Realisation And Nurture (BOOK #2) ✔

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"Ash-na is not on-ly a liar but a bloo-dy killer." Sanchi snapped out of her chair in the cabin of officer Aliya, narrating every bit of the fateful incident that had taken place in the Bundela mansion. "She was plot-ting to kill me for a long time and in the pro-cess, my brother fell prey to her evil mot-ives."

"Look Sanchi, I didn't even have this hint of what her intention was behind coaxing me to hand over her case to you." Aliya adjusted her spectacles over her nose. "I was under the impression that she might have found you to be among the most eligible individuals to work upon her case."

"Tho-ugh I had disco-vered she was related to my in-laws, I was ready to stand agai-nst all odds to earn the justice she deser-ved, even if it meant to fight aga-inst my own family." Sanchi rested both her hands on the table. "I was pre-paring my heart and soul for it, but she commi-tted such a heinous crime even bef-ore I could do any-thing!"

"What do you think how should we conclude this case, going by the knowledge that Vihaan Sir has already taken the initiative to arrest Ashna?" Aliya finally asked, shoving her hands into the pockets of her khaki trousers.

"I want you to pa-use this case for a while. Her imprison-ment is needed to pro-ceed with her case again." Sanchi justified sternly, determined to face Ashna in a different avatar next time. "I can take up so-me other case ri-ght now."

"Do you remember you have Mrs. Lipika Oberoi's case pending?"

"I defi-nitely remember but... I won-der why a woman from Delhi appeal-ed to the CBI bur-eau of Indore!"

"Let me clarify it to you. It's a very new and innovative idea of handing over women-oriented issues to women investigators. As you are aware that there are very few women working with the CBI so cases from all over India were allotted randomly. It's also true that there are rare instances of females moving forward to bring their stories of harassment in the public or drafting a report for the cyber branch of the CBI to handle it."

"Offi-cer Aliya, does it mean I will ha-ve to tra-vel all the way to Delhi to build a rap-port with the rich lady?"

Aliya nodded. "Most probably yes. In fact, it's also needed for every staff to work at the headquarters in Delhi at least once in his lifetime. You won't want to miss the opportunity, will you?"

"I will let you know what-ever my deci-sion will be." Sanchi took a departure from the cabin politely.

Vihaan raised his eyes from the file he was going through at his desk when he heard Sanchi's anklet as she moved out of Aliya's cabin and walked past his room without throwing a glimpse at his door. He strode to the corridor as fast as he could, uttering her name from behind. "Sanchi..."

She turned at once, stared into his eyes roughly for a couple of seconds, and turned away again. "Sir, I don't thi-nk I am working under you any-more. Officer Aliya has alre-ady given me a case and I'm keenly look-ing forward to work-ing with it."

"I thought if we could have lunch together... ?" He murmured slowly, waiting for her answer.

"Sorry Sir, I alre-ady had it." Feelings of guilt drained through her heart as she uttered those mean words, knowing very well that she hadn't eaten anything since the time she was at the bureau. "Staying in a sto-mach that is empty is not actu-ally good for health."

He unwillingly nodded, letting her depart for her chamber without any further conversation. Unhappy and dejected as he was, he couldn't force Sanchi for something that could work for their battered relationship. All he could do was to try and bring justice to both Shaurya and Ahaana, with a strong belief that Sanchi would surely forgive him someday.