by MV Kasi
Until a year ago, Gaurav hadn’t known that Suraj Bhupati was to blame for it.
Suraj Bhupati had apparently been with Pranit at that time with a few other friends. But because of a fight that ensued between them, since they both like the same woman who ultimately chose to be with Pranit, Suraj Bhupati deliberately ignored his friend while the fire broke out in the hotel room.
Gaurav had discovered that fact just before Trinity Hotels was to be investigated. Just before that, Gaurav was about to drop off from the case and let another officer handle it. But since he found out that Suraj Bhupati let Pranit die, it made Gaurav go after him.
“I didn’t know what was happening at the hotel, son,” his father told him weakly. “I might be power and money hungry, but I’ve never let dirty money soil my hands. I swear to it, son.” The machines beeped as his father’s heart rate sped up.
“It’s okay, father.” Gaurav held his father’s hand in both of his.
“I know it’s not an excuse, son. And I don’t care if I’m arrested again for it. But I want to be innocent in your eyes.”
Gaurav didn’t know how to react or feel.
His father was right. It wasn’t an excuse, but it was a thing that commonly occurred. Gaurav had seen that happen enough times, where one partner wasn’t aware of the illegal things the other partner did within the company they both owned.
“Please, tell me that you believe me, son.” Ganesh Verma who always had a larger-than-life powerful presence in public, looked old and weak as he looked imploringly at his son.
Gaurav took a deep breath. “I believe you.”
CHAPTER 58
“I changed my mind.”
Gaurav was seated in Vikram’s house.
“About what?” Vikram asked.
“I’m stepping away from the case against Suraj Bhupati and my father. I’ll hand it to someone else.”
“You might get suspended because of this, Gaurav.”
Gaurav let out a laugh. “That’s the best-case scenario.”
“Are you still going ahead with the plan of killing Suraj Bhupati?”
“No.”
Vikram was quiet. “Was it your father who changed your mind? Or was it Nina Bhupati?”
This time, it was Gaurav who remained quiet.
“Nina Bhupati might never leave her husband. Have you considered the possibility?” Vikram questioned.
“I have,” Gaurav confessed. “I know I’m taking a huge gamble here. I’m willing to risk my career and maybe my life, too. But I want to make her happy.” The words sounded emotional and mushy, but they were the truth.
“And she’s happy if you don’t kill her husband?”
Gaurav nodded.
“I see.”
“I know it sounds messed up. Stupid and reckless on my part to be doing this even at this point.”
“It is.”
Gaurav let out a laugh. His friend wasn’t the kind to mince any words.
“What are you planning to do next?” Vikram asked.
“She told me she was willing to come away with me. So, I’ll be taking her up on that promise. If I’m able to convince her, I’ll leave tonight.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know yet. But if I’m allowed, I’ll extend my long leave from work and take her somewhere far away where her husband or his family won’t be a threat to us, and the case details are out.” He smiled. “If she agrees, I’ll kidnap her once again.”
CHAPTER 59
Nina, Suraj and Radha were driving from the jail to a house owned by Radha.
After getting the bail required for Suraj’s release, they knew they couldn’t return back to their home or any of the places the Bhupatis owned because of the media circus.
Radha suggested they stay in this house until things settled.
Radha was briefing Nina with what they had found so far. “The money laundering transactions are quite damning. They are linking that money to drugs and human trafficking.”
Nina heard the rest of the details with a grim look on her face. “But Suraj barely gets involved in Trinity Hotels daily operations. It’s Raghuveer, Harika and their entire team.”
“Suraj’s name is listed as the owner, which automatically makes him guilty in the eyes of law,” Radha replied.
“I will let the law take its course,” Suraj added softly.
Nina took a deep breath. “The CBI officer who put together this case is the same man who had kidnapped me.”
Suraj and Radha, stared at her in shock.
“I just found out a while ago. He’s also Ganesh Verma’s son. Pranit Verma’s brother.”
There was silence. Nina still couldn’t wrap her head around how Gaurav was Ganesh Verma’s son.
“He knows about what happened with Pranit and us?” Radha asked.
“No,” Nina replied. “I had told him that I killed someone who raped my sister, but I didn’t tell him it was Pranit Verma.”
Gaurav would hate her. Nina wondered grimly, if he would destroy her, too, along with hating her.
“I thought he was doing this because his sister and mother were killed,” said Radha. “Although, I don’t understand how those women were related to him. Ganesh Verma’s wife died years ago and he had no daughters.”
Suraj looked taken aback, too. “Pranit was hardly the kind to talk about siblings. And Ganesh Verma never spoke anything apart from business or politics either.”
Suraj turned to Radha. “You think my father is involved in this somehow, too? Do you think he knew what was happening at the hotel and got the sister of the investigation officer killed as a warning?”
“I don’t know,” said Radha. “You know he is quite capable of it. And if he didn’t know Gaurav Kumar was Ganesh Verma’s son, then…”
“We need to find the real culprit with proofs,” Nina interjected.
CHAPTER 60
There were only two guards stationed outside the house in a very discreet manner. The house was located at the city outskirts and it wasn’t one of the houses that the Bhupatis owned. It was owned by Suraj Bhupati’s PA.
Gaurav was able to track it easily through Nina’s phone.
He waited until the guards fell asleep. He knew they wouldn’t wake up until the morning because of the drug in their food.
Using a small penknife, Gaurav cut through the window latch, allowing him to sneak into the house through the kitchen. Luck was on Gaurav’s side because the house did not have an alarm system.
Threading softly on the floor, Gaurav headed to one of the rooms at the back of the house. He didn’t know which one would have Nina in it.
It was stupid of him to come with a half-assed plan of taking her up on something she had told him if he promised to spare her husband’s life.
“I love you, too. I’ll follow behind you to the ends of the earth at any point in time. I’ll even come with you right now.”
Gaurav knew that Nina’s love was both his weakness and his strength. For her, he was willing to give up everything. His revenge. His career. And even his life.
All because he wanted to see her happy and also have a chance at building a life with her.
Vikram had more or less called him a fool, especially because they were only weeks away from destroying Suraj Bhupati. Vikram had told him that once Suraj Bhupati was put in jail after the case details became public, Gaurav could go after the broken man’s wife and claim her as his own.
But Gaurav knew his Nina.
Nina was loyal to the bone. No matter what hardship struck the person she cared about, she would stick next to them. It was one of the reasons why Gaurav loved her, even though the fact that she stuck next to her husband infuriated him the most.
Taking a deep breath, Gaurav opened the door to one of the bedrooms.
He was prepared for an ache in his chest that would come by seeing Nina sleeping in her husband’s arms.
Another thought struck him all of a sudden. It hit him in his gut like a
punch, inducing a searing jealously.
Gaurav hoped liked hell Nina and her husband weren’t having sex right then. Because instead of having a calm rational discussion, he might just fly into a rage and break the promise he had made to Nina. He would just end up shooting Suraj Bhupati before carrying Nina away.
Calm the hell down!
Gaurav took deep breaths to get the image of Nina with her husband out of his head. And he knew it was late and everyone must be sleeping at this time.
His eyes had already adjusted to the dark. Taking another deep breath, he slowly took a few steps towards the bed.
Everything inside him froze at the sight in front of him. A bare-chested couple were twined around each other in a very intimate way. Gaurav knew they were sleeping because of the soft snores that filled the air.
Nina wasn’t on the bed.
Suraj Bhupati and his PA, Radhakrishna were.
Suraj Bhupati was holding the other man the same way Gaurav had held Nina during the days spent in the forest cabin.
There was intimacy, there was tenderness, and there was passion.
Gaurav tried to reason why two men slept together that way when the wife of one of them was in the same house.
Several implications ran through Gaurav’s mind, leading him to only one conclusion.
Once Gaurav’s mind accepted what he saw and what it meant, several other things fell into places.
Instead of appeasing him, it only made things worse.
If Suraj Bhupati did not prefer women, then the fact that he had left Pranit to die in a fire while fighting over a woman was a lie.
That doesn’t mean he wasn’t responsible for giving the order to kill Shruti.
Gaurav recalled Nina telling him several times that her husband told her he’s wasn’t guilty. She also told Gaurav that her husband wasn’t even capable of giving such an order to kill an innocent person.
Gaurav was beginning to suspect that she might be speaking the truth. Gaurav also had a strong suspicion regarding who the real culprit.
He stepped out of the room and went into the living room before dialing a number on his phone.
Even though it was quite late, it was answered in two rings.
“Vikram,” Gaurav spoke softly into the phone with urgency in his tone. “Raghuveer Anand. He might have framed Suraj Bhupati. Keep an eye on him. Don’t let him escape.”
Vikram didn’t press him for details. “I will,” was all he said.
Gaurav ended the call and walked to the room on the other side of the house. The bedroom where Nina was most likely sleeping.
When he opened the door to the room, the sight invoked a totally opposite reaction than what he got before. His heart wrenched seeing the woman he loved curled up on the bed, all alone.
The abject loneliness she might have felt during the ten years of her marriage hit Gaurav like a punch. He felt an intense need to remove her loneliness and fill it with happiness and laughter.
Walking towards the bed, he knelt down on the floor, right next to her, and brushed the back of his fingers on her soft cheek.
The night lamp was turned on because Nina hated sleeping in complete darkness.
His heart wrenched once again when he saw the traces of dried tears on her cheeks. He knew most of her tears were because of him.
“I’m sorry, Nina,” he whispered softly. “I promise never to deliberately hurt you again.”
Nina stirred and slowly opened her eyes. “Gaurav?” she said.
“Yes.”
“I want to go back to our cabin.” Her voice was slow and modulated as though she was talking in her sleep.
“Me, too,” he answered, even though he knew she wasn’t completely awake.
“But how?” she asked, a soft sob escaping and piercing through her heart.
“I will make it happen. I promise.”
He picked up her hand and kissed her palm.
“Hold me,” she said softly.
Although it was madness, and he knew his safety depended on how quickly he could talk to her and convince her to leave with him, he still climbed into her bed and lay behind her, holding her close in a comforting embrace.
She let out a content sigh.
Gaurav realized how long and how much he had missed holding her like this.
The last time he had held her like this was nearly three months ago in the forest cabin. The previous night when he had met with Nina at his apartment, there was barely a moment of tenderness. At that time the raw need that he had for her after three months of being away from her, had taken over.
Nina slowly turned in his arms. She stared at him, blinking sleepily.
He held her face with both his hands and kissed her gently on her lips. She kissed him back, moaning softly.
Gaurav knew he was going to be in deep trouble as his body began to come alive. His hardness poked into her stomach through the soft material of her night dress, making her gasp softly.
As soon he heard her gasp, he heard the change in the tenor of her breathing. He knew she must have realized she wasn’t dreaming and he was really there with her.
Slowly, he released her lips and pulled away a couple of inches.
There was no shock or fear in her eyes. He could only see hope.
She smiled. “I knew you would come for me,” she said, tears filling her eyes.
His chest felt constricted as he wiped away the tears that had escaped. “I would always come for you, Nina. No matter what,” he said.
Another sob broke through her. “That’s because you don’t know the truth yet.”
“The truth doesn’t matter to me when it comes to choosing you over anything. Before coming here, I made up my mind not to kill your husband and to let the law take its course. I choose you over my retribution.”
Nina looked relieved, but her eyes still held despair. “Letting the law take its course if for the best Gaurav. But about asking me to come with you... you need to know the truth first.”
He wanted to wipe the misery off her face. “Nothing you say will ever make me give you up,” he said. “And I found out the truth about your marriage, Nina.”
That made her sit up straight on the bed with widened eyes. “You know the truth about my marriage?”
Gaurav sat up as well. “Yes. I saw your husband with his PA in the other room.”
“This can never get out, Gaurav,” she said urgently. “People will never accept him as their leader. His reputation will be completely ruined. And all the good he has done so far and wants to do in the future will be for nothing.”
“I know,” Gaurav said gently. He knew Nina loved her husband. But Gaurav wasn’t jealous of that love anymore. It only made the love he had towards her, grow even more. “I know that if the truth gets out, his life will be in danger too,” he added.
She nodded her head sadly. “Suraj and Radha have been together for over fifteen years. It’s just so sad that two people who love each other as much as they do, cannot be together in the eyes of the law. All because of the current society and the norms.”
Gaurav knew Nina was right, and agreed with her that it was a secret Suraj Bhupati will likely have to carry until his death.
Gaurav knew how much it hurt him even now when he wasn’t able to claim Nina as his in front of the world. He couldn’t imagine having to do that all his life.
“Why are you here, Gaurav?” she asked.
“I came here to convince you to come away with me tonight, Nina,” he confessed.
She smiled, but her smile held doubts. “I told you before. I would gladly go with you anywhere,” she replied. “But there’s something you should know about me first, Gaurav.”
He knew nothing she’d say would make the slightest of difference to him. But he could see that it made a difference to her. “What is it?” he asked.
Her lips trembled as she got her words out. “I killed your brother,” she confessed.
Gaurav was shocked, and then slowly com
prehension dawned.
He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. “Please, don’t hate me,” he heard her whisper.
The revelation utterly devastated him.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that Nina continued to look miserable.
He threaded his fingers through her hair and held her cheek. He looked into her eyes and could see dread forming in them.
“How can you even bear to be in the same room as me?” he asked. “I’m the brother of the man who brutally killed your innocent sister.”
Nina looked taken aback.
He hated that she felt guilty for killing an animal that had violated her sister. Guilty because she thought he would blame her for it.
“I stabbed and killed your brother, Gaurav,” she repeated, as though she was worried he didn’t understand what she had revealed.
“What you did was right, Nina. You were protecting yourself and your sister. I would have shot him, too, had I seen him do that to a woman.”
Hope filled her eyes. “You mean it?” she asked. “You don’t hate me for that?”
“No, Nina. I don’t hate you. I love you. And I don’t know what I did right to be able to deserve having the love of someone like you.” He kissed her softly on her lips.
A radiant smile broke on her face.
Gaurav felt his breath catch as he looked at the woman he loved. He now knew why his subconscious was so adamant not to let her go. Despite knowing she was married. Despite thinking she loved her husband, something about her continued to make him love her. Crave her. And fight for her.
It wasn’t just because he wanted to be buried inside her. It was because he was proud of loving a woman like her. A woman so beautiful, so kind, so fierce, and so loyal.
With her next to him, he knew he could take on the world.
And now, she became his very reason for happiness. She made him feel alive and free. She gave him hope.
He kissed her again. “God, Nina. I want so badly to be inside you right now. But the way I feel right now, I know it won’t be a quiet event. Your husband or his lover will hear us and might shoot me.”
