Hello Guys! ❤️
Hope you all are doing well!

Okay, before you get mad at me for coming back late, let me tell you, this chapter is a little lengthy - to compensate 🙈

Anyway, before you actually go ahead and read this, please ensure that you read the last few scenes of the previous chapter. Basically because, this chapter has a little more insight to those same scenes, ideally starts there and would continue from there on. So yeah, you might find some dialogues repeated here! Hope I did not confuse you!!

I tried to make this chapter as short as possible(of course it is still lengthy), basically because I wanted to shorten this track! Although this was not how I had initially planned it, but still....

Happy Reading! Oh and yes, a belated Ganesh Chaturthi to all those who celebrate(d) it ♥️

Btw, dedicating this to anrawsnarayan for guessing something here! 😉 You might know as you read on!

***************************************

Shivaay's mind was still stuck on the file he had seen in the morning.

Minutes after Annika had left, he had opened it only to realize that it was the one which contained her documents. Annika always had a weird habit of placing important lists of her upcoming events inside that file, main reason being she would not replace or lose it.

He chuckled thinking of what list she might have kept there this time, when something rightly caught his attention. The same file had Annika's joining letter which was signed by Pratik.

"Pratik Jha?! That is PJ! Or likely JP!! Is it him by any chance?! But, why is Pratik even going to try something as stupid as this. In fact, he belongs to a completely different industry. But then, what if it is him by any chance?! Arrgghh.. Don't be silly, Shivaay" he thought to himself, trying to brush off the conflicting ideas he was getting.

All through the time he was getting ready for office, the same thing kept getting to his mind, however harder he tried to push it away.

***************************************

It was close to five minutes since Pratik had asked Annika to provide more details about Tia. Initially, he presumed that she was formulating everything in her mind,but it was only later that he observed how reluctantly she was fidgeting with her fingers.

"Annika.. just relax. For sometime, forget that I am your boss. Remember I am a good friend both to you and Shivaay" he persuaded her.

"Huh..I.. it is just that I am not sure if my observations would make any sense" she spoke with uncertainty.

"We could figure that out if you tell me what they are" he reiterated and she finally made up her mind, narrating him all that she saw which made her suspicious about Tia.

"But, Annika.. all this is fine. What I don't get is why she is still behind Shivaay, I mean just in case she is the one?!" Pratik was puzzled.

"I have no idea, Pratik. Could be because she is shocked at or jealous of Shivaay's growth" she shrugged. "All I noticed is that her tone gets very sarcastic whenever she speaks to me or him!"

"Fair enough!" He agreed.

"I just hope she is not up to something big" Annika was worried.

Pratik began contemplating on ways to figure out their next plan of action as they were on the verge of reaching Devika's residence.

"Her car is here" Annika exclaimed pointing at Tia's car that was parked at the lot.

"Perfect!!" He gave a satisfactory smile as they got down and walked towards the entrance only to observe a group of people waiting there already.

****************************************

As Shivaay finished his breakfast, his thoughts were back to the file yet again. A part of him kept indicating that it was just a misconception, but another part could not just brush it off like nothing happened at all.

"And, why was Pratik here all of a sudden, today? It was ideally supposed to be Smriti, right? Which boss accompanies his employees like this? Of course, Annika has told me in the past as well that he does help them frequently. But then, something is amiss! Huh, let me check with her only in sometime. She might be on her way now" he concluded.

He tried calling her a couple of times later on but she did not receive his call. Although slightly worried, he decided to contact her after some more time, not wanting to presume anything.

****************************************

"Annika mam" one of the girls from the group cheerfully approached her.

"Ss.. Sorry, but do I know you?" Annika stood perplexed, when her phone simultaneously began buzzing. She put in on silent trying to recollect who this certain girl was.

"Mam.. we are the choreographers. We met the other day too" the girl reminded when realisation dawned upon her. They were supposed to be coming today.

"Oh yes yes. You guys are here so early?" Annika was baffled.

"Mam, actually.  We have to visit another client this noon. Mm.. Could you please request the groom's family to have the practice session during the first half? Please mam" She pleaded.

"Wonderful" came Pratik's voice and everyone including Annika was astounded. 

"I mean.. Wonderful.  Wonderful Dance Academy,right?" He clarified, hiding his smirk.

"Wonder Dance Academy, Sir" she rectified.

"Yeah I know. I meant that you guys are wonderful" he remarked making Annika roll her eyes.

"Alright. You guys give us sometime. Will check with Devika mam and let you know" he added.

"Wonderful opportunity" He whispered as Annika and he walked into the living room.

"Wh.  What are you trying to imply?" She panicked.

"Come on. We can only do our jasoosi when no one is around" he clarified.

"Are you saying we will confront Tia directly?" She was petrified.

"Are you serious, Annika? Which culprit would readily admit his or her mistakes?" He laughed while she blinked.

"We need to ensure that your suspect is also involved in the practice! So that we could check her closest companion - her phone. Waise bhi she cannot use her phone while dancing" he smiled and her eyes widened in shock.

"You want me to check her phone?!" 

"Annika. Why are you behaving like you haven't been into any mischief in school or college?" He teased. Of course, she had done it! But, this did seem dangerous.

"Still confused?! Listen, we do not have enough time. You have two options. Either ensure that she is busy or check her phone. Choice is yours!" He concluded.

"I. I will make sure she is engaged" her words stuttered.

"Yeah for a couple of hours" he added and she was shocked yet again. "Reserve some of your shock for what we will find in her phone too" he chuckled. 

"Golden opportunity, Annika! We cannot afford to miss it. And yes, you give me her phone number now" he suggested, coming up with a quick plan. Tia and Devika were already into some serious conversation at the far end.

After finalizing their plan, Annika took slow steps towards Devika when Tia's phone rightly buzzed. She tried attending the call but it got disconnected twice.

"Make sure you act very very normal, calm and composed" Annika recollected Pratik's words.

"Huh Tia.. There is a network issue sometimes at this spot. You could probably go there and check" she pointed towards the place where Pratik was seated. For once, Tia obliged immediately taking Annika by surprise.

"Mam. Huh, I have a small request" Annika spoke hesitantly, after Tia had left. She informed her about the choreographers and proposed that it would be great if Tia joined them for the rehearsals, for she would suggest fantabulous steps. 

Considering it to be an absolutely brilliant idea, Devika who became over excited then requested Tia to join her, only after signalling her to leave her phone over one of the tables there itself. Tia blinked, yet simply followed instructions in the heat of the moment. Little did she realise that she had not locked her phone after the last call she had received from an unknown number!

****************************************

"Finally!!" Shivaay sighed when Annika picked his call.

"Shivaay . Sorry huh! When you called me sometime back, I was talking to those choreographers who have come" he could literally imagine that pout as she said that.

"You reached already??" He was surprised.

"Yeah Shivaay. Huh, actually today Pratik is here instead of Smriti and Akshay. So we came directly" she herself briefed him with all details.

"Oh! Be careful" He said nonchalantly only to realize his choice of words a little later.

"What??" She was taken aback.

"I mean. Take care! Eat on time is what I meant" he quickly corrected his own words.

"Oh.. I will. And, you too take care. But, tell me something. You never call me around this time?!" she asked doubtfully.

"Mmm.. To be honest, your thoughts have kept me quite distracted since morning. So, decided to check on you" he whispered huskily out of nowhere and her cheeks already resembled a tomato. The guy could start anywhere, anytime!

"So, have your phone with you! I might keep disturbing you frequently today" he warned in the same husky tone.

"This guy does not even let me concentrate on one task properly" she thought blushing and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, while her eyes were fixed on the practice session where Tia and Devika were totally immersed.

"I can already imagine that blush!" He teased.

"Shivaay. You know what?! I am too busy. I guess you are too. So byee" she tried cutting him off.

"Hey, do keep your phone with you and yeah, miss me, sweetheart" he grinned and she rolled her eyes.

"Shivaayyy" she whined. He giggled as he disconnected the phone. It felt way too good speaking to her. 

However, his thoughts now drifted back to why he had originally called her. She had clearly explained to him on why Pratik was there. Hence, deciding to put a full stop to his vague thoughts for the time being, he proceeded to office.

***************************************

Annika disconnected the phone and looked towards the direction where Pratik was seated. He gave her a victorious smile with his thumbs raised up and then signalled her to join him.

She gave one last look at Devika and Tia who were still busy concentrating on the dance steps and advanced towards Pratik.

"I have collected maximum information possible from her phone. I need close to thirty or forty five minutes to clarify a few more things. Till then ensure that the practice session just goes on" he commanded.

"Were the details useful, Pratik?" She asked skeptically.

"I guess so, Annika. We shall know very soon" he smiled and she nodded. She continued having an eye on the session, while he stepped out after receiving a call.

And, true to his words, he came back within thirty minutes but appeared a lot anxious.

"We need to go somewhere for a while. There is something we need to find out" he told her and she was flabbergasted.

"But…"

"Annika. I will tell you everything on the way. Would not take much time. Maybe we could go and come back in an hour max" he informed.

"But, these guys are all here. How could we just leave?" She questioned.

"Haa that. Let me give some excuse and come. I don't think they anyway need our help for the time being" he remarked and stepped towards Devika.

Five minutes down, they were finally in his car and she was too eager to know where he was taking her.

"Highway Motel, Annika. We are going there" he told by himself, sensing her anxiety.

"I got to know that Tia has been speaking to that Motel's owner on a regular basis and checking if some kind of materials reach him. She has also been speaking to another person asking him to send specific people for work to this same place stating that she has prepared the contract or something. I could not really understand what that meant or what kind of work or whether these people are linked as well" he paused when Annika's thoughts drifted to the day, few days ago, when Shivaay had a problem of few contractors not reporting to the site. She wondered if these were correlated.

"And, she has also been speaking to yet another guy to get few things delivered at a certain address which is again confusing, since the address is this same Highway Motel. You know what, Annika. We are so lucky today that the call recording feature was switched on in her mobile. I have transferred almost every other detail that I felt important to my phone." He sighed.

"But, Pratik. So much has happened. Shivaay should be aware by now, right? I mean.. he should atleast ideally have an idea by now.." Annika mused.

"Of course, Annika. It is probably taking him a little more time than me to get a clearer picture." He stated and she was puzzled by his words.

"Matlab??" She blinked.

"I mean. He is relatively new to Goa. His sources are limited too, whereas I have both legal and illegal sources" he said casually and she was baffled.

"Hey illegal as in, I have friends in the Police Department who would help me unofficially. That is how I traced the Motel details." He clarified and Annika listened carefully. "My friend is checking further into this. I thought, why not try something from our end too. You know when we go and enquire personally, we tend to extract more details" He added and she nodded in agreement.

As they reached the location of the motel, they were surprised to find some renovation work going on there. Pratik parked the vehicle near the adjacent building, which seemed more like a Dhaba.

"I have an idea. You stay here in the car itself" he suggested as he stepped out and approached the roadside hotel.

*****************************************

All through the time Shivaay waited for Dhruv in his cabin and also during his meeting with his clients, his thoughts occasionally travelled to the file with Pratik's signature. He now knew it was better to get it clarified than simply musing over it.

His impatient wait came to an end when Dhruv finally returned after sending those emails that Yoko had requested. They were now on their way towards the Highway Motel.

"Sir, you think we would be able to trace out anything there?" Dhruv questioned skeptically.

"I am not sure, Dhruv. But, I do have a gut instinct that we might find a clue there. I am aware that your friend is investigating this. But, you know I am so restless that I want to find out who that JP guy is at any cost." He reasoned, convincing Dhruv.

Just as they reached the location, they were both equally petrified to find some construction work in progress. They decided to park the vehicle a little away to avoid any suspicion and enquire about what exactly was going on at the place.

Shivaay stayed back in the car as suggested by Dhruv. He gradually looked outside to see if he could infer anything from the surrounding, only to be shocked by the presence of the least expected person there.

"Pratik? What is he doing here?! He was supposed to be with Annika right?! Why is it that each time I try to ignore him, something exactly opposite happens?" he wondered, scrunching his forehead. And, to add to his confusion, Shivaay noticed Pratik extend a few currency notes towards a guy, who appeared like a waiter.

"Let me..let me call Annika and find out!" He decided. Much to his annoyance, she did not attend his call for quite sometime. 

"Pick up the call!" He muttered, impatiently tapping his foot.

****************************************

As Pratik approached his car thoughtfully, Annika kept observing his face trying to decipher his expression. Moments passed and her phone buzzed breaking her trance as she looked into it with shock painted all over her face. With one of her trembling hands, she held the phone while the other was wiping the sweat beads off her face. After many more rings, she finally composed herself and attended the call.

"Hello Billu ji! What is with you today?! Calling me over and over again?" She teased, trying to maintain a tone as normal as possible.

"Annika! Where are you?" He questioned not paying heed to her remark.

"Huh?! At Devika's residence of course!" She replied, slamming her eyes shut for speaking a lie. Shivaay on the other end was utterly confused.

"Oh! What about Pratik?!" He asked quickly.

"He had some work, Shivaay. He is expected to be back anytime now. What happened Shivaay?" she asked him.

"Nothing Annika.. I told you I will keep calling you, hai na?! Alright! Take care" he said softly and disconnected the phone.

Annika was engulfed with guilt and covered her eyes with her palm, feeling disappointed at her own actions.

"Annika…" Pratik called her softly as he fastened his seatbelt.

"For a moment, I thought he was somewhere around only" she panicked.

"I.. I never hide things from him. Never! I have never lied to him. This is the first time I am doing something like this. I kind of feel very guilty, Pratik" Annika confessed. Pratik could feel her voice quiver as she said that.

"You are anyway doing all this just for him, Annika" Pratik reasoned.

"Yeah in spite of him asking me to stay away! He would be very upset when he gets to know" She stressed.

"It is okay, Annika. Just a couple of hours and then you can then tell him everything. Maximum by tonight. He might be happy as well" he tried convincing her.

Although not fully satisfied, she simply nodded her head hoping his words to be true.

"Hmm, I hope so. Anyway, you found anything?" She asked him.

"Yeah kind of.. This Motel here was supposed to be demolished and a theatre or a wedding hall was expected to come here. But, out of nowhere, they have received funds and now this renovation work is going on. And, there is this certain truck guy who regularly delivers the materials here. He drops by this Dhaba to have tea or sometimes lunch" Pratik filled her with details the waiter had provided him.

"But, how does this even relate to us?" She shook her head quizzically.

"Hmm. The guy also said another thing. The person who delivers these materials also takes back some loads with him. This guy whom I spoke to initially thought it was the additional loads he already had in his truck. Very recently he has observed him bringing those bags, probably cement bags or something, from inside. He tried asking him about it, but did not get much details except that he delivers all this somewhere close to the Market Cross Lane" he added.

"That..that is where the Construction site is" she gulped.

"What?! So, is he by any chance taking some materials from here to Shivaay's site?! But, why?" He wondered. "Huh, let us do one thing. Let us try to listen to those recordings again, Annika. We might get a better idea" he said suggestively.

"But, Pratik. How did you manage to get these details from that random guy?" She interrupted.

"He works as a waiter here. I simply said I got information about this Motel being sold and that I came to enquire about the site. He let out all these details. I have paid him some money asking him not to give out these details to anyone else" Pratik smiled.

****************************************

Shivaay waited for Dhruv to be back hoping that his inputs would be helpful to narrow down the culprit. Although his little conversation with Annika only augmented his suspicion on Pratik, he was in a way relieved that she was safe back at her client's place. He was just confused about one thing - if Pratik's presence here as well as his initials being JP were a mere coincidence.

"Sir.. I got some shocking details" Dhruv sounded distressed as he sat in the passenger seat.

"What happened?!" Shivaay was a little disturbed at Dhruv's panicky state. 

"Sir.. This construction, rather renovation work, has just begun a couple of weeks back. To be precise, around the time our materials started reaching late. Looks like this was a very famous Motel on this highway until few months ago. Unfortunately, they incurred a huge loss in the recent times and were planning to sell it off. But, the watchman is not sure how all of a sudden they began receiving funds to remodel the building." Dhruv explained without a pause.

"Also, I found some of our.. some of the workers from our site here, sir. Looks like they were the ones who were suddenly missing and we had to make alternative arrangements few weeks ago" he said and both of them were equally shocked.

"That means… sir, we were almost sure that the labourers problem was due to Tia mam right?" 

"Shivaay.  Tia is upto something for sure, Shivaay" Annika's words resonated in his ears.

"Let us get back to the site quickly. Huh, we need to check with that chief mason. He must be aware" Shivaay said decisively and Dhruv agreed. He decided to discuss his doubts about Pratik with Dhruv later on. He simply hoped they were not back on square one.

****************************************

After listening to the audio recordings of various phone calls from Tia's phone, Pratik and Annika were only able to conclude that Tia was trying to mess with the materials being sent to Shivaay's site by interchanging them with the ones from the Highway. 

"I have asked my friend to tap Tia's phone, I mean the number she uses to make these phone calls. It is actually an alternate sim." he informed. "Oh and yeah. I forgot to show you something" he said, quickly opening his phone's gallery.

"Remember the latest phone call that we listened to. It is from today, a little before I gave her those missed calls purposely. In the same call, she was asking a guy to reach a certain spot by nine in the night and she said she would send him the picture of that spot" he said showing her a picture, rather a design diagram.

"This.. this seems very familiar to me.." Annika mentioned thoughtfully after observing the picture for more than five minutes. 

"Oh ya got it. I found this in Shivaay's file. I had mistakenly opened his file last night for placing my catering list. That is where I found this. It was.. this sheet was having two labels - 'New Design' and 'Old Design' I believe" she tried hard to recollect the picture.

"Pratik.. that means, that means it is at his site itself. I wonder what her plan is. Is she planning something big? Oh no.." she panicked.

"Annika.. relax please. Don't worry. She was anyway going to call the person again and confirm him about the plan. Let us get back to Devika's place now. My friend will contact me in the meanwhile. And, you please try to remain casual. We will sort out everything" Pratik assured her.

Although she was a little convinced that they were close to finding the entire truth, the fact that she had lied to Shivaay still did not go well with her. 

She badly wanted to apologize to him. She was not very sure how he would react, but somehow had to bring herself to tell him everything and face the consequences.

****************************************

Shivaay and Dhruv reached office only to realize that it was peak lunch time and none of the workers were around.

"No issues. We will wait" Shivaay sighed with no option left. 

"Sir, until they are back, probably we could finish our lunch too" Dhruv recommended and Shivaay agreed reluctantly. He was in no mood to eat, yet needed some energy to reflect about the matter.

"May I come in, Sir?" Tina asked as she stood at his door.

"Yes Tina" he signalled her to enter inside.

"Sir, I was supposed to get this file signed from you. But, you were not available. Have to hand this over to Robin Sir" she expressed sadly. Although being his personal secretary, ever since this problem had begun, he disappeared with Dhruv very frequently and Tina was not aware of his whereabouts most of the times. Luckily, she had been managing the situation very efficiently so far, yet seemed perturbed. Shivaay understood that he had to set right a lot of things very soon!

"Okay, you go and have your lunch. I will verify this and have it signed" he assured her.

"Sure Sir. Should be fine if you could do it by evening. I will collect it then" she smiled and left.

****************************************

Right after Annika and Pratik reached Devika's house, the choreographers were almost done with their session and were going to leave while the designer had rightly arrived with samples. By the time they had settled everything, it was close to six in the evening. There was hardly anytime left to even breathe properly. Shivaay had also not called her after noon. Everytime she picked her phone to call him or text him, she forcefully refrained from doing so, convincing herself that she would wait until she got further confirmation about Tia's plan.

Annika sat massaging her temples after the stressful day, more because of what Pratik had conveyed to her sometime back.

"Annika.. shall I say something?" Pratik asked very uncertainly.

"Yeah please" she replied.

"How about we ourselves go to the site tonight to find out what exactly she has conspired?" He questioned, completely unsure of how she would react.

"But, what do I tell Shivaay? He.. he would be worried" she stated. "I should atleast alert him about this"

Ever since Pratik's friend had sent him the details about Tia's last call to a random person, Annika was very disturbed. They had gotten to know that Tia was sending few guys to Shivaay's site at night to complete some sort of work. They had no idea what the work was, except that it was linked with the spot that was present on the image. They had also discovered that the phone numbers of the calls made by Tia, as well as the ones she herself had used to speak were all registered in the same name - the initials JP. They did not know if Tia was alone or someone was helping her in this.

"It is already almost seven, Annika. Going by the history of whatever she has done so far, I think this also might be something silly or stupid only. Anyway, to be on the safer side, I will ask the local police to help us. What say?" He beseeched.

"Okay. If that is what we are left with, we will go ahead and do it." she agreed, still being a little reluctant. 

"My only concern now is how I would warn Shivaay" she expressed.

"Try calling him, Annika. I know we still do not have a very clear picture. But, try calling him and explain. If he attends, well and good. And, don't worry if he doesn't take your call too. I am here to help you.I will seek Police help in the meantime." He smiled reassuringly.

As Pratik walked out to make a phone call to the local Police, Annika slowly typed a message into her phone and hit the send button after pondering upon it for few minutes.

"I am sorry, Shivaay!"

****************************************

Amidst all the problem, Shivaay had forgotten that he had to verify and approve few audit reports. He obviously could not disregard the ongoing work just because there were problems arising with the new ones. It was almost evening by the time he was done with most of it, which was when he got reminded of the file Tina had brought in the noon.

As he went through the content and was going to sign, his eyes fell on something which made him gasp in shock.

"How the hell did I miss this?!" He facepalmed.

He then decided to check the old employee records of Oberoi Industries, but the link seemed to be inaccessible from his system. He immediately placed a call to the one person who would help him.

"Mishra. I need your help. Could you check and email personal details of Robin from our old employee database to me?! I need them a little urgently" he spoke quickly into his phone and the details he expected popped on his screen in precisely two minutes.

"How the hell did I miss this?! Gosh. I should have trusted Annika" he regretted as he went through the email with details that flashed on his screen.

"I should have believed Annika. I should have listened to what she was going to convey to me the other day. I was so keen on proving her wrong and even said all sorts of things to her. She did not even retaliate. How stupid of me!!" he cursed himself.

He picked out his phone to call her when it beeped with her text rightly.

"I am sorry, Shivaay!"

"Why is she apologizing to me? Shouldn't I be the one doing it?!" He blinked and just when he was in the process of placing a call to her number, there was a strong knock on his cabin door.

"Sir, Govind is here!" Dhruv informed. "He wants to say something very important" 

"Yeah bring him inside, Dhruv" he responded.

"Sir, this is very important. That is why I myself came in person" Govind said hurriedly.

"Govind, first please sit down. Have some water." He said handing over a glass of water to him. The man seemed to be very stressed out. 

"Yeah now tell me. What is it?!" Shivaay asked patiently as Govind gulped the entire content of the glass in one go.

"Sir, I received a message from that same number this afternoon. It was a picture, Sir and also a text stating something like 'this is the spot, tonight 9pm sharp'. I think it was sent accidentally to me. When I tried calling back to ask about the message, the number was not reachable. I think my number has been blocked by the person, sir" he said showing the picture to both of them.

"Dhruv, this is that new arch, right?!" Shivaay identified.

"Sir, yes. You are right. But, what is being planned there, sir?" Dhruv blinked as they both turned thoughtful.

"Govind, thanks a lot for coming down personally and informing this." Shivaay smiled, thanking him for conveying the information at the right time.

"It is my duty, Sir. It is only because of you, my brother is fit and fine now. Otherwise, he would have continued to take those wrong medicines" he replied gratefully.

"Sir, if you need any help, call me. I will be here as soon as possible" he promised and left.

"Sir, looks like they are planning something tonight. It is already half past seven, Sir. How about we quickly go and check if anything suspicious is present at that location." Dhruv suggested after Govind left.

"Yeah..Before that, Dhruv. I found out who JP is." Shivaay said out of the blue.

"Huh?! Sir?!" Dhruv's eyes widened in shock.

"Jagdeesh Pai. Robin Pai's dad." he stressed confidently. 

"Sir, that means?Robin and his family..." Dhruv did not really want to complete the sentence. He never expected Robin to betray his boss. Robin had always considered Shivaay very high from whatever Dhruv knew about him.

"No Dhruv. I don't think Robin is involved. You remember he has never been disloyal to us. Of course, he did things for Tia back then.. But, that is different. Here, I don't think, he is involved. Tia is probably the one playing behind, misusing his name" Shivaay explained.

"My mistake, Sir. I should not have dismissed Tia's name from the list. She should have remained our primary suspect" he expressed sadly.

"That is ok, Dhruv. In fact, Annika warned me too. I ignored her words and began looking at things from a completely different tangent." He sighed.

"Annika mam?! How does she know, sir?" Dhruv blinked. Shivaay briefed him about Tia visiting her client's place and how Annika found her activities suspicious.

"Tia was speaking to someone on her phone, I am not sure who. Someone with initials, I could not check since it all happened too suddenly" her words reverberated in his mind.

"But, Sir. That was a male voice, right?" Dhruv intervened.

"That must also be a part of Tia's stupid plan. She might have used someone to play this" he sulked.

"I should have trusted Annika, Dhruv. She even told me about this initials thing" he stated remorsefully.

"Perhaps that is why they say wife is always right, Sir" Dhruv tried to lighten the atmosphere and it thankfully worked at the moment.

"Right" Shivaay smiled. "Anyway, let us go and check that spot. Going by her track records, I am sure she must be upto something stupid only this time as well" he remarked.

"Sir, we need to stay back and check, right? Whatever she is planning" Dhruv wondered.

"We are going and coming back. I believe she has chosen that time assuming everyone would have left office. So, let us ensure that we portray things in a way such that they don't even get an inkling of doubt about us being present here" Shivaay warned him, as they began walking towards the modified arch.

"Like really, Sir. She changed the design of this arch as a part of her stupid plan" Dhruv scoffed.

***************************************

"Annika, listen. I will reach home late today. Have a meeting at a hotel nearby. So, don't wait for me to have dinner, alright?! And, yeah ask Pratik to safely drop you at home!" He spoke as he dialled her number. With all the chaos going on around him, her apology message from few minutes ago completely slipped out of his mind.

"Oh, Shivaay. Huh, I want to say something" she uttered slowly, yet carefully. By his tone, she only assumed that he had not checked her message, yet she somehow wanted to hint him about the incident.

"Hello, Shivaay.. hello??" She went on, only to realize that the call had ended suddenly.

"What happened, Annika?!" Pratik asked her.

"His number is not reachable" she sounded worried, as she tried calling him innumerable times again.

"Maybe he is in the lift or something. He would call you back. It is already almost eight, Annika. Let us leave. I will get us some dinner on the way" Pratik advised.

"No Pratik. I am in no mood to eat" she sighed.

"Come on. You need energy to hide and deal with those bad guys there, whatever they are upto" he joked. "Will get you something light" he promised.

***************************************

"Sir, it broke" Dhruv extended the broken phone towards Shivaay.

"Oh, no! It slipped from my hand" he sighed at his own recklessness. "I hit my arm on this pole and it slipped" he said as he rubbed his arm.

"My phone's battery is also almost dead, Sir" Dhruv stated gloomily.

"Great! Well, It is ok. We don't need them now. Let us leave, have our dinner and come back at nine. Whatever they are planning is anyway going to be futile. We have done the needful, right" he smirked looking behind at the room that was right next to the arch and a winning smile formed on their faces spontaneously.

****************************************

"The police will be here, anytime. Let us try to hide in that spot" Pratik proposed pointing at a corner in the construction site. They had reached there after he had forcefully made her have two rotis on their way.

She had already been a little tensed ever since she was not able to contact Shivaay. She did call quite a lot of times, yet his number seemed unreachable. Completely clouded by the complexity of the situation, she did not even realize that she could actually contact Dhruv instead.

"Annika.. it is almost time. Stay alert" Pratik's voice broke her trance.

"Yeah sure" she whispered back making a silent prayer that everything should go well.

***************************************

"Sir, there are two people there" Dhruv said softly to Shivaay as he looked in the diagonally opposite direction. Shivaay and Dhruv were hiding at a spot further inside, since they were already aware of the actual targetted location.

"One seems like a girl." Shivaay was bewildered. "Annika?? It looks like her!!" He tried to perceive as he concentrated harder.

"Sir, what is mam doing here?!"

"Super woman! She would have come here after spying on Tia, I am sure. Why couldn't she just call and inform me?!" Shivaay commented in an annoyed tone.

"Sir, remember your phone broke" Dhruv reminded, unsure of how Shivaay would react. Shivaay simply glared at him.

"Sorry sir" he said quickly. In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Dhruv mentally chuckled at his boss's reaction.

"Okay whatever. But, who is that with her?" He tried deviating the topic, the only possibility he could think of was Pratik. "Let me go and find out" he decided when they suddenly heard footsteps.

"Looks like those culprits are here, Sir!" Dhruv whispered.

As all the four of them keenly followed them inside, the three guys, who appeared more like rogues, took measured steps slowly towards the new arch that was recently modified and glanced here and there once to ensure that no one was present in and around.

"Let us do it quickly and move!" One guy commanded and the other two gradually opened the bag in their hands that contained two huge cans.

"Kerosene cans?!" Annika was startled.

"What the hell?! Let me call the police inside" Pratik quickly placed a call. The police had requested him to notify them as soon as he found anything suspicious, refraining which they might easily escape.

Annika ignoring his actions quickly advanced towards those men in an effort to stop them.

"Hey Annika" Pratik tried stopping her, but in vain.

"What the hell is she doing?! Yeh ladki bhi na" Shivaay who casually looked in the opposite direction, was stunned by her actions and swiftly rushed towards her, although it was already too late by then.

"How dare you guys do this? Do you even have any shame?" She screamed. The hefty guy among the three was shocked to find a random girl at the spot out of nowhere and pushed her off with full force. Little was he aware that there were three other guys along with her who present there.

Unfortunately, even before Shivaay could reach the spot, Annika stumbled and fell over the stones and bricks that were present at the side.

"How dare you?!" Shivaay held the guy's collars and tried to engage in a fight with him. Dhruv and Pratik who were horrified, stepped forward to take control over the situation.

However, the rogues were too strong for any of them to handle thereby ending up with Shivaay as well as Pratik falling down and getting slight bruises. Luckily before things slipped completely out of their hands, the police officers reached there rightly and arrested the guys.

"They were trying to set fire to the store room, Sir" Dhruv, although astounded to find police there, spoke up.

"Shivaay. I will handle this. You take Annika home" Pratik suggested looking at an injured Shivaay and Annika.

"Yes Sir. I am also here. We will take care" Dhruv joined in.

"Yeah.  Thanks guys" he said to the two of them in common. He felt slightly guilt-ridden to have suspected Pratik who had even ensured to bring the Police to help them out.

Shivaay then gradually stepped towards Annika and silently looked into her eyes. As though waiting for the moment, both of them simultaneously uttered the same phrase to each other.

"I am sorry"

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Ok, compiling this was a task! I just hope it was sequenced properly. Let me know if you found any errors!

This time I won't say I will come back soon🙈 coz I never keep up that!

So, what do you think has happened or is going to happen?? Is it the end to this or a new beginning?!

Did the chapter kind of make any sense?! 🧐🤔

Do vote if you liked the chapter and let me know your views in the comment box below!

Wishing you all a very happy week ahead! ❤️