"NIHARIKA." I called her name when I entered the penthouse. "NIHARIKA." I called out again but there was no one in the living room. I ran towards her room. I opened it without knocking. The room was empty, she was not there. I frowned. I felt something suspicious. The room looked cleaner than usual. I knocked the bathroom door and opened it. It was also empty. She might be in the patio. That was her favourite spot in this house. I descended down the stair case. I reached the patio but I couldn't find her. Where is she? Does she go out? I called her but her phone was switched off. I called Raghu to ask whether he is with her or not but he said he haven't seen her today. He said her car is still in the parking lot. The uneasiness inside me started to grew.

I called her again but her phone was still switched off. I sighed. May be she needs sometime alone. But why didn't she take her car. I ran my fingers through my hair. There is something unsettling inside me. I walked towards our bedroom while taking off my coat and tie. I opened the door to our bedroom. There is something off. Creases started to form in my forehead. I walked towards the walk in closet. I opened it; my breath got stuck and I felt a knot in my stomach. She is gone.

Her side of the closet was empty. I looked around and saw all her belongings are gone. The reality hit me hard. She left me. Suddenly fear started to consume me. No, no it can't be. She can't leave me. I have to find her and stop her before I lose her. I called my security staffs and asked them to search every possible place for Niharika. I ran towards the front door with my fastly beating heart. I have no idea where to go and search her.

I reached the living room in a second but was stopped by the person who entered through the front door. My jaw clenched. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?" I asked through gritted teeth. "Uh-uhmm, the door was open." She said in low voice. "What do you want?" I asked. "I. I..." She stammered gulping hard. I sighed in irritation. "See Arohi, I don't have time for this. Whatever it is I will deal with it later. Now get out." I said. The only thing in my mind was Niharika. I was desperate to go out and search for her. I walked towards the front door. Suddenly Arohi held my wrist. "Ved, you can't avoid me like this. Not after what happened yesterday." She said annoyed. "That was a mistake Arohi. I was drunk and was not in my right mind. It shouldn't have happened. Now leave me I have important things to do." I said irritate and pulled out my wrist from her grip. I turned around to go out. "Mistake?!! It's not a mistake. You kissed me." She said raising her voice.

"Excuse me!! You kissed me first. I was not aware. I was drunk." I said. My blood was raising, I have to find Niharika and she is wasting my time. "But you kissed me back Ved." She shouted. "Don't raise your voice at me. I told you that was a mistake. I was drunk and was not in my right mind. I kissed you back because I thought you were Niharika. Understand. Now don't waste my time and get out." I screamed at her. Every passing minute was making me impatient. "Don't lie to me Ved. I know you still love me. Why are you denying it?" She asked gritting her teeth. She moved closer to me. I scoffed. "Love?!! Don't you remember we broke up 7 years ago? I don't love you anymore. In fact I have never loved you." I whisper yelled at her. "Then why did you bring me to your home? Why were you so concerned about me? And that kiss? How can you say that it was mistake?" She asked again.

I closed my eyes tightly. "I care for you Arohi. I really do but, as a friend. That's it. We were friends and I was feeling guilty because I agreed to be in a relationship in which there was no love. I thought that we were friends and this relationship might work but it didn't. I thought of telling you this long back before the accident happened but I was afraid of you getting hurt. But with everything happened in that party made me lose my cool and I broke up with you in a way I didn't want. And I was feeling guilty all these years that because of my carelessness you met with that accident. I couldn't forgive myself for putting your life at risk. I regretted being angry at you in your last moments. All those years I thought you were dead because of me and when you came back I was shocked. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to ask for forgiveness. You said your father is pushing you into a forced marriage. So I wanted to help you. I did everything under my guilt. I wanted to make your life easy. That's it. I'm sorry if any of my actions made you misunderstand my intentions." I said.

Suddenly she held my collar. "You can't say like that. You love me. I knew it. All these years my dad kept me away from you. I believed every lies he said to me about you until I met your mother three months ago in that mall. She told me that you are still grieving after my death. If you didn't love me then why were you in this much pain? Don't say that it was out of guilt. You broke up with me because of my dad right. See, I left him. I came back to you Ved. I will be good from now on okay. I will do everything you tell me to do. Han!! You can't leave me Ved." She said with tears in her eyes but there was something wicked in her eyes.

I sighed and removed her hands from my collar. "Arohi. Please, stop this. I have to go. I have to find Niharika and apologize to her before it's too late." I said. I know arguing with her is not going to help. Suddenly she pushed me back with force. I stumbled back but maintained my balance. "NIHARIKA, NIHARIKA. Stop saying her name. I hate to hear her name coming from your mouth. You are mine Ved." She was seething at me. Her eyes darkened with rage.

"Why are you still going behind her Ved? You knew she is cheating on you with her ex-husband. Still you are going to get her back? WHY?!!" She screamed. I frowned. I gasped. "You? You were the one who send that picture?!! Isn't it? You were stalking her?" I asked with disbelief. "I didn't stalk her I just asked someone to keep an eye on her, so that I could get something against her. And see I got. She is cheater Ved. She is not good for you." She said caressing my cheek and giving me a devilish smile. I was shocked, Arohi was stalking Niharika.

"Where is Niharika? Did you do something to her? I'm going to kill you if touch a hair on her." Even though I was shouting at her the fear inside me was not subsiding. What if Niharika is in danger? Did Arohi do something to her? "She left?!!" She asked surprised. Then a vicious smirk appeared on her face. I looked at her. Her smirk widened. "She left you, right. Han. Good for her. I guess she is not as stupid as she may look. You know what I was going to kill her if she didn't leave on her own but I guess she is smart enough to back away. How dare she to come between us?" She said gritting her teeth with a psychic expression. She moved closer and cupped my face with her palms.

"Do you know how much I love you Ved? I love you so much that I will kill anyone comes between us, like my dad." She said. "What?" I asked shocked. "Yeah. When I met your mom I went to my dad and confronted him. I asked why he did that to us. And you know what he said? He said that you are not good for me. He said that he will never let me come to you. He said you never loved me. How can he say that?" She asked with fury. "That's when I stabbed him. How dare he say that you don't love me? I know you love me baby. I will kill anyone who dares to come between us." She said and laughed wickedly.

Now I was getting a little anxious. She stabbed her dad? "Then how did you come here? Didn't police arrest you?" I asked curiously. "Oh no. He didn't die because my mother came into the room before I could do that and took him to hospital. My father didn't let anyone know what happened. You know with money everything is possible. I was locked up in my room for days. But then he tried to get me admitted to a mental asylum. That's when I contacted your mother and she helped me to escape and I came to India." She said while smile like a child who got her favourite candy.

I sighed unbelievably. My mother helped this psycho to come here? God, is she really my mother? How could she do something like this? To save her secret from exposing she dared to bring her here. This woman has no limits. I fisted my fingers in anger. "Come on Ved, now that whore of a wife of yours is no longer in the picture we can be together again. We will be happy forever." She said again holding my hands.

I pulled away my hands from her with disgust. I took a furious step towards her. "DON'T EVER CALL MY WIFE A WHORE AGAIN." I screeched at her. She was taken aback a little. "There is nothing between us. Get that inside your brain Arohi. I have never loved you and I will not love you ever. I'm really sorry for starting a relationship which doesn't have a meaning. The only thing I could do is apologize. And I'm grateful that you are alive. But that is it. I'm a married man now and I am not going to leave my wife for you. There is nothing between us. So please get out of here before I call police." I said firmly.

Her eyes started to water again but then it was replaced with rage. "You are mine Ved. And no one is going to come in between us. If I can't have you no one will." She said furiously and pulled out a knife from her slack pocket. "If we can't live together then we are going to die together." She said with rage and aimed the knife to stab me. I immediately held her wrist. "Arohi. What are you doing? Stop this madness." I said. She was not listening to anything. She was beyond furious and she was not at her right mind. She pushed me hard with her other hand and I stumbled back. She swing the knife at me and held my hand before me. I winced when the knife cut through my forearm. I moved back while holding my bleeding hand tightly. She was coming forward at me with full speed while swinging the knife I moved backward and hit the sofa and fell on it. She raised the knife high ready to stab me. She brings down the knife and I rolled over to the side. The knife went inside the sofa cushion. I was getting scared now. She looked like a complete mad person. She pulled back the knife from the sofa and yanked at me again. I held her wrist again. She hovered over me and is now straddling me. I tried to push her away but she was a lot stronger than I expected and the cut on my forearm was giving me a hard time.

We both struggled to get the upper hand but then suddenly I heard a banging and Arohi fell off from my body to the floor. Startled, I looked up, to see a frightened Kavya holding a copper horse show piece in her hand. Her hand was shaking in fear and sweat drops were running down through her face. I looked at Kavya and an unconscious Arohi lying on the carpet. Panting, I slowly rise from the sofa and moved near to Kavya. She was looking at Arohi with fear in her eyes. I put my hand on her shoulder and she flinched. She looked at me with scared eyes. "Is she dead? Did... Did I kill her?" She asked in a trembling voice. Her eyes were watering. Taking a deep breath I kneeled down and kept my finger in Arohi's neck. I sighed in relief. I looked at Kavya. "No she is alive. She is just knocked out." I said. Kavya sighed in relief and put the show piece down.

"I think we should tie her up and then call the police." Kavya said. I nodded and picked up Arohi and put her in the nearby chair. Mean time Kavya brought some cable ties we both tied her to the chair and called the police.

..................................................................................................................................................................

I sat down on the sofa rubbing my face. My left hand was bandaged. The police just left with Arohi after she put a tantrum and many threats. The police took both mine and Kavya's statements. It was an eventful day. "She needs help." Kavya said looking at the front door. I nodded. "I know. I will arrange it." I said. "How is your hand?" She asked pointing at my bandage. "It's fine." I replied. There was a awkward silent for a few moments. Kavya cleared her throat after few minutes. "So. Where is Hari?" I heard Kavya asking. I slowly looked at her with shame on my face. "I don't know. She left. Her belongings are gone. I was about go and search for her and all these happened." I said. She frowned at me. "What do you mean by gone? Where would she go? What happened between you two?" She asked. I looked down with guilt in my face.

I sighed and told her everything happened except my mother's past. I looked at her face. It held anger and disappointment. I pursed my lips and looked away. I sighed. "I know I fucked up but please tell me this. Do you have any idea where she will be? I asked my staff to search for her but they couldn't find her. She hasn't taken any flights to Pune." I asked hesitantly. "Why should I tell you? You made it clear to her that you don't trust her right. Do you think she will come back to you?" She spat at me. I didn't have any answer for that. I know what I did hurt her deep. I took deep breath. "I. I don't know Kavya. I. I was angry and drunk. I didn't understand what to do. I was a mess." I said and face palmed me.

"That is not an excuse Mr. Vedant Aryan. What matters is you didn't trust her when she needed you to trust her. Han!! And what more disgusting is you accused her that she is cheating on you when in reality you were the one who did it, knowingly or unknowingly." She said gritting her teeth. I fisted my fingers. "Then what should I think. What do you think how I felt when I see my wife in other man's hands? And she didn't even tell me about them meeting there. Why in the hell should they want to see each other after what he did to her?" I shouted at her. I was on the edge, my emotions where all over. My men couldn't find any whereabouts of Niharika and my anxiety was increasing with every second. Where would have she gone? How is she? Is she in any trouble? What if something happens to her? I rubbed my face and gripped my hair in annoyance and worry.

"She didn't meet with him. He came to her apartment by himself to confront her after he found out the medical report from his father's documents. She was too furious at him for accusing her and she freaked out then she fainted. He was just holding her unconscious body when I went to open the door to the apartment." She said calmly. "What? What did he tell her that made her faint? Did he do something inappropriate? Did he threaten her again?" I asked gritting my teeth. I was getting very furious now. If I see him now I would have killed him. "No. He. He apologized to her and said that he will never disturb her again when he came to know what exactly he did to her all those years ago." She said, her eyes becoming glassy. I looked at her in confusion. She looked at my face with her teary eyes. "She. She lost her baby because of him." She said while a tear rolled down to her cheeks.