Page 115

“Yes, sir.”

Akhil nods respectfully. Vikrant takes a moment to observe everything again. Then, glancing at his watch, he pulls out his phone and connects to a surveillance feed from the camera inside Jhankar’s room. His eyes scan the screen intently. As he steps out of the chamber, he turns to Akhil and speaks in a firm, commanding voice.

“I need to get back to the hospital as soon as possible. You stay here and investigate everything thoroughly. I want to know if Dad was involved in any illegal activities from here. I don’t want anything to come out in the news. You know how the media will react once they find out Ravindra Dhanraj’s farmhouse was attacked. So far, we’ve managed to keep it under wraps, but once it leaks, the media will swarm this place. Make sure there’s nothing here that could escalate the situation.”

As Vikrant steps out and scans the surroundings with a sharp eye, he suddenly stops and turns toward Akhil again.

“Sonakshi and Vyom won’t be in danger anymore. Make arrangements to bring them here as soon as possible. Coordinate with uncle and aunt to explain things properly. Now that Chandel is no more, there’s no immediate threat to them. I’m already sending Riya and her mother to her grandfather’s place. If they meet Sonakshi once before leaving, it might bring some peace to them both. But make sure no one else sees Sonakshi. No one must know where she is right now. Her safety is a priority, she’s pregnant, and her health needs to come before everything else.”

Akhil listens carefully and then nods with a soft, knowing smile. Vikrant notices the slight smile and momentarily pauses. But he doesn't comment. Instead, as he reflects on his words, he realizes just how deeply he’s been caring for everyone around him, a side of himself he never openly embraced before. He shakes off his thoughts, steels his mind, thinks about nothing, and heads back toward the spiral staircase. He knows he must reach Jhankar without delay. But just as he’s about to ascend, his steps come to a sudden halt…

Akhil, who was walking just behind him, suddenly collided with him as Vikrant came to an abrupt halt. But instead of reacting with irritation, Akhil immediately looked at him with concern. Vikrant took a small step back and carefully scanned the surroundings in every direction.

“What happened, sir?” Akhil asked in a low voice.

Vikrant continued looking around intently, his eyes sweeping every corner of the corridor, He then replied in a serious tone,

“I heard someone’s voice.”

As soon as Akhil heard those words, he too began glancing around cautiously. But there didn’t seem to be many rooms in that part of the building, which puzzled him slightly. He couldn’t figure out where a voice could have come from in such an isolated place.

Vikrant tried to shake off his thoughts and turned around, intending to move forward again, when suddenly, a faint metallic clinking sound reached his ears. This time, Akhil heard it too, clearly and unmistakably. Both men immediately grew alert, their bodies tensing instinctively. Vikrant pointed in the direction from which the sound had come, and the two ofthem began moving towards it, their footsteps cautious and deliberate.

Just as they moved closer, they heard the sound again, but strangely, there didn’t appear to be any visible door in that direction. Confused, they started searching the wall, checking if there might be a hidden entrance or a secret panel, but nothing was immediately obvious. Akhil’s eyes fell on a dusty photograph of Sonia hanging slightly askew on the wall. Something about it caught his attention. He quickly took it down and began wiping the dust off it with his sleeve.

As he moved to hang the photo back in place, he noticed a small button hidden behind the frame. He glanced at Vikrant. Vikrant was already staring directly at the button, his expression intense. Without wasting a moment, he pressed it.

In an instant, the entire section of the wall vanished, revealing a hidden room behind it. The sudden appearance of the concealed space left Vikrant even more astonished. Taking a cautious step forward, he entered the room. His eyes roamed around the dimly lit interior. A foul, putrid stench hung heavily in the air, causing him to instinctively cover his nose with the edge of his shirt. Still, he pushed forward, his gaze sharpening as he noticed a vague silhouette in the darkness. Someone was there.

Akhil, meanwhile, was feeling along the walls for a light switch. He finally spotted a switchboard and flipped it on. The room was instantly bathed in harsh, yellow light. Vikrant and Akhil both turned to look toward the far end of the room and froze.

A woman was bound in place. Her ankles were tightly gripped by heavy shackles, and her body was curled tightly, as if she was desperately clinging to something. The area around her was filthy, the floor layered with grime, and it was painfully obvious that she hadn’t bathed or changed clothes in manydays. The sight was disturbing, unsettling even. Vikrant felt a deep hesitation, a strange unease that made him want to step back. But something strange, a silent, inexplicable pull, drew him toward her. His steps carried him closer, even as his mind screamed questions. He spoke cautiously, almost whispering.

“Who are you...?”

The woman slowly turned her head toward him, her eyes hollow but her face covered with her hair. She uttered something in a fragile, trembling voice. Vikrant's eyes widened in disbelief at the thought of locking someone in such a terrible condition here. Breath caught in his throat. His feet remained immobile as he gazed at her hair-covered face, paralyzed by the surge of emotions that suddenly overwhelmed him. His mind raced. Who is she? Why is she locked up here? The questions circled in his head, but no answers came. Akhil stepped forward slowly, equally stunned.

“Sir… Do you know her?”

Vikrant still couldn’t see the woman’s face; her tangled, unkempt hair completely covered it. She was clutching something tightly in her hands, her grip tense, her body trembling, and she kept murmuring something incomprehensible under her breath, over and over again, like a chant lost in madness. Suddenly, she reached out and grabbed both of Vikrant’s hands with startling strength, her voice rising in a desperate plea.

“Take me to my son… Please take me to my son…”

Her hands were filthy, rough, and smeared with dirt and dried blood. Vikrant instinctively looked down at his hands, now soiled by her touch. But the moment her words reached his ears, something inside him shifted; he froze. He forgot to breathe. Hisbody stilled, as though the very air had thickened around him. He slowly raised his head, trying once again to get a clearer look at her face. But the wild curtain of hair still concealed her features, keeping her identity hidden behind a veil of neglect and suffering. Compelled by something he couldn’t explain, Vikrant gently pulled his hands free and reached forward. His fingers trembled as he brushed the matted hair away from her face, strand by strand. And then… he saw her.

His heart stopped.

A single word escaped his lips, barely more than a whisper, heavy with disbelief and anguish.

“Mom…”

His voice cracked as it left his mouth, his eyes wide with a mix of shock, sorrow, and confusion.

He staggered back a step, staring at her in disbelief, unable to accept what was in front of him. Her eyes, once bright and full of warmth, now seemed hollow, lost in pain and time. Her skin was pale, streaked with dirt, and the woman he remembered looked nothing like the ghost of the person sitting in front of him now. Akhil, witnessing the moment from behind, stood frozen in shock, trying to process what he had just heard.

“Sir… Did you just say… your mother?”

Vikrant didn’t respond. Tears welled in his eyes, but he didn’t blink. A thousand memories came flooding in: childhood laughter, lullabies, the scent of home, and now, this unbearable truth standing right before him. How is such an event possible? She is dead, but she is in front of him, like this. Why? He imagined thousands of times that she would come back. But not the way he had ever imagined. And beneath the silence, the broken whisper of the woman continued to echo—