not going to the law enforcement, I get a pretty good picture of what it could be and how guilty you are. Sometimes I don't even recognize you, Bhai. Why didn't you tell us... about the threats? We could have taken precautions. We could have had police protection. We could have took care." Abhi went on, clearly restless.

"It's not so straightforward Abhi." Aadarsh said in a firm loud voice. "That man seems to be a lose nut. If I go to the police now, it might annoy the hell out of him and he might do something really stupid. I can't risk it. He has Pari with him. I can't do anything that puts her in risk. Besides, there are a hundred ways going to Police can totally blow this up. Go read the stats of kidnapping cases where police is involved and you'll know how most cases end."

Abhi sighed, walking past him distressed.

Aadarsh slowly moved his gaze to Ruhaani. She was staring at him quietly, as though trying to piece together a puzzle in her head. He hated the disappointment that was clouding her eyes.

"Ruh.." His hand slowly moved towards her.

"How are we finding her?" her question was sharp and precise. Her hand slightly moving away from his reach.

Aadarsh blinked processing her words and trying to ignore that subtle withdrawal of her hand. "DV's team is tracing his car and trying to find him."

"Why did you take our phones?" Was her next question.

"In case ...the kidnapper tries to reach us. They're putting some code on our phone that will try to track the call."

A pause followed. Aadarsh's hand, yet again slowly moved towards her. "I am sorry. This...I...should've..." His hand held hers.

She looked into his eyes. He couldn't read her like usual. He was drawing a blank. It made his heart dreadfully pace its beats.

"Find her, Aadarsh. Please." She said in a weak trembling voice as she suppressed her tears.

He stepped forward, "I...promi..."

The click sound of a door opening and then a loud "Boss," made Aadarsh turn. He sprinted into the room with Abhi and Ruhaani dashing behind him.

"We found him. He changed his vehicle. He's now in a truck moving towards the UP-Delhi border." Devashish spoke, placing his finger on the monitor that displayed a city map.

"There are a lot of abandoned factories in that zone. That's the kind of place a kidnapper would want to hide." Chubby spoke, as he brought up a map filled with red pins on the other screen.

"If this was the 90s, sure! It's not the nineties. This guy is going to take a highway motel." The ex-cop suggested. "That way he draws less attention and has easy access to food and the highway."

"What about highway patrols? We could inform the police and they could check every vehicle." Abhi suggested.

All the members of Devashish's team turned to look at him like he was insane.

"We don't want him to hide. If he gets the slightest hint that the police is coming for him, he will hide. If he hides, we can't find him." Aadarsh explained.

"My bet is on Chubby's suggestion," DV spoke up, after looking thoughtful. "This bastard is a coward, he didn't take credit for any of those threats, he has been living a low life, he won't have the balls to go to any hotel or motel. He'll hide in some old filthy place."

"What are we waiting for?" Aadarsh asked, turning to Devashish.

"I have two men trying to find that truck. In case he calls, we need to be here." Devashish spoke.

"It's a fucking mobile phone. You can take it along with you." Abhi spoke from behind Aadarsh.

"Abhi's right!" Aadarsh said immediately.

"Just what I needed to hear." Devashish mumbled. "We don't know his demands. There's no way he is not asking for money... in hard cash. A lot of hard cash."

"Or bitcoins," the ex-cop suggested.

"He wants money?" Abhi asked confused.

"Well, wouldn't you? Why not make a good profit while having fun?" Devashish shrugged.

"Is this fun to you?" Abhi snarled.

Devashish rolled his eyes, "to him it obviously is! Think like the criminal to solve a crime. Now sshh, let adults to do the talking." He focused his gaze back on to Aadarsh.

"We should split up," DV suggested solemnly. "I will hit the road while you stay here."

"No. If there's a chance Pari is there. I need to be there." Aadarsh argued. "I am sure, that bastard is going to want that too."

"I am coming too," Abhi spoke up.

"and he goes again! This is not a freaking Bollywood movie," Devashish deadpanned, "No Jai-Veeru shit."

"DV is right," Aadarsh spoke turning to Abhi. "You stay here. You know your way around technology, you can help these men. And if at all we need money, you can take care of the bank authorizations."

"But..."

"Please Abhi, I need you to be here." Aadarsh spoke up not allowing him to protest. He felt a pressing need to shield his family from the escalating danger of the situation. The only way Abhi would stay away was if he thought he was helping by staying here.

Abhi slowly nodded.

"Wow," Devashish muttered under his breath, walking across the room to pick his shoulder bag. "Let's get going Boss, we have a good distance to cover."

"I will meet you downstairs in a minute." Aadarsh met Devashish's eyes with a meaningful look. Devashish nodded, "Good thing, I came prepared."

Ruhaani looked at Abhi, then the other men in the room. She turned on her heels following her husband's trail.

"Aadarsh, I want to..." Ruhaani spoke entering their bedroom, her words faltering at the sight she saw. Aadarsh had a gun-case on his desk. He looked up at her, shutting the box instinctively.

Ruhaani's eyes met his. She had seen guns before. It wasn't the weapon that shocked her. It was the fact that Aadarsh had one. He was not a soldier, or a policeman. It didn't make sense.

"It's a registered weapon for self-defence." He spoke answering her unasked question.

Ruhaani slowly walked over to the desk. She looked at his face and then lowered her gaze to the sleek black box. The unfolding situation was becoming increasingly difficult to comprehend. All the happiness had blindsided her. She was rudely reminded that her life was never supposed to never be a bed of roses. At least not for her.

"I want to come along."

"No."

"I am not asking." Ruhaani said firmly this time.

"I know you're worried. But I need you to trust..."

"I don't anymore." Ruhaani snapped, her fierce gaze meeting his.

Aadarsh stared at her quietly. The fire in her eyes promised hatred. A hatred he never wanted to see in them.

He took a deep breath in. "I am going to bring Pari back home. And you're staying here, and waiting for us."

"No. I am coming with you." She argued.

"It's not safe!" Aadarsh's voice thundered. "I don't know what to expect. Pari is already with that man. I am not taking you or anyone else anywhere close to him." He moved to walk past her, when she held his hand.

"You keep saying we're a good team. So please, let me come Aadarsh. I can't stay at peace here, knowing Pari and...you are out there in the unknown. Please."

"Fine. You stay in the car. Go change into something more comfortable and simple." He spoke, his gaze quickly drifting to the bold red dress he had grown to love on her.

Ruhaani nodded at once moving towards the wardrobe. She momentarily stopped realizing that this could be his way to disappear without her. She looked over her shoulder at him. "Don't leave without me. I don't want to stop trusting you entirely."

Aadarsh sighed looking down at the floor. A part of him wanted to stick to his plan and go away before she came back. It was easier to convince Abhi to be home but not his wife. He was torn between choosing to protect her and choosing to keep her trust—whatever little she still had on him.

In the end, he stayed until she came back.

***

Devashish's eyes darted back to the road as he drove the SUV. The silence in the car was uncomfortable.

He glanced at Aadarsh sitting in the passenger seat next to him and then looked at Ruhaani seated in the back seat. He was clearly caught in the middle of a storm.

"He has stopped at some Dhaba." Aadarsh spoke breaking the silence his gaze glued to the iPad in his hand.

"Good, lets hope that he's very hungry and likes a good meal. Must be tried if he's on the run since the morning." Devashish spoke up, glad that the icky silence had been shattered.

Both Ruhaani and Aadarsh turned to him, with hard looks.

"Gives us more time to catch up with him, I mean," Devashish explained. Aadarsh was totally rubbing off on Ruhaani, he concluded seeing that fierceness in her eyes.

"Just shut up and drive." Aadarsh muttered.

"Stop being so worried. He's a wuss. He is not going to do anything to Pari. He just wants you." Devashish spoke.

His statement made Ruhaani cast a worried glance at her husband. Aadarsh let out an exasperated sigh. Devashish couldn't go without speaking crap out of his mouth. Another reason why he shouldn't have let Ruhaani tag along.

"What part of shut up do you not understand?" Aadarsh chastised, turning to glance at Ruhaani. His eyes reassuring her silently. She turned her face to the side, looking away. He saw the conflict flicker on her face, the conflict between being upset with him and being worried about him.

"If I am going to shut up, how are we going to discuss what we are going to do...as in our action plan?"

Aadarsh squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, gathering all the patience he could. He couldn't even throw Devashish out of the damned car and talk to Ruhaani in privacy. He wanted to reassure her. He wanted to apologize for the whole thing. He wanted to tell her he would do whatever it took to bring their little princess back.

The thought made his heart feel like a tight fist. He couldn't imagine what state she would be in. She would be so damn scared.

"Should have asked her to stay home, if you didn't want her here. But well, who ever could dictate terms on the Missus?" Devashish mumbled.

"Shut up, seriously!" Aadarsh murmured. "It's not like I invited her." He said in a still lower voice.

"I am right here and I can hear you both." Ruhaani spoke irritated. The worry was killing her like slow poison and she was beginning to question her trust in the two men. Why hadn't Aadarsh told her about the threats? Since when had he been hiding them? How much did Aadarsh actually hide from her?

"Good. Now that we have cleared that, here's what we are going to do." Devashish spoke up, despite the glare he got from his boss.

***

Ruhaani felt restless. Luckily for them, the man hadn't left the Dhaba for a long time. So they could cover the long distance and get in the vicinity. They were now moving on the highway about one kilometre behind the truck that they were tracking via the GPS.

"He branched out to a left road." Aadarsh spoke.

Devashish sped up the car, speaking into the Bluetooth device on his ear. "Chubby, map out all possible places that road leads to within a five kilometre radius. Abandoned houses, factories, anything that can be a good hideout for a kidnapper."

He then glanced at Aadarsh. "You should stay in the car too." It had been decided that they would park the car a little distance away and Ruhaani would wait in the car. While Aadarsh and Devashish would try to rescue Pari and bring her back without engaging in any fight with any goons. At least that was what they spoke aloud. But both the men knew that this was going to be ugly, there was no way they won't be intercepted by anyone. Bappi Gautam would have at the very least hired two to three goons.

"We made a plan we stick to it." Aadarsh spoke, giving him a no-more-debate look. Devashish nodded defeated.

There was no way he was going to trust anyone else to bring back Pari safe.

Suddenly, a phone rang, abruptly interrupting their conversation. It was Aadarsh's.

"It reads Pinky Sethi." He spoke aloud.

"It can be them, through some false identity or stolen number." Devashish spoke, bringing the car to a halt on the side of the road. "Chubby, are you tracing the call?" Devashish spoke into the communication device, gesturing Aadarsh to hold on before picking the call. Few seconds later, he gestured Aadarsh to pick the call and put it on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Missing your daughter already?"

Aadarsh's jaw ticked and his grip on his phone tightened.

"Does she really matter to you though? I just came to know she is not your biological kid. Did I make a mistake taking her? Should have gone for the little sister, no?" Came the musing voice of Bappi Gautam.

Before Aadarsh could say anything, Devashish leaned forward, snatched the phone and disconnected the call.

"What the hell?" Aadarsh yelled, looking evidently furious.

"He's having second thoughts, we should take advantage. You can show no interest, thank him for taking Pari away telling him she was a burden anyway. Then.."

"Are you fucking out of your mind?" Aadarsh hollered, his voice reverberating in anger. He snatched the phone back.

"Aadarsh think about it practically. We can..."

"Shut the fuck up!" Aadarsh yelled before getting off the car. Slamming the door behind him.

"Emotions make people such fools!" Devashish muttered before opening the door of the driver's seat. He turned to look at Ruhaani who was trying to process the situation. "Stay in, I will convince him."

Ruhaani's gaze followed him. Devashish stepped out and walked around the car to Aadarsh's side. She couldn't hear them but she could make out that they were arguing. Aadarsh looked furious.

She decided to step out sensing that the argument was about to blow up. The last thing they should be doing is fighting amongst themselves.

"She's my daughter. Period. I am not going to say anything to dilute that fact."

"That asshole is trying to gauge how much she matters to you. If you show she means so much to you, he gets to know exactly how much power he has in his hands. That's worse Aadarsh. Because he's going to torture you more knowing you deeply care. Just go with the flow and show some disinterest. Make him think that the kid never really mattered to you."

"No." Aadarsh spoke shaking his head.

"Ruhaani," Devashish spoke noting her presence behind Aadarsh. "Please knock some sense into him."

Ruhaani mutely stared at her husband. He wouldn't say it. She knew that much. She knew how much Pari meant to him. She knew the depth of his love for Pari and realized that uttering those words would be agonizing for him.

His ringing phone captured all their interests again.

"For God's sake!" Devashish muttered.

Aadarsh raised one finger in the air, gesturing him to stop talking. He got back into the car to take the call.

Devashish and Ruhaani followed the suit.

"What do you want?" Aadarsh spoke in a dreadfully calm voice to the caller.

"Revenge. You killed my brother, forgot so soon?"

"You're mistaken. But I know the person who is responsible."

"Oh, come on. I am not stupid to fall for that. You'll blame it on the puppy that you have for an assistant and you think I will believe that?"

"What the-" The words had barely slipped out of Devashish's mouth when Aadarsh glared at him, holding up a finger silently threatening him to keep his mouth shut.

"Well, you at least deserve to know what exactly happened and who was the actual person behind wanting your brother dead. Trust me, you'll be surprised."

"I am texting you the coordinates of a location, I want you here. Only you. You make one mistake and your kid has to face the brunt."

"I will be there."

The call ended.

"Wow!" Devashish uttered, looking at Aadarsh with admiration. "You're going to deflect the blame on Randhwa! This is exactly why I love that wicked mind of yours."

"Who is that?" Ruhaani asked from the back seat.

"The MLA who is the cause of all this."

"No one." Aadarsh replied at the same time as Devashish.

The two men stared at each other, one glaring the other puzzled and then slowly turned to look at Ruhaani who looked irritated at the conflicting answers.

She sat back in her seat, tossing Aadarsh a look of disappointment.

"It's a long story." He reasoned and then turned to Devashish. "I am not a fool to try to escape a barking dog by inviting a tiger. I just said that to buy time."

"Lie." Devashish called out. "I have known you for over four years. The way you said that, you clearly had that MLA in mind, which makes perfect sense. He was the reason we even got involved with Harry."

The phone beeped with a message. Aadarsh quickly opened the message and then plugged the coordinates into map he had open on the iPad . "This location is about a kilometre away, from his current location that we have."

"It's an abandoned tobacco factory. That's the back gate, I am assuming. He's probably inside one of the buildings." Devashish spoke thoughtfully.

"Let's go," Aadarsh spoke.

"No. We'll take time. He doesn't know we have him tracked down."

That made sense. Aadarsh glanced at his watch. "We'll have to wait for an hour then. The drive from home to here will easily take an hour."

"Yes, we have a lot of time to kill, till we go kill this bastard." Devashish muttered, tossing his head back against the seat. He felt the gazes of the other two occupants of the car on him.

"Figure of speech, people." He mumbled, glancing at Aadarsh who had his hard stare fixated at him. "What? You can't just walk in now. He'll know we were onto him. We'll wait till KK and Luci get here." Devashish referred to the two people of his team who were previously at the house.

"I am not taking any risks. I am going in alone." Aadarsh spoke up.

"Yes, you're going alone. And we're also going alone. Chubby has the layout of the factory. You need to get there, keep the guy busy while we look for Pari and rescue her. We'll have the spy cam and mic on you. We just need to figure out how we can let you know if we find Pari and secure her. Then you can get out of there too."

Aadarsh ran a hand through his hair. It would surely be foolishness to go in alone. However, he wasn't sure about the plan. He wasn't sure if it was worth to take the risk. But he was sure, that he couldn't do it alone.

Ruhaani looked out of the window, as the last rays of the setting sun filtered into the car. It was late afternoon already. Pari had been gone for over six hours now. She reached for Pari's white backpack, which she had packed with a few of her clothes and some of her favourite chocolates and chips. She placed the bag on her lap and hugged it.

She despised the emotions swirling within her. Helplessness gnawed at her soul, and disbelief clouded her mind as she struggled to come to terms with their dire circumstances. Just hours ago, the morning had been filled with blissful happiness. Now, only despair remained, casting a shadow over everything. A shadow that was transforming into the darkest night.

"She'll be okay," she heard Aadarsh's soft voice. She didn't bother to look at him. This was all his fault. She couldn't even recognize him anymore.

"I am sorry, Ruhaani." He spoke with a heavy heart, his words tinged with remorse. Silent tears that had welled up in her eyes, trickled down her cheeks. She didn't want to lose people she loved, not again.

• — • — •

Eid Mubarak! 🌙 

Looking forward to read your thoughts. I know it's been a long break(no wonder the chapter title :p ). Hope you all are still as invested as you were before I (and Pari) disappeared.

Next : Not saying, coz I am beginning to believe I jinx it. 

Don't forget to vote ☆ on the chapters.

—Anami!♡