Dare Trilogy | Book 3 Editing | ✓

3.25.5 | Broken Halo

Edited: June 08, 2022

| . . . C H A P T E R - 3 . 2 5 . 5 - B R O K E N - H A L O . . . |

Just after 8:30 of night, I walk out of my last meeting of the day ready to head back to my flat and call it a day. But when I grab my phone to let my driver know I was heading downstairs, I instead pause on seeing the notifications. I am used to walking out of meetings with missed notifications since I tend to put my phone on do not disturb. The people who are important are on a list where their messages would bypass the DND settings so I don't miss any emergencies. It works because my other friends and relatives know that if I have taken a couple hours to get back to them, it's because I am tied up with work.

The one notification tonight that stands out, that has me pausing, is Khushi's. I couldn't recall seeing her at work today, but that's not out of the norm. We work on different floors and in different levels of the hierarchy. Why is she messaging me this late in the evening? I glanced at the date and pulled my memory.

Shit. Today was their first court day.

I had remembered it until a couple days ago. And then all these deadlines just caught me off guard and it slipped my mind.

Khushi: Call me when you get this

The message was left 24 minutes ago. I dial her number, feeling like shit. I should have checked in earlier. The second she answers, I said, "Hey, Khushi, I'm so sorry I'm just checking my phone. How are you? Listen, if you need to take tomorrow off, you don't even have to ask. I..."

She interrupted, "Geez, Sam, I thought I rambled but you're worse than me. Stop for one second and listen."

"Right. Sorry. Go on."

"I'm fine and I don't need tomorrow off. Not yet, anyway. I'm calling for Lavanya." She would've been my next call after Khushi. "Any chance she's with you?"

Does this mean...? My heart stilled for a second. "Uh, why would she be with me?"

"So the two of you didn't have any plans, then?" The drop was clear in her tone. She was hoping I would tell her Lavanya was with me, but I couldn't do that.

"No. Khushi, is she not at home?" I started rushing out of my office, least caring about whatever I had needed to take back home with me in my briefcase.

I heard her sigh. "No, she left for work after court and then she was in her room – or so we thought. It was a rough day and none of us were really in the mood to talk so we were in our rooms until Aarav went to call her for dinner, but she'd left by then. She left her phone here too. Arnav just left 10 minutes ago for the office to check if she went back there. Armaan and I are heading to her apartment. She still has keys since they haven't rented it out so maybe she went there."

Taking the elevator was the quickest way down. There was a question that neither of us wanted to entertain. If she was kidnapped again. But Shyam was in jail so that was paranoia to think that could have been the case. "Okay. Okay, is there anywhere else I can help look?"

"No, listen, don't worry yourself. She has to be either at the apartment or office."

"There has to be something I can do." I didn't like feeling helpless. I knew realistically that I've only just entered their life, her life, but I wanted to do something to find her.

"Just keep your phone on you. I'll text you when we find her. She doesn't really go anywhere else so I'm sure we'll find her."

The call ends but the entire ride home, I am unsettled. It's unlike her to worry others. She hates if people worry about her, and I've picked that up in the short few weeks I've known her.