Meera was sitting in her apartment next to Aryan waiting for Alisha's text. As soon as Meera's phone chimed with Alisha's text, Meera texted the hacker and gave him the signal. The hacker got to work and within 20 minutes he had access to all the data. He started uploading the data on a cloud.
It was 2 am. Meera was visibly anxious. She lifted a cigarette and put it to her lips and lit it with her lighter. Her hands were trembling. Every minute she glanced at her laptop screen waiting for the hacker's email. As soon as her mail chimed with the hacker's link, she clicked on the download button.
Aryan gently pulled the cigarette from her lips and extinguished it in an ashtray. "You don't need that, just calm down." Aryan said.
Meera held her head between her palms trying to calm the terrible storm in her head and the videos began to download rapidly.
As soon as the download was complete, Meera anxiously opened it. There were a plethora of videos inside it. Meera clicked on the folder named Naina and found a huge collection of videos inside it.
"Are you sure you want to, Meera?" Aryan said.
Meera ignored Aryan and played all the videos one by one. Her expression was eerily cold as she watched Naina being systematically abused and degraded by Neil.
"Meera, I think you should stop..." Aryan said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Meera didn't respond. She didn't even look at Aryan. She kept her eyes fixed on the video. She sharply turned up the volume till the Naina screams echoed throughout the room.
"Meera please..." Aryan implored again.
Meera gave a very angry look to Aryan. Her gaze was so piercing it made him shudder. "Shut the fuck up! This is fucking personal," She spoke bitterly.
Aryan sat quietly and let Meera finish watching each and every one of the videos. And then she reached the last, most devastating video of Neil's birthday party. The last night that Naina was alive. Meera watched without blinking the full extent of Naina's suffering that caused her to end her life. She watched her go through unbearable pain that she couldn't bear the courage to even talk about. The last evening of Naina's life that shattered her heart into a million pieces such that she didn't want to live anymore.
(The events of Neil's birthday party have been described in detail in my story The Girl Next Door Ch. 03)
Once the video ended, Meera called up Alisha and said, "Inject that vial into his vein." Meera hung up the phone.
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Alisha loaded a syringe that she was carrying in her purse and found a prominent vein on Reyansh's arm. She gently injected the vial's contents into his vein. Due to the drug that she had given him, he was too fast asleep to feel the needle prick.
Then Alisha placed everything back the way it was. She went back to the bathroom and cuffed herself just like he had left her, with the ball gag in her mouth and vibrator in her pussy.
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Meera was visibly upset after seeing Naina's videos.
"What was in that vial Meera?" Aryan asked, "The one that Mithila gave you? What does it do exactly?"
"You'll see Aryan," Meera said bitterly, "The whole world will see."
Aryan held her in his arms, constantly comforting her.
"She loved him Aryan," Meera said as she broke down in his arms, "My sweet Naina di, she loved Neil with all her heart...and this is what he did to her...she begged him, and he didn't listen...she didn't deserve this! She was a good person...she was so sweet and kind, and this is what Neil did to her! And Armaan knew I'd expose Neil so he ruined my life too..."
"I'm sorry Meera," Aryan said comforting her, "I can understand how it feels to lose someone you love..."
Meera sobbed in his arms. Aryan was quiet for a long time. Finally, he spoke.
"You asked about Saloni the other day," Aryan said, stroking Meera's hair, "She was the woman I loved the most in the world."
Meera looked up at Aryan. She noticed his eyes were sad, almost tearful.
"I was an orphan Meera,, and I grew up in an orphanage," Aryan said, "Life was tough, but I was happy. When I grew up, I joined college. I used to do menial jobs in the evening to pay for my fees. I hoped to have a decent job once I finished my graduation. And then, Saloni came into my life. She was a beautiful girl, simple and innocent, she was...the quiet type. She wouldn't talk much, had few friends and spent most of her time at the library. We met and became friends, and soon fell in love. We had this beautiful relationship for almost three years..."
Meera noticed a hint of happiness on Aryan's face as he continued.
"I was in my final year of college and I was soon going to finish my graduation. Next step was to meet her parents and ask for her hand in marriage. She was going to introduce me to her parents, but before that..." Aryan choked in grief for a moment and continued, "She had gone to Goa for a trip with her friend. For the first 2 days, she sent me pictures, she was so happy. And then on the third day, she disappeared...both Saloni and her friend, they were gone. There was no trace at all. Her parents filed a missing report, and one of the things that came forth during the police investigation was our relationship...and it turned out that I was the person closest to her."
"Saloni's parents, they were just angry, and they blamed it on me," Aryan said, "They kept accusing me that I did something to her. They got me arrested on suspicion of her murder, I was tortured in police custody. They had some circumstantial evidence and I spent a few months in jail as an under trial. It was not easy to...survive there, but I learned eventually. Most of the other inmates were convicted criminals, and gradually I began to understand the world of crime. I was released finally as they could neither prove murder nor my guilt."
"I never cared if the world thinks Saloni was dead," Aryan said, "I wasn't going to give up. I kept looking for her. In jail, I met some people who knew things, they did this for a living, finding out information and then selling it for a living, they were called informers or snitches. I learned this work, and over years I became good at it. My network spread across the city and eventually around the country. I was good, and I knew most of the things that were happening in the underworld. But I still had no clue where my Saloni was. Only information I had was that perhaps she was taken by an organized trafficking gang and she was most likely in another country."
"When you and Kabir arrived in Mumbai," Aryan said, "Someone informed me that you both have escaped from traffickers. I had some hope that perhaps one of you could have seen Saloni. The chances were remote, but still I decided it was worth a shot. You had no memory, so I approached Kabir. I showed him a picture of Saloni and he recognized her! He had seen her, and he knew exactly where she was kept. Perhaps you don't know this Meera but, Kabir, he knew stuff and had his resources. He always tried to keep a low profile, but his looks and his accent gave away the fact that he was an Arab. And I doubt that he was a slave there, it is hard for a slave to have that kind of resources. Kabir was certainly a man of higher standing, considering that he really...knew things. He gave me some contacts in Dubai, I went looking for her and finally, I was able to find her! I still remember the first time I saw her after 5 years...she was still so beautiful...but she didn't recognize me. They did something to her...I don't know what, and I didn't care either, I just wanted my Saloni back."
Aryan paused to wipe a tear off his cheek and continued, "I didn't have enough strength or resources to fight an organized trafficking gang or to run away with Saloni. But I had money that I had earned over the years. I spent every last rupee I owned to buy her freedom and bring her back safely. I even had to borrow money keeping my house mortgage, but Saloni was all that mattered to me. I brought her back to Mumbai. I took her to her parents, but she didn't recognize them. And they didn't want her either after knowing what happened to her. I brought her home. I took care of her. But she was completely broken. She would barely talk, she would barely eat, she just spent her time blankly gazing at a wall. Sometimes she would call out to me, and I used to see a hint of love for me in her eyes. But the very next moment, her gaze would turn blank. I was almost broke, but still I did everything I could to help her, to provide for her. I bought her gifts, cooked her food she liked, I spent time with her...I even took her to therapy, hoping to heal her. But nothing worked. She was like a living corpse. She was alive and breathing, but there was no soul in her body, no life in her eyes. I was fighting a losing battle."
"Then it was her birthday, 28th of December," Aryan said, "Almost a month after I brought her to Mumbai. I dressed her up and took her out to her favorite restaurant. For the first time in a month, I watched her smile. I was hopeful that she is going to be OK. I held her close, I told her I wanted to marry her, and that I would take care of her for the rest of my life, I put a ring on her..."
