Home

Chapter Two

Feeling a sharp pain throb against his temple, Vansh made his way back into the mansion. Now that he had successfully shifted Ragini to another secure location, he no longer had to worry about her being found by Riddhima or anyone other nosy bodies she may have been working with.

He clenched his jaw as he was reminded yet again of her betrayal. He had asked for just one thing from their relationship - her loyalty. Instead of honouring it, she deceived him in the most horrible way imaginable.

Standing before his bedroom door, he took a deep breath. As much as he wanted to trust her again, he knew it would be an impossible task now. Rather than torturing them both with the burden of their marriage, it was probably best to let her go.

Tightening his jaw, he opened the door and walked in. His senses immediately went on alert. Apart from the fact that Riddhima wasn't in bed, there seemed to be something else completely amiss. The bedsheets were heavily rustled, the pillows were misplaced and there was a shiny substance dripping from his nightstand.

He strode over to it and his heart fell from seeing Riddhima lying unconscious on the floor.

"RIDDHIMA!" He crouched beside her and would have touched her had he not seen the pool of blood surrounding her head.

He didn't want to risk worsening her injuries by accidentally shifting her.

"AANGRE!" He screamed in the direction of the open bedroom door.

He pulled out his phone and punched in the speed dial for the ambulance.

"Boss, what happened?" Aangre huffed as he skidded into the room.

"Call up Dr. Bakshi and tell him to prep the OT. We're coming in immediately with a patient with possible extensive brain injuries. And mail him Riddhima's medical reports as well." Vansh ordered. When Aangre took a moment to stare at Riddhima's plight, Vansh screamed at him, "NOW."

Startled, Aangre nodded and went out of the room to do as was asked.

Speaking into the phone, he demanded an ambulance to arrive at the VR Mansion right away.

When he was told to check if Riddhima was breathing, he shouted at them, "Of course she's breathing! Why wouldn't she?"

To prove them wrong, he placed his fingers before Riddhima's nose and felt nothing. His heart dropped.

"No no no, Riddhima." He muttered as he picked up her wrist to feel her pulse.

He forced his heart to calm down so that its frantic beating didn't overpower his ability to hear Riddhima's. After a long few seconds, he, at last, felt it.

"Yes, yes it's there!" He shouted into the phone.

He almost wept as he felt her delicate pulse against his fingers. They assured him that they would be with him shortly but it wasn't fast enough for him. He needed them to be here now, and for Riddhima to be awake and yelling at him like she was in the morning.

As he held her hand against his chest, his eyes happened to chance upon some letterings beside her head. His brows furrowed as he tried to make sense of them. He was able to read the letter A but after that it became illegible. Had she been trying to tell him who did this to her?

"Riddhima?" He wanted to shake her so that she would wake up but he brought his curled fingers back.

"Boss." Vansh turned upon hearing Aangre's call.

There were a group of people following behind him. Vansh stepped out of their way and allowed them to assess Riddhima's injuries and securely place her onto a stretcher. He descended the stairs and eyed his family members as they all came out of their rooms to see what was going on. He wanted to give them all a lashing right then and there. How the fuck did all this happen to her and yet not a single one of them went to help her?

"Vansh-" His grandmother called.

"DON'T!" He yelled, pointing a strict hand at her.

The paramedics loaded Riddhima into the ambulance, and just before he got in with them, he told Aangre, "Find out what the fuck happened here and who's responsible for this. When you do, whip them, lash them, I don't fucking care, I want them punished!"

Aangre gave a curt nod and went back into the mansion. Vansh took his seat beside Riddhima and wrapped his hand around her wrist. The ambulance moved shakily over the bumpy roads and rang its sirens loudly to get pesky vehicles to move out of the way. Vansh paid half his attention to that. The other half was fixated on Riddhima's vitals that were beeping over the monitors. He brought her hand to his lips and gently kissed it.

As his lips quivered and eyes watered, there was only thought that crossed his mind, Please don't leave me.