His gaze drops to where my fingers cling to him, then lifts back up, and just like that, his expression softens.
“Please don’t leave me,” I whisper, as my hands begin to tremble against his chest.
Sidharth slowly unwraps my fingers from his shirt. Then he brings both of my hands to his lips and presses a gentle kiss to each. Without a word, he pulls me back into his arms, holding me even closer than before.
“I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart,” he murmurs softly. “You’re safe, Nisha. I’ve got you.”
“I’ll go check inside,” Karan says, and Sidharth nods in response.
Once Karan disappears into the house, he soothingly runs his hands up and down my arms.
“Tell me those assholes weren’t there when you walked in,” he rumbles quietly, the tension in his voice barely restrained. I lift my head to meet his gaze, filled with fury and something that looks a lot like anguish. And it’s all directed at the thought of me being in danger.
“They weren’t,” I tell him softly, placing my hand against his chest. His heartbeat pounds beneath my palm in a quick, uneven rhythm.
He cups my face gently. “Nisha, I know you want to keep this hidden,” he says softly. “But it’s time we let out what’s happening. We don’t have to tell Kavya just yet, but Sunita Aunty needs to know. She has to stay alert. It’s for her safety as well. Because the truth is, we still don’t know what kind of bastard we’re dealing with.”
I swallow hard and close my eyes for a moment, his words sinking in. “Okay,” I whisper finally, my voice barely audible. Deep down, I know he’s right. As much as I want to protecteveryone by keeping this quiet, staying silent won’t keep them safe.
Chapter 20
Sidharth
“Talk,” I say to Viraj, my eyes fixed on Nisha’s house as we stand on the porch.
It’s been four hours since I found her trembling, her eyes hollow with fear. The image hasn’t left my mind, not for a damn second.
When Sunita Aunty arrived, I didn’t sugarcoat it. I told her exactly what had happened. Her face paled, but she understood this wasn’t just a one-time scare and that we had to stay vigilant.
I also had two of my men work on putting Nisha’s room back together immediately, cleaning up the wreckage and erasing every trace of the madness that bastard had left behind. She didn’t need to see any of it again. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t let her spend another second in that house. But I know asking her to stay at my place would have her shooting that down in a heartbeat. That’s why I settled on a middle ground of getting her house cleaned up and posting constables outside. A compromise she won’t push away.
“You better have something solid,” I grit out, my voice edgy with impatience. How the hell did those bastards get the chance to break into her house? Fuck, I don’t even want to imagine whatcould’ve happened if those bastards had gotten anywhere near hurting Nisha.
“The news isn’t good,” Viraj says grimly. “We found nothing. No prints, no evidence, nothing useful. No signs of forced entry either, which makes it even harder. Prakash isn’t just clever, he’s sharp and calculative.”
“Fuck,” I mutter, dragging a hand down my face, refusing to let that thought take root. The thought that we might not catch him. That Prakash could actually be smart enough to get his hands on Nisha again. No. Hell no. That’s not an option.
I narrow my eyes at Viraj. “What about the CCTV? The cameras I had installed last time, did anything come up from that?”
“They haven’t been in use since we caught Prakash. Even after his escape, it slipped our minds to remind Nisha to reactivate them,” he says regretfully.
I clench my jaw, furious at myself. Damn me for letting something this important slip my notice. How could I have overlooked it? How could I have allowed this to happen?
Viraj places a steady hand on my shoulder. “Get a hold of yourself. I know what’s running through your head. But you’ve never been careless when it came to protecting her. None of us saw this coming. This isn’t on you.”
I shrug his hand off and glare at him.
“I don’t think so,” I bite out. “If I’d protected her the way I should’ve, she wouldn’t be sitting inside that house, terrified out of her mind. He got to her, Viraj. He scared her. So don’t stand there and tell me I’m not to blame, because I damn well am.”
“Blaming yourself won’t fix it. We need your head clear, Sidharth.”
I let out a tortured breath. He’s right. Nisha doesn’t need me angry. She needs me to be steady.
“Did you talk to the neighbours? Did anyone see or hear anything?” I ask, slipping back into detective mode.
He shakes his head, running a hand through his greying hair. “I spoke to a few of them. No one saw a damn thing.”
My fists clench at my sides. I’m frustrated as hell and completely blank, like every damn path that could lead me to those bastards is just out of reach. And the worst part? Nisha’s in there, shaken to her core, and I can’t even look her in the eye and promise that this nightmare is over.
