Till Death Do Us Part

Prologue

Her heart throbbed with confusion as she eyed at the hand of hers, which was being used by him to drag her along with him. His deep brown pools betrayed the conflict between anger, confusion and pain in his heart, only to increase her confusion.

In a split second, he had her pinned against the wall with his powerful body as she shuddered and shivered with the impact and the proximity after what seemed like eons.

"What are you hiding from me? Tell me or else I have ways to find out," spat ACP Arnav Singh Raizada, his staggered hot breaths fanning Khushi's flushed face. "I don't know what you are talking about," she answered, looking away from him.

He merely nodded, as the intensity of fury increased multifold visibly, and undid the tie clutched to his collar. He tugged at the tie so that it pools in his palm and used it to bind Khushi's arms behind her against the wardrobe door handle in a swift move.

"What are you doing? Don't you know, being a police officer, that this amounts to outraging the modesty of a woman?" she furiously questioned, as she struggled to free herself but the intricate knots which he had tied were hard even for someone who had undergone police training.

"It does not, when the woman concerned is the wife of the man and you are exactly that - my wife," he lashed, their faces inches apart from each other as he bore his sharp eyes into her equally determined ones.

"Wife? Which wife are you talking about? The one whose father you killed? She is dead," stated Khushi, tears stinging her eyes as she reminisced about her father's body lying dead in front of her.

Arnav's eyes weakened momentarily as his anger gave way to the wave of guilt which covered him. He was on the line of duty, but he could never ascertain if he was correct in playing with the emotions of an innocent family, and the same intensified his regret.

"Don't play these games with me. You are hiding something. Reveal," he ordered, shutting his heart to the emotions drowning it.

"I am not answerable to you, SIR, since it is a personal matter," she retorted, emphasizing the word 'sir' to incite more frustration in him.

"Have it your way then," he exclaimed, dropping down to his knees as he pulled the hem of her skirt and sari down to see her skin contours changed and scars spread across her once delicate skin, amidst her gasps.

He traced the scars with his fingers, ignoring Khushi's struggle and restraining her successfully by placing his knees on her feet to prevent movement. He put his expertise as a crime scene investigator and quickly realized that the scars were not from any battle but an operation, very much connected to him.

"Cesearean scars? You were pregnant?" he questioned incredulously, looking up at her.

"None of your business," she spat, averting her eyes from him. He jumped up to his feet and turned her face so that she looks at him straight in the eye.

"It is ofcourse my business, Khushi. It is my wife who has delivered a child. I have every right to know. Don't tell me that after all the taunts you have thrown my way for being a backstabber, you have gone around cheating on me and knocked yourself up," he taunted, knowing well that it would stir a reaction from her.

"How could you? Have you forgotten that you had used me for your personal pleasure that night? That child was the result of your deeds, sign of your lack of character and the symbol of your betrayal," she replied, tears flowing from her eyes at his audacity to question her character after everything he had done.

Myriads of emotions flooded in him as he realized that he was a father for over an year and he had never known. It would be wrong of him to expect her to inform him but he could not help but feel anger towards her for hiding such a big fact of his life from him.

"Where is my child? Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked, a smile gracing his lips as tears of joy filled in his eyes.

"I have no idea. But it was a girl," she answered, her face setting into a determined expression as all signs of emotions vanished away from her.

"What do you mean you have no idea? You are the mother, you would surely know," he stated, hoping that his child was perfectly fine and in good health.

"I gave the child up in an orphanage. Why should I take care of your child, Mr. Raizada? To remind myself of your stoic and emotionless self? Or to reminisce the bloodshed at my home? Don't tell me that I could have informed you. The man who could not be a good husband, how will he be a good father? Maybe giving up the child was meant to be your punishment. You snatched my family from me and you will learn of that pain through this. I will never forgive the killer of my father, Arnav Singh Raizada, and I will forego of everything that will remind me of you, even if I have to sell my soul for that," she declared, her eyes shooting daggers at him as he stumbled back as the true meaning of the words which the known yet unfamiliar woman in front of him had uttered.

He was forced to choose in between his conscience and the obedience to the oath he had taken to secure the country even at the cost of his own life and he chosen the latter.

She was forced to select in between her emotions towards her baby and the love for her late father and the vengeance which coursed through her whenever she looked at her mother caught in the vegetative state ever since her husband's death and she, like him, had selected the latter.

Their choices made them stand on the thin line between righteousness and deceit, personal and professional and love or hate. To which side will the star-crossed couple swing to?

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I really wanted to write this storyline ever since it struck me. I hope you liked it.