Page 164 of No Boss
“Did she say anything?” Abhinav asked. “Seem upset?”
Sarita shook her head. “No. Distracted, perhaps. But not upset.”
Reports came one after another. Not in the kitchen. Not in the temple gardens. Not in the guest wing. Not at the cooperative. Not in the old wing.
“The old wing,” Abhinav repeated.
Underground chambers.
“I will check it myself. There are corners in that section people miss.”
Naina stepped forward. “I’ll come with you.”
“Stay here with Maa. I can move faster alone.”
He was already moving. The corridor swallowed him as he headed toward the old wing.
Meera was not careless. Not impulsive. Had she seen something? Heard something? His thoughts moved to the contract he had sent. Could she have misunderstood? How would she even know? Even then, she would come to him first.
His pace quickened. The confidence he had shown Devendra began cracking apart inside his own head.
He pushed open the archive room. Hinges groaned. He crossed the room fast, scanning corners, looking behind ledgers and trunks.
Nothing.
He left.
The hidden courtyard came next.
For one desperate second he expected to find her there. But the courtyard stood empty. The cushions remained pressed against the wall in the same place as morning.
His hand brushed the fabric.
Memory hit hard.
Her beneath him. Breathless. Face hidden against his chest as his laughter touched her hair.
“Where are you?”
The question disappeared into silence.
He moved again. Faster now. Through the narrow corridor lined with Jali screens where moonlight had once traced her as she walked ahead.
At the far end stood the hidden entrance to the underground chamber. Invisible unless known.
Third stone from the right. Fifth row up.
He had watched her open it once and memorized the movement without realizing he was doing it.
His palm pressed against the stone.
Nothing.
He tried again. Harder. The wall did not respond.
Confusion cut sharply through the dread building inside him. It had worked before. She had opened it herself. Why would it not open now? He pushed harder. Stone scraped his palm.
Nothing.
