PRESENT TIME

Nandini

I look on as Aastha punches some buttons on the wall behind the bookshelf of the room we were in, wondering what she was trying to do.

Time and again, I keep looking at the door, desperately praying for Vikrant to reach here soon so he can get Aastha and me out of here.

But what if he has not found the clue that Aastha left behind? What if he is still clueless about how to find me?

That thought brings a wave of fear to wash through my body, and I shake my head, willing myself to think positively.

Vikrant must have found the clue. He must be on the way. He must be.

I kept reiterating those positive thoughts in my mind, pushing the negative thoughts and doubts away.

Looking ahead, I see Aastha still punching the buttons on the wall.

There are nine buttons in total there. When each button is pushed, the blue light illuminates it, continuing to be lit until the fifth one is pushed.

But once Aastha presses the fifth button, all the lights turn red before they fade out.

I see that happening thrice, my heart thumping furiously against my chest, hoping for Aastha to succeed in whatever she is doing or for Vikrant to reach here before Rishabh comes and—

No. Don't complete that thought. I tell myself.

"What are you doing, Aastha? Why are you punching those buttons repeatedly?" I ask, wanting to know.

"There is a secret room behind this wall," she answers. "Rishabh had taken me there two days back to get that room cleaned so he could keep you there after bringing you here.

"Although he had ordered me to keep my head down and not look at him while he pressed the buttons, I had managed to peek, briefly seeing the pattern before the lights on all the buttons turned green and the door opened.

"I'm trying to make that pattern now. Once this door opens, you can hide in the room behind this wall," she explains to me.

"But what if Rishabh checked inside this secret room after finding me missing from here?" I voice my doubt.

"I'll try to distract him and tell him that you pushed me and jumped off the window. There are guards outside this room and at the main gate. But no one is standing on the ground right below the window of this room.

"They will search for you around the courtyard of the house, which is huge and has various bushes and shrubs behind which a person can hide. All of them searching for you there will give us some more time. Hopefully, Vikrant and Samrat will get here while Rishabh and his men take their time to search for you.

"I don't think Rishabh will search for you inside this secret room because he thinks I don't know the pattern to unlock the door," Aastha elaborates on her plan, but I'm still unsure about it.

And it's mostly because she has not been able to guess the correct pattern to unlock the door in the first place.

"Even if there is a remote possibility of your plan working, I should at least be able to get inside this secret room. But you are still unable to guess the pattern," I tell her, repeatedly looking at the door and fervently praying that Rishabh doesn't come in.

"Give me a moment, Nandini. Please, let me think."

Aastha closes her eyes for a few seconds, her brows furrowing, probably trying to recall the pattern she had seen that day when Rishabh had opened the door.

"I think this is the one," she says, taking a deep breath before starting to press the button one by one.

As she does that, I hold my breath, my heart beating rapidly in anticipation.

I don't know if this plan will work and if it will give me some time to bid until Vikrant reaches here, but like Aastha, I also think this is the only way left.

After pressing the fourth button, she hesitates, her finger hovering between the two buttons as she tries to figure out which one is correct.

"Please, God. Please, let this be the correct one," she says before pressing the fifth button.

We both stay still after that, unblinking, waiting for the buttons to turn red or green, desperately wanting them to turn green.

I almost slump on the floor in relief when the buttons turn green, and the door opens.

"This door will close automatically after one minute," Aastha informs me. "Once you get in, hide inside the cupboard there, so Rishabh won't immediately be able to spot you, even if he decided to check inside after finding you gone.

"The room is soundproof, Nandini. While I was cleaning the room, Rishabh told me he'll be making you scream in there, and no one will be able to hear it," she pauses for a second to reassuringly squeeze my arm. "Don't worry. I will try my best to misguide him until Vikrant and Samrat come here to get you out.

"The only reason I'm saying about the room being soundproof is when you hear them or the police once they reach here, instead of shouting to them about where you are, punch the same pattern on the buttons in the wall on the left side of the door behind your portrait there. You remember the pattern I just punched, right?"

I nod at her. "But what about you? I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Don't worry about me, Nandini. Just focus on getting yourself out of here and fulfilling the promise you made to me earlier," she says, interrupting me when I'm about to argue. "Nothing saying now. Go inside. The door is about to close."

Saying that, she pushes me inside the room. Before I can turn toward her and tell her anything, the door closes, enclosing me inside the private room with my life-sized portraits occupying every inch of its walls.

I stagger back in shock, looking around at my photos everywhere.

Some were from before my wedding in my parents' house.

As I walk toward the other photos to peer closely at them, I realize they were taken after the wedding.

In the street on my way to the office.

The time I went out shopping with Aastha and Riya.

Continuing to look at them, I also find one with me walking out of Vikrant's house.

I gasp loudly in shock, wondering how Rishabh knew where I lived.

This must mean he knows about my marriage with Vikrant. But how?

Lost in my thoughts, I continue walking back, immediately stilling when my back hit something.

I turn around and see a massive table in front of me.

There were also different things over the table.

Ropes, handcuffs, whips, something that looked like clamps, and various other things that I didn't even know the name of.

"Aastha said Rishabh was planning to keep me here in this room. Are these the things he is planning to use on me if I'm not able to escape from here tonight?"

I tightly clutch the edge of the table, my eyes watering due to fear and my heart hammering against my chest.

"Vikrant, please come soon. Please, get me out of here."

With everything starting to overwhelm me, I walk toward the cupboard to hide there. But on my way, I bump into the TV placed at the center of the room.

I immediately stepped forward and caught it before it could fall to the floor.

Aastha had told me this room was soundproof. Still, I need to be careful. If even a squeak got out of the room, Rishabh would find out about me hiding here.

Adjusting the TV over the table, I'm about to walk toward the cupboard, but I freeze when the TV gets switched on.

I must have pressed the button somewhere while adjusting it.

I start searching for the button to switch it off, but I stop when I look at the screen.

It showed the room I was in with Aastha earlier.

Now, it's only Aastha in that room, pacing back and forth.

"Is this the live footage from the room outside?"

Each thought in my mind freezes when I see Rishabh entering the frame.

"Is my other slut ready?" He asks, and I feel disgust rising within me.

"S-she ra-ra awa-yy, S-ss-irr," Aastha stutters, and I can see her shaking in fear.

"What the fuck!" Rishabh steps forward and strikes Aastha across the face. "When did this happen? Where the fuck did she go?"

Folding her hands, Aastha sinks to her knees in front of Rishabh. "I...I wa-was about to dr-dress her. B-but b-before I could, s-she p-pushed m-me and j-ju-jumped off the wi-window," she tells him.

Rishabh clutches Aastha's hair and yanks it up, making her stand.

He then repeatedly slaps her across the face, each strike louder than the other.

I fist my hands, looking at his cruelty, my heart crying for Aastha as I hear her pitiful sobs.

After a while, he pushes her to the floor and takes out his phone from his pocket.

"Nandini has jumped off from the window in my room. Look for her in the courtyard and bring her to me," he barks on the phone. "I know she has not run out of the mansion yet because there are other guards by the main gate. She must be hiding somewhere in the courtyard. It should be easy to find her because she must be hurt after jumping. Get her to me soon."

He then turns his attention to Aastha, and my heart starts beating erratically against my chest.

"You will pay for this, Slut," he tells her.

Kneeling on the floor, Aastha bows her head down as if accepting her punishment.

"You will keep receiving a whip on your body until Nandini comes to me," Rishabh says and walks to the cupboard.

"Hmm, which belt should I choose to make welts on you today?" He wonders aloud, peering inside the cupboard. "I think this thick leather one will do."

Getting the belt, he returns to where Aastha is kneeling.

He crouches beside her and clutches her jaw, tilting her face up to make her look at him.

"Do you have any fucking idea how much work and effort I had put into bringing her here with me?" He snaps, slapping her again. "After returning to this city, I even went to Nandini's parents and tolerated them shouting at me and calling me their son's murderer.

"Hearing them talk in that attitude with me, it had taken every ounce of my self-control not to end their life there and then," he continues. "But I controlled myself. Because I knew if I did that, not only would I have to go into hiding again, but I would also have to wait for some more time before having Nandini.

"So, I sweetly talked with them first, giving them my fake apology for everything that happened. But when they didn't calm down after that, too, I threatened to kill them. Well, that shut them up.

"And when I asked them to bring Nandini to me, to my surprise, I found out that they had already married her off. I didn't think they would get her married so soon after the tragedy of their son's death. That unexpected news shocked me as well as frustrated me because I realized I would again have to tell my investigator to find Nandini and then make a plan to get her away from her husband and his home.

"But I was saved from doing one thing, which cut the time off my chase of Nandini by a few days. Her parents told me where exactly I could find their daughter. So I didn't have to put my investigator on it. They gave me her location because they wanted her to get the same pain from my hands as Vivek got.

"I also assured them that Nandini will suffer at my hands. Although not exactly as Vivek because I won't be killing her as I killed Vivek. But she'll be suffering nonetheless—so much so that she'll beg and plead to submit to me only to make the suffering stop.

"All the plans I made with you, from making you go to Samrat's house with your fake parents with the marriage proposal to organizing everything properly in the party venue to get Nandini abducted, do you have any idea how much thought I had to put into it so I could bring Nandini home with me and make her mine forever?" Rishabh glares at Aastha, slapping her one more time.

I slump on the floor, closing my eyes to let the tears fall as raw pain washes through me.

Maa and Papa gave him my address? They wanted me to suffer at Rishabh's hands?

A wave of anguish clenches my whole body as I realize to what extent my parents hate me.

No. They can't be my parents. They can't be.

My thoughts get interrupted when I hear Rishabh's voice again.

Looking up at the screen, I see him standing beside Aastha, who is now lying on the floor.

"I want to start with your back, Slut. Lie with face down on the floor," he says, and Aastha immediately assumes the position.

"Count each strike, Whore," he tells her and starts slashing her body with the belt.

Aastha screams in pain as the slashes rain on her body, begging to stop, pleading for mercy.

"This won't stop until Nandini walks inside this room," Rishabh says, continuing to whip her.

Unable to bear it, I immediately walk toward the door and remove my portrait from the left side of the door.

As Aastha had told me, I could see the nine buttons exactly like they were on the wall outside this room.

Remembering the pattern she had made, I started to press the buttons.

After pressing the fourth button, my hand hovers over the fifth one, my mind screaming at me not to push it.

But I could hear Aastha's screams coming through the screen, as well as the whipping sound of the belt slashing her flesh.

"I need to do this. I need to save her. I can't let her suffer on my account."

But no matter how much I will myself, I'm unable to bring myself to press the button.

Even if you press it now, there is no way you can save Aastha. Also, if you get out now, Rishabh will imprison you too. If that happens, both Aastha and you will suffer. But if you get out of here, you'll have a chance to save Aastha from Rishabh's cruelty and will also be able to punish that man for his deeds. My mind reasons.

Agreeing to the reason, I lower my hand briefly without pushing the button, but hearing Aastha's painful wail, I again raise my hand.

No. I can't let her suffer. I can't be so heartless.

I'm about to press the button but stop when the whipping sound and Aastha's screams cease, and I hear a new voice.

"Sir, we need to get out of here. Now."

Turning to the TV, I see a new man on the screen.

"Why, Hitesh? Why should we get out?" Rishabh asks the man.

"The police have found out that we were the ones who abducted Nandini from the venue. They have also gotten our location and will reach here any moment," Hitesh replies.

"How the fuck did they get our location? And how the hell did they know I was the one who abducted Nandini? I was sure not to leave behind any trail."

"The men we sent to keep an eye on the venue told me that the police got a clue from the washroom. The clue was the letters of your name written by someone around the sink with their lipstick. They were able to figure out your name through that clue," Hitesh informs Rishabh.

After a few moments of silence, Rishabh walks to where Aastha is lying on the floor, still whimpering in pain.

He rains down more slashes with the belt on her body. Her screams tearing at my heart.

"It was you, wasn't it?"

He whips her repeatedly before turning to Hitesh.

"I will deal with this slut in our new location," Rishabh says. "Tell everyone we will get out through the secret passageway in the basement. We can't risk going through the main gate as the police will enter the mansion through there.

"Also, make some men stay back so they can continue searching for Nandini. If they find her before the police arrive, tell them to do everything they can to bring her to our new location. Relay to them that I'll reward each of them handsomely if they succeed."

Saying that, Rishabh walks out of the room, and Hitesh also follows him out, carrying Aastha's almost unconscious body in his arms.

"Please come soon, Vikrant. Please come soon," I repeat over and over again, hoping they will reach here before Rishabh gets out.