In the Name of Love – Chapter 25

Those of you who missed the previous chapter, here is the link :

https://www.tellyupdates.com/in-the-name-of-love-chapter-24/#comments

@Niyati12 Thanks a lot
@NA Thank you dear
@Mahira Ok here are your 5 crores 💰💰💰💰 (hehe)
@Prapti0809 Thank you dear
@Priyanshi_13 Thanks a lot
@1234Aayu Thanks a lot. Haha yes, I forgot that now ‘positive’ has an altogether different meaning .
@Aisha08 Aww thank you so much. It really means a lot to me. (^hearts^)
@Shivangi Thanks a lot
@Ravneet Thank you dear
@Jayashree Thanks a lot. Yes Vansh has suffered a lot…
@Priyadharshini Thank you dear
@Maanvika Thanks a lot
@Akshitha Thank you so much. Makes me really happy to see you enjoying the story (^hearts^).
You stay safe too!
@RiansHLoveR Thanks a lot
@Parita Thank you so much. Yes, Riddhima is the medicine to his wounds – both external as well as internal. Glad to see you enjoying the story (^hearts^)
@Siddhi Thank you dear. But what is it that is making you confused?
@Annoyinguser Thank you dear
@Mary Thank you so much for the wholesome appreciation (^hearts^). Exactly! Cheating although is not a punishable crime legally, but morally it’s almost unforgivable.
Looking at outer beauty of girls is so prevalent in the society especially in South-East Asian countries. Like what great use does external beauty have anyways?
@Deepa Thank you so much. I’m happy that you like Riddhima and Vansh’s characters so much.
I see that you are missing Kabir, so he’ll be making his entry soon (^wink^)
@Pampita Here is the update. Sorry for being a little late though.
@Qt Thanks a lot
@Priyanka Thakur Thank you so much. Yes poor Vansh had to go through a lot. But thankfully, Riddhima is now there with him.
@Manya Aryan is an incorrigible flirt
@Anaya Aww thank you so much. Glad to see you addicted to it. (^hearts^)
@AarushiSoni Aww thank you so much! I’m truly overwhelmed by your compliments (^hearts^). Tbh, I’m just a beginner in this field trying to take inspiration from other amazing writers.
@Subu13 Thank you so much. It really requires a big heart to accept your ex girlfriend’s child who is not yours, and Vansh did exactly that.
@Riaa Thank you so much. I know that was unexpected, but I had that particular plot in my mind since I introduced Nandu into the story.
I know, I know, like I really wish the Indian society changed it’s mentality, but I guess it’s too much to ask for.
@Ayesha I’ll update the next part of it also soon
@Neetu Thank you dear

xxxxxxx

At the party, Vansh excused himself and went towards the bar. He ordered one glass of whiskey and one glass of lemonade. When no one was looking, he passed on some money to the waiter.

“Lemonade for that lady,” said Vansh pointing in Riddhima’s direction, who was sitting by herself at a corner.

The waiter nodded and swiftly pulled out a tiny packet and dropped its contents into the glass of lemonade. He placed the glass on a tray and carried it towards Riddhima.

“Excuse me Ma’am?” said the waiter. “Would you like something?”

Riddhima deftly reached out for her favourite drink – lemonade.
“Thank you, that will do,” she said taking a sip.

Vansh who was watching from afar, felt a little guilty for spiking her drink like that.
“I’m really sorry Riddhima, but I have no choice. It is very important for me to know if you are betraying me or not. I’ve been betrayed once, and I cannot go through the same turmoil again.”

Riddhima soon finished her entire drink. She was tapping her fingers on the table, enjoying the beat of the music, when a young man came in front of her.

“Can I have the pleasure of dancing with you, Miss?”

Riddhima hesitated. “Uhm…actually…don’t mind but….”

“Please, don’t say no.” He pointed towards another girl standing faraway. “She is my girlfriend, but she is really upset with me now. If she sees me dancing with a beautiful girl like you, then she’ll surely get jealous and come back to me. Please? Pretty please?”

Riddhima chuckled. “Alright fine. Let’s go then!”

Vansh was getting increasingly envious to see Riddhima dancing and having fun with another guy.
“What’s so funny? Why is she laughing so much?” he thought angrily.

Not able to hold his feelings any longer, he went to the dance floor and pulled Riddhima towards him, causing her to stumble right into his arms.

Riddhima was annoyed. “What kind of misbehavior is this?” she said while trying to pull herself away from him.

But he pulled her further towards himself. “This is not misbehaviour, but rather my right on you. Being my fiancee, you should be only dancing with me.”

“I was just dancing with him, not roaming around in his arms that you are reacting in this manner,” taunted Riddhima. “And stop being such a hypocrite. Did you forget how you used to dance with five different girls in a single day?”

Vansh gently spinned her around. “That was before we had got engaged. Did you see me with any other girl besides you after our engagement?”

Riddhima let out a sigh. “God, I’m so fed up with you and your controlling behaviour. Don’t do this, don’t do that…. like seriously, it’s so difficult for someone to live with you even if he wants.”

“You might find my rules and regulations really suffocating, but trust me, they are all meant to be in the best interest of everyone, including you. What the….?”

He stopped abruptly when he saw Riddhima about to fall backwards. He caught her by her waist in time.

Riddhima pressed her fingers into her temples. “My head….it is spinning.”

Vansh realised that the drink was starting to have its effect on her. He felt guilty for making her go through so much pain.
With one arm supporting around her waist, he escorted her to a quiet corner.

“Riddhima, sit here and have some water. It’ll make you feel better,” said Vansh offering a glass of water to her.

She looked up at him with her eyes wide open, and out of the blue started laughing maniacally.

“One, two, three, four!” She said counting on her fingers. “There are four Vanshs standing in front of me right now. It’s so difficult to handle one Vansh, how will I handle four of them?”

Vansh looked at her a little annoyed. “You handle me? In fact, it’s me who handles you. And only God knows how I do that.”

He realised that Riddhima had lost her senses and had become inebriated. This was the perfect opportunity to question her about the papers. A drunk person couldn’t possibly lie.

He looked at her. After getting tipsy, she had become even more unfazed and cute. He decided that he should keep his heart in control for the time being, and instead concentrate on the important stuff.

He knelt down before her, and gently tilted her face towards him.
“Riddhima, I’ll be asking some important questions. You need to answer all of them truthfully.”

She squinted her eyes at him. “Are you a quizmaster, or a lawyer?” She started laughing at her own joke.

Vansh gave her a where-am-I-even-stuck look.
“Were you the one to steal the confidential papers from my office?”

“Yes, I stole them,” she said now getting serious.

“What?”

Riddhima leaned in and whispered into Vansh’s ears. “Yes. It was me who stole….the money from Papa’s wallet for a school trip. And I also stole the cookies which Mumma had kept hidden from me.” She placed a finger on her lips. “But don’t tell this to anyone, okay?”

Vansh slammed his palm against his head in irritation.
“I don’t want to know about your childhood dramas and adventures.
I’m asking about the more recent stuff. Remember you visited my office two days back?”

She nodded.

“So did you steal any papers from my office two days back?”

Riddhima pondered for a while. She started shouting all of a sudden.
“Yes, yes. Now I remember what I stole TWO DAYS back.”
She tugged a finger at Vansh’s chest.
“I stole your heart.”

Vansh looked at her in surprise. What was she even talking about? And how exactly did she get to know about his feelings for her?

“The way you gaze at me with those endearing eyes, the way you get possessive when you see me with someone else, and the way you always come to help me whenever I am in need, that is how I know,” said Riddhima almost able to read his mind.

“You really, really like me a lot, right?” she asked innocently.

Vansh fell silent. He didn’t know how to react to this. It was true, whatever she had said, but he had no idea that the love he felt for her was so evident from his actions.

Riddhima caressed his face gently, making him even more uncomfortable.

“There is something else I stole that day,” she said. “A KISS! Remember how I KISSED you on the island….?”

Vansh covered her mouth with his hand to prevent her from talking anymore. He felt clearly embarrassed by her antics.
“Shut up! There are people around us… If you didn’t steal those papers, who did? And what was that map of Mumbai’s coastline doing in your wardrobe?”

Riddhima ignored his questions and instead said, “I want to go to the washroom.”

“Right now? Just wait for sometime until your inebriation wears off…” suggested Vansh.

Riddhima impatiently said, “Nooo! I cannot wait until then. I need to use the loo immediately. I’m sure there was something in that drink that is making me sick from inside…..”

Vansh looked at her irritatedly. “In spite of being drunk, her mind is still razor-sharp. How was she able to guess about the drink though?”

“Fine, let me take you,” he sighed, escorting her to the washroom.

He was waiting outside the ladies loo, when another lady came by and looked at him in disgust.
“Why are you so shamelessly standing right outside the ladies’ washroom?”

Vansh internally cursed Riddhima for getting him into this situation.
“I’m really sorry Ma’am. Hmm, I’m actually waiting for my fiancee who is inside. She is a little drunk, so can you please check up on her if she’s doing fine or not?”

“Alright,” the lady agreed and disappeared into the washroom.

She came outside after a few minutes.
“But there’s literally no one inside…”

Vansh became shocked. “But how is that possible? If you allow me, can I come inside and take a look around?”

The lady escorted him inside, and he was stunned to find it empty.

“Riddhima!” he called out her name and checked each and every cubicle, but to no avail.

He was getting paranoid, when his eyes fell upon a widely open window in the corner.

“Shit!” he banged his fist against the wall.
He knew Riddhima was not in a condition to escape by herself. He fearfully realised that someone had kidnapped her. But he didn’t know who it could be.

He thought, “She is drunk for crying out loud and not in a position to defend herself. What if she gets…..?”

His blood started boiling at the thought of any man harming her or wrongly touching her.

“No, I cannot let anything wrong to happen to my Riddhima. I must do something immediatel. And whoever is behind this, I won’t leave that bastard!” he said determinedly.
______________________________________

Riddhima groaned in pain. She tried to move her hands and legs, but they were tied. She opened her eyes with a lot of difficulty, and found herself in complete darkness. She tried to scream, but her mouth was gagged with a cloth. She was feeling suffocated.

She realised she is in the dickey of the car, as she kept bumping and sliding in there. Just then, the car came to an abrupt halt.

Before she could know it, two men opened the dickey and let her out. They harshly led her to a house in front. She neither struggled nor tried to create a scene of any kind.
She knew that being hungover from the drink, and now tied and gagged like that, it was impossible to escape these well built goons. She had to save her energy and use it towards some other plan of escape.

They took her to a well-lit room and shoved her in front of a man sitting on a chair. She fell down to the ground.

When she looked up, she saw the most cunning pair of eyes looking her up and down. She immediately regretted wearing a sleeveless gown with a plunging neck.
He flashed an evil smile in her direction, and she understood it’s meaning.

“No! Come what may, but I won’t let him touch me,” she thought fiercely.

“Hello Riddhima! My name is Pathak. And for today, you will be MY guest….”
Saying this, he started caressing her face with his long fingers.

Riddhima was disgusted and could feel her skin burn in rage at his touch.

Pathak noticed her expressions. He removed her gag and said, “Why, I think I was quite gentle with you and you’re still making a face! If you can’t even bear my slightest touch, then how will you bear the whole of me when I come to you at night?”

At this Riddhima’s eyes widened in shock. She felt like smacking him right then and there, but she was still tied up. Even if she wasn’t tied, she couldn’t possibly make him angrier and more violent. She knew she had to stay calm and composed.

“What do you want? Why are you doing this to me?” she instead asked softly, trying to hide her fear and tears.

Pathak started laughing. “I had asked ‘someone‘ to agree to my specific conditions, but that ‘someone‘ did not agree. So I had to do this, in order to scare him.
Now looking at your condition, he is ready to give into all my demands, but unfortunately…..”
He brought his face dangerously close to hers.
“I have lost my heart to your magnificent beauty. And I won’t let you go off so soon. Not until I’m completely satisfied.”

Riddhima tried to keep her horrified expressions under cover.
“Listen, I think you have some really bad enmity with Vansh, but why are you bringing ME into all this?
You are free to do whatever you want to do with him….” Even though she said this, the thought of someone even wanting to harm Vansh pained her immensely.

Pathak chuckled. “I won’t be letting you go anywhere unless I have my share of fun with you!”

He roughly held her chin between his hands and said, “And mind you, if you act obediently, I’ll be as gentle as a flower with you. But if you try to misbehave or go against me, then trust me when I say that it will hurt a lot.”

He clapped his hands, and soon few more of his men came in.
“Take her inside. And ask Neha to get her ready.”

“Who is this Neha? Maybe she can help me out of this,” thought Riddhima.

She was soon taken upstairs to a room, thrown on the bed, and locked inside. She found a large window overlooking the bed. Since she was still tied up, she had to wriggle her way to peep out of the window.
She realised it was too high for her to make a jump from there. Being a medical student, she knew the amount of fractures and head injuries she could suffer if she did that.

The door was suddenly thrown open, and Riddhima was shocked to see who it was.
“You?”

The other girl who entered the room was also equally shocked to see Riddhima there.
“Oh my God! It is you whom they have held captive?”

Tears started flowing down Riddhima’s cheeks. This was the same girl whom she had saved from getting molested one year back. And now she herself was stuck in a similar situation.

“Please help me. Please,” begged Riddhima.

Neha hugged her with tears in her eyes.
“I’ll be indebted to you for my whole life for saving my life that day. But unfortunately, I cannot do anything for you now.
You know nothing about Pathak. He is a very dangerous man. Plus, his men are guarding the whole place around, there is no way that I can help you escape from here.
In fact, I’ve been given instructions to dress you up. Pathak will be here within five to ten minutes. I really wish I could do something for you, but…”

“Please, don’t say this. Only a woman can understand another woman’s pain. I cannot allow that pervert to touch me, or I’ll be scarred for my entire life,” cried Riddhima.

“Alright, I am ready to help you. But the big question is how? Do you have any ideas?” said Neha.

Riddhima realised with frustration that not everyone was gifted with a sharp mind. She had to work up a plan by herself.

Her face lit up as an idea struck her. And it was strange that she had got this idea from one of the crime books that Vansh had gifted her.

Riddhima smiled to herself. “Even when you are not near me, you are still helping me through your gifts…”
______________________________________

Riddhima started palpitating when Pathak entered the room.

He looked at her awe-struck. “You look far more beautiful in this dress than I had imagined.”

He sat on the bed beside her. “Why do you look so scared? It can’t be your first time, right, considering you are Vansh’s fiancee and you both might have already…..”

Riddhima shot a furious look in his direction.

“Oh that means you guys never…..? Poor Vansh! How will he feel when he comes to know that his enemy slept with his very fiancee before he himself could do that?” Pathak smirked.

Riddhima was raging from inside listening to his perverted talks.
But she maintained her calm and requested him to untie the ropes.

“Naah! I like it that way,” said Pathak moving closer to her. “Let me kiss you.”

As he moved his face closer to hers, she started coughing violently.

“What the hell!” Pathak backed off. “Why are you coughing right on my face?”

Riddhima continued to cough. “Please untie me. I feel like puking and really need to use the washroom.”

“What nonsense!”

“In the party, I drank excessively on an empty stomach. If you don’t let me use the washroom, then I might have to throw up right on you and this bed too,” she said.

He looked at her repulsively and untied the ropes from her hands and feet.

“Be quick and don’t keep me waiting for long,” he said.

Seizing the opportunity, Riddhima spent the next fifteen minutes in the bathroom, trying to calm herself down, when Pathak knocked on the door.

“Are you coming outside or should I break in?”

Riddhima hurried out of the bathroom, holding her stomach.
“I’m having a really bad stomach ache. Can you get me a glass of juice, please?”

Pathak, whose patience was wearing out, had had enough of her dramas.
“Wow another of your lame excuses! Just remember, the more you keep me waiting, the more you’d have to suffer.”

Riddhima took a deep breath. Convincing this lecherous man was a difficult task, but she wasn’t going to get bogged down easily.

“I know you are very upset with me, but please believe me, I’m not doing all this on purpose. Once I have some juice, I’ll start feeling better and I’ll do whatever you ask me to do,” said Riddhima. “In fact, why don’t you order a glass of juice for yourself too? That will help you to relax and calm your mind.”

Pathak started laughing. “Juice to calm my mind? I’d rather order some rum for myself to further increase my madness!”

Soon, one of his men knocked at the room, bringing in a glass of orange juice and a glass of rum.

He sat beside her and started placing small kisses on her hands.

“Let me finish the juice first,” Riddhima said with contempt, but he was in no mood to listen.

Just then, there was another knock. Riddhima heaved a sigh of relief while Pathak got angry. It was Neha at the door.

“What the hell are you doing here at this time?” he shouted at her.

Using this golden opportunity, Riddhima took out a box of sleeping pills from under her dress, and quickly dissolved them into the glass of rum.

She smirked to herself as she remembered asking Neha to bring her some sleeping pills if she really wanted to help her. Neha had already given them to her before Pathak’s arrival into the room.
And now also, Neha had just come to distract Pathak and help Riddhima to spike his drink.

“I’m really sorry Sir. But I just wanted to ask you if I should put a ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ board outside the room?” said Neha.

“Yes do that. I don’t anyone disturbing me for the next few hours,” warned Pathak.

He shut the door, and started drinking the spiked rum. As soon as the glass had got emptied, Pathak started feeling dizzy and fell down on the bed, unconscious.

Riddhima double checked to make sure he wasn’t awake. She tied his hands and legs up and placed a cloth over his mouth too.

Now she had to only escape. There was no way she could get past the door, because his guards were standing right there. She had no other way out, other than the window.

She pulled off the bedsheets and curtains, and made a long sling out of them. She secured the one end of the sling to the bedpost, and left the other end freely hanging from the window till the ground.

She had descended down the sling by half the distance when one of the goons standing below saw her.
She became terrified and lost her balance, and fell down.

She hurt her left leg really bad, and it almost felt like she had fractured it. Thankfully, she had fallen from a lesser height and had not injured herself more.

Just as she was about to get up, the goon who had seen her came upto her, and started pulling her by her hair.
She tried to fight him off, but she had grown really weak due to the spiked drink, and therefore was unable to do so.

The goon kicked and beat her mercilessly, while she screamed in pain. Gathering enough strength, she picked up a handful of sand in her hands, and hurled it right into his eyes.

She tried to run, but she was so hurt that she could barely even walk. Determined not to lose courage, she kept on walking with a lot of difficulty, in spite of her entire body covered in bruises. The goons were right behind her, and she knew that in no time she would be caught.

As if miraculously, she saw Vansh appear at some distance before her. At first, she thought she was hallucinating, but when she heard him scream out her name, she realised that it was nothing but reality.

Seeing him in front of her gave her so much relief, that she gave up all her remaining strength and courage, and stumbled down to the ground.

“Riddhima!” Vansh started running towards her, while Angre and the rest of men followed close behind.

Vansh knelt on the ground and pulled Riddhima into a hug. He frantically started caressing her face.

“Riddhima, are you okay?”

Riddhima hugged him back.
“Vansh….you came,” she said weakly.

Vansh suddenly noticed her bruises. His face had a mixture of anger and fright on it.

“Did he……..?” he asked fearfully, not even able to complete the sentence.

“He tried to….., but I managed to escape,” she mumbled.

Vansh’s eyes welled up in relief.
“Thank God, you are safe Riddhima. Had anything happened to you, I’d never have been able to forgive myself. Never!”

Vansh’s emotions got the better of him, and he touched his lips against hers.

She kissed him back, with tears of joy flowing down her cheeks.

Precap:

Vansh takes great care of Riddhima.

Kabir enters VR Mansion and hugs Riddhima in front of everyone. Vansh gets angry while Riddhima feels awkward.

Hello everyone! That is it for today guys. Don’t forget to comment below.

Peace out!