Confusion twisted into something colder. A slow, creeping sense of dread slithered down his spine. Something was very wrong. He was certain of it.
Without another word, he dialed her bodyguard. It rang. And rang. With no answer.
“Shauna’s bodyguard isn’t picking up,” he said urgently.
Kabier and Sameer exchanged a quick, sharp look. Kabier stepped aside immediately, already making a call.
Akash opened his phone. A thought had already taken hold in his mind. He opened the security app linked to the cameras he’d installed in and around his house. His fingers moved quickly, pulling up the live camera feed.
“Come on…” he muttered under his breath.
The screen flickered as he cycled through angles—the driveway, the entrance, the empty hallway, the dining room, the sunroom, the lawns.
He stopped, and his breath hitched.
Shauna. She was there.
In the dim light, she was digging into the ground with a shovel, her movements strained and hurried.
Akash frowned, confusion cutting through him.
“What is she doing?” he said, more to himself than anyone else. “Why is she digging?”
Murmurs rose around him as everyone peeked into his phone. He zoomed in. That’s when he noticed a man approaching her, giving her instructions.
His body froze, and something cold gripped his chest as he recognized the man. There was only one person who had been obsessed with that house. Only one man who’d been searching for something no one else knew about.
His grip tightened around the phone as he saw the gun in his father’s hand. A gun pointed at the woman Akash loved more than anything else in the world.
“That’s… that’s him,” Keya said, her voice shaking.
“Fuck,” Akash whispered. “Now it all makes sense. He made her do it. I’m sure he forced her to call me.”
Beside him, he heard Keya and Raashi gasp. Sameer and Rhea asked questions. But he wasn’t paying attention. Fear had blanked his mind. His father wanted something from that house, and he was using Shauna to get it.
He exhaled. Shauna needed him. He had to be strong for her. He would get her through this.
“I’m going there. To her,” he said, his voice cutting through the chaos.
“You can’t just walk in there and put yourself in danger too,” Keya said, sounding frantic. “He already has Shauna, and now you want to offer yourself too?”
“I love her, Keya, and she pretended to break up with me on the phone because I’m pretty sure he forced her to. Either that, or she was trying to protect me, to make sure I didn’t go there and become his target. You cannot expect me to wait around here knowing she’s in danger.”
Tears slipped down Keya’s cheeks.
“He’s right, sweetheart,” Kabier said, putting his arm around her. “You know I did the same when you were in danger once. You cannot stop him.”
Keya lifted her chin. “Then I’m going with you.”
“No,” Akash said. He wasn’t putting his sister in danger. Ever.
“Absolutely not,” Kabier yelled, his face filled with terror. “I almost lost you once, years ago. There’s no way I’m letting you do this.”
Keya lifted her jaw. “You can’t stop me.”
“But I can, and I will,” Akash said. “If you love me, then you will stay right here. You have a family. Your children need you. They are important.”
“So are you,” she shot back, her tears falling freely now. “I won’t survive if he hurts you.”
