In the Name of Love – Chapter 43

Those of you who missed the previous update, here’s the link :

https://www.tellyupdates.com/in-the-name-of-love-chapter-42/

@Akshara Thank you dear
@Palak Thanks a lot
@N Ayesha Thank you dear
@Priya Singh Thank you dear
@Varshini Thank you dear
@Priyanshi_13 Thanks a lot
@Priyanka Thakur Thank you so much. I’m glad you are liking the story.
@Jasmine Kaur Thanks a lot. Let’s see if your guess turns out to be right or not
@RiansHLoveR Aww thanks a lot. That’s so sweet of you.
@Mj Thank you dear
@1234Aayu Thanks a lot. Yep, you’re right on that. But will Riddhima be able to save herself from the culprit, you’ll find that out soon.
@Stuti Abigail Tyagi Thank you dear
@AarushiSoni Thank you dear
@Salma Thanks a lot. Actually to keep the suspense up, I decided to post only 1 episode last time. But now there will be 2 uploaded today. Hope that makes it up to you.
@Cutie Thank you so much. That is really kind of you to say that. I’m touched. (^hearts^)
@SUMISHA Thank you dear
@Qt Thanks a lot. Yes, everything will be revealed in these 2 chapters. Stay tuned!
@Anannya07 Thank you so much. It really means a lot to me (^hearts^). I’m glad you liked Riddhima and Vansh’s bond. You take care too and lots of love from side as well.
@Jayashree Thanks a lot. And a very happy, happy birthday! May all your wishes come true.
@Priyadharshini Thank you dear
@JJ Thank you dear
@Vkjhp Thank you dear
@Sree Thank you dear
@Aisha08 Thank you dear
@Neetu Thank you dear
@Parita Thank you so much. All the truth will be out in these 2 chapters. And yes, the woman that Riddhima saved in the hospital was Uma’s doppelganger. Stay tuned!
@Samistha Choudhary Here’s the update
@Tanvi_5117 Thanks a lot. Glad you liked the twist, hehe. Anu’s truth will be out in today’s chapter.
@Niyati12 Thanks a lot
@Pearl Hi dear! Thank you for reaching out to me. I don’t know if you’ll read this, but I’m very sorry. I already ended that story and the reason why I chose that specific ending was because I wanted it to be realistic and also to make others realize the importance of our Army’s sacrifices. I might come up with a sequel to it the in the future, but nothing’s decided yet. Hope you understand.

xxxxx

Ishaan and Sushant were busy chit-chatting about random stuff, when Anupriya excused herself inside.

As soon as she saw Sushant in front of her, she flashed her widest smile at him. But he, instead did not look very happy to see her.

“I’m sure, that the sun has risen from the west today. Or else, why would this Hitler Aunty be grinning like a fool here?” Ishaan wondered to himself.

“Aunty, what brings you here?” he asked loudly, breaking Anupriya from her trance.

“Well, Sia is facing some problem with her laptop and was asking if you could help her with it, considering how you are a computer geek,” said Anupriya.

“I will surely help her out. But right now, I’ve to stay with Papa and cannot leave him alone.”

“It is only a matter of ten or fifteen minutes….”

“You are talking about fifteen minutes? Dids has strictly warned me not to leave Papa’s side even for fifteen milliseconds in her absence,” said Ishaan.

Anupriya gritted her teeth. Both the brother and the sister had literally gotten on her nerves.

“They both are stubborn and cunning, just like their mother,” she angrily thought to herself.

Losing her patience, she started venting out her anger upon Ishaan.
“You, and that sister of your’s, have been living in our house for the past one month or so, absolutely free of cost. If for once, Sia wants some help from you, you are casually sitting here as if it doesn’t mean anything to you? How can you act so ungrateful?”

Sushant was shocked to see her behave so rudely with his son. He opened his mouth to tell her off, but Ishaan cut him off instead.

“It is okay, Papa. I’ll go and check up on Sia. I’ll be back within some time.”

Saying this, he headed out, leaving Anupriya and Sushant to themselves.

“What are you doing here?” asked Sushant irritatedly. “And what was that way to talk to Ishaan?”

“I’m sorry. I agree I shouldn’t have spoken to him in that manner. Actually, I just wanted to send him away from here so as to get some time to talk to you….”

“But I have no interest to do so,” snapped Sushant.

Anupriya couldn’t hide how hurt she felt. “Why are you behaving this way with me? Do you have any idea how much I missed you over these months? There wasn’t a single second when I didn’t think about you or didn’t worry myself over you. “

“All this means nothing to me, now,” said Sushant.

“But why? What’s the problem? Now with Sunidhi out of our lives, we both can get together….”

“What nonsense this is!” Sushant shouted at her. “How can you even think of something like this?”
He started to tear up thinking about his late wife.

Anupriya burned in envy to see this. “You are shedding tears for Sunidhi? The same woman who was the reason for our separation, the same woman who married you through deceit and the same woman whom you even wanted to divorce after coming to know about her truth!”

He interrupted, “Enough! I know what she had done was absolutely wrong, she cheated me and that’s why I wanted to divorce her. Because I didn’t want to spend my remaining life with a cheater. But in spite of all that, I cannot deny that she was my wife and the mother of my children. “

Glaring at Anupriya, he added, “And don’t be under any misconception that just because Sunidhi is no more with us, I would willingly give her place in my life to you. That can never be possible! Whatever happened between us was many years back, and I am completely over it. I have my own family, my own children to look after. And I’d rather that you look after your own family too, instead of wasting your previous time over me.”

Sushant turned his face away, not wanting to talk to her further.

Taking the cue, Anupriya got up to leave from there, but not before casting a last tearful glance in his direction….
______________________________________

Riddhima arrived at the forensic lab. It was a private laboratory that was headed by someone whom Vansh trusted quite enough.

She sat down by the reception, waiting for her turn to come up.

Soon enough, the receptionist beckoned her. Only after ensuring that Riddhima was indeed sent by Vansh himself on his behalf, did the receptionist hand over a sealed envelope to her.

Riddhima’s hands trembled as she took the envelope. The person who had wanted to kill Vansh’s mother, and had tried to attack Riddhima even, his/her identity would now be revealed to her in no time.

Just as she was about to rip open the envelope, her phone began to ring.

“Is that Vansh calling me?” she thought.

She was proven to be right when she took out her phone and glanced at the name flashing in front of her.

“Hello! Hello!” she tried to speak but no voice came from the other end, except for a little crackling here and there.

The receptionist interjected, “Excuse me Madam, but there’s no network inside the premises. You might have to go outside for that.”

With one hand carrying the envelope, and the other holding the phone close to her ear, Riddhima quickly rushed out of the building out into the open. She appeared quite messy right now, and it did not help that a huge handbag was strapped around one of her arms.

“Hello Riddhima, can you hear me?” Vansh’s voice was now crystal clear.

“Yes Vansh, I can hear you now. I got the reports just now.”

“Did you see whose name is in it?” he asked slowly, the desperation evident in his tone.

“I was about to, but then got interrupted by your phone call,” said Riddhima. Even through the phone, she could sense Vansh’s apprehension.

She knew she had to calm him down or else it could take a toll on his health. “Don’t worry Vansh, as soon as I find out who it was, the first thing I do is to call you up. Okay?”

No sooner had she hung up saying that, she felt a force violently pushing her from behind.

She fell on the ground, flat on her face, minorly hurting her nose. Her phone had also smashed into pieces.

When she turned around to see who it was, she saw the same masked person she had encountered at the hospital few days back.

Before she could even steady herself up, the masked person grabbed the envelope from her hand and began to run away as fast as possible.

Riddhima was shocked as she saw the figure going further away from her sight. She tried to frantically look around for some help, but she found none. In fact, the driver who had accompanied her wasn’t there anywhere around, too.

Getting up with a lot of difficulty, she remembered the promise that she had made to Vansh. No, she couldn’t let the reports to get away. They were the only means to reach Vansh’s mother’s culprit, and she knew how important it was for Vansh, and how important it had now become for her, too.

Riddhima’s eyes landed upon a medium sized stone, lying abandoned on the ground. She picked it up in her hands and aimed it at the masked person’s head.

It hit the target, and soon she could see the masked person holding his head between his hands, and staggering to the ground.

Seizing the opportunity, Riddhima ran towards the fallen figure, carrying a long stick that she fished out from the ground for self-defence. When she drew nearer, she could see the person in front of her, doubling up in pain.

With one swift movement, she ripped off the mask from that person’s face bringing forth his/her identity out in the open.

Riddhima could feel herself become absolutely paralysed. The stick fell from her hand and she wobbled backwards, not able to even maintain her balance.

As all pieces began to fall back into place, she realized how incredibly stupid she had been for not suspecting her even once.

“Anupriya!” she let out an exclaim.
“That means you were the one who tried to kill Vansh’s mother!”

Choosing to ignore her questions, Anupriya instead stood on her feet. She took off the jumpsuit she was wearing, and flung it on the ground.

Next, she tore off a piece of cloth from her sari, and tied it over the place where her head was bleeding.

“I blo*dy asked you something!” Riddhima growled at her, trying to snatch the stolen envelope from her hands. But Anupriya, instead clung it to her chest even tightly.

“I am not bound to give answers to any of your questions,” Anupriya said, appearing least bothered.

As she said this, she proceeded to tear the envelope along with the reports contained within it, into shreds.

“Noooo!” Riddhima screamed, but it was too late. She could see tiny bits of paper being hurled in the air, with some of them settling on the ground, and some of them flying further away.

Anupriya clicked her tongue. “Now, you don’t have any proofs against me, dear. Why do you have to be so smart always? Firstly, you discovered that I killed your mother, Sunidhi. And now you even find out that I was the one who killed Uma.
Not going to lie, I had wanted to kill you too, the moment you learnt the truth behind Sunidhi’s death.

“But Vansh….I really love him a lot. He pleaded in front of me, asking me to not harm you because you were carrying his baby! Unwillingly, I agreed only for the sake of my son’s happiness. I knew how much it meant for him to become a dad to his own baby, and I didn’t want to snatch this dream away from him, once again.

“But now, you know way too much than needed. You haven’t left me with any other option, Riddhima. I know that Vansh would break down to see his unborn baby dead, but I cannot help it now. Your over-the-top smartness is the only reason for your doom!”

Without any further warning, Anupriya fished out a knife from under her sari and tried to plunge into into Riddhima’s stomach.

But Riddhima quickly dodged away from the path. This caused the knife to slip away from Anupriya’s hand in the process.

Riddhima instantly picked the knife up and threatened Anupriya to surrender herself.

However, Anupriya remained unfazed and instead started advancing towards her fearlessly. She tried to grab the knife from Riddhima’s hands.

“Leave, or else I’ll shove this knife straight down your throat!” Riddhima warned, her eyes blazing with rage.

Anupriya tried to fight off, but she was no match for the young girl in front of her. Soon enough, she felt the knife running down her hand.

“Aahh!” Anupriya tumbled backward, holding her bleeding hand in place.

Riddhima was thinking about how she should call Vansh for help when  her own phone was broken, and not a single soul was to be seen on this lonely road. She could go back to the forensic lab, which was just a little distance away, but she was afraid that Anupriya might escape in that process.

Just then, Riddhima heard a car come to a screeching halt beside them.

To her and Anupriya’s surprise, Ishani got down it, followed by Gayatri who did the same.

Ishani stared in horror at Anupriya lying injured below, and Riddhima holding a knife that was dripping with blood.

“Riddhima, how dare you!” she screamed, roughly pushing Riddhima away.

With tears in her eyes, Ishani sat down to tend to Anupriya’s wounds.

Even though Gayatri was equally aghast to think that Riddhima could even do something like this, but more than that, she was concerned for the baby.

“Ishani! Do not forget that she is pregnant.”

“She is NOT pregnant! She has been lying to us, and most of all to Bhai, all this while,” wailed Ishani. “I overheard her speaking to her personal gyneacologist for some menstrual irregularities. When I cross-checked with the hospital, they told me that she wasn’t pregnant….”

“What?” Gayatri was completely in shock.

Anupriya, on the other hand, furiously thought to herself, “Riddhima isn’t pregnant! That means Vansh lied to me in order to save her from my wrath. What a plan, Vansh, what a plan!”

Riddhima tried to say, “Let me explain….”

“Shut up will you!” Ishani snarled at her. “I knew no one would believe me without any proof. That is why, I decided to take Dadi to that same hospital and personally confront her gynaecologist. But on the way, we met the driver that Riddhima had taken along. He was injured and told us that Riddhima had gone missing. When we drove a little further ahead, we came across you, Riddhima, trying to charge at my Mom.
My Bhai, he risked his own life to save your father, and you do this, you ungrateful witch?”

Riddhima tried to defend herself but Gayatri cut her mid-way.
“Did you lie to us about being pregnant? Yes or no?”

Riddhima swallowed hard. “Yes, I lied about it. I am not pregnant.”

Gayatri stood frozen to the ground. The baby for whose arrival, she had made endless plans, all had gone into the drains. Her heart and her dreams had been shattered. Her cheeks became moistened with the tears. But more than herself, she was worried for Vansh. What would happen to him? How would he bear this piece of news?

“I trusted you, loved you so much, Riddhima,” she cried. “Then, why did you do this? I always felt that you were the right girl for my Vansh, for my family. But you proved me wrong….you proved me wrong…”

Riddhima tried to hold Gayatri’s shoulders, but she backed away.

“Nani, I am really sorry for hurting your feelings. Trust me, I’ll explain everything to you about it later. But first,” pointing towards Anupriya. “Let me tell you all about this filthy woman first. She is not like how you percieve her to be. She is a cold blooded murderer! She not only killed….”

“It’s almost as if the pot is calling the kettle black,” Anupriya started her drama. “She was the one who tried to kill me, in broad daylight! Thank God Ishani, if it weren’t for you stopping by, I’d have literally died today!”

“She is lying blatantly!” Riddhima shouted.

“How dare you call my mother a liar?” Ishani retorted.

Riddhima said, “She is not your mother. She is only your step-mother, not a real one. In fact, she killed your real mother!”

Ishani, not being able to control her temper any longer, raised her hand to slap her. But Riddhima pushed her away instead, causing her to fall down.

“Did you get hurt?” Riddhima asked getting worried for her. But she was instead bombarded with quite a few cuss-words.

“What the hell is happening over here?” A husky and intimidating voice caught everyone’s attention.

It was Vansh, and he was accompanied by Angre.

“Bhai!” Ishani ran towards him and buried her face in his chest. “Can you believe it that this Riddhima attacked our mother?” Looking up at him, she further said, “Moreover, she is not pregnant at all. She has been lying about it to us.”

Vansh looked on with a grim expression. Keeping his gaze fixed upon Riddhima, he walked towards her.

Riddhima returned his gaze with equal emotions. She recalled the conversation that they had early in the morning :

“Do you trust me?” Riddhima had asked.

“Do you trust me?” Vansh had asked her in return.

“Of course, I do,” she had replied.

“Then, I trust you too,” he had finally said.

Just like how Vansh had tested Riddhima if she trusted him enough or not, Riddhima decided to do the same. She decided to keep absolutely quiet and see if Vansh kept faith on her as per his promise.

Anupriya stepped between Vansh and Riddhima, and held his hand.
“Do you know what she did? She tried to kill me! I’m telling you, that she is one crazy woman who needs admission into a mental hospital.”

Vansh moved her hand away, and went to stand beside Riddhima.

Facing Anupriya, he said, “You are saying that Riddhima attacked you. But why aren’t you saying that she did all that in self-defence to save herself from…YOU?”

Everyone was stunned to see Vansh take Riddhima’s side, especially Anupriya.

Riddhima turned towards Vansh with tears in her eyes. He interlocked his fingers tightly with her’s.

“When I said I trust you, I didn’t tell that just for the sake of saying it. Rather, I meant each and every word I had spoken….”

Ishani became even more irked. “You are supporting you to-be wife instead of your mother? That is so wrong!”

Vansh had had enough of her. Raising a finger at Anupriya, he started blasting her.

“She is unfit to be called a mother. A mother is the one who gives life. Not that one who takes others’ lives instead. And this woman not only took Sunidhi Aunty’s life, but she also took our mother, Uma Raisinghania’s life too!”

Gayatri and Ishani were flabbergasted to know this. Anupriya, on the other side, fearfully wondered as to how did Vansh come to know about this.

Vansh continued to yell at her, “What did you think, that you will try to harm Riddhima and she’ll keep mum and not do anything? She is not like Uma Raisinghania, who will quietly endure all the torture. And I’m proud of her for that!”

“Vansh, what are you saying? I cannot understand anything….” Anupriya tried to act innocent.

“This melodrama won’t work in front of me, Mrs. Anupriya. Tell me, didn’t you kill my mother? Didn’t you kill her for your own greed for money? Didn’t you?”

Vansh’s instigating worked in his favour, and soon, Anupriya broke down and confessed her crimes.

“Yes! I killed Uma by my own hands. I lured her into an abandoned building and then strangulated her to death. After that, I burned the whole building down…..

“But I didn’t do that for money. Rather, I did it for love. Yes, I fell in love with your father, Pradeep. I had been working in his office as his PA, and had an affair with him. I had no idea that he was married. When I got to know about it, I decided to kill Uma off so that I can have Pradeep all to myself.

“Always, I had been deprived of love. First, I lost Sushant because of Sunidhi. I was almost on the brink of losing Pradeep too because of Uma, and I didn’t want the same history to repeat.”

Vansh looked at her with utter disgust. “We gave you our mother’s place, immense love and respect, and this is what you gave us instead? Betrayal?”

At this Anupriya started crying fervently, “No, no! I never betrayed you all. In fact, my love for all three of my children is completely pure and selfless. I know I didn’t give birth to you three, but I always loved you all like a real mother. Trust me on that.”

Now, it was Gayatri’s turn to start rebuking her.
“How dare you! You killed not only my daughter-in-law, but you also killed my foster daughter, Sunidhi? You snatched two of my previous gems from me?”
She started choking upon her tears inconsolably, and only managed to stop when Vansh consoled her.

“When did you come to know about all this?” she asked her grandson.

Vansh inhaled deeply. He started off, “You know right that I was very young, about eleven or twelve, when Uma Maa passed away and the police abruptly dismissed her case without giving any proper conclusion to it.
After many years, when I grew up and set my own business up, I still had that innate desire in me to uncover the truth behind Maa’s death and punish her culprit, if found any.

“I started studying her case in a detailed manner, and soon, I arrived at the inference that her death wasn’t accidental, rather it had been due to murder.
I had four prime suspects in my mind, and one of them was….Anupriya.”

Anupriya was surprised to hear that Vansh had been having his doubts upon her since those many years. It meant that all the love, respect and obedience that Vansh had showed towards her was nothing but a pretend!

He continued, “Yes. You were high on my radar because you had the most convincing motive amongst the rest. But I had no proof against you or anyone else for that matter of fact. I became extremely frustrated on reaching a dead end in the case.

“But then, a ray of hope came into my life, when I found Uma Maa’s long lost identical twin sister in one of the mental institutions of Bhopal….”

Now it was Riddhima’s turn to become stunned. The woman whom she had met and saved in the hospital wasn’t Vansh’s mother, but rather her her lookalike?

Acknowledging her unsaid thoughts, Vansh said, “I’m really sorry, Riddhima. I know that I hid this matter from you, but I did this not because I didn’t trust you enough, but rather because I didn’t want to confuse or stress you further. You already had so much going on in your life.

“My plan was to make Urvashi Maasi to pretend as Uma Maa, so that the killer, on seeing his victim alive right before his eyes, would try to strike yet again and would thus be revealed to me.
But there was a slight problem. Urvashi Maasi had lost her mental balance, and it was impossible to get her to pretend as Uma Maa in this state. So I instead, shifted her to my island, where she would be safe and sound, and undergo treatment until she became completely alright. Maasi was showing slow, but gradual improvement, and this continued to fuel my hopes.

“Everything was going on smoothly until Riddhima and Ishaan came over to VR Mansion to live with us. Not wanting the policeto mess up Sunidhi Aunty’s case like they did with my mother’s case, I suggested Riddhima to get the police case officially closed. I promised her that I’d personally start investigating both Aunty’s and Uncle’s cases, instead.

“When I began working upon Sunidhi Aunty’s case, I came to know of Anupriya’s involvement in it. I was also surprised to see the similarity between Aunty’s and Maa’s cases – with both of them getting killed in an old dilapidated building. This almost confirmed my suspicion that not only was Anupriya behind Sunidhi Aunty’s death, but also Uma Maa’s death.
But again the problem being that I had no solid evidence to prove it.

“Amidst all that, another trouble started brewing up, and that was Riddhima’s adamance to leave VR Mansion.
I knew that once she left my house, she’d definitely start contacting the police yet again to reopen the case. And once Aunty’s case reopened, it wouldn’t take the police much time to find out about Anupriya being behind her death.
And Anupriya, with her manipulation and games and other proofs, would prove to the court that she did not kill Sunidhi Aunty on purpose, but rather on accident. She’d be granted maybe only three-four years of punishment for culpable homicide, when in actual, she should be given life imprisonment for the murder of Uma Maa.

That is the reason why I kept saving her from the police in Sunidhi Aunty’s case, because I wanted to get her punished by a much severe sentence in my mother’s case.”

Turning towards Riddhima, Vansh continued, “To keep you from leaving the mansion and contacting the police in regard of your parents’ cases, I blackmailed you to get engaged to me. I know I did absolutely wrong with you, but I did it all to ensure that Anupriya got a stricter punishment instead of a milder one.

“I’m really sorry Riddhima. I know I hurt you and even made you cry a lot  during this process, but trust me when I say that everytime your heart ached, mine did too with even more fervour…..”

Riddhima stared at him with tears in her eyes.

Hello everyone! That is it for today guys. Do comment.

Peace out!