The Recipe of Love ??

65. Goodbye Rajvansh

It was dangerous, abandoned, and exactly the kind of place someone would take a girl if they wanted to disappear without a trace.

He drove for hours. From one dusty building to the next. His eyes scanned every shadow, every flicker of movement. But still.. no sign of her.

Meanwhile, Vuyan's efforts were also falling short.

Despite the city-wide lockdown and every contact being activated, Ishki had vanished like smoke.

Word of her disappearance reached the palace by evening. Tension erupted like wildfire.

Rajendra and Virendra.. two men not known to show panic were visibly shaken. Meenakshi, ever the queen with nerves of steel, immediately took control.

She walked into the Darbar (Royal court), flanked by Nandini, and summoned every palace staff member.

Her voice was firm, but her eyes betrayed the storm inside her. She assembled an all-women task team, personally instructing them and mapping out search zones with military precision.

Everyone in their world was now searching for her.. but she was nowhere to be found.

And in the chaos, Devyansh hadn't even thought about the bodyguard exchange matter. He hadn't spoken to Sanchi, hadn't updated anyone on protocol.
Because right now, only one thing mattered.

Ishki.. His Babydoll.

Where was she?
Was she safe?
Or was it too late?

The day bled into night, and the night bled into morning. A new day began..
But she was still missing.

And his heart was breaking, piece by silent piece.

While the city buzzed in a state of emergency locked down and on edge far away from the heart of Jaipur, in a forgotten corner of it's outskirts, darkness thrived.

Inside the shattered ruins of what once might have been a cement factory, cruelty had taken shelter.

Thick walls covered in soot. Rusty iron beams that groaned under their own weight. The air smelled like cement dust and damp metal, thick enough to choke.

This is where Ishki Roy had been hidden.
Alone. Tied to a cold, crumbling pillar with rough ropes that dug mercilessly into her skin.

Her wrists were bruised. Her head throbbed. Her lips had dried and cracked from thirst.

And yet.. Even in this prison of filth and silence, the fire in her hadn't gone out.

But the masked men had no intention of mercy. They had a plan.

A cruel one.

They wouldn't lay a hand on her. Not yet.
Instead, they would wait. Wait until hunger bent her spirit. Wait until thirst stole her strength.

Only then would they use her to break Devyansh by demanding the casket he had refused to give up.

She had been unconscious for hours or maybe days, she couldn't tell anymore.
But when her eyes fluttered open again, the world around her was dim, shadowed by broken windows and faint streaks of sunlight.

Her head lolled against the pillar as she tried to lift herself, pain shooting through her arms.

Everything hurt.

Her body felt like it didn't belong to her anymore. But her spirit.. still stubborn, still fierce, snapped back the moment she heard footsteps approaching.

And then she saw him. One of the masked men. Tall. Rough-looking. A cocky swagger in his step as if he owned the world.

He came close, kneeling beside her with a crooked smile that sent bile rising to her throat.