BEYOND THE CLOUDS (Completed)

Chapter 57

“I should have known” Sidharth smirked mumbling under his breath as his parents stepped closer. “Oh my god” Rikki Shukla feigned pity as she saw Sidharth’s bloodied face. “Tch tch, Ombir idhar aao” she sternly summoned and one of the goons promptly walked to her “Akal hai kuch? Bola tha na halka halka maaro? Aankh phod diya mere bete ka” she scolded Ombir, who stood with his head lowered. “Oh my baby, I am so sorry, these oafs just don’t know how to follow the instructions right. Does that hurt too much?” she touched Sidharth’s swollen shut eye making him wince in pain. “Rikki.. what the fuck is all this about?” he slurred tasting some more of his blood as he spoke. Feeling enraged at his parents he exerted some more pressure trying to break the rope tied around him free, but couldn’t manage much as his whole body ached when he moved. With a flinch he resigned back, looking his mother straight into the eye. “Oh no no, don’t do that baby, you will hurt yourself” Rikki said, bringing out the fake motherly sympathy.

“This is all about the money” Ajay Shukla announced stepping closer “Sidharth, we never meant to take this step, but you left us with no choice” with a hand patting Sidharth’s shoulder he continued, “But you know what son? I am done begging for my own money. You have no idea how humiliating it feels to stand in that office of yours every month awaiting you to sign the cheque, when all this rightfully belongs to me” Ajay scoffed “Excuse me, rightfully belongs to us. U and me equally” Rikki added scorning at Ajay “Ofcourse darling. You too” he sweetened up immediately realizing Rikki was not someone who would back down, specially when it came to money matters. This annoying bickering wasn’t new for Sidharth. He had watched the same scene play in his boardroom several times.

“Why the hell am I here?” he roared, summing up his might and interrupted his parents. “Oh baby don’t shout, your already hurting.” Rikki shifted her attention back to Sidharth and fished out a bunch of papers from her bag. “Listen, all you have to do is sign on these papers and then you are free to go” She explained, as she pulled out a pen too. “And what are these papers for?” Sidharth asked with a straight face. “You want Jubilee right?” he concluded fully aware of what had made his parents hold him back. “Not at all, We know Jubilee is as important to you as it was for Dad. These papers say that you agree to liquidate a chunk of Jubilee holdings and transfer the money to us” Ajay went on explaining. “And how small would that chunk be?” Sidharth asked again “Not much son but a cup of water from the sea. Only 500 cr. That’s it. “ Sarika quipped, placing her manicured hand on her son’s arm.

“There was a reason why badepapa didn’t want you to get hold of his money. And I will abide by his word. You can get what you want over my dead body” Sidharth gritted his teeth and grunted trying to break free from the chair. “Listen Sidharth we either resolve this amicably or these men know how to get things done” the coldness in Sarika’s voice had washed out the concern from earlier. She was back to business. “Huh..Just some more time Rikki, my men will hunt you down and see the end to this. Till then you can ask your men to give you your money’s worth. But I am not signing any paper” his jaw gnashed as he put up aa strong resolve against his evil mother. “Fine…” she said “If you want to play it that way, I will not disappoint you. Ombirrrrr” Rikki Shukla shouted, instructing Ombir and his men to give Sidharth a good hand of punches, while she and Ajay stood back and watched the men beat him to pulp. When they all took turns and finally stepped back exhausted Ajay went up to him again “Listen Son, its only a matter of 500 cr. I am sure you are worth much more than that. Sign the paper and this torture will stop at once” Ajay cajoled mildly, trying to put some sense in his head, but Sidharth wouldn’t be budged. Even though he was heavily injured and sapped by now, he disagreed with a slight nod of his head, trying to swallow the blood pooled in his mouth.

“Sidharthhhh” Rikki’s shrill vice boomed across the space. “Why cant you see us happy? Why do you always have to get in the way? Whyyyy?” she shouted some more, crouching down near the chair on which he sat with his head hung low and listless. “Sidharth, listen, don’t make this ugly. Just sign and lets just get done with this. I don’t want to be cruel to my own son. Just sign godammit” trying every way to persuade him to sign, her desperation for the money made Sidharth smile viciously.

“Can it get uglier than this?” he mocked at his own parents efforts to wring him for money. His face exploded with pain as he spoke each word. Ombir and his men had a darned tough hand. He felt every spasm of pain as his tongue rolled over his teeth inside his mouth. “Tell you what, I got my own will made after I got married. And it says that if I happen to die, all my money goes to the various charities Badepapa supported” he was trying to misguide them. The truth being he had nominated Shehnaaz to inherit everything after him on the very next day of their marriage. But with this little white lie, he meant to save his life as well as veered his parents away from her. If they could have the balls to kidnap him, god knows what they would do to Shehnaaz. He couldn’t risk it. “So Mr. & Mrs. Shukla…all these efforts of yours are going to be wasted anyway, because I am not signing” he snickered, raising a limp eyelid at his parents. “Ohh Sidharth, you know, we are in a place where no one can ever find us and we have all the time on this earth. My men will make sure that you break and finally agree to sign. Until then, Happy hitting boys” she retorted back, infuriated with the failure he was making her see.

*

It was day two of No Sidharth. Rana was going nuts spinning around the town, searching for every clue he could get but somehow reached a dead end every time. Shehnaaz was tattered to the soul thinking and praying for Sidharth’s well being. Something wrong had definitely hit him, she was sure of that by now. KK had ensured that the police carried out their search operation with utmost secrecy, not wanting to leak out the missing reports as it will be directly connected with the Cairo incident. With his T shirt clutched in her hand, she was lying on the bed, aimlessly staring at a spot on the painting of him and his grandparents that was hung in their room, when Jonita entered with a glass of milk. “Mam you haven’t eaten anything since yesterday, please have this atleast. Staying hungry wont help the cause right?” placing the glass on the night stand, she stood with her hands folded looking at Shehnaaz. Again the same thought hit Shehnaaz, why this sudden sweetness from Jonita’s side? Before she could decide if she should ask the words had tumbled out of her mouth “Jonita when I came here earlier I noticed you were always distant with me, not like how you are now. May I ask why?” she blurted, wiping her tears. Jonita smiled, “Mam I have seen Sidharth since he was a baby. Sujata my sister was his nanny then and I often tagged along with her. I have witnessed his bawling when his parents wont even look at him. It was a sorry sight. Since then I have taken care of him like my own child. When I saw you first, I thought you were just after his money, but then I discovered what a beautiful person you are. I am sorry I was being judgmental” her empathetic hand caressed Shehnaaz’s shoulder lovingly and she left.

But her words got Shehnaaz thinking. His parents. Until now all their doubts were locked in on various business rivals, mafia gangs who would have held him for money or with some spiteful revenge. KK had explained that since there was no dead body found, Sidharth was definitely alive. So Rana had channelized all his resources to hunt him down until they waited for a ransom call. But none of them had even thought of his parents. With their avarice for money who knows what they were capable of.

She immediately picked her phone to call Rana. “Have we checked on Sidharth’s parents?” she asked “They are his parents mam, why would they kidnap him” he reasoned back finding her question silly. “So what? Don’t you know how strained their relationship is? Those two are crazy for money and after our marriage they have been literally thrown out in cold. That could definitely be a motive” her snappy reply got him thinking too. “Rana listen, however ridiculous it may sound I want you to run a check on them. Their phones, their card transactions, their whereabouts, I want every info.” With yet another ray of hope, Shehnaaz disconnected awaiting Rana’s reply as she was back to staring at Sidharth’s smiling face on the painting.

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Sidnaazkidiwani