Chapter 23

Khushi cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders back, feeling the tell-tale protest of stiff muscles. Her fingers moved up to press against that one specific spot on her neck that seemed to be in constant pain - but it did nothing to ease the ache.

She then wiggled in her seat. Trying to wake her almost sleeping leg. The plush sofa beneath her was supposed to be as luxurious as a piece of furniture could get. In fact the top floor of the hospital where she sat was nothing short of the penthouse of any respectable five-star hotel. But it stopped feeling like a luxury days back. Now it was just another overtly soft, and decadent space around her that did nothing to ease her mind or body.

She brought her fingers back down to the waiting laptop. The half-composed email on the screen in front of her almost goading her to finish. Why-oh-why did people not understand their responsibilities even when it was written in plain black and white. She had been trying to coordinate four different teams belonging to number of vendors that AR had on retainer.

Wasn’t the whole point of being on retainer was that the vendors were supposed to be up to the exacting standards and demands of AR?

Why was it then that they still came back with questions - more often than not stupid questions – which at this point of their run up to the summer event was just unacceptable.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard once again and finally satisfied with the list of bullet points of the to-do list she was hoping was equal part helpful and demeaning, she hit the sent button. The familiar swish sound confirmed the email had left her screen and immediately she was on to the next issue. They were now less than a month away from the AR’s summer event and it was literally all hands-on deck. Tickets were booked, models were prepping day and night, costumes were checked and then rechecked, their in-house security team coordinating with the Paris PD to make sure the whole event goes off without a hitch.

She was tired. No actually tired was the state she was in a week back. Now she was just sustaining. Going from one problem to another. Getting everything where it was supposed to be before they had to get up and fly to Paris to host one the biggest and most anticipated event of the year.

Perfection was not expected, it was a given.

Speaking of perfection, her eyes blinked few times and unintentionally moved up to peer into the half open French window of the room located to her side - something she did so many times a day that now it was more like a muscle memory.

Even with the partially open white drapes in the middle, she could clearly see Arnav sitting on the bed. Few bandages still covering part of his forehead and shoulders. She knew he had few more of them hidden beneath his buttoned shirt. But none of those mattered, because ignoring all of that, he was busy furiously typing something on the laptop perched on the tiny tray table in front of him and barking order to someone on the handsfree attached to his ear.

She sighed. At least he was ok. But he was yet to accept that he needed to take it easy for few more days. It had only been just over three weeks since that awful night.

---

Arnav recovered and he recovered well. In fact Khushi still remembered that particular morning when he finally opened his eyes after almost a week of being in comma.

The upper two floors of the City hospital catered to the rich and famous. The semi-circle of both floors was made into suites. Each of them almost as big as self-sustaining flats. After Arnav's surgery, they all knew that it was a long road ahead for his recovery. And they just refused to leave his side. The biggest suite on the top-most floor of the hospital was booked and Raizada family all but moved into it. They hardly left the hospital and by proxy hardly left the space outside the private ICU where Arnav slept.

It was around Four A.M. on the fourth day of Arnav still being in comma. Everyone was fast asleep in the suite when Khushi felt this fervid need to see Arnav. They were forbidden to walk on the ICU floors after mid-night. So carefully, hoping to not draw any attention toward herself she made her way to Arnav's room. The need to reassure herself that he was still there was too powerful to think of the repercussions. The nurse's station was strangely empty - something that never happened. Breathing a sigh of relief, she slowly pushed open his door and tip toed her way into it. The loud beeping from the machines attached to his body filling all her senses.

"Hey". She whispered. "How are you today? I am so sorry I couldn't come to see you in evening. Our new boutique in London had issues on top of issues. But it’s all resolved now. In fact, that little store is turning out to be one of our best assets. You will see”.

Her voice hitched at her last statement. Tears clouding her eyes. Her heart thudding with a prayer. Something she had done every single minute in last few days. Wishing for her words to become true. For him to open his eyes. To see.

And that's when it happened.

It started out so slow that she thought she imagined it at first. His eyes twitched and his fingers moved. His head shook slightly and the machine behind her beeped loudly. The stats rising up so suddenly that she got up with her eyes wide in panic. And then he was choking. His entire body going rigid and beginning to shake uncontrollably.

Scream tore through her lips as she called the doctor at top of here lungs. And within seconds the room was swarming with several nurses and doctors. Dr Mayank rushed inside last. He moved toward Arnav, not before narrowing his eyes on Khushi who was not suppose to be there at all.

He spoke to the junior doctor in hushed tone and relief spread through his face.

"Doctor, oh my god! What is happening to him. What...."

"It's ok"

"No it's not. He is choking... Do something". She shouted amidst her tears and Mayank shook his head.

"He is choking because his body is trying to breath on its own. We are going to take his intubation tubes out now. His body is finally fighting the comma"

She stared at him - eyes still wide. Unable to compute what he was saying. So he nodded his head at one of his nurse, who ushered Khushi out of the room.

Minutes later, and with half of the Raizada clan now pacing the front of the ICU, Mayank emerged with a soft smile.

"We have taken him off the ventilator now. He is not awake yet. But he is much stable. We will continue to monitor him. You all should get some sleep. Come back in the morning?"

They all nodded their heads in gratitude and slowly walked back to the suite.

"Can I see him for a minute? Just one minute, I won't take more than that, I promise. Please - I need... please... just one minute?".

He almost said no. This was against the protocol. But the pleading eyes of Khushi was enough for Mayank to change his mind.

He sighed. "One minute. I am going to get some coffee for myself. And, you will be gone by the time I am back?"

She nodded her head vigorously as she walked back into Arnav's room.

True to Mayank's words he did seem stable. And even though he was still sleeping like he had been from last few days, there was an occasional flicker behind his eyelids now. His throat which was hidden behind tubes and bandages until minutes ago was now moving slightly. It wasn't much, but it was enough for Khushi to realise that he was finally out of the pit he was swirling from last four days.

She inhaled a shaky breath and before she could contemplate her own actions, she bent down and brushed his lips softly with her own, and whispered softly, "I missed you so much Arnav".

Arnav came in and out of consciousness couple times over the next few days. Hardly lucid, his haze always filled with confusion and unrecognition. They all tried to talk to him each time, but other than the increased sound from his heart monitor, nothing else changed.

And then finally one morning his eyes were wide open and clear. Scratchy voice leaving his lips so softly that it would been missed if not for everyone already hovering around him.

The wave of relief and joy that spread through the room and emanated off every single member of Raizada family was so potent, that it stumped Khushi completely. She had always questioned and doubted the emotion called 'love' but in that moment when every one flocked around awake Arnav, she realised that even though love wasn't meant for her - she finally saw what unconditional love looked like. She finally saw how essential Arnav was not just for her own survival but how he held every single Raizada's heart in the palm of his hands.

Arnav's eyes swept across the room to take everyone one in and finally at the end connected with hers. Few seconds ticked by his face unreadable to her.

Sucker punched to the gut, pulse in her throat started to climb. His Adam's apple bobbed with a swallow in response. His eyes stayed on her for few more moments. Unspoken words of pain and betrayal flowing between them. And then it was over. Just like that he wretched his eyes away from hers, burning the tether between them so completely that she never got it back again.

And since that day not once he looked at her. She was invisible to him now. It was exactly what she wanted when she first met him all those months back. It was also something she deserved and expected after what she did. But still it broke her heart bit-by-bit every day.

Every important meeting practically took place inside his hospital suite and being part of his inner circle, she attended all of them. They still argued, they still made policies together; they still supported each other's decision in front of the others. But, all of that happened without Arnav looking at her. Not even once...not even for a second.

One thing she knew for sure that if he ever decided to look at her again even, when she didn’t paid attention she would still know. Such was the weird connection between them. And so, the absence of that feeling was what pinched her like several needles.

Deep down she was happy, happy that at least he was alive. Happy that even though he no longer wanted to do anything with her anymore, he at least was getting stronger.

Her eyes moistened, as she saw him frowning at his screen. Somehow the possibility that he might be looking at her email was strangely comforting. This was the only connection they shared now and although it hurt, she knew she will live. She knew that once she left this country forever, it will hurt, but the knowledge that he was living his life would be enough for her to survive.

She again closed her eyes painfully as the face of an unknown woman popped into her head. A woman with whom Arnav would make a life. A woman he would give himself to, woman he would kiss, woman he would make love to. Bile rose her throat. The idea of Arnav touching someone else heart-breaking and nauseating.

She saw him reach for the glass of water next to him and she almost got up to help him. But stopped herself immediately. She did not have that right anymore. She had lost the right to go anywhere near him. To help him, to talk to him, to hug him and never let him go. In fact she lost the right to look at him even. Isn't that what every single of his action and lack of reaction toward her indicated?

---

"Got you! You son of a bitch"

"Shit, it’s so hot when you curse like that."

Sheetal shot an irritating look at sniggering NK, as she got up to pack her laptop. Not even bothering to come up with a response to something that flew out of NK's mouth more times than she could count in a day.

"Seriously, can you go one full hour without flirting."

"Well, I can try... But, nah, the view is just too good to ignore. You are the girl of my dreams". NK winked, making Sheetal roll her eyes.

"You know that if you weren't Arnav's brother, I would have thrown you behind bars by now. And for your information, I am also the girl who sleeps with a gun”.

"Fuck! See, just when I thought you couldn't get any hotter”.

"Ok enough, let’s go before I shoot you”.

"Go where? And I thought you found something”.

"I did and I don't like repeating myself. So, we are going to the hospital. I prefer telling all of you together what I found”.

Giving her a mock salute NK got up to follow Sheetal - extracting another eyeroll from her.

Arnav had contacted Sheetal the evening before his accident when Khushi was still unconscious. He gave her a quick rundown of everything about the Khanna's. And later, in the days that followed Akaash and NK kept in regular touch with her to keep themselves abreast with her progress.

Sheetal led the white-collar branch of CBI and had enough clout and connections in various countries that her expertise proved to be unmatched.

She immediately deployed several people at various locations, knitting the clues that NK and Jai found out of Suraj's locker. And now, almost a month later, she finally caught a break. She knew Arnav well enough to understand that this was not just some business rivalry and revenge for what happened with his fabrics anymore. She had seen the bond that existed between him and Khushi. And after everything that NK narrated to her and Khushi's link to Shashi - it was more than enough for Sheetal to understand that this was personal for Arnav. And knowing ASR, she just knew that he wouldn't rest until he buried Shashi completely.

---

"Umm, Khushi should be here for this. Let me see where she is". Akaash whipped out his phone to dial, his voice hesitant. While NK and Shayam helped Sheetal to dock her laptop and projector in place.

"No need. You can fill her in later. We don't have the luxury to waste time. Sheetal, please go ahead".

Arnav's voice was clear and crisp. But the underlying pain that still shone through it was enough for Akaash to close his eyes and lock his phone back. He shared a worried look with Shayam who just shook his head. This was not the time or place to ask Arnav or even to try and understand why they couldn't wait for few more minutes when they had already waited several weeks for this.

They all knew. Or at least they all guessed. Something had gone terribly wrong between Arnav and Khushi. The way Arnav made sure to never look at Khushi and the blatant longing that Khushi's face reflected every time she was around him was enough for all of them to know something had happened. Something big. They knew their Arnav was not a vindictive person. Something had gone out of hands. But none of them knew what to do about it. They were worried sick, but knew how strong both Arnav's and Khushi's personalities were to even think about getting in the middle.

Akaash somehow sensed that Payal might be aware of this sudden friction. But he also knew that if his wife was choosing not to share it with him then she had a good reason for it. She would come to him when she was ready. And until then they all did their best to act as normal as they could around them.

"Alright then". Sheetal took few steps back from the projector which was finally working as expected, and moved to the back of the room so everyone could concentrate on the screen. She clicked on the remote in her hand and Shashi's face filled up the bare white wall in front of Arnav's bed.

"I was finally able to connect most of the dots you guys threw at me. So, here you go. There is a lot of information here and so, I will try to be as clear and concise as possible"

Akaash, Shayam and NK all shuffled to sit down around Arnav and the slew of images rolled on the screen.

"Shashank Khanna A.K.A Shashi Gupta, married Deepali Khanna much before he even met Garima Gupta. Deepali, by the way was the daughter of one of the millionaires in Singapore and died while giving birth to her son Suraj".

Suraj's face now lay side-by-side to Shashi's and Sheetal continued. "I still didn't find much about his personal life, but as far as Shashi's crime world is concerned, here you go - As we all know until few days back Shashi Gupta was presumed dead. His body was supposedly found in Lucknow about Seven-Eight years ago. The local police waited for the family to come forward at the time, but since no one claimed his body, he was cremated at some local cremation grounds. That is the story we all know. Now, here is what really happened”.

Another picture emerged on screen, this time of random objects, all tagged with official looking seals. "I contacted the medical examiner who looked at Shashi's "dead" body and he confirmed that the body that was found on the railway track had burn marks all over its face. All its fingers were burnt, and all the teeth were pulled out - essentially making identification of the body impossible"

"Then how the hell they decided it to be Shashi Gupta??", Shayam exclaimed in disgust.

"Well, Shashi Gupta's wallet with all his ID cards was found on this body. Now, normally the police would have investigated this further. But, the medical examiner never came forward with any of his suspicions and whoever was the head of the police at that time preferred closing the file instead of adding up to his work load. The case was closed, declaring Shashi Gupta dead for good. Now, I tracked every single contact of Shashi after this death fiasco. The first thing that popped up was this"

She once again pointed her remote toward the screen only to show collage of several pictures.

"Exactly seven months after Shashi's so-called death, a truck was intercepted at the borders of Haiti. The driver had the custom clearance and normally they would have just let him go. But, one officer got suspicious and when he pushed open this container truck he found around forty young girls and boys chained to the walls of the truck along with several cartons of coke. The driver was taken into custody and within minutes he surrendered. The same thing happened at four different places in the span of one year - Dubai, Mexico, Brazil and Detroit. And in every case the drivers surrendered within minutes of questioning."

"And it is suspicious why?", NK asked as he frowned at various newspaper clippings that now lay in front of them.

"Because I remembered what you guys told me about the recent bombing. The bomber just like that appeared out of nowhere and surrendered. After chasing these criminals for years, there is one thing I have come to understand. The more vicious crime you do, the tougher you get. And for such criminals to surrender within minutes is what pricked at me. So, I contacted the local PD at all these locations. I had to pull several- and I mean several strings, but I managed to get my guys at these places to interview these incarcerated drivers. Well, no one talked, except two of them. They said they were scared, and they will talk only if we were willing to transfer them into protective custody. According to the driver at Mexico, a man named "Sam" spoke to him and offered him a very lucrative deal. The drug trafficking is very high in Mexico and adding young girls and boys to the business seemed extremely profitable. But, on the date of delivery the family of the driver disappeared and before he could do anything about it, Sam called and blackmailed him. He said that if anything goes wrong with the border patrol, the driver couldn't implicate him, or his family will die. Similar story came from the driver in Brazil. Both of them said one more common thing - this man Sam they spoke to, had an Indian accent"

"The fuck!". Akaash bit out disgustingly.

"Oh there is more! The account numbers that you people found in Suraj's pen drives; I tracked it to one of the local business owners in Detroit. I got the local PD to raid his place, and this is what we found"

"Auto theft, bill counterfeiting, extortion? There are details of several clients in these files... What...?" Before Shayam could finish, Sheetal flipped to her next screen.

"There were back-to-back deposits of similar amount made to this man's account all throughout the year after Shashi's supposed death. We arrested this businessman and after hitting and scaring him, he opened his mouth. A man named "Benson" was a go to guy when it came to human trafficking. He was big in the underworld and when he contacted this businessman, he didn't think twice before striking a deal with him. Getaway vehicles, ship transportations, fake bills for pay-offs, and extorting people in power or the vehicle drivers, were few of the services they provided Benson. They too never saw his face, as he always contacted them through phone and sent one of his guys to do face to face transaction. The bills were always paid through offshore account, and so 'see no harm and do no harm' was all this business owner did. And... the man "Benson", again had Indian accent”.

"Just a second, if none of these people has seen Shashi's face, then how are you so sure this Sam or Benson is nothing but aliases of Shashi?", NK spoke.

"Because I found all these people from the details you found in Suraj's locker and after I subpoenaed the old phone records of all these drivers and "Benson's" business partners - we clipped the parts of the conversation where "Sam" or "Benson" person was talking. We then ran it through voice recognition software. Sam/ Benson - his voice pattern and wavelength was a near perfect match to Shashank's voice. Which was also a match to Shashi's voice. Snippets of something Payal provided us before.

"Then we can arrest him?". NK asked in confusion, to which Sheetal sighed.

"We could, but there is a very high chance that he will go free. All we have is circumstantial evidence and the statements of desperate criminals. And the voice identification results are acceptable in courts, but it makes for a flimsy case at best. We need more. It is simply not enough”.

"So, the story is still the same. Whatever we find about this man, we never have enough to arrest him. Great!". Shayam sat down disappointedly.

"However, I did what Arnav asked me to do three days back. I contacted the iLockers company's COO with all the proofs that we found against the Khanna's. He was not very keen in indulging in any details at first but after understanding the fact that we can arrest him later under the charges of "aiding and abetting the criminal", he agreed to give up Suraj Khanna's locker information. This will get us all the videos from the front camera on his locker's door and the details of the items inside that locker. He also agreed to provide us with the locker code and security card”.

"But"

Sheetal looked up at Arnav who spoke for the very first time. She shut her laptop down, essentially disconnecting the projector with it too and groaned in irritation.

"But... it's the same problem - for us to use all of that information or to get a search warrant for Khanna's office, we need something solid. And we don't have it. We need to get enough proof that Shashi Gupta A.K.A Shashank Khanna is related to all these operations. I can connect Shashi to all these people I found from seven years ago but, I need an entry point - an entry I don't have. Anything, anything that can get him in the open and then rest would be a piece of cake. But, dammit! I don't know how to get that entry..."

"I can get you that entry"

All eyes snapped towards the open door where stood Khushi with pained expression on her face.

"Khushi...", Akaash spoke softly as she stepped inside the room, firmly closing the door behind her.

"You want to draw him out? Simple, leak the information about my existence to him. The moment he will hear about me, I promise you he will come out. I can give you the break you need Sheetal"

"Khushi, you need to think about this. We all know how unpredictable this man is. We don't know what he will do when he learns about you", Shayam spoke in a concerned voice.

"I know, but he has damaged just too many lives – innocent girls and boys. And as we have all discussed earlier too, we are the first ones and I am pretty sure the last ones, to come this close to nail him. If the only thing stopping us from connecting him to all the key evidence is his absence, then I am sure I can be the one who can help you with it"

"I think... it can work. We can use Naveen, whom NK planted at Suraj's office to start dropping hints about Khushi and this might work perfectly."

Sheetal was just about to pick up her phone to call her colleagues, when a loud and firm voice erupted across the room.

The moment she entered the room, Arnav closed his eyes in pain. And the moment she started giving ideas to Sheetal about how useful she can be, he couldn't help but curse under his breath. This was the reason he didn't want Akaash to call her. He knew Khushi will try to do this. Who would know her better than him. He hoped that Shayam and Akaash would find a way to stop her but knowing Khushi who could stand against her stubbornness than him. And so the moment Sheetal gave a thumbs up to Khushi, he just exploded.

"No!!"

Sheetal's fingers paused on her phone screen, every other eyes in the room swung towards Arnav and Khushi's just closed with an exhale.

"Arnav! This can work"

"I don't care. Find another way Sheetal"

"But.."

"I don't want to drag this any further. It's a no"

He interrupted Sheetal in a cutting tone, but not once he looked at Khushi. He was talking about her but still refused to look at her.

Drawing a deep breath, Khushi whispered this time.

"Arnav please, this can work. I can do this. I want to do this"

And his carefully crafted façade of patience fractured.

"What don't you get? Or are you intentionally blind to everyone around you? Or maybe you dont give a god-fucking-damn to other's opinion? I have been running AR long enough to know how to deal with such people. I do not.... I repeat, I do not need any charity from my employees. You are here for couple of months. Stop involving yourself in matters that don't concern you. Just do you normal day job and fuck off”.

His last statement went off like a bomb.

Several gasps rang out. But Khushi just stared at him. Her palms curled. Fisting so tight that they turned white. Her eyes blurred with tears that she was trying to keep at bay. Soft whimper left her lips. She knew what she broke between them. She expected some of his hatred too. But something shattered irreparably inside her in that moment because every single venom filled word he just spat out - he did so without looking at her even once.

She whirled around and stumbled out the room. One thing stark in her mind - she had lost him forever and there was nothing she could ever do to get him back. Not even as a colleague. Not even as an acquaintance. It was over. And only she was to blame for it.