Ananya's POV

Impatiently i pressed button for the 30th floor. There were a thousand thoughts in my mind. I was trying to understand the reason behind it all.
Why was Nathan there? Did something happen between Nathan and Alex? Why did Mr.Nickson punch Alex? Is Alex ok? Things started to blur in front of my eyes when the lift came to a halt and the door opened.
I couldn't see a soul on the floor. The floor was empty. But i could hear noises from one corner where i assumed were the conference rooms. I ran towards the direction of the voices.
At the farthest corner of the floor i saw some security officials standing and chatting. The moment they saw me they started walking towards me.

I stopped near them and before I could ask anything, the taller guy spoke, "Ma'am you cannot be here at this time. You need to leave."
" But i need to see him. Where is Alex? "

They started moving towards me trying to make me move back and leave.

"Don't you touch me. I am here to see Alex and I will not leave without seeing him."

"Alex! Alex ! Are you here? Are you alright?"
I called on to Alex at the top of my voice.

I saw Mr.Mason come out of the conference room.

" oh Mr.Mason, thank god you are here! I need to see Alex. Where is he? Why have you brought him up here?" I pushed the guards aside and ran towards Mr. Mason.

"Mr.Mason i really need to see him. I think you have some misunderstanding. Let me speak to him once."

He kept looking inside the room and held my hand and took me to a side.
"My dear, this matter is out of my hands now. Mr. Swornwell is looking into it personally. And I can't help you. You need to leave."

" No I won't leave without seeing him. And you can't stop me."
I took him by surprise when i shook his hand away and pushed the conference room door and entered it calling onto Alex.
My eyes were searching for him in there when i spotted him seated at the far end of the table with Mr.Nickson sitting on a chair next to him.
Something was terribly wrong.
Behind me Mr.Mason and the two security officials had entered the room but i moved towards Alex not leaving his gaze for a moment. He was in pain i could see.
Have they hurt him more?
Suddenly from the corner of the room i saw Nathan approaching. He looked different. He was not wearing his glasses. He wore a suit. He never wore that to work.

Wait ! What was he doing here? Mr. Mason was now pulling my hand and screaming in my ears to go out. But all i could see now was Alex sitting there, his lips cut at the side and bleeding. His shirt torn and hair messed up. He looked at me and gave me a broken smile.
I could feel warm tears now flowing down my cheeks.
Mr.Mason let me go when Nathan came towards me and held my face in his hands.
"Hey beautiful! Look at me. Its ok. I will explain to you everything but you have to stop crying."
I never left Alex's gaze, who for some reason now didn't look happy.
Nathan hugged me but i stood there as a life less doll not understanding a thing.

I lifted my hand directing towards Alex , "Alex" i cried those words out of me. He was now restless seeing me cry and tried to get up from his chair and come to me when Mr.Nickson hit him on his face again and pushed him back in the chair pulling him by his collar.

"Alex!.."
I pulled out of Nathan's embrace with a jerk and moved towards Alex.
" how dare you hit him?"
Nathan, Mr.Mason and those security officers all ran towards me as i held Mr.Nickson by his collar.

" How dare you touch him?"
Alex was calmly looking at Nathan now as if saying something while Nathan was trying to pull me away from Mr.Nickson who was visibly amused by my outburst of anger.
I finally let go off Mr.Nickson and hugged Alex who was now standing to let my agitated self get some space.

"Alex. Are you alright? I was so worried. You were not answering your phone. Why have they brought you here?"

"Hey Princess.. look at me..I am ok. Stop crying first. I told you I dont like tears in your beautiful eyes. I came to see you this morning Angel. But you were sleeping."

No one came between us anymore. They just let us be.

" You jerk. Why did you leave last night? Maa told me you were hurt." And I cried more in his arms, still complaining, forgetting where we were, letting go of all my worriess, knowing he is with me now. And i will not let anything happen to him.

****************************
Alex's POV

I heard commotion outside. And the next thing that heard made me forget all my worries.
She was here. I could just smile when she entered the room, fighting and pushing the huge men behind her.
That's my girl!! I knew she would be worried not seeing me un office adter what happened last night.

But this was so not Ananya.
Facing the world head on. I always thought of her as a shy timid girl.My girl.
But here she was fighting with people for me.

I don't like this Nathan guy. The way he held Ananya made my heart bleed. He called her beautiful. Only I could call her that.
But then she did the unthinkable, she literally attacked Mr.Nickson who was almost double her size.
It made me laugh a little. My brave girl.

I hugged her tight. She had no reason to worry. I couldn't see her like this anymore.

"Sit my dear."

"Mr.Mason, I would request to let me inform Ananya about the recent events. she is worried and I cannot see her like this. And I am sure she will not let Mr.Nickson continue his interrogation until she knows what the matter is."

Mr.Mason was now looking at Nathan as i was smiling looking at Ananya.

"Go on."
I heard Nathan speak in a stern voice.
And i also knew the reason for his anger. I could only smirk at him.

"So Mr.Swornwell came to know last night who I was."
"You are Alex."
I could just smile at her response, but it hurt to smile with all the cuts and bruises.
"Yes, they know now that I am not just Alex Martinez, and that Martinez is my maternal name which I have used all my school and college years.
As you know I am Alex Luther Lexstur, heir to the Lextur empire, and some day CEO of Lexstur corporation."

"So they are beating you because use your maternal name or because you are doing a menial job instead of joining your father's business?"

I could sense the frustration and anger in her voice. She really cared for me. What does she really feel for me?
What I saw yesterday with Nathan had blown my fears out of proportion. I thought I lost my love.
"Sweety, they think I have been stealing their contract informations and passing on to my Dad to get ahead in the market. My sole motive to join their company, according to them is to steal confidential information."

"This is proposterous!! Alex, are they insane? They are accusing you of theft?"

"Mr.Mason are you out of your mind? If he had to steal data why would he himself do the job? Don't you think he can afford to buy someone to do it? And why would you even think he can do something like this? Do you even have any proof?"

I started laughing, because that is exactly what I had been trying to tell everyone.

"See I guess we made a wrong choice to join Swornwell's, they do not seem to have smart people around here."
And i looked at Nathan who was clenching his fist when he burst out.

"Ms.Donavan, we do have the proofs that you asked about a moment ago. Care to know the truth?"

I could sense the anger in Nathan's voice. But i couldn't understand what it was for? Was it because Ananya was suppoeting me and asked for the proof or because of the bond me and Ananya shared.

Ananya was confused to hear Nathan change his tone.
"Sure Nathan. Try me. There is nothing in this world that would make me believe any accusations you have on Alex. I know him in and out."

Mr. Mason came forward to speak when he saw Nathan frustratingly running his finger through his hair while moving towards the glass window.

"Ms.Donavan, the day you guys joined in was the day when it happened for the 1st time. It happened again a couple of times after that, the most recent one being on the night of the party. When even you noticed that Mr.Lexstur was no where to be seen."

"Ok so its just based on circumstantial guessing? "

"Let me finish Ms.Donavan. On all the days of the theft, Mr.Lexstur's ID was used to log into the machine from where the information was shared to outside network."

"So anyone could have used his credentials if they knew it. For the matter of fact I could have done it or even you Mr.Mason."
Ananya was clearly furious I could see.

"The information which was shared from the machine was sent from the admin email and it was sent to an email address [email protected]."

"Ok. So Alex sent an email from the Admin mailbox and was dumb enough to leave the nail lying in the outbox for you to find it? It just gets funnier and funnier in my head."

I burst out into laughter and for the first time since her dramatic arrival I saw Ananya smile..her radiant smile just brightened my mood more.

" Ms.Donavan, I suggest you calm down and let me complete. Its not just the email. The machine which was used was not directly handled, it was just the end point. This machine was remotely accessed and controlled using a chain of machines in this building. And any guesses whose machine was on the other end of this chain? It was Mr.Lexstur's machine was used to orchestrate the entire operation.I have myself hacked in the system to find out about this chain."

"Hmm this is interesting."

Nathan jumped in now taking this reaction from Ananya as his cue to again try to convince her against me.
"So now you see Ananya why its not just a baseless accusation and all proofs stand against Alex."

"No Nathan. This in no way proves that Alex has himself done it. Only his machine was used."

Ananya was now up and leaning on the table taking support using her hands. She looked directly at Nathan with her eyes oozing confidence.
"You all have made a mistake. And I am going to prove it to you."

"What makes you think we are wrong?"

"Coz I know for sure Nathan, my Alex can NEVER do this."