Flamma amoris

Occultis Aperta

There is an old saying " If you want to hide the treasure, put it in plain sight. ..

A high profile event, with only invite based attendees. All big wigs of Dubai in the room, tight security and yet the diamond got stolen.

Sidharth and Shehnaaz were concentrating hard, observing everyone around them. Remembering each and every detail since the time this event had started.

Now that the stone was stolen, their aim was to win this bet.

"If it's still here then where would it be?" Sidharth questioned, "Well...it wasn't big in size. Easy to hide," Shehnaaz replied back.

"In that case, the first thing to do should be to list down people who could have done it," Sidharth suggested ,"or to list down people who we think wouldn't do it" Shehnaaz interjected.

"Not bad, not bad at all," Sidharth winked looking at her. "You have been surprising me throughout the evening. "

"But unfortunately, you didn't" Shehnaaz teased Sidharth. "Night is still young" Sidharth said in that deep baritone. "But we are stuck here till the thief is caught" Shehnaaz said looking around. Sidharth pulled her close wrapping an arm around her waist. Bringing his lips closer to her ear, he whispered

"Trust me, the moment we know who is it. You won't be here for another second and once I get you alone. This robbery would be the last thing on your mind. " Sidharth's eyes, those deep eyes which were right now filled with need, want and passion that made Shehnaaz blush from head to toe.

"Is that a gentleman's promise?" Shehnaaz whispered looking at his lips.

"You have my word but I don't promise to be a gentleman about it." That low, deep voice and that bold promise. Shehnaaz had to fight the chills that spread over her skin.

Sidharth saw her flushed cheeks, that biting of lip and wondered what was it about her that made him lose his senses. Realizing that if he didn't stop, he wouldn't be able to control himself from kissing her again Sidharth decided to change the subject "You know what's surprising?" Sidharth looked at Shehnaaz and questioned.

"What?" Shehnaaz asked coming back to her senses, "both our lists would have two common names," Sidharth said looking at those names.

"So you think it's them?" Shehnaaz asked, looking at the same people as Sidharth.

"In my experience, the obvious usually is the right choice. The rest is a distraction," Sidharth replied back leaving Shehnaaz in awe once again.

"How is this possible?" They both heard Himanshi shouting in the background, "With this tight security, someone has managed to steal it from here." Himanshi screamed looking at Asim.

Tight security that Himanshi mentioned was the burglar alarm built with an ldr sensor. A glowing led was placed near the diamond and a highly sensitive ldr was placed under the diamond. The box was locked with a key, in case someone unauthorized would try to open it, the light of led fell on the ldr and it triggered the sensors further switching on the sensors. Only a few people had that authorized key. One, the museum manager, two- the security head as in the police chief and third Mr. Asim Riaz.

Police circled around questioning all the guests, men in one line and women in another. Sidharth and Shehnaaz stood in their respective lines too, completely calm and looking around at all the faces trying to find that one hint which would lead them to the thief.

Asim and Himanshi stood in the centre. Looking at Asim, Sidharth couldn't see even a single sign of guilt, nervousness, or fear. Either he was a good poker player or he really was innocent, thought Sidharth. Shehnaaz on the other hand couldn't stop observing Himanshi. Straight back,stoic face, clasping and unclasping her diamond bracelet. Just like she always was in the crowd, nothing different yet Shehnaaz's gut instinct kept pointing at her. Shehnaaz tried to look around but she would come back to Himanshi.

Feeling eyes on her, Himanshi looked up straight at Shehnaaz. She saw suspicion, doubt in her eyes, scared she dropped her diamond bracelet. Shehnaaz rushed forward to pick it up.

"You need to be very careful with such valuable diamonds, Miss Khurana," Shehnaaz said, handing the bracelet back to Himanshi.

"Thank You," Himanshi nodded back at her.

They kept gazing at each other when another officer approached Himanshi and requested her to step aside for questioning.

"Do you have any suspicions? Anyone here you think who could have done it? Officer questioned Himanshi.

"No...No one in particular but I am not sure, that lady in white who I was just talking to, she looked weird. Wouldn't stop staring at me and she wasn't even here when lights went out, she came afterwards" Himanshi said pointing at Shehnaaz.

Shehnaaz had no clue that Himanshi had dragged her name. No clue that her name would be number one on the suspicion list.

"Excuse me," said an officer to Shehnaaz. "Would you please step aside? We need to ask you a few questions, "Officer said, looking at her.

Shehnaaz was confused and rightly so. Few moments back, the same officer had asked her questions and then moved on to others. What had brought him back?

"A guest here has pointed out that you weren't here when the diamond got stolen, in fact you came back after lights turned on," Police officer told Shehnaaz " but when I questioned you earlier, you said you were here, "he continued looking suspiciously at her.

"She was with me, we had sneaked out for some time," Shehnaaz heard Sidharth answering on her behalf. What was he doing? And why was he here?

Initially, Sidharth was on the other side keenly looking at everything. He saw Shehnaaz and Himanshi's interaction. But he knew something was up when he saw the same police officer who had just questioned Himanshi walking towards Shehnaaz. By the time he had reached them, a police officer had called her out for the lie and Sidharth ended up answering.

"And you are?" the officer asked, turning towards Sidharth. "I am her ..." Sidharth paused, looked at Shehnaaz and said" Husband."

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To everyone asking me to update, I am really sorry for being so late. I wrote , re wrote three drafts and still felt like writing it again.

I hope you enjoy this update . For everyone who guessed about the thief, I read all your replies andI just want to say , I will tell you in the next update which will also be the final chapter.

And our @wonderfulSheena told me that this is giving her james bond vibes. 

( I LOVE YOU SHEENA <3 )

If its giving you the same vibe then I guess, I succeeded in writing something good.

Lots of love and wishes. Thank you so much...