Page 169 of Since You Stole My Heart

Kashvi pressed the phone to her ear, her lips trembling. ‘Papa?’

‘Kashvi.’ His voice carried a note of disappointment that fed the fear twisting tighter inside her.

‘Papa, where are you?’ she asked, crying harder.

‘I told you your mother would take you away from me, didn’t I?’

She struggled through her sobs. ‘I don’t know. I don’t understand what’s happening. I want to come back to you.’

Arohi’s eyes flickered towards her through the mirror, but she stayed silent.

‘I don’t understand either,’ Karthik sighed heavily. ‘But if you don’t help me right now, you won’t see me again.’

Kashvi gasped. ‘Never?’

‘Never.’

No. I have to fix this.

‘What do I do, Papa?’ she whispered.

‘Then help me. Tell me where your mother is taking you,’ he urged softly.

But Maa told me not to.

‘Why?’ she asked, her stomach knotting with unease.

‘Don’t you want me to come get you?’

Driven by the desperate need to see him, she nodded. ‘I do.’

‘Then tell me!’ he demanded anxiously.

‘Her friend Neena’s house,’ Kashvi blurted out.

Arohi heard her friend’s name and immediately turned towards Kashvi. ‘Hey, what did you just say?’

‘Nothing!’ Kashvi winced, quickly pressing herself against the door as Arohi reached back for the phone.

‘Come here,’ Arohi urged, unbuckling her seatbelt and reaching towards her. She struggled to steer with one hand as she warned, ‘Kashu, give me that back right now.’

‘He just wants to come see me,’ Kashvi argued.

‘Enough.’ Arohi eased her foot onto the brake, but the sudden blare of horns behind them forced her to keep moving. Frustration bled into her voice. ‘Hand me the phone right now or I’ll come back there and get it myself.’

Karthik quickly called out, ‘Are you in the backseat?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then focus on me. Tell your mother I’m telling you about the birthday gift I got for you.’

Kashvi blinked in confusion but obeyed anyway. ‘Please, Maa. Just one minute. I want to know about my birthday gift.’

Arohi hesitated before pulling her hand back and gripping the steering wheel again. ‘You have one minute. Then I’ll stop this car in the middle of the tunnel if I have to.’

Kashvi nodded quickly and clutched the phone tighter.

‘Are you in a tunnel right now?’ Karthik asked.