Her Helpmate

Chapter 42: Assumptions

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Saira was stunned and still shocked. Shaurya looked at her and lightly seizing her hands he pulled her closer and made her sit on his lap. A tear passed out of her eye and he brushed it. 

After a long moment of silence, and contemplation she articulated, "She wanted to kill me, Shaurya?" It sounded more like a question.

"Bear!" He pulled her in a hug. He could apprehend how alone she might be feeling now after knowing that the person with whom she lived for more than a decade was trying to kill her. 

"This is unbelievable. I mean, she despised me since she stepped into our life as my father's wife but why did she plan to kill me? Why?"

"Even I have no answer to your question, Baby Bear!"

"What if she is trying to kill my other family member? My brothers and even Mohit..." Saira ranted.

Shaurya kenned the danger that's why he better thought to bring Mohit with them. 

"How did you come to know that she is behind my attacks and abducts?"

He sighed before beginning his narration. "It didn't convince me that Rudhra was behind all those attacks, so I watched once again all the CCTV footage we collected from the crime scenes. First was the fire attack in the recreation room of that hotel. Your first attack, where a white-mask man set you on a fire. I watched the whole hotel footage in order to know from which way that man stepped on that floor." 

Shaurya shifted Saira on his left thigh so that he can have access to his laptop. He opened the folder of footage and showed the one, in which the white mask man was setting fire to the room.

"Look at this one, you entered at 9:15 p.m. and the attacker at 9:20. But before setting fire he went to room 205, which was allotted to you. It seems he knew which room you will be using, and he even opened it with a spare key but not finding you there, he came to the recreation room to search for you, Saira." Saira's eyes were fixed on the screen, watching the movements of the attacker. "After he found you there, he sprayed a chemical and lit the fire." Shaurya tilted his head at Saira to study her expressions and resumed, "We only know the story of a recreation room, we never saw what happened before or after. An important point is, if he knew in which room you will be and even have the keys then there should be someone from your family to help him.

"When I gave a thought to watch the footage of the whole engagement party, I called the hotel people and asked them to send me all footage of that night." Then he clicked on new footage, "Look at this one!" Shaurya informed her. Saira waited with patience and watched the back exit footage. After a couple of minutes, she saw the same white mask man and even her stepmother.  They spoke for a minute and after hugging each other they parted. Saira exchanged an astounding glance with Shaurya. "We Should have watched this long ago, Bear!" There was a sting of regression in his tone.

"She planned everything, didn't she?" Saira probed with a low and painful tone. Shaurya rubbed her back alleviating her. Then he nodded.  "Can I see the footage of the party before I fought with that sorcerer?"

"Yes," he went through the other footage and opened the one. Saira saw herself and Mohit. They were happily conversing and enjoying their meals. And like a black cloud, her Stepmother stepped with a filthy old man, Mr. Dixit, who was once her agent. After they had a heated argument which could be appreciated by Saira's countenance, Saira slammed her plate on the table and made her way to the reception. And instantly, her stepmother excused herself, dialed a number on her mobile, and escaped from there.

"Do we have footage of where she wandered?"

"Unfortunately, no! Not even the hotel people have it cause some places were without surveillance."