Meanwhile as Tanvi was lying awake in her room, she hears the loud bang of the main door closing before the bells jingled, echoing through the mansion, into every room and wall. She sits up straight and finds her torch before rushing out the door and down the stairs towards the main entrance. She looks around in confusion before opening the door to catch just a glimpse of a white Jeep making its way out the large golden gate, disappearing from her vision…
…
Tanvi starts to panic, her hands shivering and her mind going blank. She decides not jump to conclusions as it could have been any of the workers who only had a shift until 10, but she had never seen a white jeep before in the compound of the mansion. The overthinking was making her more and more stressed every second. It was as if her legs stopped working but nevertheless, she dragged them reluctantly up the stairs, dreading the thought of finding Archie's room empty.
Her chest got tighter as she reached in front of her door. She slowly twisted the knob and pushed it open. She faced the floor, already knowing the answer to her question as she noticed her desk, empty of all her belongings. She faces the bed just to make sure, holding onto any last hope she had but to no luck.
Her scream echoed like the jingles of the bell through the mansion, awaking the guards, chefs and workers who raced to her from every point of the mansion, asking what went wrong.
"Architha is gone."
This sentence triggered panic amongst the workers who ran to and fro every room, nook and corner. If Archie was missing, it would be the workers who would be punished by Raj as they were to be in charge of his daughter's safety.
The lights in every crook of the mansion turned on in the blink of an eye, checked, double checked and triple checked by all 22 of the workers. Even the chef and the cleaner.
After half an hour of intense searching, the workers and Tanvi gathered at the main hall, panting.
"Go search outside, NOW!" orders Tanvi
The workers were outside inspecting everywhere possible in a second while Tanvi sat on the swinging chair near the car porch with her head leaning on her hands. Was this really happening?
Just as the workers were starting to give up, they hear the arrival of Raja's car, a black Mercedes from behind the golden gate. Tanvi brings her face up to see her father approaching.
Raj slams the door of his car before demanding the reason for all the chaos so late at night. It was almost exactly 11 pm.
None of the workers dared to answer as they stared at Tanvi who sat quietly, staring into the gate, hopelessly.
One of the workers nudged the other who was too petrified to face Raj.
"Miss K-Krishna does not appear to be in her room."
"So what? She's probably in the balcony lighting the Diwali candles. We do every year, Brown, what's so much to stress over?" He explains before looking over at Tanvi who already knew what went wrong.
"We have checked everywhere, b-"Another stutters before he is interrupted
"BUT WHAT?"
"But, she is nowhere to be found." says another
"We have been searching for an hour" Added the chef.
Raj throws his briefcase to the floor angrily before turning to Tanvi.
The cleaner quickly picks up the briefcase and brushes it clean before handing it to one of the workers.
"What is the meaning of this Tanvitha?"
"I told her."
Raj runs his hands through his soft black hair, wiping the cold sweat along with it in stress and frustration before ordering,
"Davis, Bennett, check the go-down."
Raj threw his jacket to the sofa before running up the stairs, skipping three and four at a time. He ran to his room to find his bundle of keys on his bed rather than his desk. As he was about to leave, he noticed the door to the secret room open and the lights on. His shakes his head in disbelief as slowly walks towards it, noticing the sarees from the shelf gone, multiple of the photos misplaced, some gone and the passport laying on the ground, opened at the page of the ID. He makes his way towards the shelf when a painful sting travels through his feet. He jumps in agony and takes his feet on his hands, noticing the sharp piece of crystal which made its way half way up his foot.
There could have been only one place which this could have come from. And sure enough, the crystal casing which held his wife's leg piece was nowhere to be found. He punches the wall in utmost anger, making a large dent before he stares up to the ceiling and yells until his throat was throbbing in pain.
Meanwhile Archie and Augustin were partying in the car, not knowing all the chaos that was happening at the mansion when she suddenly freezes and holds her chest.
"My dream college…?"
Augustin bursts out laughing, unable to control his amusement while Archie giggles nervously, realising it was too late and all she could do about it now was laugh.