Abhay opened his eyes slowly trying to accommodate the blinding light. He tried to raise his hands to cover his eyes from the light when he felt them tied down. His drowsiness left him sensing danger and he jerked awake. Once fully conscious, he checked his surroundings and saw Gauri a mere three feet distance from him, her head resting on head of the same chair she was tied to.

He recalled the last incident before he lost consciousness. He settled Gauri into the car while the officer took the driver seat. He closed the car's door and turned around when someone hit him hard on the head.

He cleared his parched throat and tried to reach out to Gauri calling her name who was still unconscious.

"Gauri!!" he called out in a harsh whisper not wanting to alert their captor.

Gauri didn't move but frowned slightly.

Abhay tried again calling "Gauri!!".

He gently nudged the chair he was tied to in her direction trying to make as minimal noise as possible. Once he reached her side, he tried to nudge her but he couldn't reach her as his hands were tied to the chair.

Finally looking around he loudly called her name and she jerked awake.

"Gauri here look at me" he whisper yelled and she turned towards him.

"Abhi what is this place? Where are we" she asked looking around the room in the dilapidated building.

"I do not know Gauri. I woke up just minutes before you. Looks like we have been kidnapped" he said and she nodded.

"I don't know how long we have been unconscious looking at the light, it must be sometime around noon" she said as she tried to remove the ropes tying her hands.

The door to the room opened with a bang and both of them jumped in their places.

"Look who is awake finally" asked the person smiling at them.

"Arjun? You kidnapped us?" asked Abhay while Gauri gaped at him.

"Yes Mr. Abhay Agnihotri. It is Arjun Shastri a.k.a Arjun Bharadwaj that has kidnapped you" he answered.

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Location: Oberoi Mansion, Mumbai.

Shakti turned around to face the rest after he got the information from Tarun.

"Arjun Shastri joined as a chemistry professor in a college near the GO Homes orphanage in Bareilly two years back. He had a mother who died one year ago with a sudden cardiac arrest. Character wise, he is calm, introverted and has very less friends. He barely went out of his house or made new friends. Even Tarun said that he used to see him rarely outside the college campus" said Shakti.

"Tarun mentioned that he had a liking towards Gauri since he first joined the college and he was put away by Abhay. Once a major fight broke out between the two following which Abhay went to Arjun's home and talked to his mother to ask him to be away from her. From then Arjun never showed any advance towards Gauri except occasionally watching her and talking about her with Tarun" concluded Shakti.

"Abhay got into a fight with him?" wondered Shivaay. "That is so unlikely of him sir. There must be something terribly wrong to get that reaction out of him" he said and Shakti nodded.

"I asked Tarun to further investigate the matter. We can expect results by evening I guess" said Shakti.

"Does that mean he is not our target?" asked Omkara and Shivaay nodded a no.

"No Om it is not that. This guy gives me a bad vibe. Let us not come to a conclusion now" he said.

"Let us at least start tracing that Arjun then Shivaay... it has been eighteen hours since Gauri went missing" said Omkara helplessly and Bhavya promised to get the work done.

Shakti's mobile started to ring again and he excused himself to attend it while the rest sat down still thinking of the recent happenings.

"At this time yesterday, she was so excited to get ready for the function Shivaay" Jhanvi said remembering Gauri's smiling face "I should have been more careful" she said covering her face with her hands.

"We will bring her back maa. Don't worry" assured Shivaay and turned to Rudy who has been extremely silent which was very unlike him.

"Rudy" he called him. "It will be alright. Trust us" he said holding his hands and Rudy silently nodded.

Omkara was about to walk towards his brother when Shakti came back after attending his call.

"Omkara, Shivaay" he called "The Bharadwajs have been taken in to enquiry. Let us go and make them talk" he said and the trio started for the department.

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"Bhardwaj?" asked Abhay cluelessly. "You are a business tycoon's son? What are we supposed to do with that information and Why did you kidnap us?"

Arjun sighed at them "You are really clueless. Aren't you?" he said looking at Abhay.

"Okay let me clarify then" he said and sat down in front of them taking a spare chair in the room. "This will take a bit longer" he said smiling at the duo.

Abhay and Gauri looked at one another before concentrating their gaze on Arjun.

"I, Arjun Shastri am the son of Nikhil Bharadwaj and Anuradha Shastri" he started.

"You remember my mother Abhay. Don't you?" he asked looking at him with utmost hatred that Gauri was taken aback at its intensity.

"You talked to her before killing her. Didn't you?" he roared and slapped Abhay right across the face.

Gauri gasped and tried to free herself "How dare you... What is that rubbish you just spoke" she shouted at him.

"Oh Gauri!!" said Arjun moving towards her. On reaching her placed his palm on her cheek caressing her.

"Stay away from her you bastard" roared Abhay and Arjun smiled sadistically.

"You distract me woman" Arjun said before leaning towards her. "Let me finish my story then we can have fun" he said bringing his lips close to hers and Gauri turned her face away in disgust which resulted in his lips landing on her cheek.

Abhay raged looking at that and was about to roar when Gauri gestured him to calm down.

Gauri looked at Arjun and smiled "Okay let us have fun later Arjun for now tell me the story you started. Will you?"

"Tigress" said Arjun eyeing her "You never back down. Do you?...You are beautiful no doubt but your anger and fearlessness were what made me mad about you Gauri" he said in a husky voice.

"You were this enigma in the orphanage. I thought you were one of those shy beautiful ladies who needs protection from the big bad world until one day when you slapped one of the college professors for misbehaving with the kids. I got to know more about you and fell in love with you"

Gauri gave a bored look to him "Okay is that why you kidnapped us? Sorry to say but I am married and my husband would kill you once he gets to you" she warned.

Arjun laughed out loud "No he won't Gauri. He is busy finding Abhay to kill him" he informed and Gauri looked at him confused "What rubbish?" she said.

"You didn't hear me the first time? Okay I will say it again. Your husband Omkara Singh Oberoi is all set to kill your bestie Abhay Agnihotri" he clarified.

When both Abhay and Gauri looked at him in disbelief he laughed before he started "Your husband has been working relentlessly on a case and I planted the evidence in such a way that he finds Abhay as the accused. Being the honest and strict officer he is, he will definitely come after him but I added the emotional tangent to it by kidnapping you both. Now he would think that Abhay kidnapped you which will add to the fire" he explained.

"Are you mad? All this for your silly love?" asked Gauri.

"No Gauri not silly. It has more to it" he said.

"By the way do you know that your best friend here loves you?" he asked her and Gauri gasped loudly looking at Abhay in question.

"Gauri don't believe what this bastard says. He is mad" said Abhay and Arjun laughed at him "Really now? Okay... see the magic then" he said and went towards Gauri. He pulled at her saree and Abhay roared at him.

"See Gauri... look at him... the calm, cool Abhay. Is that him? Don't you see" he asked pulling her cheeks.

Gauri still looked shocked at Abhay when he roared again "You let me free once and then see what happens to you bastard..."

Arjun ignored him and said, "Okay coming to the story.... Where was I? Haa... I feel in love with you. Then one day I wanted to propose you. I was coming to you with a sole intention of proposing you but I got distracted.... Distracted by your beauty. You remember that day when you were playing with one of your students and they spilled coffee on your dress? You went to change and I..."

"Okay enough" shouted Abhay "Gauri nothing happened do not listen to him"

"Shshhh" said Arjun "Let me complete it Abhi... so I saw you starting to change in the room. You didn't see the side window which was partly opened. You removed the saree and I was awestruck.. what an amazing structure you have" he said looking at her with lust and Gauri felt her heartbeat rising. What else did this guy see she swallowed. She turned her face away unable to tolerate the look of desire on the man's face.

"You are pathetic... Is that the way you talk to a woman you pig? I will kill you" growled Abhay.

"I couldn't leave the opportunity now. Can I? I decided to video record it. Believe me it was only for me to see and enjoy. I never had the intention to leak the video" he said and Gauri gasped out loud.

"This guy here... your knight in shining armor entered at the right moment and kicked me out" commented Arjun looking at Abhay.

"He didn't stop there you see, he boxed me good enough and he dared complain to my mother" he told her the look of hatred returning.

"My mother a weak heart she has Gauri, couldn't tolerate that her son would do such a thing. She died of heart attack that night and this person here is responsible for it" he said before kicking Abhay making him land on the floor coughing.

"Abhi!!" yelled Gauri in concern.

"Yeah... Gauri shout more.. I like it when you cry for your friend. That is the reason I planned so much. I would love to see your husband kill your Abhi in front of you and your heart breaking at that" uttered Arjun coldly.

"It is for this day that I planned so much...waiting for the right time... Do you know Gauri...looking at this man break bit by bit in your marriage gave me immense satisfaction. Ahhh!! I never thought Abhay could make me so happy" he sneered and Gauri looked at Abhay with tears streaming down her face.

What all secrets did he keep from her? How could she be so ignorant of his feelings? He was getting over his heart break and she pushed him into an unwanted marriage. But why...didn't he himself ask her to marry Omkaraji?

"However before he dies, I need your friend to do some work for me" said Arjun.

"I want you to transfer my Dad's and my half-brother's shares of business to me" he asked looking at Abhay and kicking him in his stomach repeatedly.

Gauri looked at Arjun before her who looked possessed. He seemed to be mentally instable. She needs to divert him before he harmed Abhay.

"Arjun!! Arjun stop.." she yelled stopping him and making him look at her in question.

"You....you said you are a Bhardwaj right? Then why don't you ask them yourself? Your father should love you. Doesn't he?" she tried giving him a bait and he took it.

The expression on his face changed from hatred to surprise and then sadness.

"You don't know Gauri... my mother was everything I had. I tried to make her happy by being the ideal son to her" he started.

"My father cheated my mother and left her when she was pregnant with me. She raised me alone and I tried to make her happy without going after my dad's money. But I couldn't ...I used to hate myself for wanting to live my life...I wanted to have fun with girls by seducing them, smoke drugs and drink alcohol. So I decided that I would lead two different lives only for her... one to keep me happy having my fun time and the other to keep her happy" he explained.

"But this guy.... Your Abhay" he said kicking him again "Killed my mother" he said crying.

"Arjun ... wait I..I understand your pain" she tried

"No, you don't Gauri" he shouted angrily "You don't understand anything"

"I do Arjun...I.. I didn't have my father too" she said and Arjun appeared to think for a moment.

"Yes, you are right. You did not have a father too Gauri. You should understand me better" he said taking her palm and kissing it and she sighed.

"Arjun why do you want to transfer the shares? Didn't your father accept you?" she asked and Arjun nodded his head in a no.

"Then...what did you do?"

"I went to his office after my mother's death. She wasn't going to scold me anyway. That day my step-brother threw me out of the office Gauri. Do you know how humiliated I felt?" he asked and Gauri vigorously nodded her head letting him know that she understood him.

Arjun smiled at her and continued "Then I met this man Mukesh. He said that he would be my friend, together we can take the Bharadwaj group down and become millionaires"

"He offered me a deal. I was to inform him about you and Abhay from time to time and then he would help me in bringing the Bharadwaj company down and also help me in getting my revenge on Abhay. Then once we managed to capture Abhay we could get the shares transferred. We planned everything so perfectly Gauri. Now see the result Abhay is with me and in a few minutes I and Mukesh would be millionaires."

"Really? What makes you think that I will do what you want" asked Abhay sarcastically who was lying on the ground still reeling from the pain of the kicks.

"You will!!" Arjun yelled at him "Otherwise this pretty girl here will be tortured...No...not tortured... touched...and not by me alone... I have help... You didn't think I am alone here. Did you?"

"Arjun..." shouted Abhay.

"No... Don't shout. You can do nothing. The system is set in the next room, come and complete the work given to you" he ordered before leaving the room.

Gauri closed her eyes and took a deep breath "Do what he asks Abhay. I will try to get free by then. You don't need to worry about me" she said coldly.

"Gauri...I..."

"Please do not talk anything to me Abhi. People have taken me for granted. I thought only Shiv bhaiyya held things from me but you are far worse. Why did you not tell me anything" she asked him angrily.

When he remained silent, she did not coax him further.

After a long moment of silence Abhay said, "I will try to communicate with the department using my mail id Gauri. If Omkara is looking for me then he should have kept me in tracking. I will try to alert them."

When Gauri did not respond, he continued "If you get free, escape from here. Don't stay thinking about my safety. They won't kill me till my job is completed and I won't finish it unless you are free"

Gauri just looked at him for a moment and nodded.

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Location: Enquiry room, CB CID, Mumbai.

It has been an hour since they started questioning Vikram and Nikhil Bharadwaj. The enquiry was made strictly confidential not letting any member outside the team have any knowledge regarding the same. According to the outside world, Vikram and Nikhil are out of the country for a business conference.

"It is not them Shivaay" said Omkara once out of the room "Gauri is not with them"

"Yeah I knew from the start when they were surprised to hear that Gauri was Kaali uncle's daughter. They did not plan this" said Shivaay sighing. "But how is Mukesh involved. I know he would have coned Abhishek and got the information about Gauri's father. Why did he not say that to them?"

"That is what I have been wondering too. Why get information taking such risks and not make use of it?" Omkara thought out loud. "Shivaay what if they know about Arjun? May be there is a link there?"

"Why do you think so?" questioned Shivaay.

"Nisha's body was buried somewhere in Udhewadi but some bony parts of her were mixed in the burnt remains that are found in Mumbai. Bones of her feet and hands selectively removed. Bhavya said that it must be the work of a chemistry expert and this guy Arjun is a chemistry professor Shivaay. If we think Mukesh is the mole and he has done the tapering, he should be helping Vikram" explained Omkara.

"But we get a third party call giving us the actual location of the dead body a month later and we couldn't trace the caller. The caller gave exact information we use in our investigations Shivaay not more, not less and the call duration was always less than that that required for our tracing. I always thought someone was helping the caller. Now again if the mole is Mukesh why will he go against the Bharadwaj group? If so why did he help them in the first place?" he asked.

"So you think Arjun is the caller and Mukesh helped him?" asked Shivaay.

Omkara nodded his head "Unless we consider another probability that there is another mole in the department that works against Bharadwaj group" he explained.

"That's rubbish right he can directly help you. Why hide the identity" said Shivaay and Omkara nodded again.

"This Arjun whoever he is will not go to such lengths for a petty issue such as a crush for Gauri. Even if he is a psycho, he needs help. Don't you think?"

"Vikram is out of the way, let us assume Nikhil doesn't know about this too but we know Mukesh is involved." Explained Omkara and Shivaay nodded in response.

"Arjun is not in Bareilly at the moment but Tarun informed that he did not get any promotion as Jhanvi maa said. Why should he lie and why should that guy follow you? He must either be observing your daily routine or peeping into the investigation. Just like Mukesh did in the department" said Shivaay.

"Right.... So, we are left with two suspects Mukesh and Arjun who are not connected to one another. There is no way that either of them could do this job alone. So Shivaay if we leave out the impossible what ever remains has to be possible" said Omkara as he looked at Shivaay.

"That means Mukesh and Arjun must be working together. We need to find out that connect" they concluded.

"I seriously hope that connect is the Bharadwajs and no one else. Else we need to start again Shivaay. That means more time and we don't have it. I am dying to get my wife back" groaned Omkara and Shivaay hugged him tight. "We will get her back" he assured.

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Yeah that is the story....... Of Arjun... end of chapter 24.

To write a psycho character needs expertise I knew but it needs a dictionary of foul words too...LOL... I had to make this readable to all my readers hence I had to literally break my head to choose the words I write in that part of the story. I hope you get the picture of Arjun.

I also hope I made everything clear in this chapter. If not you can always ask me.

I will be waiting for the questions...

Till the next update.... Signing off... Yours Soujanya.