72 HOURS

• HOUR 01 •

Annika was silent the whole ride, sneaking glances at the agitated man who was sitting beside her. She placed her hand over his and he turned to look at her.

Gaunt.

The look in his eyes was of barely contained rage—but behind that rage, she could see the despair. The sheer look of helplessness. He couldn't hide it well from her.

Her heart broke. The look didn't suit him at all. The only times she had seen them was his parents death and when he was going in for his surgery. She had stayed the whole night in the hospital despite Jhanvi's offer to go home and rest.

They had been together since their childhood. She had seen him at his highest as well as his lowest, and the same goes for him.

Her eyes fell over his phone that was clutched in his hands just in case they got another call from it.

How the hell she could miss it?

She didn't think of it, she was hired to protect him, but she couldn't see the wider aspects of the case.

"They are..." She trailed off. What was she going to say? Okay? Alright? They didn't even know their current location. Where are they? And how? She knew better than to give him false hopes.

"I thought those threats——" she frowned, from what she could understand, the threats were meant for him. How did she misinterpret those.

He shook his head.

She could see his eyes watering, his hands were fidgeting. Khanna was focused on the road, though he did sneak a few worried glances at his boss.

"They were..." Shivaay spoke after a while, his voice soft as a whisper.

"They will make me come to their terms." He spoke the words that she had read not too long ago, just this morning.

"What's the better way other than this?" Shivaay asked as he turned to look at her.

He was right.

If there was one thing that Shivaay considered his weakness, it was them.

His biggest weakness, as well as his strength.

Everyone who knew him, personally or not, didn't matter, knew the lengths he could go to ensure their safety.

Deliriously he turned to look at his phone, expecting another call. But the screen remained blank, after the first call, they were yet to make another.

They had called Jhanvi and Tej to inquire about their whereabouts. Only to find the dreaded details.

They hadn't reached where they were meant to.

His hands were twitching around the case of his phone. His grip was loosening on it. And as if on cue, Annika tightened her hold on his other and instructed him to breathe deeply.

The last thing he needed was a fucking panic attack in his own damn car!

"We will trace them." Annika didn't know with what confidence she was making this promise to him. But when she saw him trying to regulate his breathing, nodding along her words——she would utter them again sealing the promise.

The car jerked, and she looked around.

They reached the mansion.

She quickened her pace to match the hurried ones. Her eyes widened when she looked inside. She didn't expect such a crowd, her eyes turned to look amidst it all.