Nine truths - one lie

Summery: She is a pawn in his game and he is a card she is yet to turn. Each wants to know the other without giving away much of their own secrets.
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There had to be an invisible string, pulling him, tugging him, Sanskar was certain. He had not wanted to follow as they took Durga Prasad to the hospital. For all the hatred he had kept brewing in his head it felt rather anticlimactic.

But then she was standing there, an unforeseen collateral damage to a well pitched blow; Swara Bose Maheshwari.

She had none of the softness Lakshya always claimed his Sapno ki raani would have.

No, even beneath all her nerves and shock, Swara had an edge, a sharpness to her - a flicker of intelligence, a whiff of mystery.

Standing on the dockyard as the chaos of the day waned into the stillness of the night - as the pouring rain ceased again into a mild patter - Sanskar wondered why he thought of her as still lake water - cool, soothing dark green but hiding unchartered depths and skeletons.

He frowned a little.

The long range lights cast an eerie glow over her pale face as their beams brushed past. She had eyes that were too large, widened further with worry.

As he watched the salty breeze played with  her wide sleeves, with an escaped lock of her hair.

Swara hugged herself, unconsciously tapping her upper arms rhythmically. She was watching the rain, still pelting, glistening every now and then with wayward beams of light.

The shock she had succumbed to was waning away replaced instead by a sorrowful expression.

It was the sense of wrongness she emitted that stopped Sanskar from leaving her, instead he watched from shadows as she gripped a hand over her heart - fingers crumpling the crushed silk of her dress and her lips muttered muted words of consolation to herself. Her other hand clenched on the railing until her knuckles turned white.

She heaved an exhale after a moment, her shoulders falling. She pulled herself straight, clasped her hands and went after Durga Prasad who was being hauled off in an ambulance. Uncaring of the rain that swiftly drenched through her, uncaring of gossip hungry stares that followed after her.

Sanskar shook his head, Lakshya may not have found his Sapno ki raani but he had found someone who had her priorities set straight. Perhaps that was why Adarsh had been so annoyed with her. Perhaps that was why Durga Prasad was so fond of her, fond enough to bring her in to the loop of running his empire. Perhaps that was why, knowingly or not, this stranger of a woman now held the reins of a crumbling empire.

Sanskar had been too good a chess player not to make a move when he saw an opening in the enemy ranks and he moved swiftly.

That incessant rain was still falling when he moved through the throng of onlookers and went to her side, holding an umbrella over her head.

She looked up at him startled, those wide eyes reflecting lights of the dockyard. Sanskar placed a hand on her back, a touch that had neither force nor weight.

"We can follow them in the car - if you like," he offered, watching as the ambulance was shut and its engines revived.

There had been one too many paramedics to leave her room in the ambulance. Still he made a note that she did not insist on joining her father in law, on keeping by his side.

Swara shook her head distractedly.

"Papaji didn't bring a driver," she said, still watching after the ambulance pulling away. She had a nervous habit of wringing her hands. "You must think me weird to let him go all by himself. But I - I cannot bring myself to sit in an ambulance again."
Her exhale was loud, rustling.
There was that strange look in her eyes, that deep seated sadness. "I'm not the one who should be beside him and it's best if I don't go - I've probably cost them enough -"

"You have as much a right to accompany him as anyone," Sanskar snapped, stirred by her words.

He could make an educated guess on who had spawned all this nonsense of a widow being an ominous reminder of death and ruin.

Now that he looked back on Swara consoling herself back in the shadows before stepping back into action - Sanskar could very well see the reason for her hesitation. With Lakshya gone and having returned to the collapsing grandeur of Maheshwaris, Swara might consider herself the bringer of their ruin - fueled surely by a superstitious Annapurna from time to time.

Sure enough she might have spawned some superstitious rubbish over the phone as well.

Before fury took hold of him Sanskar diverted the conversation. His hand was still on her back, now he put gentle pressure on it, leading her away.

"I didn't mean your car - I meant mine." He said evenly. "Come Swara, don't stand there - people are watching."

That gentle reminder made her spring into action, finally tearing her eyes from the ambulance they could no longer spot, Swara allowed herself to be led away.

Still she remained rigid, distant and absent minded as she settled herself in the passenger seat, following automatically when he opened the door for her.

Sanskar gave her space to blank out, turning the ignition, internal heating and finally pulling away from the dockyard.

She did not ask him how he knew her name. Sanskar had been prepared for that question from the moment he called her Swara, but she seemed a bit too preoccupied to notice. Yet the silence between them seemed heavy with anticipation.

He expected much more from Swara Bose Maheshwari, who tracked a simple credit card payment across three Mercantile agents merely because her son had seen that photo wali uncle.

He had to rush through the Nirvana deal because of her, almost losing his finesse and composure- almost losing the deal, because she could have exposed him before he made his dent on the hull of Maheshwaris' sinking ship. There was methodical precision there - a sign of a worthy opponent.

But now she seemed to have numbed into a thoughtless state. It wouldn't do. He needed to know how this woman operated, how her brain worked - only then would he be able to think two moves ahead of her.

So if she doesn't bite into the apple, he will take that first bite. Give her something to put her trust on. Nine truths - to believe one lie.

"Did Sunny find that book interesting? The fairytale adventure?"

She jumped at his voice. Sanskar watched in his peripheral vision. There, the dye was cast. He had admitted that Sunny had indeed seen him in Hungary, that it was not such a secret after all for her to have traced him through a credit card payment like he was an international criminal.

One minute. Two. Swara smiled slowly, unsurely.

"He wants to be a knight now," she said nodding. "Asked me which school he should enroll if he wants to be a knight. Sometimes, the questions he asks - I have to Google how to answer them."

The exasperation that coloured her tone was endearing. Her son, Sanskar noted, was a topic Swara liked to discuss.

"How old is he? Four?"

"Five, just starting school." Swara replied. "He was six months old when..."

Lakshya passed away.

Sanskar cleared his throat and they plunged into an awkward silence again.

"Mr Maheshwari woh -" Swara begun.

"Sanskar."

"Huh?"

"You should call me Sanskar - Swara, Lakshya did. It's kind of stupid for us to keep tossing this Mr. Maheshwari- Mrs. Maheshwari back and forth no?"

"How did you know my name Sanskar?"

Finally, the question he had been waiting for. She held his eye as she asked that. As if something depended on his answer. Sanskar tilted his head, recognising the challenge.

"I put a PI to trail you."

She blinked and he shrugged changing gear as they smoothly glided into a busy street.

"It's nothing personal. I have one following Adarsh too. Two of you were involved in Nirvana chain."

Something impeccable in her features relaxed. He noticed the minute she sank into her seat, relieved.

"You thought I was involved in what happened today." Sanskar noted indifferently.

He did not look at her but he sensed her stiffening.

He didn't offer an explanation or an excuse. Sanskar allowed the pause to drag. People who are confident in their innocence never rushed to explain. If Swara began to doubt him, there was a lot she could doubt him on.

Sanskar wondered if she knew that he was in Hungary too, during the time Lakshya had been there.

If she perhaps found out that the problem in Hungary branch of their hotel that called Lakshya over in the first place was caused by him.

Would she find out in due course that the yacht where Vivek hosted his dinner, in fact belonged to Sanskar?

That he was the reason Adarsh had lost his cool at the party?

He was involved in too much, tangled in too many threads leading to and away from trouble for her to not suspect him to be the source of it all.

But he was not.
This was not how he operated.

But something about his answer had settled her. Opting to tell her the truth about how he had came in possession of her name seemed to dilute her doubt.

"But you no longer do," he said further. "Why not?"

They had arrived at the hospital.

Swara unfastened her seatbelt at once, fumbling with it unnecessarily as if to delay her answer.

"Lakshya would not believe that of you," she said slowly. For some reason she looked directly into his eyes as she said that, as if he would not meet her eye, as if Lakshya's name would make him uncomfortable.

"He would have been disappointed if you did. Thank you for the ride Sanskar!"

**

Swara watched him carefully as she said that. This man, this Sanskar Maheshwari did not know what she knew. He did not know that she had seen all those documents with his signatures that had brought Lakshya to Hungary. He did not know that she had been chasing him since Lakshya's death. He had answers that she needed but he would not give them to her willingly.

And then he is here now. He was there when her father in law had that heart attack. Somehow he was everywhere. It was too much to be a coincidence. Either this Sanskar Maheshwari was a man with a wrong timing or a man with wrong intentions. The sooner she found out which was the better.

But he easily gave up information on Hungary - about running into her and Sunny. He seemed genuinely interested in Sunny rather than making small talk for the sake of politeness. He had even told her the truth about investigating the family. Then he had gone and voiced her own doubts.

It scared her, how easily he put a finger on her thoughts, noted the subtle changes in her body language that even she wasn't aware of. This was not a man to be crossed. This was not a man reaching out a helping hand for the sake of family ties.

No.

This was a man to be avoided.

But he trailed after her to the lobby and from there to the corridor where they awaited word from the on going surgery. Swara wished her mother in law would come. But she wouldn't, until Swara went home to release her from watching over Sunny.

And Swara couldn't leave her father in law in the hands of Sanskar Maheshwari even for a couple of hours. She didn't trust him, didn't believe that Nirvana Hotels was the only thing he wished to snatch from them.

No, she would wait.

Sanskar ignored her just as she did. He checked his work email as they waited, and fielded calls until Swara began to dose. Then he rose and brought coffee for her, gently nudging her awake and make her grasp the smoking paper cup.

The hasty sip that she took merely to cover her face scalded her tongue. Sanskar's lips softened into a ghost of a smile.

"Aaram se," he said. "It's all yours."

Before she retorted, the operation theatre finally opened.

Both of them rose begrudgingly, with identical expressions of anticipation. The doctor who came out looked grave and exhausted.

"Mrs Maheshwari," he addressed Swara. "It was a close call. Filal abhi woh katare se bahar hai, still we shall keep him under observation for 48 hours more. Considering his history and the very recent diagnosis- Mr Maheshwari should have been more cautious..."

"Recent diagnosis doctor sahab?"

Swara interrupted him, frowning impeccably. "None of us were informed of any changed to the routine medications."

The doctor frowned too.

"Mr Maheshwari should have had this surgery two months ago," he said in rather a admonishing tone. "He kept putting it away because it would have put him on bed rest for two months. I believe he kept it from the family as well. His condition is no joke Mrs Maheshwari. Another stroke like this and perhaps we won't be able to save him."

Shaking his head the doctor went on his own way. Swara allowed her shoulders to droop, her exhale to shake. Gathering her hands she muttered a quick prayer to the lord.

Beside her Sanskar typed something into his phone and turned away, as if to leave.

"Aap jaa rahe ho?" Swara surprised herself by asking. "Won't you wait to meet him?"

This time it was Sanskar who held her gaze. In fact, he took one menacing step closer.

Swara squared her shoulders and held her ground, resisting the urge to gulp when he towered over her.

"I'm leaving," he said. "So you can put your guard down too. Go home. Get some rest. Check on your son. I wanted to know if he was out of danger or not - and now I know. I won't be coming back."

Her face flushed as he spoke, dissecting her thoughts with shameful accuracy. Sanskar's lips tugged into a slow smile watching her expression.

"And Swara, if I did want to hurt him - I don't have to come here myself. If I did want that you couldn't have stopped it."

She gulped. His eyes flickered down her throat just in time to catch that faint movement.

"Take care!"

**