The Guilty Ones

Chapter 50

Khushi cried her heart out for hours. Arnav sat there with her all this time without moving an inch away. He knew what she must be feeling. He has gone through the same thing. Everything that happened has changed his way of looking at his parents.

Arnav always blamed his mother for prioritising his dad and getting killed leaving him and his brother alone. But today he understood what she must have gone through. That day, in the weather, in that state of mind she went out to grab those flowers so that she can show her love to her husband. She did what she has to do. It was not her fault that some idiot decided to drink and drive that day.

Arnav thought about what might have happened if his parents were still alive. This all be changed then. He and Akash would grow up together and maybe work in corporate. Anand will never have an heir to his thrown so he would have ended up in jail or getting killed, Khushi's father would still be a government accountant and they would be alive. But he and Khushi would never have met, he would never have changed Anand's life.

As hard as it is to think, Arnav thought what happened had happened for a reason and he wouldn't want anything to be changed.

"Khushi, I know it is hard but we'll have to move on. We'll have to finish what your father has started before it's too late. If Akash and NK manage to save the girls, G.A will vanish into thin air and it will be impossible to find him after that"

Khushi understood what he was saying. He is right, crying won't bring back her parents but standing up and facing that criminal will bring them justice. She stood up, wiped her tears and looked at Arnav.

"Let's go and show that basted his place. But before that your favourite book, we'll have to find the key"

"Oh yeah, I am shocked your father chose me as the key keeper. I mean what a smart move. Key hidden inside a book cover of a children's book"

"Both our fathers were brilliant at what they were doing. It's just money clouded their judgments. But I am glad, both of them turned their lives around for us. They chose us over money"

"True. Anand Pa showed that love doesn't need to come via cuddles and kisses. He never pampered me but he chose to let go of an empire to give me a better future. Even though I was not his own, he did all this for me"

"Yes Arnav, we are lucky. Now let's make them proud shall we?"

Khushi and Arnav went back to the library.

"Arnav, what was your favourite book?"

"I'll have to think. I had a few favourites but this has to be something I would never throw away. As a kid, I used to lose books a lot. So if Anand Pa chose to hide this key in a book, it must be something he keeps in the library"

Arnav sat on the couch and started going through the books he enjoyed most as a child. There were a number of books but out of all, there is this one book he would read to date.

"Khushi, my dad had a signed version of Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of Baskerville. I used to love that book. In fact, that book made me a fan of Sherlock Holmes. Because the book was so old and worth millions, he always kept it in the library"

Khushi and Arnav decided on the sections of the library and started searching for them. Overall, this library was well managed. All the books were aligned in Alphabetical order under Authors. But they couldn't find this book under the letter A.

"Wait, Khushi, the safe"

"What?"

"He had a hidden safe in the library to keep important stuff"

Arnav moved a small bookshelf and Khushi saw a black wall safe hidden behind it. Arnav quickly entered the code and there, the book was inside the safe. He grabbed it and delicately removed the cover with Khushi's pocket knife. The key was hidden in the binding section of the cover.