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Chapter 23: The Secret

Shekhar raised his gazes towards the confused men, spotting one of them charging towards him. "I'll pay you the double for what he was paying, silently stand in line." He halted his steps hearing Shekhar, turning towards his team who shake their heads positively.

"Shekhar!" He turned his face towards Nayonika who stormed towards him, "how can you be so insensitive?"

"He challenged me." Shekhar bluntly replied, with no regret or guilt, "I had to show him his place."

"I told you to stop this marriage, not to kill him!"

"He's not dead Nayonika. Though I wish he was, I can't murder this shit!" He uttered with annoyance and stepped on Jayant's back, pressing his weight down on purpose to squish him.

Nayonika shook her head negatively and held Shekhar's hand, pulling him off Jayant. "Enough is enough Shekhar! Be serious and practical!"

"I already did what you said, I stopped this marriage and saved your dear Swara, now what else do you want me to do!" He exclaimed, lashing back at her, "you threatened me, and I still did it for you! Not because I was threatened but because I love you. . . The same love, which you don't value this anymore."

She scoffed, feeling offended and wiped her tears, "I loved you with all my heart and I still do, but you cared about the property more than me and Sameer!"

"This property was and is for us. I did everything so that me, you and Sameer could stay happy!"

The men, Swara, Sanskaar, Sheesh, Sahil, Kavita and Sameer stood watching the two couple argue while Sujata decided to speak in between.

"You're so selfish and so evil!" Shekhar and Nayonika turn their heads to the side while Sujata freed herself from Sanskaar's hold, inching forward to face Nayonika and Shekhar.

"Mom. . ."

"I've never met a selfish, cunning, heartless murder like you!" Sujata added, shaking her head in disappointment. "All you've ever done is torture Swara! What did she do to deserve this? Why is it so hard for you to treat her like your daughter and give her the love she deserves?"

"You stay out of it!" Shekhar argued, making faces while staring at Sujata. "This is our family matter and you have no rights to speak in between!"

"You disgust me!" Sujata continued, ignoring Shekhar's words, "you killed your own wife for the property and sold your own daughter, your own flesh to someone for money! How much more greedy could you get?"

Tears slide down Swara's eyes and she wiped them, lowering her eyes while hearing the arguments. It hurt her even though Sujata was telling the truth.

"Oh please." He replied, "I already stopped this marriage, now she's free, she can be happy, what else does she need!" He added heartlessly, sounding annoyed, "besides, what's it to you? I can do whatever I want! She's my daughter."

"No!" Nayonika shouted, having enough as she wiped her tears, staring at Shekhar, "you can't do whatever you want!"

"Not you know." He sighed, rolling his eyes and Nayonika nodded, inhaling a deep breath while making a decision in her mind.

"She is not your daughter!" Nayonika added loudly, confusing everyone and Swara lifted her eyes, focusing on Nayonika.

Shekhar looked at her and then held her arm, "Nayonika. . ." He paused for a bit, "what are you saying?"

Nayonika freed herself from Shekhar's hold, "the truth, which I shall not hide anymore. I have you the chance to stop this marriage. . ."

"And I did!"

"Not the way I wanted you to." She added, glaring at Shekhar through her tears.

"What do you mean?" Sujata questioned, "she is not his daughter?"

Nayonika shook her head, "she's not. . . Swara, is, not, Shekhar's daughter." She faced Swara, meeting her eyes. "She. . ."

"Nayonika!" Shekhar held her hand and shook his head negatively, while she reciprocated, finally having enough.

"How long would you keep mistreating her Shekhar? How long would you treat her like DIRT! If you can't treat her with respect then you don't deserve to keep her in the DARK!"

"I did what you said. I stopped this marriage and saved Swara, you can't do this to me. . ."

Nayonika jerked his hand away, "I'm sorry. . ."
Shekhar shook his head, "no, please."

Nayonika inched inched and rotated, heading towards Swara who flapped her confused yet shocked eyes at Nayonika.

"I'm sorry." Nayonika apologised after standing in front of Swara. "I should've confessed a long time ago."

"What do you mean Mom?" Sameer questioned confusingly and Nayonika sniffed. "You're not Shekhar's biological daughter."

Everyone were shocked, yet confused while Shekhar frustratedly clenched his fist.

"What?" Sujata asked and walked towards them, "how does this make sense?"

"On the day of the delivery, Sharmishta gave birth to a dead baby. . ." Nayonika replied to Sujata and faced her, "and Shekhar replaced the dead baby with a newborn, which was her."

Lightening bolt.
Was all that Swara could hear after the shocking revelation made by Nayonika. Her hearing slowly faded and her expressions changed. Numbness began spreading through her body and she felt a wave of dizziness hit her.

"Swara. . ." Kavita concernedly trialled off her name, grabbing Sanskaar, Sameer, Sheesh and Sahil's attention and held onto Swara as she stumbled back, but being weaker and tired, Kavita moved to the side, nearly falling onto the floor but, Sanskaar rushes towards them as fast as he could and pulled Swara, letting her lean on him while Kavita stabled her balance.

"W. . . What. . ." Sujata was shocked. Her words failed to form and she gaped after Nayonika in utter disbelief.

"Swara. . ." Nayonika stopped, swallowing as she controlled her cry, allowing her tears to slide, "isn't Shekhar's daughter. He. . ."

She wasn't strong enough to complete and tell the full truth, feeling guilty towards Swara.

Sanskaar could feel Swara shaking and tightening her grip, he felt her tearing up from within and held onto her tighter.

"I stole her." Swara slowly moved her eyes towards Shekhar, who starts speaking with irritation. Sujata, Sheesh, Sahil, Sameer and Kavita glance at him as he continued. "This is all you want to hear?"

"Then yes! Swara isn't my blood! She isn't my daughter! She isn't my own flesh! She's not even related to me!" He exclaimed as loud as he could, frustratedly exhaling, "I stole her! The night Sharmishta gave birth, I replaced Swara with my dead daughter! My blood, my flesh, who I regret loosing. Only if she was still alive. . . I miss her. I wonder how wonderful it would've been if I still had my daughter here with me."

Tears slide down of Swara's eyes while everyone look on shockingly, realising the truth about why Swara was never loved by Shekhar. It was because she wasn't his in the first place, she wasn't his daughter! Shekhar shamelessly admitted to have stolen her.

Sanskaar felt the pain Swara was going through this moment, he couldn't imagine how it must be to find out your whole existence was a lie, he couldn't do anything but protectively hold her in his grip.

Shekhar travels into the past, "After coming to the hospital. . ." He added, revealing the whole story to them.

"It's a girl." The nurse revealed while holding the baby.

"Clean her, I'll see her in a bit."

"Okay." She agreed to the doctor, who took her mask off after operating on Sharmishta and headed towards the exit.

The nurse took the new born to clean her up and while heading towards a separate room, she realised her breathing had stopped.

Her eyes scrunched and she felt her pulse, shocked to find her dead. "Oh gosh, she's dead."

Without wasting time, the nurse headed out with the baby and on her way, she was stopped by Shekhar who was disguised as a ward boy.

"What happened?"

"The baby is dead. . . I need to tell the doctor."

"Oh. . ." Shekhar was shocked and surprised, "I'll hold the baby, you go get the doctor."

The nurse nods, handing the baby over to Shekhar and Shekhar held his daughter for the very first time. The nurse ran to find the doctor while tears filled Shekhar's eyes.

"How can you die?" He whispered, unable to believe it and sniffed. "My daughter." Tears seep down and he headed towards the newborns room.

After entering, he glanced around at the babies, desperate to find female babies. The first one to fall in front of his eyes was Swara, who was sleeping peacefully. He instantly leaned down, deciding to switch the babies.

_

After managing to switch Swara with his dead daughter, he ran towards the operation theatre. "Sister!" He called out and she stopped, turning towards him, "this is Sharmishta Gadodia's daughter."

"What is she doing with you?"

"One of the sisters left her with me, I don't know what to do." He lied and the nurse looked on. "You. . ." She changed her words, "give the baby to me." Shekhar gave her the baby and she took her. "You go, I'll take care of the rest."

He nodded his head and the nurse headed back inside the operation theatre.

"All for the property? You separated a daughter from her mother!" Sujata exclaimed with tears in her eyes, "this is a sin! A major sin! You took a child away from her mother!"

Swara closed her eyes and gave up on her knees, wanting to break down while being on the floor however Sanskaar's hold was too strong for her knees to touch the ground. He let her whole body lean on him and caressed her hear, feeling a pang of pain inside his heart as soon as she let a cry escape her mouth.

Sameer sighed, so disappointed in his parent and shook his head. "You crossed all limits to humanity. . . Are you even a human?"

"And mom you? I can't believe you stayed quiet knowing he did this!"

Kavita held onto Swara's hand to console her but her pain was too strong, Kavita couldn't help but to let her eyes water. Sheesh and Sahil look down in amusement and disappointment, disgusted to hear Shekhar's misdeed.

"W. . . Why?" Swara cried and covered her face with her hand, embarrassed to be broken and in tears in-front of Shekhar.

"I did this for us." He replied and glanced at Swara.

"All my. . . Life I thought you hated me because I wasn't your favourite. . ." She burst into a cries, so loud and painful yet leaving Shekhar unaffected.

Sanskaar raised his eyes to stop his tears from sliding down, feeling miserable to see her like this and he wondered why.

'Why do I feel so heartbroken? Why do I feel so affected? Why am I upset and about to cry? Why am I feeling so miserable? Why? Why are her cries killing me? Why do I feel emotional see her in this state? Why do I want to protect her? Why do I feel obliged to hold onto her for as long as I could?' He was confused, emotional, clueless and in pain, 'why am I hurt when she's in pain?' He continued to think, glancing at her afterwards in the hope to find his answers.

Sujata shook her head in disbelief, disgusted by Shekhar's revelation. Sameer was speechless, absolutely ashamed to even be the blood of Shekhar and Nayonika while Sahil, Kavita and Sheesh were so done.

Within few seconds, police men barge inside the factory and start spreading. "Don't move or we will shoot!"

Shekhar was startled while the men panicked, Kavita sighed a relief knowing they were safe now that the police have arrived. Sheesh moved towards an unconscious Jayant, while Sameer and Sahil stare at the cops.

"Arrest them!" The senior officer ordered his team, who head towards the men and Shekhar.

"Him too." Sheesh spoke, pointing at Jayant. "He kidnapped me and Swara and Kavita, threatened and emotionally blackmailed us. Forced Swara to marry him and abused us."

A police officer moved towards Jayant and took the handcuffs out from his pocket.

"Me. Too." Nayonika uttered and wiped her tears, "arrest me too." She demanded, raising her wrists in front of the police.

Swara couldn't register what was going on at instant, she felt as if her mind would explode with so many thoughts, she couldn't breathe properly neither think. All she wanted this moment is to be alone and under the fresh air. Her mind wasn't ready to move over the fact that she was kidnapped as a baby and separated from her birth-mother.

To Be Continued. . .

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