Unwanted [COMPLETED]

Chapter 40

Nandini

Walking out of Mr. and Mrs. Iyer's house, once I get to the road, I put my hands on my knees, slightly bending and closing my eyes, taking a moment to gather myself.

The pain of the words exchanged inside the house still remains within me, and I know the angst of it will be within me for a long time.

But I can't deny that it felt good to lay everything out in the open.

I could feel Vikrant's presence beside me, and I was grateful to him for just letting me be for these few seconds without saying or asking anything.

Just ten seconds more. I tell myself and take deep breaths to clear my head, all the while counting to ten.

Once done, I stand up straight and look at Vikrant.

"Did you text all the addresses to Samrat? He is with the police right now, yes?" I ask.

He nods at me. "I have sent the locations of all the properties that your paren—" he abruptly stops, looking apologetically at me. "I mean, the one that Mr. and Mrs. Iyer gave us. But what if Rishabh owns other properties that they don't know about?"

"I know, Vikrant. But this is at least better than having nothing at all," I tell him. "Also, I strongly feel that Rishabh is hiding at the last address they gave us. Did you tell Samrat to get to that place with the police first?"

"I did send him that address. Thankfully, the station he is in currently is near that address, so they might reach there faster than us."

"That's good then. Let's go."

Saying that, I walk to his car and climb inside, fastening the seatbelt and waiting for Vikrant to start driving.

He also fastens his seatbelt, but before turning on the ignition, he looks at me. "Are you fine?"

I know he is asking that question because of what happened in the house earlier, and for a moment, I feel myself wanting to give in to the whirlwind of emotions swirling within me.

But I shake it off, wanting to keep those emotions at bay.

"I'm not fine, Vikrant. But this isn't the time to talk or even think about it. We need to save Aastha first."

*****

Vikrant stops his car in front of the house I used to live in before getting married.

This is genius, really.

No one would have thought Rishabh would be hiding inside this house.

Mr. Iyer had sold this house to Naresh Shah via a real estate agent right after they married me off.

So, no one would have even thought of searching for Rishabh here.

Not only would it have taken a long time to establish any connection he had with Naresh, it would also have been perceived improbable that he hid in the house where the girl he abducted just a day back had grown up.

But when Mrs. Iyer told me about one of our neighbors residing in this area calling her up early in the morning to tell her about someone finally moving into our house, it rang an alarm in my head.

Mainly because that neighbor also told her that when she went to speak to the man, he first sounded dismissive, but when she told him that he seemed familiar and also inquired about the girl in his arms, he was suddenly friendly, telling her he would talk with her next time as his wife was exhausted after a long drive.

That was the moment a picture formed in my head of Rishabh carrying an unconscious Aastha inside the house.

I told Vikrant to send the addresses of all the properties that Rishabh owned to Samrat so he could give them to the police and get those places searched along with this house.