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Hello, my lovelies!

How's life? Hope you're doing great! <3

Sorry for the late update istg I missed the reminder ToT [I'll take down the text on the cover as promised.]

This chapter is the start of the whirlpool of plot twists! So buckle up and get ready, [cause this shit's about to get heavy, I just settled all my lawsuits (Fuck you, Debbie!) ]

Lol, I couldn't resist myself. Anyway, hope you enjoy it!

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Author's POV following Ekansh 

"Hey, will ttyl I've got a patient at my door, Byee!" Ekansh read Akshita's text, "Bye!" he replied, but the message was not seen. 

He kept the phone down on his desk. The grey-black gradient of his office walls, adds to his gloomy mood as his eyelids feel heavy reading the small text of the file placed before.

A knock on the door moved his attention off the papers, "Come in!"

Daksh walks in, closing the door behind him, "Sir, the files you asked for." he informed, placing them on the table. Ekansh's eyebrows raise in worry looking at the pile of files.

"Thanks... Could you... check the date for the business event with the Chauhans and the Oberios?" he asked, remembering all the upcoming events he had to attend.

"This Wednesday, 5 pm Sir," Daksh informed immediately, praying Ekansh would applaud him for his memory only for Eknash to nod unenthusiastically.

"Could you bring me the files on the Contract between them, the files of last week, they're probably with Dad," Ekansh said, resting his back on his chair, his fingers twirling a pen.

"Sure sir." he bowed and left. Eknash sighed heavily, leaning back on his chair. He picked up the pen off his desk and rolled it between my fingers, his mind drifting to the murder. 

None of the company's collaborators were informed of the news as they'd withdraw their shares immediately. 

'Who could it possibly be?'

The thoughts wouldn't let him concentrate on work, he felt his hand reach out to his phone and put Ashwin on the line. 

"Hello?" Ashwin answered, "Hello, got any updates?" Turning his chair around, He asked to face the tall glass windows, "Umhm, lots of news actually, on my way to your office!" 

"Oh really?" Ekansh asked, anticipation filling his veins as he turned his chair and rang the bell, calling Daksh in.

"Umhm, Call your brother too... What about Akshita?" He asked, "She's in her office, I'll update her." Daksh popped his head into the room through the door as Ekansh answered the call, motioning him to come in. 

"Oh okay, I'm on my way, will be there in 10," Ashwin informed. They bid goodbyes and Ekansh cuts the call. 

"Call Abhimaan to the Meeting Room, Tell him Ash- Mr Rajghar is here and would like to hold a meeting. Asap!" Ekansh ordered Daksh as he listened attentively, "Mr. Rajghar?" He asked, hearing the name for the first time.

"Just pass the message, will you?" Ekansh replies coldly, picking up some empty folders. Daksh nodded and went off to Abhimaan's office as Ekansh took out the files of the murder case he hid in his personal drawers.

With determination glistening in his eyes, Ekansh headed to the Meeting Room, committed to solving the case and finding out who was responsible before it could reach the Police or the government.

In the Meeting Room.

Ekansh took the seat beside Abhimaan as Ashwin brought down the blinds of the transparent meeting doors. 

"You didn't inform anyone?" Ashwin asked, his voice lower than usual. Ekansh and Abhimaan both shook their head in negative. 

"Right, so let's start with the basics of finding Unsubs." Ashwim started, lowering the projector screen, "Unsub?" Abhimaan asked curiously. "Unknown Subject," Ashwim answered as both the brothers nodded in understanding. 

"As I was saying, the breach and the murder are probably committed by the same Unsub. My past speculations were that The Unsub has to have had some connection with the Malhotra Bussiness as their first felony was hacking into your system not murder. But it seems that the Unsub is someone who's targeting revenge on you." Ashwin said, looking at Ekansh 

"The murder was just to bring your attention back to the Unsub. The Unsub must have found out that your decision about the breach was just to wait for some more movement, thus the next movement. Murder" Ashwin said, pacing from left to right, his words attentively caught by the Malhotra brothers. 

"Moving on to Victim No. 1, Prashant. My early speculations were that he was killed because you had regular contact with him," Ashwin stated looking at Ekansh. 

"Every day he'd greet you as you enter and leave the building, and every day you see him, ending him would leave a lasting mark on you as you'd feel his absence every time you enter and leave the office. The Unsub must have done enough jasusi (stalking) on you to know which guard, in particular, you'd greet back every day."

"I've gone through the CCTV footage of the entrance of the building and noticed you'd only smile at Prashant Uncle, no one else earned your smile except him," Ashwin stated as Ekansh's heart sank in sadness.

"It hurts that you're right," Ekansh said, his head bending down in disappointment.

"Let's move on to the interesting part. Here's where things will blow your mind. I dug deeper into Prashant's life and discovered some pretty shady things he's been framed and charged for before he joined your company." Ashwin informs as Eknash's ears perk up.

"What is it?" Abhimaan asks, not able to hold his curiosity. "Prashant was 'allegedly' framed for murdering Kusuma Thakur." Ashwin said the Malhotra brothers were shocked, "The wife of Arjun Thakur, mother of Sonia Thakur and Nishta Thakur." 

"You're lying," came Abhimaan's reply while Ekansh was too dumbstruck to form words. "I'm not, I traced back to the case and it looks like Prashant really committed that murder. He had a great lawyer by his side who got the job done. He spent all his savings on it and joined your company as a way to hide from the eyes of justice." Ashwin said as Abhimaan fell back in his chair in absolute disbelief. 

"So... He committed a murder? And joined our company to... hide?" Ekansh asked back for reassurance. Ashwin nodded, "You wouldn't believe it if I said he used to sell those women and make black money... guess he had a revelation." Ashwin said, casually flipping the pages of his files.

"How- How can you prove this?" Abhimaan asked, shaking his head in denial. Ashwin passed him a file. 

"You can read that later. Listen to this! Cause I might have just found your unsub." he said, looking gravely at Ekansh.

"Okay, so he murdered a lady. A woman named, 'Kusuma', with the initial 'K', right?" he explained as if he was talking to toddlers, "Right." 

"Okay, she's the mother of, Sonia Thakur and Nishta Thakur. Initials 'S' and 'N', are you with me?" He asked as the brothers shook their heads in positive. 

"Ohk, so I went through all the people on Ekansh's list of suspects... All the dudes with initials 'A' who maybe lost their wife with the initials 'K'; All the ladies with the initials 'S' with a murdered mother with the initial 'K'-" 

"Why?" Ekansh asked not understanding his chain of thoughts. 

"Well, think of a reason why you'd specifically kill Prashant, the Unsub could kill so many people in here, but Nope! They murder Prashant, why?" Ashwin prompted, "Even a lot of serial killers who kill due to past relationship issues or parent abuse kill victims with the same physical features as the person they despise." Ashwin elaborated.

"We got carried away there, as I was saying, I went through all the people on the list  and guess what?" Ashwin asked, his eyes glistening with excitement, "What?" 

"I found a match. A lady, with her mother's initials 'K' and her initials 'N'. Her mother was also murdered by an unknown killer." Ashwin said, gravely. 

"Who is it?" Abhimaan asked, unable to connect the dots, "I'm sure your brother knows the answer to that all too well." [The last three words are a hint for y'all ]

"You're lying," Ekansh said in disbelief. "She couldn't have, she isn't smart enough to-" "She isn't smart enough to?!" Ashwin repeated in disbelief. 

"How do you think she got under your skin Ekansh?!" Ashwin said, his voice raising a little. 

Eknash fell silent, "She can't do this, she has nothing, she was in jail with no one, the last time I saw her." Ekansh said spitting the words like venom. 

"Oh really? And when was the last time you saw her, Ekansh? 3 years ago?" Then it clicked to Abhimaan. He glanced at his brother who was staring at the floor, his jaw clenched. 

"Is he talking about N-" "The CEO of Chitrakala." Ashwin completed the sentence as both the brothers looked up at him. 

"She gives Art lessons... for the people who are engaged in psychotherapy, disabled children and adults, senior citizens... I know you don't believe me, so check it out yourself." He said, throwing a file in his direction. 

Ekansh opened the file with Abhimaan peeking over his shoulders. 

There it was, "Chitrakala. A place where you can let your mind be at peace." a sentence his brain refused to process. "The CEO of this establishment, Nidhima Ahuja, personally works with disabled children helping them grow."

~ 1,505 Words

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Hello, my lovelies! <3

How's life? I hope you are doing great ^-^ 

So how was the chapter? 

Pissed off I left you on a cliffhanger? 😂
Well, better get prepared cause there are lots of cliffhangers coming your way!

Anyways, Who remembers Nidhima Ahuja? 😗

This chapter is a little boring but very important!

ALSO! A HUGE SHOUTOUT TO @kazeleeknow for the insane support 😭😭💖💖

Tbh guys idk when I'm gonna update cause I don't want to stick to the weekly update things and reduce the quality of the chapters. I am on the radar writing from here on cause a single wrong line can change the entire plot 😭😭

I'll try my best to make time but my school had some personal grudges with me I believe cause if you didn't read my post,  My exams got postponed to when? Probably next Monday but it's not even officially announced. They just 2x the portion and I am dyinggg. 

They're giving holidays because of the monsoon (It's raining heavily here) but that's bad news cause our school keeps school on Saturdays for compensation. Yeah, you heard me fucking Saturdays! Sometimes they cross the line keeping full days on Saturdays like bruhhh.

I will be back to posting regularly in August which I can guarantee because I don't have anything planned that month, (at least for now.) Maybe I'll post some extra chapters for compensation.

Anyway, thanks for reading my rant,
Happy reading!

Until Next time,
Lots of Love 💗

~1,807 Words