Bound by love

　　Armaan Verma stared at his legal adviser lethally.

　　The man hasnt yet found the information he needed even after ten months.

　　He could already see beads of perspiration forming on the older mans brows and upper

　　lip.Any fool could see that the man is terrified.

　　He ought to be,Armaan thought,after the emotional turmoil Armaan is going through for past

　　10 months.

　　"There is no reports of her being spotted anywhere in the last two months. The last she

　　attended, in the report, is a party held at Delhi" Kamal Mishra a fifty year old man who has

　　been working for the Verma Industries for the past 10 years looked at his employer

　　cautiously

　　"How difficult is it to find a woman.That too one as promiscuous as Janani Trivedi could be"

　　Armaan thundered at the older man.

　　The name brought an acidic taste in his mouth.

　　"We are onto her, Mr Verma. I am sure by the evening the private investigators would

　　defenitely come up with information on the woma" Kamal Mishra informed with a conviction

　　which he didnt really feel.

　　Once Kamal Mishra left, Armaan looked at his laptop and the CCTV picture of Janani

　　Trivedi.

　　His lips curled up in distaste.

　　She has a pretty face. A doe shaped eyes a dull brown with no warmth.Her eyes are more

　　cold and calculating than any women he had met so far. And he had his fair share of women

　　in his life.All with dollar signs in their eyes.Thats telling something, isnt it.

　　Armaan Verma never trusted a women since his mother walked out on them when Adesh

　　was a baby and he was barely 5.

　　He had seen his father hitting the bottle and ruining the family fortune grieving for the woman

　　who left him for another man.

　　And he would never trust a woman in his life.

　　Never ever

　　"Found any information??" Adesh asked looking at the photo of Janani Trivedi ,hanging on

　　the arms of a man thrice her age in front of a night club, with distaste.

　　"Not yet, but I will soon" Armaan said.

　　"How is Ava?? Did you talk to her today??" Adesh asked and Armaan sighed thinking about

　　his three year old daughter whom he didnt even knew existed until three months back.

　　"I went to the room ,and she hid under her bed as usual.I dont know how to get her to talk to

　　me.You know what happened the last time I tried."

　　Armaan still remember the terror in his little girls eyes ,the anguish on her face ,how she hid

　　behind her nanny shaking on her little feet.

　　"If we had known about Ava long before, you wouldnt have had to..-" Adesh was cut off mid

　　sentence by Armaan

　　"Dont Adesh. Never wish my son away! He does exist and I will do everything in my power

　　to get him back" Armaan said fiercely.

　　"I didnt mean it that way Maan. I am just worried about you. How are you going to cope with

　　two children. They would need a mother " Adesh said and Armaan let out a dark chuckle

　　"We grew up without a mother, didnt we?? We turned out okay. Neither did we have a father,

　　as a matter of fact. My children would at least have a father. And they will have an uncle too"

　　Armaan said

　　Adesh looked at his older brother who has been a father figure for him. He doesnt

　　remember his mother but his brother still does and that rejection at the early childhood had

　　shaped his character.

　　His brother is cynical about life and could anyone blame him for that ,when he never felt that

　　kind of love or care when it matteres. He had his older brother to look after him.

　　Who did his brother have...??

　　No one..

　　Adesh could only hope someone would come into his brothers life for his brothers sake and

　　for the kids sake.

　　Armaan saw a notification popping up in his laptop and looked up to see it was a mail from

　　the private investigator. He opened the mail and smiled cynically.

　　They had tracked her down, at last.

　　The thieving child stealer. The whore. Janani Trivedi.

　　Words werent enough to express the hate he has for this one woman he had never ever met

　　in his life. She had dared to play with him.

　　She stole his son and tried to sell him back like a bargaining chip.

　　His son!

　　It troubled him a lot that he wont be able to take serious legal actions against this woman.

　　Because he himself had broken the rules and law in bringing his son into this world.

　　Not only did he not want his private life laid open to the media, but he was also all too aware

　　of the likely long-term repercussions of such a vengeful act.

　　He picked his phone and informed his private secretary to arrange his jet as soon as

　　possible.

　　Its time he payed a little visit to his childs mother.

　　"Are you going in person?? You could ask Mr Mishra to deal with the legalities first" Adesh

　　asked

　　"I once made a mistake of not getting down the business in person. I am not going to make

　　the mistake again." Armaan said and walked out of his room.

　　Would the baby take after its lying, cheating mother? Was there such a thing as bad genes?

　　He refused to accept that.

　　There could be no taint in an innocent child.

　　It will all come down to upbringing.

　　And he will not let even Janani Trivedis shadow touch his son.

　　He reminded himself that on paper his sons mother had appeared eminently respectable.

　　The only child of elderly, financially indebted parents, she had presented herself as a trained

　　primary school teacher with a love of growing vegetables and cookery.

　　What a joke.

　　Her true interests were entirely different. And he had discovered it only after she had run

　　from the hospital with his child.

　　She is a lying cheating thief, who gambled and whored around without conscience.

　　Time and time again he had blamed himself for his decision not to physically meet with the

　　mother of his child, not to personalise in any way what was essentially a business

　　arrangement.

　　Would he have recognised her true nature if he had?

　　He had not expected her to want to see him either.

　　When he came to collect the child from the hospital after the birth, she had already vanished,

　　leaving behind only a note that spelt out her financial demands.

　　By then she had found out how rich he was and only greed had motivated her.

　　"Are you informing the police??" Adesh asked walking along side him

　　"No" Armaan said shaking his head in negative.

　　"But..."

　　"There is no doubt Janani Trivedi deserves to be behind the bars. But I wouldnt be the

　　persom to put my sons mother there. Surrogate or not she happens to be my childs mother.

　　And you know commercial surrogacy is banned in India, I can hardly go to the police"

　　Armaan bit out grudgingly.

　　"But the police are already after her. You read the report on her stealing from the men who

　　took her as escorts to those parties " Adesh reminded and Armaan sucked in a breath.

　　An escort for rich men....

　　Thats what his sons mother is.

　　He just hope his son wouldnt find out when he grows up.

　　"I dont want the police involved " Armaan said and Advay shook his head

　　"You might not want that, but they are already involed"

　　"And then what??The elderly grandparents receive custody of my son? And the authorities

　　are forced to enter the picture to consider his welfare. Surrogacy arrangements receive a

　　divergent and uncertain reception here and I will not take any risk that could entail losing all

　　rights to my son."

　　"But the Trivedi woman has already made it clear that she will only give your son back in

　　return for a substantial sum of money"

　　"I will find some acceptable and legal way to bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion"

　　Armaan breathed softly "Without damaging publicity or a court case or sending her to

　　prison."

　　They stood outside the nursery and Armaan took a deep breath before going inside his

　　daughters room followed by Adesh.

　　He saw her scrambling from the floor where she was sitting with a torn doll which had seen

　　more days than her and running away from him to hide under the bed.

　　Armaan looked around the room and saw the dozens of toys he had bought for her which

　　were all untouched.

　　The only toy she needs is the one she had when she came to live with him after her mothers

　　tragic death.

　　Will you marry me Armaan?? Will you he still heard that voice as clear as yesterday.

　　And the guilt would always be there.

　　He could have saved her. He could have made a difference

　　"Maan" Adesh called tentatively and Armaan sighed

　　Armaan walked towards the bed and knelt down on the floor.

　　"Baby Ava...." Armaan called out softly and there was no response. There never was

　　"Daddy is going away for two days." Again there was no response

　　"Daddy will bring you new toys" no response.

　　"Daddy will miss you" Armaan said, the only thing he heard in return was the sound of her

　　breathing.

　　He stood up to leave and talked to the nanny.

　　"Take care of her" Armaan said and he felt the hands of the woman on his forearm.

　　"I know it hurts, she will come around" the woman said and Armaan shook off her hands

　　from his and walked out rejecting the display of sympathy.

　　"I dont like her. There is something not right about her" Adesh voiced out what had been in

　　his mind all along.

　　"Unfortunately she is the only person Ava is comfortable with. So we will have to live with it.

　　And Advay ,keep an eye on her always" with that said Armaan walked out of the Verma

　　mansion without turning back.