The Royal Fling - Part 60

 

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Chapter 60


Shantivan


“Do you mean he has this same face.. .same eyes.. same… hair like yours?” Anjali asked her husband who was busy preparing for the speech he had to give in the upcoming political meeting.

“Yes Anjali. He is a lookalike”


Anjali sat on the bed, pushing away the heap of clothes she was folding.

“Then you are not going anywhere out. Not until he is caught” she decided. “What if he .. he abducts you and comes here pretending to be you… no.. I.. I can’t let that happen”

Shyam laughed seeing her worry.

“Rani Saheba” he came closer. “Nothing will happen to me. Your husband is not so weak to be kidnapped that easily. I am the face of my Political party. I have plenty of guards around when I leave this house”

“Guards could be bribed.. And your political party people will not even come to know if he replaced you” 

“Okay.. that could be possible. But what about all the political knowledge and experience I have? Where will he learn those? Within a minute, he will be caught if he even tries to do that” 

There was a knock at the door. Anjali composed herself whereas Shyam continued with his work. 

“Come in” Anjali voiced. 

Khushi entered the room. She passed a smile to Shyam and reached the bed to talk to Anjali. 

“I heard you are leaving for Mumbai today” Anjali asked. 

“Hmm. Me and Aman. That’s why I am here. To ask a favor” 

“What favor?” 

“I know you will do this even without me telling. Please take care of Payal in my absence” 

Anjali frowned. 

“Sisters don’t ask favors from each other” 

Khushi liked how their relationship had taken a turn from being sisters-in-law to sisters. 

“Of course,” she gave her a hug and then got up to leave. “And whenever you visit Mumbai, let me know” she whispered to Anjali. 


Anjali had an idea why she called her to Mumbai. To meet that Doctor from the IVF center whose contact Khushi had recently shared. 

“I will” 

As soon as Khushi left, Anjali discussed with Shyam about this. 

“Rani Saheba.. I don’t want to upset you. If you think we should try there.. I will always come with you. whenever you want.. wherever you want” 

Her heart fluttered with delight. 

“I love you Shyam” 

“And I Love you more every second” he replied. 


That was his usual reply whenever she confessed those three magical words to him and though it wasn’t just unique but it made her feel out of the world. 


***************** 


After Lunch, Khushi resumed back to packing. This time she had to carry some more stuff of hers along. The web series shoot would keep her busy in Mumbai for next 40 days and she might try to pay a visit once or twice in Shantivan after every fifteen days. And by the time she would be back, Payal’s delivery date would be nearing for which she decided to take a month break or more and spend quality time with the family.


“Packing done?” 

Arnav’s voice melted her as he scooped her in arms from behind. 

“Almost” she muttered recalling he wasn’t travelling with her. She would have fought with him because he had promised to stay with her these 40 days in Mumbai but she knew his priority had changed for now. He was needed here.. to find that traitor in this house. 

“Any luck with the investigation?” 

“Going on. By tonight we will have him” 

Khushi was impressed. She turned around and met his eyes. 

“Any hints of how this is happening and who that man is?” 

“We are going to catch him live. That’s all you need to know” he kissed her softly. She pulled away for air and looked painfully at him. 

“Is my father involved?” 

Arnav swallowed. Though she hated her father but she didn’t expect him to be a part of this big game. And he somewhere hoped that too. 

“Once we catch this traitor tonight, we will know” 

His mysterious replies burned her body. Arnav pushed her bags away and took her along with him to bed. 

“It’s afternoon?” she wriggled. 

“So?” 

“Its Bright freaking daylight and.. we could be interrupted by anyone any moment” she reminded. 

He didn’t seem to care. 

“Just wanted to compensate for all the nights I am not going to be with you in Mumbai” he mentioned huskily.. 

Khushi squirmed beneath him. 

“What if we don’t compensate now and I reward you with better results once you reach Mumbai? It would motivate you to reach Mumbai soon. I think that will be fun.. Fruits of patience.. are..” 

Arnav didn’t let her complete. He kissed her mouth and negated all the possibilities of accepting her ideas. If she would leave this house tonight, it wouldn’t be without satiating him. 


***************** 

Few Hours later 

“I can come to the airport” Arnav suggested. Khushi adjusted her hair looking in the mirror and then turned back to him. 

“It’s a big night for this family. I want you to be here with your brothers and get that traitor. And I have Aman already with me. So, you don’t need to worry” 

She reached him and stroked her palms over his chest. 

“Miss me” she gave him a gentle peck on his prickly stubble. 

“More than you would ever know” he nibbled her earlobe in return. 

Moments like these were going to torture her until he returns to Mumbai. She wiped the corner of her moist eyes and put a smile. He removed something from his pocket held her wrist to insert a ring on her finger. 

“What’s this for?” she asked. “A parting gift?” 

Arnav kissed her finger where the ring shone. 
“never… I mean never… take this off from your finger.. not even when you are bathing” 

Khushi was surprised, intrigued, appalled and so much more. She shook her head and composed herself to leave. 


“Lets go” she pulled him out of the room. Downstairs Payal and Anjali were waiting for her. Aman was not yet down which meant he and Avni must he having some pep talk somewhere, hiding from the rest. 

“We are excited for your web series to launch” Anjali mumbled. 

“Let me shoot first and only Aman and the production team knows how much time it will take to launch after that” 

She gave a hug to Anjali and then Payal reached her. 

“well.. take care.. and .. we will send your husband soon” Payal said giving a hug. 

“I know he will” Khushi blushed looking at Arnav who was giving some serious instructions to the guards travelling with them to Mumbai. 

“Be safe you guys.. I hope whoever these people are get caught” Khushi softly murmured only to their ears. 


The ladies nodded in agreement. 


“Ready to leave?” Daadi came out. 

Khushi took her blessings too and because Avni was back as Anamika with Daadi, Khushi gave her a hug too. 

“Come soon to Mumbai.. Aman would miss you like hell if you don’t” Khushi whispered to her. “And all the best for catching the prey” 

Avni gave a gentle nod unable to respond in other ways as the servants were around and except the family no one else knew she was Avni and not Anamika. Aman hugged his brothers and asked them to inform him when the traitor is caught. Soon Khushi and Aman left by the car and the game begun.


A team of four suited up high-tech individuals stepped in the house. 

“Bhai.. they are here” Akash informed. 

“Great. Let’s begin then” Arnav nodded. 

Angad was already out to inform all the servants of the Palace to line up in the living room. Each of them was scared and it was hard to find out who feared the most. 

“Sir, what is all this?” one of them asked. 

“We have a situation in this house” Shyam explained. “Someone is selling our secrets, our talks, whatever happens in this house to an outsider… to someone who wants to destroy our family” 

Whilst all the servants and guards were still trying to process this information, their mobiles were confiscated.


“But we have some clues” Arnav added. “it could be one person, two or three or more. We need your fingerprints and whosever matches with the clues that we have got, will get arrested for further investigation” 

Akash came forward talking to the tech guys. 

“Last chance” Akash muttered. “If any one of you want to make a confession and tell us about it, we might even spare their arrest. But if you don’t come up now and you are caught, things won’t end well” he threatened. 


Arnav nodded with Shyam. Each one of the suspects looked equally threatened. 

“No?” Shyam frowned. “No one has nothing to confess? Alright then, let’s begin this” 

He asked the tech guys to take the finger prints. 

“It will take the two hours for us to match the prints Sir” one of the tech guys informed 

“No problem. None of them are leaving the premises until the reports arrive” 

“Great” 

There was silence in the room. Daadi and Anjali were back to their rooms as advised whereas Avni was busy tracking her own audio devices spread across Shantivan to check for any clues. To be honest, the Royals had no clues so far which they could match with the fingerprints of these people here but they only hoped that whoever that traitor is, after giving the prints will definitely try to contact an outsider who the real mastermind of this game is and they would catch him. Angad had secretly also installed a few CCTV cameras to areas which these servants usually accessed in the palace. Avni and Angad were in the drawing room monitoring them. 

“When are we getting their call records?” Akash queried to the tech guys. 

“Tomorrow morning” 

The call records of each Servant and guards were already in process to check for frequent calls to any suspicious number. 

“It’s done Sir. We have taken the fingerprints. We will report in few hours” 

‘Thank you” 

Arnav shook hands with the team and allowed them to continue their work in the other room. 

“Alright… disperse back to work everyone” 

The servants murmured something to each other and scattered in the palace according to their roles. 

“I hope whoever this is… does something to get caught” Shyam whispered to Arnav. 

“We have to be cautious. Especially you Shyam. These few hours could change everything either in our favor or against us” 

“Don’t worry. I will be fine” 

Akash reached them with some other update. 

“We have eyes on the outside target” he informed. 

“Good, I want eyes on each of the servants here. Someone will contact him for passing this news about the finger print thing here” 

“Waiting for that Bro. Just waiting for that” 


Avni, who was in the other room, looking for any kind of sounds in her audio devices, suddenly got some signal. She amplified the sound, put her headphones and recorded it carefully. So someone from inside the house has contacted someone on the outside.. she waved at Angad who rushed to her… 

“That’s him” she whispered as he put the other headphones to hear that message. 


“We are trapped. Inform Master. We need out within an hour. Hurry” 

The signal disconnected and the moment they traced the nearest audio device this signal was from, Angad quickly rushed out to catch hold of the inside traitor. 

Hari Prakash unlocked the door and came out of the servant’s washroom. Two specialized guards knocked him down, seizing a small device from him, very similar to that of a radio. 

“What is going on? I didn’t do anything.. I didn’t do anything” he yelled but they dragged him away. 

The Raizada brothers barged in the room where Hari Prakash was locked and tied with two guards securing the perimeter of the room. 

“He contacted the outside traitor through this…” Angad handed the device to Arnav. “The signal of this device is within this Palace perimeter only” 

“You won’t be able to do anything” Hari Prakash struggled to set free. “Master would be informed already. He will not leave anyone.. .anyone” 

Shyam was raged and instantly punched Hari Prakash’s face. 

“Who will inform the master?” Arnav snapped. “him?” he pointed out to the door which opened again and two guards dragged Jai Prakash and Om Prakash inside and tied them up. 


“The great Prakash brothers..” Arnav shouted.. “Traitors” 


Hari Prakash was confused how they ended up arresting Jai Prakash because he was in the servant quarters and not in the Palace when the finger prints were taken. 

“Surprised? How this happened?” Shyam mocked. 

Arnav recalled how they could zero in to the Prakash brothers for being those traitors. It all started with the word – MASTER. 

Few weeks ago, at the breakfast table Arnav and Shyam were eating, both busy in their own worlds when Hari Prakash came out to serve them. 

“Sir, your pancakes” he served in Arnav’ plate and then moved to Shyam. 

“Master, your omelets” 

Shyam nodded letting him serve but Arnav watched Hari Prakash whose face turned red with shock. 

“Any… anything else.. Sir?” he immediately corrected himself. 

“No.” Shyam weakly shoved him off and continued to focus on the phone. He was too lost in the phone to realize he was called something unusual. 

Hari Prakash hurried back in and Arnav was still in a dilemma why he called Shyam as Master and not.. Sir... like he and the others always did. But considering it might be a slip of tongue, he ignored and continued eating. 

When Angad, Avni and Arnav were hearing the audio other day, Arnav recalled this and instantly put a vigilance on the Prakash brothers. Out of the three, only two of them were at service in the Palace at one time whereas the third one would have a day off. Today was Jai Prakash’s day off and he stayed in the Servant quarters which was in the same premises of the Palace. 

While taking the fingerprints today when the phones were confiscated, Hari Prakash had only one way to contact Jai Prakash so that he could then inform the Master what the situation is. The radio kind of audio device seized from Hari Prakash today was used to pass this information to Jai Prakash from the washroom which got him caught. Before Jai Prakash could do anything after getting this news from his brother, the guards spying on him, arrested him too and dragged him here. 

“You called me Master that day” Shyam scowled at Hari Prakash who gave him a loathing stare. “Because of this… face.. my face…” 

“So, his lookalike is your Master..” Arnav clenched his teeth. 

“Lookalike?” Jai Prakash laughed. “He is not a lookalike… he is.. he is much more than you all know..” he laughed again. 

Akash punched his face too hard for his nose to start bleeding. 


“Kill us.. but we won’t give you any information.. You can do nothing to find him.. he will find you… Or maybe he already has..” Om Prakash added followed by another laugh. 


Shyam and Akash hit them back but Arnav’s mind was somewhere else. Already has? The whole family was inside this palace and they were safe here but… Aman and Khushi? No!! He ran out of the room, dragging Angad with him. 


“Track Khushi… she’s got the ring on her finger” Arnav barked before dialing Khushi’s mobile. He hoped she was safe!! 



To be Continued.

NEXT PART 

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NEW EXCERPT  - MR & MRS SEHGAL 

Kabier’s fingers fisted.

“This.” he scowled. “This is why I left that note for. If you are so much pressurized, you are free to leave.”

Aashi’s body burned again.

“I am doing everything in my bit Mr. Kabier Sehgal to keep this relationship working. I have never complained. Not even when you don’t turn up home for weeks. Not even when, despite staying under the same roof, you work late nights avoiding my presence. Not even when we have those quiet dinners together. Not even when you take me to the parties with you and don’t even turn back to check upon me. I have never complained. And I will never do so till my last breath. You have given my mother a new life and I will always be indebted to you. So, no, I will not leave you until you push me out. This decision is no longer mine to make. It never was. You decide it and let me know. I will oblige”

Tears rolled down her cheeks, which Kabier noticed.

“You asked me what was missing between us, last night” she continued pouring her heart out. “It’s not intimacy, Kabier. Its feelings. I am a very simple human with a simple heart. I don’t crave for your money or luxury. I crave for your time, which you never have for me”

MORE EXCERPTS Click HERE

Standalone Romance Book 1 from Mr & Mrs. Series

Kabier and Aashi's is a marriage of utmost convenience. Everything about the marriage is wrong yet Aashi falls for her tycoon husband who has no time for her. While Kabier is busy earning billions, Aashi battles her solitude until she decides to give up. Jealousy creeps in Kabier's heart when his wife's friend comes into the picture. Will Kabier realize Aashi's worth? How will he woo her back? 

A romantic tale of arrogant Business Tycoon Kabier Sehgal and his Former Miss India Wife Aashi Sehgal with sparks of attraction, love, jealousy and a happily-ever-after. 

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READ THE SAMPLE CHAPTER 1 HERE