“You’re suspended, Agent Grover. Now Riccardo will lead the case and you’ll be under inspection.” As soon as he heard it, he knew he was gone. 

And now nothing in the world can save him, but the one who was destroying him. 

                                 **********

Secrets. We all have our own secrets, we all have some things which we need to hide from the world in order to live a happy, perfect life with no worries. 

We all hide something in us, and the fear of the world knowing the dirty undisclosed truth that we hide deep inside our veins, scares the soul out of us. 

Well not always, but yeah sometimes, it does. 

The fear of people knowing the part we want to hide and most times kill. 

The trepidation of the world knowing our concealed parts makes us master in the game of lies and deception. 

But no matter how good we are at hiding the truth and suppressing it, there’s always someone who breaks the last barrier to our confidential information and kills the term “secret” by spreading it around the world. 

Well that’s exactly what Officer Siddharth Grover wanted to do to the infamous Maya D’souza. 

Destroy her. 

He knew she was hiding something and he was going to find it out, whether she likes it or not

Nothing can hide from his eyes and mind but what happened this time? How come the Siddharth Grover who solved more than 75 murder cases becomes helpless and dangerously fucked? 

Let’s find it by ourselves. 

TWO MONTHS AGO

1st JANUARY, 2024. 

The car stopped and two men dressed formally in shirts and pants and a blazer on top came out of the car one by one. 

Guns were tucked in their pockets. 

They were FBI officers and they stood right outside the penthouse of the infamous super model Maya D’souza, who also happens to be the wife of the former business tycoon, Richard Knight who was killed brutally in his own mansion. 

They were here for the inspection of Maya which is going on for about a month. The normal police department couldn’t solve the case so the court handed over the case to the FBI as per the law. 

And today was the first day of their investigation. The two entered the elevator and pressed the button for the twenty ninth floor. The elevator was midway when one of the gentlemen started the conversation.

“Why do you think she lives here and not in the mansion?” Riccardo asked Siddharth curiously.

“The hunter won’t stay in the prey’s dungeon after its hunt, now would it?” Siddharth chuckled devilishly. He knew in this deadly game, he had to think according to the killer.

Before Riccardo could retort back with something, the elevator door stopped and the two of them got out. They made their way towards the supermodel’s penthouse door, looking around for any sight of inconvenience along their way. As soon as they reached the door, Riccardo pressed the doorbell as Siddharth looked around for one last time, scanning the entire area. 

After a minute, the knob of the door turned, making a clicking sound and the gentlemen got alert. The door was swung open and a sight of Maya’s wet body wrapped around in a black robe welcomed them. Her hair was half wet, showing that she was drying them when the doorbell was pressed. 

Maya tilted her head before examining them from head to toe, raising a brow at them, “And what can I help you with?” She asked, folding her arms across her chest.

Siddharth stepped forward and spoke, “The truth.” 

Her eyebrows pressed together in confusion but soon relaxed and her lips curled in a smirk. A drop of water fell from her chin and moved down her neck to the inside of the towel, catching the entire attention of Siddharth. His eyes moved from her face to her neck down to her collarbone and finally settled on her covered breasts where the drop of water disappeared. 

Sensing the tension in the air, Riccardo cleared his throat and took out his FBI batch from the inside pocket of his blazer, showing it to Maya.

“We are from the FBI.”

This grabbed Siddharth’s attention and he took a step back, now standing formally and looking anywhere but at her. 

She shook her head slightly and looked at Riccardo with her sweetest fake smile, “Please, do come in. I was expecting you guys.” 

“I can clearly see how you expect your guest, Mrs Knight.” Siddharth taunted, pointing at her appearance.

She was amused by his comment to say the least.

“Not my fault you didn’t inform me before your arrival, Mr—” her eyes moved to his badge before she continued, “Grover.” 

“It’s officer Grover for you.” He corrected her. 

“Oh, okay. Come in, Officer.” She spoke, stressing on the word officer as she moved aside letting them in.

The two agents entered the penthouse and scanned it, checking every spot and corner for anything they could find suspicious. It was a part of their job.

“Make yourself at home.” Maya pointed at the couch in the living room and took a seat for herself in front of it.

They moved towards the couch and Siddharth took a seat, making himself comfortable while Riccardo hesitated a little but sat anyway. 

“You can change, Mrs Knight. We can wait.” He tried to point out the obvious, rubbing his palms together. 

Maya chuckled at his comment and instead leaned forward, clearly not caring about the fact if her cleavage was visible to them or not before she replied, “You see, I don’t like to keep my guest waiting, Mr D’Angelo.” 

His face reddened because of her bold behaviour as he wasn’t expecting something like that at all. To avoid any kind of awkwardness, he looked around and elbowed Siddharth to speak up. 

“Okay fine, ju— just sit properly and let’s get done with it as soon as possible.” 

Maya was clearly enjoying her effect and nervousness of the two officers. She straightened up and folded her legs over each other. Her bare milky legs were glistening which had a direct impact on the two officers sitting opposite to her. The towel was covering her till her mid thigh. 

“Did you wash your hands after stabbing your husband?” Siddharth initiated the investigation, leaning on the couch, keeping his one hand on the head of it and folding his leg on the other manly.

Maya chuckled and imitated his action before looking at him with an amused expression, “No, I get dizzy around blood. So your assumption that I stabbed my husband is untrue.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Siddharth’s hand moved forward towards the fruit knife kept near the fruit bowl on the coffee table in front of them. He picked the knife up and slashed his fingers with it. 

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Droplets of his blood dripped down his finger and fell on the ground as Maya and Riccardo watched. Maya’s face didn’t flinch even a little meanwhile Riccardo was looking at him with a weird expression as if he couldn’t believe what the fuck his partner was doing. 

“You didn’t get dizzy seeing my blood, Mrs Knight. What should I make out of your statement now?” He tilted his head and asked Maya who in turn looked amused.

“Try stabbing yourself in your heart and let the blood pool out of it, then watch me getting dizzy, Mr—oops, Officer Grover.” She retorted back, keeping her palm on her mouth as if she didn’t purposefully said it.

A chuckle was heard in the living room and when she tilted her head a little, she saw an amused Riccardo hiding his smile and trying to act nonchalant. 

“Can you please stay professional, Mrs Knight? It’s an FBI investigation not a child’s play.” This time, Siddharth commanded in a stern voice.

For him this case is something he had been waiting for a long time and finally it fell in his lap. There was no way he would accept any kind of causality with it. But could Maya care less about it?

“What can I do when a FBI officer like yourself goes around pulling stupid tricks to prove his point, officer.” She snickered at him.

Riccardo knew his friend had a short temper and the lady in front of them was clearly getting on his nerves. So, he cleared his throat and started asking some professional questions to her.

“Mrs Knight, according to the statement you have given to the local police, you did not hear any type of sound or weren’t aware of anyone’s presence in your house. Can you please explain it again to us?” 

Maya shifted her attention to Riccardo and scanned him from head to toe before replying, “I was too drunk to be conscious and due to that I didn’t hear any sound. I was in a deep slumber.” 

Her voice didn’t hold any sort of hesitation or fumbling and Riccardo simply nodded at her before asking again, “You said you were drunk. May I ask the reason?” 

“It was my birthday on that day and my husband threw a big party for it. I got drunk at that party for obvious reasons, you see, and the alcohol soon took a toll on me and I fell into a deep slumber as soon as I went to sleep.” She replied to him.

“I see. How were your relations with your husband?” 

“It was fine. He made me happy, I don’t know how to describe it but you can get an idea.” 

“How was your sex life?” This time, Siddharth came forward to ask.

The question caught Maya off guard for a second before she quickly composed herself.

“It doesn’t concern you.” 

“Actually it does.” 

“Why? Do you want to sleep with me, officer?” She asked him, raising one of her perfectly shaped brows. “Cause if you want to, I must tell you something—” She leaned a little forward, again putting her cleavage on display. Siddharth gulped a little but didn’t move, he kept his eyes on her.

“You are not my type.” She finished and sat straight.

“Mrs Knight, according to the data provided to us, you called the local police in the morning at 10:28 am. Can you describe what you saw or what made you call them?” Riccardo asked, grabbing the attention back to him, changing the topic.

“Your data is wrong, I didn’t call the local police. I called my neighbour and friends in panic. The police were already outside my door after some time.” 

“And you take us for what? Fools. The police clearly informed us that they received a call from your resident landline number. Now please don’t tell me someone else did that.” Siddharth threw the sarcasm her way which only got an amused chuckle from her.

“I would like it if you could get your facts cross checked again, officer. Because I was panicking at that time and had no thought of calling the police. So, I clearly remember that I didn't do it. In fact, I woke up at 10:30 after my alarm went off.” She told them.

The lines on the forehead of the two officers was a clear indication that they were not buying what she had to say but if given a benefit of doubt and if she is proven right, who would have called them. 

“Let’s cross check it now, Mrs Knight. Why delay?” With that, Siddharth pulled out his phone and dialled the number of the police officer who was working with them. 

The call was picked up in four rings and the voice of the policeman echoed across the living room when Siddharth put the phone on speaker, “Yes sir?”

“According to the information provided by your team, you received a phone call from the resident landline of the Knight Mansion. Is that correct?” 

“Yes, sir. We received the phone call at 10:28 in the morning.” The police officer confirmed and Siddharth’s lips curled in a smirk but Maya’s face showed no change of emotions. 

“You heard him, Mrs Knight?”

“Ask him if it was my voice or not.” Maya spoke.

“Did you hear a feminine voice?” Siddharth asked the policeman.

“No sir. It was a man who called us.” 

The statement changed everything and the two agents were left shocked with that revelation. Siddharth cut the call and kept it aside. Riccardo wasn’t able to connect the dots now while Maya simply stayed calm and picked up the grapes from the fruit bowl, popping them in her mouth as the two stared at her.

“If you don’t have any other questions left, officers, you may leave. The door is that way.” She pointed at the door and kept enjoying her grapes as if two FBI officers were not sitting across from her.

“So, your lover boy called them and ran away, Mrs Knight?” Siddharth spoke again, taunting her.

This frustrated Maya as she was now done with his useless taunts and stupid questions. She had enough of his bullshit and now she is done.

He is trying to get on her nerves, purposefully. But she wasn’t going to entertain him anymore. She had more important things to do than this. 

“You see, officer, some people have work to do and I am one of them. If you can’t come up with serious questions, then you may leave and next time do your homework properly before stepping inside my property.” 

“Are we clear, Officers?” 

The taunt was clearly thrown at Siddharth and he took the sign. Being real, the two of them came here today not to investigate her properly but to get to know about her and inspect her property for anything which might help them. 

“Calm down, Mrs Knight.” Riccardo smirked, “why are you getting so worked up?” Maya turned her attention to him and glared at him. 

“It’s our job to ask questions and yours to answer them, no matter how twisted the questions are.” He finished with the same sly smirk. 

“Okay now tell me, Did you love your husband?” Asked Riccardo.

Maya’s body language didn’t change, she straightened her back and answered with the same confidence she was carrying from the beginning “No, I didn’t love him.” 

It didn’t shock them as they already saw it coming. Siddharth frowned his brows and asked “Then why did you marry him, Mrs Knight?” 

Maya smiled at him, before replying “He kept me satisfied.” Riccardo’s eyes widened a little and Siddharth’s jaw tightened. 

He hated the fact that she had no manners. 

“So you married him just for sex?” He pressed on the word sex a little more than usual. 

Maya chuckled and shook her head “Never said anything about sex.” 

Riccardo cleared his throat and got up from the couch, “Okay I think that’s all for today.” Maya smiled and nodded at him. “But don’t be happy, Mrs Knight, we will come back again.” This time Siddharth was the one to speak, he too got up from the couch and followed Riccardo.

The two of them made their way outside the penthouse and Maya finally relaxed in her seat.

“She is one hella difficult fish to trap.” Riccardo commented as they walked towards the elevator.

Siddharth simply chuckled before replying, “It’s never fun with the easy ones anyway.” 

As they neared the elevator a sudden realisation was drawn upon Siddharth and he stopped midway, searching his blazer pockets.

“What happened?” Riccardo asked him, turning slightly towards him.

“I think I left my badge inside. I will be back in a minute.” 

Riccardo nodded and he walked back to the door of Maya’s penthouse. 

Before he could click on the bell the door opened, he froze when he saw Maya standing in front of him with her robe half opened. 

His breath hitched at the sight. 

Come on, no man can resist a sexy half naked woman in front of him unless he’s Gay. 

Maya smirked at the flustered expression of his face, she got closer to him and held his badge in front of him. 

“Here.” She motioned him to take the badge from her hand. Siddharth kept his eyes on her and took the badge back. Their fingers brushed against each other as he took it from her hand. 

“Try not to forget your things from next time, Officer.” Maya smiled sweetly and moved her face a little closer to him. 

“Kyuki iss bar badge chhora hai, kya pata agli baar apna Dil chhor jaaye.” Their lips were so closed that they almost kissed. 

(Cause this time you have left your badge, who knows next time you might end up leaving your heart.)

Siddharth cleared his throat and stepped back “Dil hota toh chodne ka darr hota.” 

(If I had a heart, I would have feared leaving it back)

“Par idhar” he pointed at his chest, where the human heart pumps, “Dil bhi nahi aur darr bhi nahi.” 

(But here.. there is no heart and no fear)

With that he left, leaving Maya all alone in her lavish apartment. 

They walked different paths but little did they know that the ruination had already begun.