Archie wasn't sure what the key was for, but as far as her plan had worked, it was the key to the safe where her father kept all the cold… hard… cash.
…
Archie followed Augustine down the hallway, past a room which she had never seen. They were walking for what felt like days until they reached the end, where a locker remained. The same religious symbols which she had seen on the door handle and on the chains of the key, she saw on the door of the safe.
Archie took one look at the key before clicking it in place. She looked up at Augustine who nodded at her, drooling over the thought of all the cash he was going to be showered with. She reluctantly twisted it as the door opened wide, and the smell of cash, old cash filled their nostrils. The safe was the size of a large fridge, with a smaller bottom row and the bigger row which they had opened. The entire space was stacked with bundles of cash, held tightly together by a rubber band which looked as if it was minutes away from stretching to its maximum and breaking. She took two sets and thought for a while. Archie couldn't stop the thought of her father as she put one back and offered the other to Augustine. His eyes were still perched on the rest of cash which Archie slammed the door back on and locked before walking back again past the hallway. As they nearly approached back to the balcony, they heard the bells of Tanvi's chilanka {Leg accessory used when performing bharathanatyam- a traditional South Indian form of dance} getting louder and louder. Augustine still held the stack of cash which they had retrieved from the safe.
As he starts to panic, Archie grabs it from his hands and throws it underneath the sofa although a small corner of it showed itself.
She then nudges Augustin to which he responds by walking casually back down the stairs, passing Tanvi as he went. They both exchanged glances but just for a millisecond. Tanvi walks her way to the hall where she met with Archie for the first time after she revealed to her that she had been living a life of lie. She looked down at the rug below them, sweat running down her forehead and obvious guilt in her eyes. Archie observed her for a while before asking,
"Is the guilt in your eyes because you regret telling me the truth or because you regret having kept me hidden in this mansion and made of fool out of me for 17 years.?"
Before Tanvi could answer her very complicated question, Archie interrupts her by saying,
"Either way, it's not my concern anymore. I have planned what to do next. Neither of you can stop me now."
As Archie attempts to leave, Tanvi gets a hold of her arms and pulls her to turn back around. The grip tightened but Archie remained in her usual, calm face.
"If you do anything to hurt our father, I won't spare you-."
Before she could finish, she was met with a slap right across the face. Archie had held in all her frustration and desperation in for way too long. Her legs craved to experience the outer world from the moment she was told the truth. Not only was she kept imprisoned in this mansion, her sister, now her enemy was threatening her to remain the way she had for nearly two decades.
Tanvi held her face in pain as it stung so horribly. She knew Archie was now beyond her control, and as her elder sister, there was nothing she could do about it than to tell her father.
Archie then continued back to her room as she couldn't go downstairs yet as the cash she threw under the sofa had to be collected after Tanvi left which she did in a few minutes time.
As she started to go back towards the hall, she heard fast footsteps approaching from the stairs. She turned to look at who it was. It was Augustine. He walked knelt beside the sofa and swept up the cash without turning his face to Archie and continued into her room, again without her permission.
He sat down on her leather office chair and placed the cash beside him on the desk. He crossed his arms while Archie sat down on the bed and took a pillow under her arms.
"How exactly do I come to your help?"
Archie took a breath in before saying,
"You help me escape two days from now. The night of Diwali."
From the look of uneasiness in Augustine's face, she understood what he was thinking.
"Don't be worried, you are capable of it. Just excuse yourself as obeying my fathers orders if questioned to any suspicious activity."
He nods before grabbing the cash and leaving room, closing the door behind him.