Punishment
Shikhawat guffawed loudly, “Oh, so you think you are intimidating enough to scare me and made me spill the place where I have captivated your sister? Nice try then!”
“What do you want? Money?!” Manya roared out, not amused by his tactics. “Just name your price, then.”
“No baby, no! Why would I have done all this if only I needed money? I don't need money when everything is already mine! I just need you on my side, for winning this game!”
“In your dreams! And I have seen enough of your drama, so just tell me what I want to hear.”
“Oh dear, you don't even know what the drama is-”
“Police will be here very soon, so you better work fast and I might consider letting you go free.” Manya threw down her bait.
“Hahaha! Very funny, don't you know our constitution has no laws governing the actions of dead people! For you and this society, Siddhant has been dead for almost twelve years.” He took a pause and then continued again. “Do you even know what my real name is? Let me do you a favor, you know what- I am not just Siddhant, I am Shikhawat Sharma. I hope you have an idea about me!”
Manya was evidently stunned. “Shikhawat Sharma...That is impossible, didn't Shikhawat Sharma and his mother pass away in an accident...that too ages ago?”
“Told you, the police can't do anything to me!” He cut her off again, in the middle of the sentence. He relished the look of shock on Manya’s face and then continued after a moment.
“I guess when you remembered about this mansion, you surely do remember everything about the accident now, and the day before that as well, and your fear of water…but let me tell you how I killed your Massi, because that is the only thing which did not happen in front of your eyes! So I must tell you how you have this habit of neglecting your own mistakes, and remembering those of others. Do you remember your massi asking you to call your mother?”
He paused again to notice the expressions on Manya's face, who was standing still as a statue. With a satisfied smirk on his face, he proceeded to confirm what she must be suspecting. “It was you who had forgotten to call her, because you were distracted by the little dog in the corridor. I was the one who brought the dog there, to divert your attention; and guess what, I do know you well enough to have succeeded! I sneaked into your Massi's room and tried to strangle her, but then I realised that it would leave a mark. So in the moment, I came up with a quick solution and injected the medicine that I knew had already been given to her. I caused an overdose, so that the hospital will also hide it in the autopsy report, to hide their fault. I wanted to see her die in front of me, but I could not be afforded that satisfaction either! Your extraordinary mother had to arrive at the place at the main time, and ruin all the fun for me. So I just hid, and you entered at the exact point when she was examining the wounds. To tell you the truth, at that point I was also in doubt that she might be able to save her, and that thought almost stopped my heart. But your Massi always tends to be in hurry, so this time she left in hurry as well! And the allegations were also fed in your mind by Roy, as part of my plan. If you hadn't left for Italy, I would have succeeded in my plan years ago. But, no! You had to ruin everything- but you know what, it's okay because I managed to bring you back here. Oh, I just realised that you are still unaware of the main character-”
BANG! A kick landed on his face, while Manya whirled back to her position, shouting “How dare you touch my family! You killed everyone, and are now trying to hurt my sister as well! I won't let you live! This is for my Nanu,” she punched him again. “And this, this is for Nani-”
She was going to punch him again, when he held her wrist and twisted it, saying “What do you think you are doing? Have you forgotten who I am? You are still alive because I wanted you to, otherwise when I had killed seven people, then why would I hesitate in killing one more? Would you think that I am not capable of committing one more muder? No!” Saying this, he pushed her with a sudden pressure on the ground .
He spat at her, “Listen, you are important for these future plans of mine, but that doesn't mean that I will let you do whatever you want to do! No, that is not acceptable, you have to learn your limits.”
“You bloody b*stard, how dare you?!” Manya tried to stand up and hit him again, but he was already standing and conscious, so he punched her back, hitting her in the stomach.
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Sia tried to free her hands from Shambhav’s grip at the moment she saw her sister entering and searching for her. Shambhav pulled her down and whispered urgently, “If you go out now, then you will mess everything up instead of mending it!”
Sia revolted, but quieted down when they started talking.
*Now it was the time for her to get shocked- Sia had heard about Shikhawat Sharma, he was the son of one of Nanu's friends. From what she knew, he and his mother had severed ties and left after the death of his father, and the two of them had also died in an accident. Then how was it possible that Shikahwat Sharma was not only alive, but he was her father as well!*
Meanwhile, Shambhav was also busy recalling his childhood events, and examining them under the light of this new information. He remembered how they had been living a really luxurious life, until they had suddenly been bound to live an almost hidden life. So this wasn't due to any business failure on his father’s part, but rather it was because he wanted to take some stupid revenge or God knows what! As the story progressed, he found himself unable to stay upright properly. He didn't know how he would face the girl standing by him, and how he would face the girl whom he used to admire and adore? How would he tell his mother about all of this without causing her immense pain and hurt?! How...how would everything go back to normal? He never referred to himself as a good person, he knew he was the most selfish person on the earth. And yet, he had never thought of killing someone, kidnapping someone...humiliating someone to the verge of committing suicide.*
He sat down with a loud thud, but the sound was covered up due the kicking sound of Manya.
He saw his father get kicked, but at that moment he had no explanation to save him, he was disgusted by his own existence. He couldn't do anything at that moment, he was unable to even stand up again as if there was no energy left in his body, his vision was getting blurry.
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Manya whined with pain, but she quickly composed herself and punched him back. She shouted out again, “Why on earth did you do all this?! Just for this reasons- tell me where Sia is, or else I won't leave a betrayer like you go free, so spill!”
“Really?” Shikhawat smirked, even with blood flowing from his lips. “What will you do when you find out who is the real ma-”
Whatever he had been about to say further was interrupted because of Sia yelling out “Di, careful! He has a vase in his hands!”
This caused Manya to whirl around in the direction the voice had come from. She turned back towards Shikhawat to see a person hitting him on his legs with an iron rod, making him crawl on the ground with pain.
Manya looked at the face of his attacker and exclaimed, “Baba, you? How did you manage to come here?’
“This is not the time Manya, let me first kill this b*stard who killed everyone just for the gem! He doesn't deserve to live.”
Shikahwat managed to speak out through his pain, “You, how can you do this to me, after me being only loyal-”
Before Shikhawat could utter something further, the person hit him on the head again. The floor was splattered red with his blood, leading three screams to follow.
Shambhav ran to the almost lifeless body of his father, Manya rushed to Sia to hug her and close her eyes. Meanwhile, the person just threw the rod down as if he had been waiting for this moment for ages, and didn't even have any regret of taking a life as if it was a perfectly normal sight.
He turned to Manya and was about to say something to her, when Arjun, Ishaan, Sagrika, Manav, Arnab and Meenal reached there, along with an envoy of guards and police officers.
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Two days had passed since the incident. Sia was fine, but was still in a little shock, and Arjun hadn't left Manya alone for a second, while the elders of both the families were even more concerned about the girls and had increased the security around them tenfold.
Manya was now aware of many things, but there was still something she needed to find the answers to. And for that, she was there, standing in front of room 306 in the corridor of the hospital.
After some minutes, Shambhav came out of the door and spoke up after noticing her. “Welcome, Manya…” He paused, and then added “Ma'am.” He repeated himself immediately, “Welcome Manya ma'am.”
“It's okay Shambhav, you have done nothing wrong and you are not guilty for any crime committed by your parents. Instead, you are also a victim of it...let us talk inside.”
Saying this, she entered the room and looked at the figure who was laying on the bed, and now would never be able to walk properly again. She took another glance at him, but no matter how pitiful his condition was, she was not able to feel even a tiny bit of sympathy for him. She was not like this, but this person had given her so much trauma that she couldn't forgive him, no matter how bad his suffering was.
She looked at the person, and demanded, “Tell me, tell me everything you know.”
“Your Nanu's manager was the mastermind behind this game, he was the one who had always provided me with the information about everything. He had helped me with planning the whole accident, and then sneaking out without leaving any proof behind.”
Manya raised her hand, gesturing for him to stop as she saw him struggling with words. She knew the whole scenario very clearly by now; she had already reached a conclusion two days ago, but she needed confirmation and for that, a witness was required. That was the only reason why she had saved this person, without letting any clue fall in the hands of Baba!”
She spoke, “Congratulations, now you will be the government witness. And because of this, your punishment will be forgiven and you are blessed with a life. But you know what, in my view, this is the real punishment which you are going to get. Because if the law would have punished you, the cruelest punishment you would have gotten would be death by hanging. But now, now you are destined to suffer till the day you die naturally, remembering that your wife has also left you after finding out the truth. I have submitted the gem to the government, and your son is also aware of your sins and finds himself guilty for it. Congratulations on getting a life Shikhawat, where you are cursed to die daily, just like I have died in the past twelve years of my life.”
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A/N : Hello my lovely and sweet readers, I will be posting the second part in an hour. So please stay tuned and stay safe ?. Love you all ??❤️