Keeping Secrets

Chapter 14

Gaurav kept re-reading the disturbing chat, hoping to find a single clue that could lead him to Nikki's killer.

"What am I missing," he wondered.

Zayn's account had been deactivated a whole year ago right after they had decided to meet, and it was almost impossible to track now. That was when it suddenly struck him. Maybe the answer lay in the same strange app where Nikki was living out her dark, secret life. He pulled out the log of all active chats from a year ago that his tech team had shared before. Amidst them were a few other names, and he browsed through the chats anxiously. There was one other profile that stood out. It was someone with the username 'Adiii'.

Turns out, Arushi had shared a 'Hangouts' link from her fake account with this person Adiii about half an hour before she had messaged Zayn that evening.

'Are we still on for today? I only have an hour.'

This was followed an hour later, only by the final photo she had sent to Zayn. It was the exact same one, except the birthmark had been obliterated. It looked like some reckless editing, but given the close-up nude shot, the angle, and the riveting bruises, not the snap anyone would associate with the Nikki they knew. That was also the last snap ever shared on their chat.

Adi's sheepish apology for missing her text had come in at about midnight but had not warranted a response. He had even offered her what she seemed to be really desperate for, but she was too far gone by then.

As Gaurav delved deeper into this chat, he discovered a rather short-lived but intense affair.

Adi and Arushi had started out like most threads in her DM. She had reached out to him in response to a request he had posted on the chatroom citing his interest in kinky, lonely, women who were over 25 years of age. From there, the chat seemed to move in a completely different direction than most others. Arushi's general attitude of threatening to leave the chat if things did not go her way was missing here. In fact, on this chat, Adi had volunteered to assume the submissive's role and Arushi had agreed. Gaurav promptly switched to at least 20 other chats to conclude that this was unusual for her.

However, Nikki as a dominatrix was nothing like the ones she sought for herself. She was careful and loving, and assertive about building a more co-dependant power dynamic that she never seemed to allow her doms. She insisted he stayed for the drop (or intense physical and emotional exhaustion at the end of the role play) and was generous with aftercare.

Adi as a bottom was unlike Arushi too. He wasn't seeking to be hurt as much as he sought the role-playing. He never resisted the indulgent shower of affection either although he wasn't one to ask for it. Slowly, he transformed over their following chats into someone who craved and looked forward to her solicitude, which she never deprived him of.

Adi and Arushi's interactions had expanded to quite a few non-sexual conversations and had become very regular. At the point when Arushi had asked Zayn for a meeting, she was nearly chatting all day, every single day with Adi, who seemed to be a lovesick and clingy teenager once he opened up to Arushi about the childhood violence he had witnessed that had turned averse to the idea of relationships.

It was only a day before she had shared the Hangouts link that she had suggested a switch in their roles to Adi, who despite his initial surprise was happy to play along for the woman he was so smitten by.

Adi had sent an image of a BDSM artwork, of a topless girl wearing only kitten ears, kneeling with her knees spread apart, with her wrists tied behind her back. Beside her, a man, completely dressed in formals was seated in a figure four leg-lock on a chair, exuding confidence and authority as he wielded a cat o' nine tails flogger in his hand. His tie was tied around her neck like a leash. Her tender flesh was tainted in crimson welts like the pictures Arushi had later sent Zayn and him.