chapter 78

"He's dead ", grey said after speaking with his subordinate over the phone.

"Grey, I need full details"

Grey who is leisurely sitting on the couch, showed a  stop hand gesture to Damon and made a phone call. After keeping the call in speaker, he said, "Oliver, report "

"Two cylinders blasted one after the other in the kitchen. since Prithvi's house is in a remote area, by the time the fire engine reached the location, the whole house is completely ignited in the sea of flames.after an hour of continuous struggle they fully extinguished the fire and retrieved the body of Prithvi", the report ended.

"Are they sure is it really him. did they saw his face", Damon anxiously asked standing up from the desk.

"The victim's face is completely in unrecognizable stage.his whole body is burned.his body is right now in hospital for postmortem. We got the confirmation from police department's that it's really Prithvi "

"Wait, there is no other person other than him in the mansion. not even his men "

"Today Only two of his men stayed in that house, they also dead, sir"

grey who is silently playing with a small pocket knife in his hand suddenly swung it towards the not completely closed door.

"Ammmmaaaaaaaa", immediately two similar yelling voice heard.

(Mom)

"Come in ", grey said with a smirk still casually leaning on the couch.

Hearing the familiar voice Damon turned towards the door, where he saw the shell shocked Priya and Swetha peeking from the slightly opened door.

"Priya",

Did she hear everything?

"Damon ", Priya said coming towards him, "Did he re_really dead? ", She asked almost in a whisper with a shaky voice.

******

She walked around the mansion absent-mindedly.it's been two weeks since she has started to stay in her uncle's mansion. It's been three weeks since she got the news that her parents met with an accident.

She was filled with deep grief and regret. Her mind is completely clouded by her parent's loving memories. Even though the police concluded that her parents were dead by the fall from the cliff. She won't accept it. She won't accept it till she sees their body herself. Losing her parents felt like losing her life. Her whole world crumbled in a second. That time in a blurring of emotions she moved to her uncle's mansion, Accepting her only living relative's request. Her clouded mind desperately expected a warmness from her uncle at least 10% of the love she's currently missing from her parents. In the starting, She felt like she did receive it. Her uncle always accompanied her, consoled her during her crying session. even though he's a man of only little words he always stayed there for her.at first due to her grief, she didn't notice his strange behavior. But each passing day she started to become conscious of her surrounding.  She also noticed her uncle's eyes always followed her each and every move. She gradually started to feel a creepy feeling of someone watching her all the time.

Starting when she came she saw there some male bodyguards guarded the huge mansion. But now she sees none.

This disappearance started to happen only after that incident, that is the first time she talked casually with one of his young bodyguards. That day when she was having her lunch she saw him taking his usual lunch break, so she asked him to just have lunch with her. that big tall man would blush or look shy whenever she came across him. That's why she somehow had a good impression of this funny man. After talking with him for a few minutes she realized that inside that big bulky man, a small kid is hiding inside. He was such a jovial person She felt like she, at last, gained a male friend.

But later she didn't saw him at all.

It felt like Deja Vu.

She's always used to the disappearance. But why it's happening even in the house.

What happened to him?

That day when her uncle came home, she also saw his face looking at her in silent rage.

She never saw him showing this kind of scary face before.

Somehow she felt an ominous feeling that his fury linked to the talk she had with his bodyguard.

With numerous thoughts going on in her mind she roamed the empty house.

Her legs came in front of the forbidden room.

Prithvi never allowed anyone to enter this room. Even maids are not allowed to clean this room.

She also saw him getting into this room and coming out of it after a long time. Whenever he comes out of this room he would have a loving smile on his face which is almost similar to the one he would show when his eyes usually scrutinize her.

Priya felt like all the puzzles in her mind will definitely clear once she gets into this room.

She looked around to confirm that none is around her.

After confirming it, she opened the door.

Why such a secret door is remaining in unlock state?

It's like he's waiting for her to open this room.

She slowly stepped inside the room. The whole room is completely dark without even an ounce of light. Even the windows are closed shut with dark curtains.

Her hands traced the area near the door to find the switch for the light. When she found the series of switches, she immediately pressed the first one.

She gasped seeing only one particular photo is lighted in the big dark room.

It's a big photo completely covering the center portion of the wide wall.

In that picture, a small girl around the of four or five happily kissing a young teenager's forehead, with a big goofy smile on her face. The girl looks so cute with a dimpled smile in her face while the boy looks handsome and young, maybe around the age of 15. The boy's the one who's taking the selfie, with his eyes closed, his one arm is completely wrapped up maybe due to some fractured, wearing a hospital gown, which looks exactly similar to the one patient's wear on her parent's hospital. He's leaning on the hospital bed while the small girl is crouching on his bed.eventhough the boy is handsome he looks so skinny and haggard.

The small girl is actually Priya herself.

Who is this boy?

Oh my. The boy's features look similar to Prithvi.

She never knew that she even met her uncle at that young age.

But this photo clearly shows they both are pretty close.

Why he showcased this photo like a treasure?

She anxiously switched on the second switch also. This time one by one many photos around this big photo ignited.

The whole wall is covered by her pictures. From young to present.

The photo was aligned in the order when she's born to the graduation photos which she took in her college days recently. Every photo pictured only her. Her graduation photos also cropped and focused only on her.

She hurriedly switched on the next one in the series.

This time a thick curtain covering the right wall opened slowly.

Her heart thumped loudly looking at the unfolding screen.

Even after it unfolded the place remained dark so she switched on the next switch.

This time seeing the pictures in the wall, her eyes widened, she closed her opened mouth and looked at the photos scarily.

This wall contains her private photos. All taken in her bedroom without even her knowledge.all the photos in this wall looks like it has taken around this year.

In most of the photos, she's wearing her usual pajamas of shorts and a t-shirt. Thank god she's not wearing any inappropriate dress in any photos.

How he can able to take photos when she's in her bedroom? Did she didn't had safety even in her own home?

Did he saw her changing dress too?

No.its not possible she'd always change dress in her closet, which didn't even have any windows.

She crouched on the floor, on the verge of crying.

Why he did this? Is he a stalker?

First, she needs to get away from here before he gets back from work.

She hurriedly stood up from the floor and turned around.

She immediately gasped stumbling back.

There her uncle is leaning against the door with hands folded across his chest, wearing his usual dark color formals, with a dark smirk on his face.

She felt like she's seeing a devil directly descended from hell.

"Ma_mama"

(Uncle)

"Are you trying to run away from me, baby girl", he asked with dark eyes taking intimidating slow steps towards her.

"You_you ", she pointed her forefinger at him, "why you did this ?"

She never felt like this much fear before. She's always been a brave girl. Her only support, her beloved parent's loss made her this much vulnerable.

She felt like crying. A lonely girl who has nowhere to go. Even though she had all the riches her parents left for her, she felt like she's the poorest at this moment.

******

Priya jolted awake from her daydream when a warm, firm hand softly touched her cheek.

" Are you okay, baby. You spaced out for a long time ", Damon asked worriedly embracing her tightly in his arms like she's gonna disappear any moment.

Priya returned his hug by embracing him tightly. Now she had a warm shoulder where she can lean to her heart's content.

She smiled looking at the bestie who had a concerned expression on her face.

Now she's feeling like the richest person on earth.

( I always used to be sick for utmost two weeks every month due to my health condition.its not a major issue just some stomach pain(one of the ladies problem ) that's it.  Anyway, I really felt overwhelmed by you people's loving concern😇. It's a good feeling to have someone waiting for your work😊. It gave me a boost that I'm at least being useful in some way to others.

Now I'm back to normal friends, this time I'll try to update as many chapters as possible.

Next update tomorrow 😉)