Stay With Me

Meeting Again

Part Two

A woman in her early thirties stepped out of limo in front of a JW Marriot hotel. No one believed her real age. She attributed it all to good genetics. She wore a yellow dress that had cap sleeves and hit below her knees. Sunglasses hid her eyes from the cameras that flashed around her. She was an upcoming public relations representative. Apparently her manager wanted her to meet a new client today. The client had sent the limo. She was surprised that she was being treated like this even before the first official meeting.

Robert stood next to Aditya and pointed her out to him.

" I am pretty sure this is Kiara madam. She has been here in Los Angeles the past few months."

"Why has she not returned home?"

" I think someone is threatening her. We did try to approach her but she feigned feeling unwell and then got away."

" Whoever is keeping my wife from our life together Robert, he or she needs to pay," Aditya declared.

" Yes sir. I will have Darlene show her in. I don't believe they have met before," Robert said.

Aditya knew everyone of his staff that Kiara had met over the time she had been in his life. Darlene had started with his company more recently and today was her chance to prove herself as trustworthy to stay.

Kiara sighed.

The woman who introduced herself as Darlene Sanders was taking her up to her boss. She had not offered any information about his name other then he was eager to meet her.

She stepped slowly into the room. Butterflies filled her stomach. He turned around and she was taken aback.

Why would Aditya Raichand be here and wanting her services?

" Aap yahaan? Mera client kahan hai?"

" Main hu tumara lifetime ka client. Did you think you could hide from me forever jaan?"

She glared at him.

" I am not your jaan. Mera iss duniya mein koi nahin hai," she declared.

He looked at her puzzled.

She gasped and then ran towards him and knocked him down as a bullets pierced through the window behind him.

The next few minutes seemed to pass in a stalemate.

Aditya was in a shock to find the bullet had grazed Kiara and she was now unconscious.

"Kiara utho!," he yelled.

His security detail advised him to lay low as they fired back.

Within thirty minutes they were escorted into the ER trauma bay. It was quickly determined that Kiara had hit her head when she had tried to push Aditya out of the way during the attack. The blood loss was minimal.

Aditya stayed by her side allowing them to do quick exam only at her bedside.

A medical resident approached him and explained that his colleague and himself had worked on Kiara in the past. He named a date a few days after the plane crash.

" Sir I don't think her injuries were from the crash. There was marks on her wrists and signs of a struggle. An older man came here to meet her one day. He called her Kiara so we went with that name," the young doctor explained.

" Who was he?"

" Raj Mehra."

Aditya was stunned.

Why would Raj Uncle keep him out of the loop if he had found Kiara?

Robert returned with clothes and food for him.

" I need you to find Raj Mehra. Kiara's uncle knew she was alive. Why did he not tell me?"

" Don't worry sir. I will start digging ," his bodyguard assured him.

Aditya walked towards Kiara's room.

" What are you hiding from me?," he muttered aloud.

24 hours later..

Aditya didn't have to wait for Robert to find Raj Mehra. Kiara's only known living relative arrived to meet him directly.

" She may not confess she remembers you or not," the older man said in the doorway.

" What happened that you could not tell me she was alive?," Aditya said softly.

He was surprised at his composure.

" Aditya we were a middle class family. Maya was always afraid to let Kiara go out on her own. Even when her illness worsened she worried for her. She was her second chance of being a mother. In her last lucid moments she made me promise to take care of Kiara."

" What about the promises I made to Kiara and you both? I never intended to abandon Kiara or ever stopped looking for her," Aditya replied.

" You and your affluent family may not have the time and love to give her. She was brainwashed into believing she was alone. She was emotionally tortured and possibly physically. But she is brave she got away and found her way here, Now tell me will you be able to love her the way she needs to be loved?," Raj inquired.

Aditya looked at him straight in his eyes. Despite all of his professional successes he usually never disrespected his elders. But today he needed to let Raj Mehra know he was ready to stick it through with Kiara.

" I may be a modern man, but I have this old fashioned love for my wife. I will not give up on her."

Raj merely nodded.

" I will return to meet Kiara. This is her cell phone. The police released it to me as her records here indicate she is Mehra and not Raichand," Raj stated.

" Ok. Is there anything else I need to be aware of?"

" Just remember be patient and love her the way I loved Maya," he said solemnly before walking away.

Kiara stirred from her unconscious state a few hours later.

Gone was her yellow dress and accessories she had proudly adorned herself with the previous day. She was dressed in a hospital gown and a bandage covered her left arm. She felt sore like she had been run over and then fallen hard.

There he was the man who had called her jaan.

" Oh great you are fine," she mumbled.

She tried to get up but her world seemed to be spinning around her.

His scent filled her nostrils and she sensed familiarity.

"Take it easy baby," he whispered.

"What is it with jaan and baby? I don't know why you are giving me such nicknames," she declared.

" You are my wife," he said.

"But I am not married. The people I was with told me I was an orphan and there was no one. Then one day a man came he said he was a friend of my dad's. He helped me get a job then I didn't see him much," she said.

" I want you to relax right now Kiara. When we will go home, you will start to remember," he told her.

She didn't know if he was right, but she desperately wanted her real identity back. The loneliness had evaded her mind for so long, she just wanted to stop drowning in it.