"I have a news for you. Your IVF treatment was not even started. You were fooled by your husband."

This message had been driving Srishti crazy. She received a message from an unknown number this morning and at first she was confused but later, it scared her. Who the hell sent it? And how did the person know about all this? No one knows about their son or her for that matter. Is this some kind of trap?

She was terrified and informing Sahil about the same, was the only thing she could come up with. Or she could go to the hospital and confirm about it.

She looked at Ayaansh who was busy playing and her heart clenched. Screwing her eyes shut, she calmed herself before she came to a conclusion.

She was going to the hospital.

So she got ready and left with Ayaansh to find her answers. She was sure it was all fake and something akin to destroy Sahil's image, but she wouldn't allow that. Not at her cost.

As she reached there, she looked for the doctor who had done the treatment and was asked to wait for twenty minutes.

"Mrs. Malhotra, you can go in." She was called and asked to in. With a shaky breath, she got up and moved towards the cabin as Ayaansh continued playing with her hair.

As she entered inside hesitantly, the doctor looked up and instantly his face paled.

"Mrs. Malhotra?" He gulped remembering her case clearly because not everyday someone threatened you to fake an IVF treatment.

"Hello, doctor. You might not remember me but I was one of your patient, a few months ago. My IVF results had been negative, if you recall." Srishti was closely looking at his expressions and he seemed nervous and scared all of a sudden.

It made her suspicious.

"Uh─I─I'm sorry but I can't recollect. Do you have any specific reason for visiting?" He desperately wanted her to leave, one, because his reputation was at stake and two, her husband was scary and crazy and he clearly didn't want to get involved with the same man again.

"I know you're hiding something about my case. So you better tell me what it is or I'll have to resort to other way." She warned him but the truth was, she had no other way. She was just bluffing but it worked as he started sweating profusely.

"Stop please!" He cried out holding his head.

"Your husband has already threatened me. Now it's you. What have I done to both of you. I shouldn't have taken your case in the first place." He regretted it but she sat there frozen even when Ayaansh tried to gain her attention, she couldn't even look at him.

Your husband has already threatened me.

These words kept ringing in her ears and she found it difficult to breathe. She hugged Ayaansh close to her, who giggled innocently.

"What ─Why did he threaten you?" She mustered up the courage to ask him but she didn't knew if she could hear the answer.

He sighed defeated, and looked straight at her.

"Mr. Malhotra asked me to give him 100% guarantee that after the procedure, the result would come out positive which was not possible and I couldn't do that. So," he paused and Srishti could only hold her breath before he continued, "he threatened me, that either I give him the guarantee or he'll destroy my career and this hospital. I panicked and asked me what he wanted and he asked me not to plant the embryos inside you. And so I didn't." He completed and Srishti felt numb.

She painfully gulped the lump in her throat before she opened her mouth.

"So you mean I didn't ─I didn't go through the IVF procedure?" Her voice was barely audible and she felt like she would crumble any moment but the only thing that kept her and was those tiny hands which kept playing with her necklace.

"I'm sorry." Was the only thing he could say. He felt guilty but he wasn't at fault either. He was threatened and how could he risk his career which he built after so many years of hardwork.

Srishti nodded and got up, Ayaansh babbled in her arms but she could register nothing.

The world around her seemed to disappear as the pain in her chest kept increasing. She didn't know how and when she reached home. She didn't know when she kept Ayaansh down and he started playing with his toys.

All she could remember was the betrayal she received from her husband. The one for whom she was falling. The one whom she had started to trust.

She entered the bathroom and stood under the shower, letting her tears out. She wanted to scream, cry out loud but she couldn't. She couldn't when Ayaansh was just outside. She would scare him.

So, she silently cried under the shower with her hand tightly pressed against her mouth. Sobs racked her body but the pain didn't lessen. It was suffocating her.

Thirty minutes later, when she walked out fully drenched, her eyes fell on her son who was happily chewing on his toy. She smiled painfully as she crouched down and caressed his face.

She was so glad he was a child, as he looked up and gave her a toothless smile despite her disheveled state. Her throat clogged and tears poured out despite her trying to control herself.

"I'm sorry baby. I'm sorry. Mumma loves you the most." She whispered in a broken voice before she leaned down and kissed his forehead.

"I'm sorry."

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Sahil returned home a little earlier because her couldn't concentrate and felt uneasy. He didn't know why he was feeling so restless but he knew he needed to go home.

When he entered, the house seemed eerily quiet and he wondered where Srishti and Ayaansh were. Frowning, he walked towards their room and smiled as he found Ayaansh sleeping in his crib.

He looked the cutest when he slept and Sahil could watch him for hours.

He quickly kissed his forehead and searched for Srishti but found her nowhere in the room. Much to his disappointment, she wasn't even on the terrace or the kitchen or in the whole penthouse.

Where is she?

Sahil pulled out his phone and called her but then heard a vibrating sound which made him turn. He found her phone lying on the side table and that is when his eyes fell on the thing kept along with it.

It was a letter.

His heart thudded violently in his chest as he bent down and picked it up.

I am leaving, Sahil. Our deal had ended long back and I should've left at that instant but my greed for my son's love didn't let me.

Now that you have your son, your heir and as you've already completed your part of deal, I should leave.

Don't try to find me because you'll only be able to find those who want to be found.

I hope we never meet again.

He crushed the paper as his jaw clenched in anger. How the fuck can she leave? Who the fuck gave her the permission?

He was livid because the reason for her abrupt departure was still unknown to him. Just when he was about to throw the phone in anger, he stopped as his eyes fell on his sleeping son.

His heart clenched and he dreaded the time he would wake up and look for his mother.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself before a cold look overtook his features. He dialed a number and walked out of the room.

"Zevah, has Srishti visited you?" He asked as soon as she answered the call.

"Uh, no? She's not at home?" She asked confused but he had already hung up. She cursed and glared at the phone before throwing it on the bed.

Sahil then dialed Rohit's number which was answered in the second ring.

"Go to Srishti's orphanage and check if she's there. Now." He ordered him and Rohit immediately muttered a 'yes sir' before he cut the call.

"Fuck! I swear Srishti, if I don't find you until tomorrow morning then I won't ever let you near Ayaansh." He muttered darkly and gritted his teeth.

A minute later, he got a call and thinking it was Rohit he answered it immediately without looking at the name.

"Is she there?"

"What's wrong, Sahil? Where is Srishti?" He heard a very serious Aditya and cursed loudly.

────────

Aditya stared at Sahil who sat across him whereas Zevah sat there with a worried look on her face.

"Where is she?" Aditya repeated and it snapped Sahil's control who glared at him but it didn't faze him.

"I don't fucking know." He gritted out and earned a sharp look from his bestfriend.

"Then who the fuck knows? Aren't you supposed to know where your wife is?" Aditya snarled and Sahil looked ready to punch him.

"Don't test my patience right now, Aditya." He sneered back and Zevah was worried they would start a physical fight any moment.

"Of course. Your patience is very important right now." Aditya scoffed and before Sahil could do anything, his phone rang.

It was Rohit.

Ignoring Aditya, he got up, answering the call and moving away.

"Is she there?" He repeated the question he had asked Aditya and waited for his reply with bated breath.

"She's not here, sir." Rohit replied apologetically.

His grip on the phone tightened to the point where his knuckles turned white. Looking at his face, Aditya was sure something was not right.

"She's not at the orphanage." He uttered and Zevah's eyes widened in fear.

Aditya clenched his jaw before he pushed past him and marched into his room. He was cautious enough to not wake Ayaansh but he did find the clue he was looking for ─the letter.

His blood boiled as he clutched the paper tightly and stormed out, straight towards the person who was the sole reason for the problem.

Roughly turning him around, Aditya threw the paper on his face before he asked.

"What is this? What the fuck is this, Sahil Malhotra! What did you do?" Aditya's patience was running low and he was close to yelling on top of his voice but only kept it low for Ayaansh.

Zevah picked up the paper, going through the lines as her eyes teared up. What was her bestfriend going through? Why wasn't she there when she needed her?

"I don't know. I. Fucking. Don't. Know." Sahil was equally enraged but somewhere he was more frustrated because he didn't knew the damn reason for her disappearance.

Running his hand through his already messy hair, Sahil sat down on the couch with Srishti's phone in his hand. He opened it to find something but froze when his eyes landed on the message.

She knows.

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