Durga Prasad sat in this office. He was with the company secretary Mr Das, Corporate Finance expert Mr Seth and a new lawyer this time, Mr Dedhia, who had been appointed after the misadventures of the previous lawyer Mr Gupta.

"Are you sure this will work, Mr Dedhia? Remember, I don't give second chances to anyone. Make one mistake and you are destroyed. I don't want any misrepresentation of facts here. So I ask again, is this going to work?" Durga Prasad warned

"Yes, Sir. Both Mr Seth and I have looked into this from every angle. With this, the existing structure of Maheshwari shares will completely change. His stake will automatically get diluted. While we will need board approval for the first step, it is so common place and innocuous that it will not raise any concern even in his mind. By the time he can realize anything, we will already have made the stage two changes, which will not need board permission at all." Mr Dedhia assured him

"I hope what you say is true" he looked at them critically before adding "For your own sake"

"When will you have this ready? If it is going to need board approval, I want to know each and every small detail in it." he asked them.

"We will have the initial documentation ready for you to have a look tomorrow itself"

Durga Prasad nodded at them and dismissed them. It would be time to blow the conches soon. He could already feel the anticipation and the exhilaration of the upcoming battle.

Sanskar was standing in the terrace of his office. It had been a month since the blast. He had been discharged from the hospital two weeks back and had been resting at home since then. He had tried to do some work from home, but Swara had been persistent in trying to get him to rest as much as she could. Even today, his first day back in office, she had clearly instructed him that he was to return home early, or she would come over and drag him back home. She had been on tenterhooks for most part of his earlier stay in the hospital, and he wasn't keen to add to her worries, so he had agreed.

His hands were in his pocket, and his sight, as always, on the Maheshwari Industries building. But unlike always, his focus wasn't on the building today, but on the conversation he had had with his wife, last night. He remembered the tentative look that Swara had given him before starting the conversation. He had to coax her a bit before she agreed to go ahead.

"It is about Ragini" she started

"What did she do now?" Sanskar asked with a bit of worry and bit annoyance at that girl

"Nothing" Swara answered, before tentatively adding "She told me about the drugs and who the person was"

"She did?" Sanskar asked surprised, he hadn't expected her to be so generous with them. While he was sure she wasn't evil in the true sense of the word, he also didn't see an angel in her, ready to help her sister "Who was it?"

"She said it was you" Swara added quietly. Sanskar only raised an eyebrow, surprised to hear this. He would have said more, asked if Swara believed her, but he didn't need to. He realized the reason for Swara's tentative behavior. She didn't believe it was him, but was worried about how he would take this information. While once she may have suspected him to be behind this, almost in another lifetime, today she was feeling guilty about even linking his name to it, even just to provide him the information.

He held her hand to reassure her it was okay and pulled her closer to himself. They had been sitting together on their bed. "Did she say why she believed it was me?" he asked

"Do you remember the first time you met her?"

"When Badi Maa introduced us?" Sanskar asked furrowing his brow, trying to remember

"No, when you met her properly and spoke to her in the veranda"

"Wasn't she crying then? I remember giving her my handkerchief"

Swara nodded adding "You said something on the lines of not crying but making the one who brought the tears, pay" while rolling her eyes and shaking her head at his words

"That does sound like me" He had a small smile on his face now, listening to the words and seeing her reaction "But what does that have to do with the drugs?"

"Well she got a package next day with the drugs, instructions on how to use them, what they did and a letter which had similar message in it to what you had said the previous night, signed only as 'your new friend'" she explained

"How did she get the package? Did someone deliver it at your house? Was the letter handwritten?" Sanskar asked expressing some of the questions that were coming to his mind

"No, it wasn't handwritten. It was printed. Do you remember that Maa and Ragini had come here the next day?" she asked, getting his negative response, she continued "No, you are right you wouldn't have. You always stayed away from the wedding chaos that was going around. I am sure if we had gotten married with all the festivities, you would have made us elope. You were sitting so ramrod straight when we first got married. If I wasn't so nervous myself, I would have found it funny."

"Hey! That is not fair. You know we never got married in a conducive environment ever. And for all the aversion to the crazy festivities, let me remind you, we did get married twice with all the proper rituals all the same. And you were the one shivering the second time around"

"Hey! I had a reason to shiver"

"Okay! Okay! I take back my words." He said raising his hands in mock surrender, before asking "Now tell me, how was the package delivered"

"She had left her bag somewhere downstairs that day, I guess. By the time she retrieved it later in the day, someone had already put it in. She was carrying a lot of things, given by Badi Maa, for me, with her back home. She never realized someone had put anything in her bag, until she reached her room and went through it"

"But she is sure it was placed in her bag in the Maheshwari Mansion?" Swara nodded. He was quiet for a long time after that

"Sanskar, what are you thinking?"

"I was wrong earlier Swara" seeing her questioning look he explained "The drugs didn't have anything to do with targeting you or Laksh. They were about me. Someone was listening to our conversation in the veranda. They knew about Ragini's desires and used her to go out of the way to frame me, expecting always for this thing to blow up" he looked into her eyes seriously, seeing her responding to his with worry.

Sanskar's musing were interrupted by Kunal. "Sir, we are almost ready with everything"

"When will everything actually be in place for execution?" he asked, his stance as of yet unchanged

"In the next couple of hours. By tonight in the worst case. But I am confident it will be the former" Kunal assured him. Sanskar nodded. "Sir, there is some other information that I have received. I think you might want to hear this" Kunal added tentatively.

Sanskar turned around and looked at him before asking him to take a seat on one of the wicker chairs. He listened quietly to what Kunal had to say. Not really interrupting him more than once or twice. Then he had been quiet, thinking deeply with his eyes closed even as Kunal looked at him apprehensively. Kunal knew better than to disturb his boss though. He sat there quietly waiting for his boss to comment.

Sanskar opened his eyes after a while. He looked straight at Kunal, they still had a pensive look in them "Kunal, there are a few new things I want you to work on. This is top priority now. Everything else can wait" he told Kunal seriously "I want you to get down to these immediately. Keep me posted. I want to know every small thing"

Sanskar was quiet for a long while. He was staring out of the window, lost in his own thoughts, when he felt Swara hug him from behind. She rested her cheek on his back. "You have been distracted this whole evening. What are you thinking about?" she asked softly.

He pulled her in front of him gently, wrapping his hands behind her back "I am thinking about you" he added quietly, a soft smile playing on his lips

"Liar" Swara said even as she looked into his eyes "Sanskar, what is going on? I am worried for you"

"There is nothing to worry about, I promise" he assured her

"Is something going on in the business? Is it about Babe Papa?" She couldn't get rid of the worry plaguing her

"Business is fine"

"So it is Bade Papa, then"

"It wont be long Swara. Every thing will end soon. And then we can move forward, in peace, leaving all of this behind" he told sincerely, caressing her cheek gently with his thumb.

"I cannot help but worry Sanskar. After the blast.." she trailed off, her eyes watering

"Hey!" he consoled her, wiping her tear gently with his thumb "This time nothing will happen. I don't want to make you worry anymore. I will do everything I can to avoid it"

"Promise me that you will be careful"

"I promise" he assured her, kissing her forehead gently "I will be very careful"

His phone rung just then. They both knew it would be Kunal "Your second wife is calling you" Swara said making a face. She had been teasing him with that, a bit annoyed at the amount of time he spoke with Kunal

Sanskar gave a chuckle "He doesn't stand a chance"

"Oh yeah!" Swara asked, pretending to be annoyed

"Yes" Sanskar said drawing her into him as he leaned in to kiss her "No one else can be anywhere near as sexy as you are" he explained mischievously

"Sanskar!" Swara added blushing, pushing him away "Go answer the call"

Durga Prasad was going through some bare skeleton documents related to his plan, when Annapurna disturbed him "The weather seems to be changing again. I think we are likely to have out of season rain again tonight" she added as she looked out of their window.

"Are you still worried about bad omens?" Durga Prasad asked her

"No" she shook her head "Sanskar returned back home to us after the last one. May be they aren't as bad as I assumed them to be." She added softly

If only his wife would know. Sanskar returning wasn't a happy instance in any way for Durga Prasad. But it would end tomorrow. The first weather change may have brought him back, tonight's one who throw him out of their lives forever. But after everything that Sanskar had put him through, it wouldn't be a simple ouster, no, Sanskar would learn the lesson of declaring war against Durga Prasad. This time there wouldn't be a wounded enemy walking out of this.

Durga Prasad's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. He looked up at his wife

"Who can it be at this hour?" Annapurna asked making her way towards the door

"I will check it" Durga Prasad stated getting up from the sofa, opening the door. He was surprised to find Sanskar standing outside

"We need to talk. Now." Sanskar said before taking a few steps away, waiting for Durga Prasad to follow.

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