What can be more joyous to a family than the birth of a child? The arrival of the new life, the most innocent and precious bundle of joy who has the entire family walking on tippy toes while asleep or wrapped around their little bud of a finger 24/7, whose little scrunched face and heart-wrenching pout sends everyone into a panic attack, whose wails throws the entire household into a tizzy of worry and when those little lips break into a toothless smile even the most daunting days of your existence seems like spring break.

How would you feel when you want to celebrate every millisecond of their existence and every little milestone of theirs but you can't?

Betrayed and heartbroken. Right? That's what the entire Malhotra family had to go through for about two years.

Kanth Manor witnessed the arrival of the next generation. Sneha and Paarth were blessed with twins - a boy and a girl; while Aparna and Samar had a baby girl. The babies arrived just in time to relieve them of the chaos that had become their new normal. The death of Kayla and the arrest of Chandrakanth Malhotra were a full-blown scandal, and to say the Malhotra family was hounded by all forms of media would be an understatement. They were even shunned by their extended family.

The journalists and 'self-proclaimed activists' practically camped outside their residences, factories, and offices of Jagannath Group to grab news updates. Society began treating the family like psychopaths, while they too were the victims of one man's wrongdoings. Caught in the aftereffects of Chandrakanth's recklessness left them all like survivors of a natural calamity, grappling in confusion and fighting to survive with dignity every minute.

~~~

Newspaper headlines read

'Business tycoon, Casanova, and killer, Chandrakanth Malhotra! Kayla Agnihotri daughter of late Union Minister Ram Agnihotri, killed by secret lover Malhotra, dispute over the legitimacy of their daughter!'

Do you think there could be corpses hidden in their palatial home or factories? Do you know that no female staff is safe in Jagannath Group of Companies? Is it true that he is a habitual offender? How can the wife not know that he was cheating on her? For sure the wife must have some problem, that's why he went looking for other women. Did she also plot along with him to kill the mistress? His son seems to be a decent man! You never know, these kinds of habits could run in the genes. The entire family must be a bunch of psychopaths.'

Hushed whispers grew into loud rumours! These rumour monsters grew larger than life, tentacles wrapping around the Malhotra family in a choke hold, suffocating them and threatening their sanity, and testing their relationships.

Vanya's well-being became the prime concern for the entire family. The young girl who was just about to turn eleven, was undoubtedly the most affected in the entire ordeal. She had trouble trusting and forming a bond with them. While battling the grief and insecurity of losing her mother, she fiercely anchored onto Padmini. The fear instilled by the threatening and abusive behaviour of her uncles and her father had left her questioning every human around her. She feared men the most and refused to be in their presence even in a room full of people. It took a lot of hard work, repeated assurance, and the help of a psychiatrist to record her statement in court.

Chandrakanth and his lawyer played on Vanya's fear and hesitation. The court had to be adjourned repeatedly either considering Vanya's mental health and emotional breakdown or the stories Chandrakanth kept spinning.

"Honourable Judge! My daughter has been misled and fed with lies by my ex-wife who wants to condemn me to prison after cheating me of all my wealth. Kayla was also murdered by her, Your Honour! "

Parul and Paarth almost jumped from their seats in the court in rage while Padmini wasn't surprised. She glanced at him calmly unperturbed by his wild accusations.

Vanya broke down and cried while defending Padmini. "No! Padmini aunty is innocent." She shuddered at the memory of her mother being attacked. "You beat up mom! I saw you! Don't lie! You wanted to take me back to mom's home, to her brothers... Mom didn't let you... Judge... Maam, please don't trust him. He's a liar, he's a bad guy."

The lawyer interrupted, "Tell me, Vanya, did your father come to you saying that he wants to take you to your uncle's house? Did he drag you out of the house?"

"No, he didn't... But mom..." the little girl was confused by the twisted question and intimidated by the memories of the incident.

"That's the proof, Your Honour! Ms Vanya has accepted that my client Mr Malhotra did not directly threaten her. It was a fake threat call made to Ms Kayla to create fear and build a base for accusing and convicting my client."

Despite Vanya being a witness to the attack on Kayla, her mental state was questioned by Chandrakanth's lawyer. "the child is at an impressionable age and can be easily influenced which has been taken advantage of."

"Your Honour! my ex-wife promised in the family court that she wouldn't ask for any properties, but turned my entire family and the Board of Directors against me and took over the company and left me on the streets. Now she wants to take away my Vanya from me, I agree that the affair between Kayla and me was morally wrong but we loved each other so much, but couldn't get married because of circumstances." he shed false tears "how will I try to harm my child? I love my daughter a lot, who is just the spitting image of my Kayla. Don't separate her from me please I beg you! This woman, Padmini is the reason for all my misfortune and the death of my Kayla too..." he slumped down on the witness stand and cried.

"Mr Malhotra, compose yourself", the judge called out to Chandrakanth. When he stumbled and stood up, he glanced towards Padmini assuming he had swayed the entire court in his favour. Padmini knew him too well to be impressed. Chandrakanth was in for a shock when the judge announced postponing the proceedings after six months citing the petition filed by Vanya's psychiatrist requesting time for her treatment. She was diagnosed with Post-traumatic stress disorder and Androphobia (fear of men).

~~~~~

The pressure of handling paparazzi, attending court sessions with Padmini and Vanya and answering investors and client companies burnt out Paarth, a five-month pregnant Aparna stepped in to support her brother.

"I heard somebody is bullying my sibling" she engulfed him in a warm assuring embrace, he let out a teary-eyed thank you to her and Samar while seated on the hospital bed.

Paarth's trusted friend Ravi Sharma became her personal assistant and shadow, always safeguarding her. Aparna handled the clientele shrewdly and with dexterity.

"No point in holding a meeting now Paarth, not even our investors are going to show up. Action is what is needed. Time to show them that you have learnt from the best and got a bull-headed woman on pregnancy hormones as a sidekick."

Doubts, questions and concerns were voiced openly about the future of the Jagannath Group of Companies by every individual. The Company was headed by siblings who were still in their twenties, one of whom was a pregnant woman and they had taken charge just when their father and predecessor was accused of domestic abuse and murder. Even the staff doubted their job prospects.

Aparna swung into action. She sold some of their assets, implemented strict cost-cutting, and dropped some new deals which Chandrakanth had signed, to generate finance for the completion of their ongoing projects, instead of waiting for the investors who were stuck in a dilemma.

Paarth was surprised to see that her strategy paid off. He recollected that Padmini had proposed a similar plan a decade ago when Chandrakanth hit a roadblock where most of the investors backed out due to a major disagreement. His father had dismissed her rather very aggressively.

Aparna's presence rejuvenated Paarth. He acted on his warning to the press, by redirecting their sponsorships to media houses who respected their personal space and treated them with respect. He gave official press statements only to them. Some of the staff who were displeased with the turn of events and new practices enforced in the Company threatened to quit. They refused to listen to even Paarth who always was seen by them as a comrade.

Padmini calmly advised Paarth to let them go and Paarth was stunned but was willing to listen. "call back the retired former employees to their respective positions. They are the people from the founding days Paarth, they definitely will support you."

She glanced over to Ravi, "Gather all their details from HR and call them. No need to hold this meeting at the office as it would trigger bigger trouble. Also, advertise that we are looking for ex-servicemen to staff other positions and seek only those who are in good mental and physical health. You can recruit women too," a look of scepticism passed around "Paartha, I know what you're thinking. Appu will be there in the office full-time. The HR department is headed by a lady. We can recruit a female secretary for Appu. Even if a couple of women are willing to join our office it's a shot in the arm under present circumstances. Don't you think?"

This time around when Padmini addressed the staff and labour force of Jagannath Group, she sounded like a different person. Those who expected the same elegant, poised and soft-spoken Padmini were in for a shock. She stood with her spine erect on the podium, her voice calm but firm and diplomatic.

"I heard that some of you" she waved the list of the employees who wanted to quit, "conveyed your wish to resign since you are not happy with Paarth Malhotra and Aparna Khurana taking over as the Directors of the company. Well... " Padmini paused for a good two minutes and scanned the crowd. "Good luck to all of you. You can come over to the table on my right here and receive your termination letter, and last month's salary. Make sure you sign your settlement papers and the promissory note that says you would never again step into Jagannath Group seeking a job in the future."

There were police personnel present outside the factory premises as a precaution.

Someone yelled from among the crowd, "Didn't you come and beg us last time to give up the strike. Now what happened? You got the wealth to yourself so being arrogant eh? All you women are the same, money-minded sleazy bitches".

Paarth riled up, his blood boiling, rushing forward to punch the man who continued insulting his mother. Ravi stepped forward and blocked him. "Paarth this is exactly what they want. Please control yourself. We can't handle any more damage. Paarth stop... stop it man please... Paarth" Ravi was struggling to contain Paarth who kept pushing him away.

"Sahab... suniye shaanth hojaye, please...
(Sir Please listen, calm down) .

The pleading voice of his driver reached his ears but Paarth was far from calming down. He kept pushing forward all the while mumbling expletives at the man who made direct eye contact with Paarth and seemed to continue his insults albeit in a muffled voice. Ravi and the driver were joined by Amar his secretary, who managed to pull him back to a safe distance.

Some of the employees had taken the side of the man, several of them rebuked the lot of them; while a few chose to stay quiet with their eyes downcast, unsure which side to take.

"Paarth, stop it listen to me..."Padmini grabbed his attention, by tugging his arm. He was shaking violently, tears and rage blurring his vision, . "just stay calm I will handle this."

"Maa..." his jaw tensed as he controlled his rage and raised his voice in protest, but her gentle smile broke his heart, 'how much more blame will you keep carrying mumma? I keep failing to protect you time and again.'

"Paartha" she whispered, gently squeezing his forearm. "Ravi is right. We are here to try and salvage whatever is left of the company's reputation and get back on our feet. Focus on the big picture." Paarth had a defeated look on his face.

"These are the least of our concerns at the moment." She let out a sigh. "there were and are going to be several of these false allegations. If we are going to stop to justify ourselves to every one of them or throw stones at them... we are going to lose our time and energy; both of which are precious. And we will never achieve what we set out to achieve."

Paarth agreed to stay calm but made a mental note of the identity of the man who seemed to be in his late thirties.

Padmini turned around to the crowd. "Last time" the crowd fell silent as she glanced around and continued "last time I apologised because the management had made a mistake, that is - Mr Chandrakanth had made a mistake of letting the strike continue for too long for his selfish reasons. I apologised because your livelihood was affected, and your families were affected. Now the new management is at no fault and still you refuse to cooperate. Jagannath Group doesn't follow bonded labour, you are free to leave. I would rather have ten sincere, honest and hardworking people with me rather than have five hundred half of those who breed ill will against me. Very dangerous way to run an organisation as huge as this, that's the principle of Shri Jagannath Malhotra. You all may leave, Thank you for your services."

She disregarded the murmurs that went around and walked into the main office and greeted all the former employees who were ready to rejoin.

Chandrakanth's uncle, Anand Nath Malhotra stayed by their side guiding and advising them, Parul and her husband Akash Rajvansh offered their guidance constantly from London. Roping in the best minds around them as part of their team, as per their mother's advice. The siblings began their journey through the toughest phase of their lives and came out victorious at the end of two years of struggle, gaining the attention of the industry and the nation this time around for the right reasons by winning the young entrepreneurs award.

~~~~~~~

After 8 months at a court hearing

"My Lord! I never intended to seek revenge or any financial gain from my ex-husband. But to protect the interest and life of this young child I'm willing to do anything." Padmini paused and took a deep breath, "The general perception of society is that people who belong to the creamy layer of society or affluent families do not have any troubles and all they worry about is what outfit and jewellery to wear for the next party. There are tales of abuse and harassment that we women hide and I can vouch that there are many others ashamed to step out and talk about it. Shut her mouth and bear all the pain and never speak about it, since it dishonours her family, because that's the unwritten law, that's what an honourable woman should do and that's what I did too.

Though being in a socially advantageous position as a grown woman even I could not beat or escape the clutches of domestic violence for thirty years. But I cannot be a mute spectator of this child's sufferings. I did wait for Mr Chandrakanth to speak the truth, accept his crime in the house of law..." she let out a dry chuckle "turns out he would never let go of his old habits of questioning my sanity by gaslighting me time and again; which he is doing to Vanya now." She paused for a while, looking at him before sealing his fate forever. "I think you've had your time Chandrakanth. I did warn Kayla about you, but she dismissed me. For a moment even I thought your love for her was genuine... I composed myself thinking at least she's lucky to get what I have only yearned for all my life" guilt and sadness spread in her heart, choking her and drawing tears from her eyes. "I'm stupid...I should have known..." she slammed her hands hard on the bannister angrily "after all these years of living with you... that you are incapable of loving anybody else other than yourself." She furiously wiped her tears, "Not anymore! No more victims".

Padmini gazed at Chandrakanth with an eerie smile while she handed over a very familiar file to the court staff, which was passed on to the judge "You always had something against all the women to manipulate them. Now it's a level field, Chandra."

Everybody froze. What was Padmini planning? What did she intend to do when she said she would like to depose in court against Chandrakanth? Chandrakanth was paralysed with fear. Every minute the judge took to flip through the pages seemed like a step closer to doom to him.

"How does it feel to be scared to death Chandra? How does it feel when you are humiliated and constantly fear being punished?" He stared at her dumbfounded, "This was what you subjected me to every second, for the past thirty years."

Chandrakanth couldn't process any response, his mouth ran dry and his insides twisted in fear of being exposed.

"Ms Padmini, would you care to explain to the court the disturbing contents of this file? The rest of the court is dispersed. I would like to discuss it in my private chamber, in the presence of both your counsels and the accused Chandrakanth".

"Thank you for being considerate Your Honour but I have realised that it's not a shame anymore. I have accepted it as a part of me. I can't change it nor can hate myself for it because it was not my mistake. I was targeted, taken advantage of, and abused physically, mentally, emotionally and psychologically by this man who considered himself superior for some strange reason. And yes, I was also subjected to marital rape" several gasps were heard followed by a deafening silence. "This society and the legal system aren't helpful either."

She went on to elaborate on his abusive, toxic and controlling behaviour, his amorous character, the extramarital affair with Kayla, and the reason behind her death.

After a long and stressful trial, Chandrakanth was awarded a double life sentence with hard labour and no possibility of bail.

⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️

Paarth hugged Aparna and expressed his happiness and gratitude when they were awarded a deal that they had almost lost to their rival company. Samar sat smiling in full-blown pride at his wife.

Vaanya was curious about the way all the women in this house were treated, with love and respect. Paarth sensed her apprehension and walked over to where she was seated near Padmini and crouched down before her.

"Vanya" he held out a small box to her, while she was seated with Padmini at the altar.

Vanya's mouth fell open in surprise when she spotted a Rakhi in the box.

"Can you please accept me as your brother? And help me one day as Appu does in taking care of all this?"

The little girl was confused, her eyes glistened with unshed tears. "But... but... I... I'm Kayla's daughter and... not... not..."

Paarth didn't permit her to finish her sentence, "To me and all of us here, you are a part of this family.
Also" he sighed dramatically.

"This Aparna and Parul bua has turned out to be so boring I need someone to help pull pranks on these people. And I need somebody young and healthy to accompany me in my trekking and hiking trips. Are you in?"

He mischievously grinned at her wiggling his eyebrows which made her smile shyly. She picked the Rakhi and tied it around his wrist and with great hesitation embraced him for a fleeting moment whispering a thank you and withdrew quickly as he pat her head warmly. She quickly buried her face in Padmini's lap and cried her heart out.

~~~~~

Padmini realised that their bedroom was acting as a triggering zone and never wanted to enter that space.

The walls were torn down and all personal belongings were removed or discarded. Padmini saw to it that every material and physical memory of Chandrakanth's existence was removed from their home. It was therapeutic.

"There are still so many things that remind me of him. The life I lived, the children that I bore, the scars on my body the pain and humiliation etched forever in my memory... what about them Sakshi?"

"Padmini your children are yours as much as they are his, I would rather say they are the only positive outcome of this relationship. You existed before marrying him, didn't you? You had a life, dreams, desires, etc. So why not now? This is your body and mind. You have survived all of this and still haven't turned insane or toxic like him. You must carry yourself with dignity and pride and honestly feel those emotions in your heart. Talk to yourself, appreciate yourself, applaud yourself, and shower yourself with some self-love.

When your kids achieve something don't you appreciate them? Similarly, your body and mind have stood up to all this torture inflicted over the years without giving up on you. Shouldn't you be appreciating it?
The path of healing is not easy and there aren't any shortcuts. I'm really proud of you, of how far you have come..."

She embraced Padmini before she left,
"I would suggest that you explore the project that you wanted to start. That might be the catalyst to your healing process."

Padmini promised to keep working on herself and never give up.

●●●



AN: Sincere apologies to all readers 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 for such a massive gap in updates.
Family commitments and writer's block took turns keeping me from completing this chapter.

Honestly, I'm not even sure if I have done justice to all your patience and support.



today's rankings❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
🙏🙏🙏🙏 heartfelt gratitude to all of you, this means a lot to me.

Word count: 3643
Date published: 03 April 2023