Rahul couldn't sleep that night. He tried burying his head under pillows, but it didn't help. The moment he closed his eyes, her sad face showing how disappointed she was with him, covered his vision and made him think again and again, his decision to send her out of the mansion.

The more he thought about the events of before night, the more convinced he was of making a grave mistake. He should have given Ana the chance to explain her side of the story.

He couldn't believe Ana was capable of any violence. It was her innocence and honest behavior, that made her so attractive to him.

"What must have happened to force Ana to become violent?"

This question started bothering him all through the night. He decided to call Miso, first thing in the morning, to make sure Ana and prince were safe.

After his morning routine, he went straight to the kitchen and sat in front of Ahmed, for his usual breakfast. Just then Alia entered the kitchen, but turned her face away from Rahul.

Rahul bent a little and tried to catch her hand, but she made a angry face and moved away from him. He treated her as a sister and usually made fun of her and she too treated him the same way. He realized, she was behaving differently today and was obviously mad at him.

He tried to think, if he did anything to make her mad, but nothing came to his mind. He realized the only reason could be yesterday's incident.

He quickly turned towards Ahmed, but he too turned his face away.

"Hmm .. everyone here likes Ana and now they are mad at me. Yesterday, I supported Ria, because she was my fiancée and I gave her the benefit of doubt. There is no basis for our marriage, if I doubt her everytime there is a problem in this house. But now, it is crystal clear that the house staff is not in Ria's favor and she would have tough time living here, after our marriage. I can't kick out everyone. I need to find out the real drama behind yesterday's incident and prove Ria was right, else she would have a difficult time in this house. Looks like mom is not aware of this yet , else she would burn me alive." Rahul woke up from his thoughts as Ahmed placed his breakfast and orange juice in front of him.

"Alia, please go and get Miso immediately. I need to talk to him." He asked Alia, who was standing by the wall and watching him angrily.

"No! I won't." She replied angrily.

"Alia! behave .... go and call Miso." Ahmed shouted at his daughter.

"Hmph ..." she wagged her tongue at Rahul and left the room in search of Miso.

"Ahmed, I know everyone is mad at me for yesterday's incident. Please don't fault Alia, everyone else is hiding it, but she is expressing it, for my benefit, else I would never know."

"Its ok Mr Shah. You did what you had to do. I am only worried about Ana and prince."

"Tell me what happened." Rahul asked Ahmed.

Ahmed explained the entire episode in detail. The moment he described Ria hitting prince, Rahul stood up and came close to Ahmed. "What are you saying? She hit prince for spoiling a stupid dress!"

Ahmed was taken back seeing Rahul so angry, "yes, I think it was a special order and obviously cost lot of money. Also one of Ana's assistants was recording the event, she got it on tape." He replied trying to defend his story.

"That's stupid, no matter what, she can't hit a child. I am going to kill her." He threw the orange juice glass away and stomped towards Ria's room.

Half way through he stopped and turned back," ask the assistant to send me the video asap".

Ahmed stared in disbelief as Rahul hurried towards Ria's room. He never saw him so angry.

Rahul couldn't believe what he heard from Ahmed. Things were getting more clear now. He could understand Ana's aggression towards Ria. He knew, she would do anything to protect prince. He should have listened to Ana, instead of putting faith in Ria's words. It was Ria, who has a problem with Ana, not the other way around. Now he knew why Alia was mad at him, she was blaming herself for putting Ana in such a position and paying the price.

His patience with Ria was running out. He knocked on her door, hoping she had some answers to his questions.

"Come in .." Ria answered.

"Hope I didn't wake you up." Rahul asked her, stepping towards her bed.

"Oh honey! It's you. What a surprise? Want to get into bed with me?" She lifted the bed cover inviting him to join her.

"We need to talk." He sat on the edge of the bed.

"Sure, what's the hurry. Give me two minutes." She got off the bed and dropped her robe in front of him and padded naked into the bathroom.

Rahul waited patiently for her, his anger increasing with time. After five minutes she stepped out in her bath robe and sat opposite him, on the love seat, crossing her legs.

"I need to know what happened yesterday ... the full story." Rahul asked her.

Ria described the entire event minus the hitting prince part. "That is what happened .... Ana planned it and sent the kid with chocolate onto me. She hates me. It's good that you got rid of her."

She had no clue that Rahul got the story from others too. He just wanted to hear her version.

"Ria, I heard that you hit the child." Rahul asked widening his eyes.

"Who told you that? Must be that cook, spreading lies about me. I hardly touched the kid. You can ask my friends." She said convincingly, wiping invisible tears with her index finger.

Just then Rahul's phone beeped. He took it out and swiped the screen, opening the video file in the attachment. His face changed colors, as he went through the video.

Ria was intrigued watching the expressions changing on his face, unable to judge the content of the message.

Rahul took some time to compose himself and then spoke calmly, "Ria, I thought I knew you so well, but somewhere down the line, you changed and are a different person now. I am not sure, I recognize you anymore or understand your actions. I don't know what situation brought out the mean behaviour in your character. I know that you are doing me a favor, to save my business empire, by agreeing to marry me, in spite of knowing that I am in love with some mysterious woman. This incident, though unfortunate, has brought into open the differences between us. I am willing to risk my business, but not the people around me, so as of now this marriage is off."

"OMG Rahul! Are you serious? Just over a small incident? "

"The incident might be small, but our differences are big. A marriage should bring people together, but the opposite is happening here. I don't see a peaceful future for you here, so it is better for you to find someone else. Anyway our marriage wasn't based on love, it was a just a business necessity. I am sorry, but in the long run this is in your best interest."

Ria was still in shock. She pinched herself to make sure it was not a dream. Everything was going her way, all the wedding prep, kicking out Ana and Mandy going out of town, but the sudden twist in events caught her off guard. She started crying, "Rahul please don't do this to me, I will be ruined."

"Ria, for any marriage the foundation is trust. Yesterday, I trusted you, but you let me down. Actions do have consequences. I am sorry." Rahul got up and moved towards the door.

As he opened the door and stepped out, he turned back and looked at Ria, she looked at him, with a crying face, hoping for a miracle.

"I just forwarded you a video, check it out and you will understand. My office will take care of cancelling all arrangements. I hope we can remain friends like before." He told Ria and shut the door behind him.

Rahul felt like someone lifted weight off his shoulders. He was feeling good, but he still had to find Ana and bring her back.

Miso was waiting for him at his office. "Miso, get the car ready. We are going to pick up Ana and prince." He told Miso, coming towards him.

Miso stood grounded, looking at his feet. He didn't answer Rahul.

"What's wrong Miso?" Rahul asked trying to suppress anxiety and fear.

Miso finally lifted his head and spoke slowly. "I am sorry sir .... I lost her ... I have no idea where Miss Ana is .."

Rahul felt like he was hit by a grenade. "What do you mean you don't know? I asked you to drop her at one of our hotels."

"Yesterday night, after you told me, I went out to pick her up, but Miss Ana kept on walking, ignoring me. I followed her to the bus stop and begged her to get into the car, but she told me,"sorry Miso, I can't touch anything that belongs to Mr Shah". I waited there till the bus came, to make sure she was safe and then followed the bus into the city. I checked every stop, but lost her somewhere in the traffic. By the time, I checked the bus, she got off with prince and vanished." His voice was almost choking.

Rahul sat down holding his head. Mandy was going to kill him.

"Ok, take a few people and search her old apartment and other places she used to visit before. Call me every hour with updates."

"Sure Sir!" Miso replied.

"I will check out her room and see if I can find any clue." Rahul walked towards Ana's room.