XLIII. Hostage

"There will be many situations in life where your identity will be questioned. But know this, you are the same person before anything happened."

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"I must be the one to threaten you Avni. Do as I say and your daughter will be safe!" After hearing those words, Diya's face flashed in front of my eyes. She might be thinking that she was spending time with her grandmother but in reality, she was in danger and I need to protect her.

"I will do as you say, please don't harm her," I begged her. Aj immediately sat down and started doing something on the laptop. I hope that it will help us.

"I like to see you pleading with me and begging me. We have many things to discuss. Get the evidence you found and come out of the house, you will meet Seema there. Hand her the evidence along with your phone. She will bring you near me; I can't wait to meet you. Don't try to act smart and come alone, I shouldn't see the boy anywhere near you. See you in my place, darling," she cut the call.

My life is falling apart, Abhi is in hospital and she has Diya near her. I lost the battle. However, I will save them both by sacrificing my life for them.

"Aj, give me that pen drive," I asked him. He removed it from the laptop and came towards me.

"Little one, remember this. I will not allow anyone to harm you. I will protect you at all costs," he pulled me into his embrace and hugged me tightly. I returned the embrace needing to feel comfort.

I want to cry out aloud but I kept it in. "I loved the time I spent with you. Even though we knew each other for a short time, I really hoped that we would have some more time. But I guess this is life, always throwing us out of our track," he moved out of my embrace and looked at me while I was speaking.

"Why does this feel like you are telling me your goodbye?" Because it is one.

"I want you to tell Anu that I am thankful to have her as my guardian, tell her that I am grateful for the lessons she thought me. Tell her that I wanted to do many things and make her proud but never got the chance. Tell her to take good care of her. Tell Akshaya that she is my sister and I always looked up to her. Tell Nihal to take care of her and not to feel guilty," I took the pen drive and reached the door.

"Don't you have anything to tell for Abhi?" His question made me want to cry and go to the hospital. I want to see his face one time.

I swallowed the lump formed in my throat. "Tell him that I love him, and tell him to be less angry," I thought about his anger. How his face would twist! A frown would form on his face, I loved to see those different emotions swirling in his eyes.

"You can tell him all that yourself, once this thing is done," his voice brought me back from my dream.

I turned towards him, Aj stood there in front of me with his hands in his pocket. He looked cool as if I was going on a vacation. Maybe he might have assumed that I was going for negotiation that might have been. I don't want to tell him the truth and make him sad, he might even follow me if he knows why I was leaving.

"I don't want you following me. Even for the less time, I knew you; I had many memories with you. Thank you for providing me with them. Have a good life," with those parting words, I came out of the house.

I slipped the pen drive into my front pocket as I walked towards the gate. I was lost in my thoughts thinking about how Anu would feel. I was handing myself over to the villain in my life without a fight. But when the matter comes to Diya's safety I don't care though. I know that Abhi will be devastated once he finds me missing, but he will be sadder after finding what his aunt did.

The guards opened the gate upon seeing me, they have questions on why I was walking and not going out by car but they didn't ask me any question.

"Avni!" I slowly turned around and found Aj a few steps behind me. I didn't notice him following me. "You are the bravest and strongest woman I met; you are going there and demanding justice. You need to get out of it safely Avni, there is your family to think about." I don't want to think about the disappointment in their eyes. My attention snapped back to him when I heard Diya's name. "What about Diya? She got a mother now. Will you abandon her again? Will you leave her alone?" Those questions were like needles to my heart. I turned around and started walking away from him and into the death trap laid for me knowing what awaited me there.

"Your heart is strong Avni. If you will for it to happen then you can make it," I heard him shout the words. I didn't acknowledge his words and walked further away from him.

I didn't have time to think, as I stepped out of the gate a car stopped in front of me. The window rolled down, and I saw her knowing that the ride has arrived.

"Get in!" I hopped into the passenger seat after her command like a good pet.

"Mobile and evidence," She stretched her hand in front of me. I handed her my mobile and the pen drive.

She took the mobile and threw it out of the car. "Now, the fun begins." She started the car and drove to my doom.

"You know I really believed for a moment that you cared for Diya. There you go throwing any good thoughts I have about you. You kidnapped Diya and you are blackmailing me using her," I tried to test whether she will take my bait and feel bad. It was not a good static but I didn't exactly expect her to tell me about her life history.

"Diya, she kidnapped Diya?" Seema started laughing hysterically. "Ah, that's the lie she used. You really believed it, didn't you? You are a fool for believing it without any evidence," they didn't kidnap her and they were bluffing with me. I felt relief and anger fill me, but I want to confirm it before I take any action.

"You guys were bluffing with me. There was no kidnapping Diya, right?" I asked her wanting her to confirm it.

"Yes, she has different plans for her. We did try to kidnap her but those people didn't even allow us to be near her. But Damini has different plans for Diya," saying that she started driving again.

Diya is safe. Raghav uncle protected her. I closed my eyes and thanked the heavens for keeping my baby safe. I opened my eyes, I have no one holding me back.

Diya is safe with Raghav uncle and Anu will protect Abhi. I even know that Aj will be looking for me. I remembered Aj's words.

"You are strong, Avni!"

"Do you guys think that I will obey your wishes like an obedient dog, while you guys go and try to kill my family?" Seema looked in my direction startled by the way I spoke.

"I will never bow down. Not without a fight," I punched her face.

I ignored the pain in my knuckles as I enjoyed hearing her cry. She stopped the car and clutched her nose with her hands. There was blood on her hands.

"You may require surgery for your broken nose. But don't bother with it, no one will come to see you in prison." Seema glared at me with all the hatred she could muster. I was not bothered by it.

"You bitch," she raised an injection and tried to inject me with it. I stopped her and we struggled. She was coming at me and I tried to stop her from protecting me. I got exhausted struggling to fend her off me and I lost the fight.

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I woke up feeling drowsy. My mouth felt dry and my throat was dry as sandpaper. I tried to move my hands, but I was unable to. I looked down and saw that there was a rope securing my hands. I was on a chair with my hands and legs tied to the chair. I tried to wiggle out of it, but it was strong and I got exhausted quickly. I stopped struggling and focused on my surroundings.

I was in a room, it has a door on the end. It has no windows thus providing less light for me. I looked at my sides to find any sharp item that can help me. I found nothing; the room was covered in dust with less to nothing. I heaved a sigh and waited for my captor to arrive.

My hands were numb after I struggled a lot to escape. Probably, there were red marks on my wrists. I waited for her to arrive but I think she is probably trying to realize where she went wrong.

"You?" I heard her shout from near the door. I looked at her and gave her a tired smile.

"I would like to have a glass of water," I replied to her. I was thirsty and I need the water.

"Do I look like a great your servant? Where is the evidence?" I ignored her question and started at my bound hands.

"Can you remove the ties after getting me my water? They are numb," I replied frowning at my hands. I hope that they will not bleed.

"Oh, how dare you?" She rushed towards me and lifted her hand. I glared at her hard making her hesitate. She tried to slap me again, but she stopped hearing my words.

"Think before you do it. I have something that is very much important to you," she huffed in frustration as she withdrew her hand.

"You can have something on me, but I am Damini. You can't touch a strand of hair on my head," she said trying to intimidate me.

"Can I tell you one thing?" I waited to hear her reply when I didn't get any I continued speaking. "I don't care who you are, I am Avni. Avni Goenka, daughter of Arjun, and Meera Rajput, wife of Abhi Goenka. My parents' blood is on your hands and I will get my revenge," I tried to stand up but I sat back down on the chair because of the damn rope. I wanted to kill her with my bare hand.

"Oh, I am afraid of you," she placed her hand on her heart in mock horror. A sinister look replaced her previous expression. "You don't know what I am made of, you may be a Rajput or a Goenka, but you don't know what I own. Do you have any idea of what I can do to you?" She questioned me.

"We have nothing to do anyway, let's hear your story. I want to know why you killed those people," she looked at me for a moment.

"Do you think I killed those people only? Didn't I kill any more people?" I didn't expect her to kill that many people. I got chills when she spoke again. "Oh, I don't have blood on my hands, rivers of blood flow because of me. You still want to hear my story then I can narrate it to you, it might as well be your last wish," a person entered inside and placed a chair in front of me.

"Don't disturb us," she waved the man away and sat in front of me.

"Where were we?" If the circumstances were different, it might have looked like we were having fun chit-chatting.

"Ah, my life story. It is the usual story, me being from a poor family having big dreams. It was usual for me, I wanted to earn money and keep my family happy. I got into a big college and I also started working small jobs, I was happy and content with my life. Vinay, he was my best friend, my first friend," there was sadness in her eyes. She covered it and continued with her story.

"He was my best friend, he was more than I expected. I loved him as my friend but he started having something more for me. I ignored this thinking that he will forget about it and I thought about it as a childish crush. I loved someone else then, your father Arjun," I held my breath knowing in which direction the story will lead.

"I admired him from afar. I nagged Vinay to take me to their group and I hung with them. They thought of me as a kid but I had eyes for him only. Then everything started falling apart in my life," she glared at me and continued with her narration. "Your mother and Arjun married and they started a company, I was destroyed knowing this. But Vinay was there with me, standing by my side. He kept me sane and grounded," she looked into the distance and started smiling.

"He slowly tried to make me love him and I did fall in love with him. But that's the worst mistake he did, bringing me near your family. Whenever I see your mother with him, my blood boiled with jealously. Vinay was not interested in business but I wanted us to get settled and I forced him to join your company. I also joined him and everything was good except for my anger towards your parents," she stood up from her seat and started walking.

"The company started growing; Abhi was born, followed by Akky. We married and I was close to children, I treated them like my own children, and I wanted to have my own. I pressured Vinay about it but he wanted to wait for some time. I was angry with him and spent most of my days in the office. Then it happened, the thing I dream in my life." I do not know where she was going with the story.

"No, I don't want to listen any further."

She ignored my request. "We are getting to the good part now. Your mother gave birth to you and she was never at the office always spending time with you. Arjun was the only one in the office. It happened four months before that accident, that day, I went there to help him. After our work, we started speaking, one thing led to other, and we became one. That night we made our baby, Aarav," she laughed at my horror-stricken face.

"Don't want to believe it, but it happened. You wanted to know the reason for my hatred. Here is the reason, the next day it happened, we acted normal but after some days, I was pregnant with his baby. I was ecstatic. I went to him and told him about it, do you know what answer I got. He told me to abort it! My baby! And he labeled me as a slut."

"My father will never do that, he will never cheat on my mom," I mumbled those words to myself wanting to believe them.

"Oh, he definitely did. He started threatening me from then insulting me on very small things making me feel inferior. I told your mother about it and she treated me the same as him, they branded me as a slut. The only thing I promised to myself was that I will never be with others for money but your parents' made my fears come true. I vowed to myself that I will never let that happen to me again. I killed them both after I was mentally exhausted by them," she said as if it was a small thing.

"You escaped from me, I wanted to kill you and provide my son with every property. I tried to kill you again but then Vinay convinced me that you were a child. I was feeling guilty about cheating on him so I accepted it and left you. Everyone was happy until you come back. But now you will not walk out of this alive," she took a gun and pressed it to my forehead.

"Aarav is my brother," from the total conversation those were the only words I got.

"Yes, he is your half-brother."

I was held at gunpoint but my mind was focused on remembering his face, Aarav. My little brother.

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