As Mehta family continued with the wedding preparations, Nick stepped up his plan for revenge. He knew exactly when he was going to strike and Aditya won't have a clue as to what hit him.

Aditya on the other hand had kept an eye on Nick since the day he cornered Anjali. He knew Nick was up to something. Unfortunately for him the information he sought had just landed on his desk when he received the call that turned his world upside down.

He made himself calm down and think, first he called Raj and told him to go to Mehta House as soon as possible. Next he called his security head Vijay to come to the office right away. He opened his laptop and pulled up the program that would locate Anjali's cell phone via GPS. He hoped and prayed the phone was still on her.

While the program searched for the phone, Aditya opened the file that contained all the information on Nick. He needed to think. Where could he have his hired goons take Anjali?

An hour later he walked into to Mehta House to see his family gathered in the hall, with varying worried expressions. His sister Kajal was crying. When she saw him, she rushed to him.

"Bhai, I am so sorry. I tried to help but I didn't know where they came from and before I knew it, they pushed bhabhi in the car and drove away." He put his arm around his sister to calm her.

"Kajal calm down. Nothing is going to happen to Anjali. You already gave the police all the information. I am waiting for my security. We are going to find her. Don't worry, nothing is going to happen to her." The whole family had gathered around him. He managed to calm them down and made his way to his room.

Once there the memories assaulted him and he lost control of all his senses and broke down. He swore that if Nick so much as scratched Anjali, he will kill him with his bare hands. He wanted to put his fist through the wall but controlled his emotions. Once he has Anjali back home safe, he will make sure that Nick Malhotra is punished sufficiently.

By the time he went back down, his security people had all arrived. Aditya and Raj went over the plans with everyone. The place they were going was out of city in a remote location. It was an old factory that was shut down years ago. This is where the GPS system had located Anjali's cell phone.

He glanced at his family one last time before he went out the door.

XXX

Anjali tried to wiggle her hands to see is she could loosen the knots on the rope tied to her wrist. She didn't know where she was, or how long ago she was brought here. Her eyes were covered with dark cloth and her hand and legs were tied. She felt the dusty floor under her.

Anjali and Kajal had been coming out of a shop when Anjali was grabbed by two men and shoved into a car. She had looked behind her to make sure Kajal was okay. One of the goons had then tied the dark cloth around her eyes and when she asked them what they wanted from her they had remained silent. That was hours ago. She was getting desperate now.

She heard the faint sounds of footsteps and turned her head towards the sound. "Who is there?" No one answered but the sound got louder then she felt someone stop in front of her. The next thing she knew, the cloth was removed. She blinked several times to focus and was shocked to see Nick standing in front of her. He had a smirk on his face but his eyes didn't look focused.

"Nick, what is the meaning of this, why did you bring me here?" She glared up at him.

Nick laughed and bent to untie the rope at her ankles. "Don't worry Anjali. You will find out soon why I brought you to this remote place." He tried to touch her face but she moved away from him.

She kept her eyes on him, and as soon as he untied her hands, she stood up and moved back from him.

"Don't try to run Anjali, you won't get far. My people are outside and even if you get past them, you are too far out of city to make it."

Anjali panicked and looked around. She thought about Aditya and hoped he is able to find her soon. "God, please help my Aditya find me."

She knew she is going to have to keep Nick talking to buy time. "You won't get away with this Nick, once Aditya finds me, he will not spare you."

Nick continued to smirk. "You are hoping your Aditya finds you. Well may be he will but not before I am through with you." He moved towards her. Anjali turned and ran towards the door but didn't get far. He grabbed her from behind and halted her movements. She lost balance and fell on her back.

She kicked him just as he bent to grab her again but it didn't deter him and he grabbed her arms to pin them to her side. She managed to kick him with her knee to loosen his hold on her. She freed her arm and scratched his face with her nails. He screamed and slapped her across the cheek, hard. Her head reeled back, and the pain of the slap brought tears to her eyes.

In the next moment she felt Nick's weight lift off her. She saw Aditya throw Nick towards the wall. He bent to help her to her feet then turned back towards Nick.

Aditya clenched his hands. "Nick I told you to stay away from Anjali." He charged towards Nick and threw the first punch. Nick charged back but Aditya successfully avoided his punch. Aditya took him by the collar and slammed him in to the wall, he then hit Nick until he slumped to the floor.

Anjali ran and threw herself in Aditya's arms, she felt him hug her tightly. He pulled back and cupped her face to make her look at him. "Anjali, are you okay?" She could only nod her head. She was trembling so badly. She could barely speak.

Aditya felt his anger return when he saw how scared Anjali looked. Thank God he got here in time. He glanced towards Nick to make sure he was still down. He had passed out when his head hit the floor.

The police finally came in and took him away. Aditya took the blanket that Raj brought in and put it around Anjali to ward off the chills. She hugged her brother but wanted Aditya to hold her only.

He asked the police to come to the house to get her statement. She was not in any condition to give statement at that moment.

He held Anjali close to him as they were driven back to Mehta House. Once they arrived home, Anjali was snatched out his arms by his mom and auntie. They sat her on the sofa, while Kajal went to get something hot to drink for her. His mom kept rubbing her back soothingly to comfort her.

By the time the police arrived, the trembling had stopped and she was able to give her statement. Kajal took her upstairs while he finished with the statements.

It was another half hour before Aditya climb the stairs to go to their room. He stood at the door and watched his sister comb his wife's wet hair. Kinjla looked as though she had been crying again. He knew she felt as though she should have done more. He was about to say something when he saw Anjali turn towards Kajal. "Kajal, it was not your fault, please don't feel bad, you couldn't have done anything. And don't worry about me, I am fine now, I promise." She hugged Kajal to reassure her.

They both looked up when they heard him step in to the room. Kajal hugged Anjali one more time, then walked to where he was standing, and hugged him also before letting herself out of the room. He turned to close and lock the door.

Aditya turned to see Anjali take his clothes out of the wardrobe. She came to him to hand him the clothes. He cupped her face and she smiled at him. "Are you really okay?"

She took a deep breath and released it. She placed her hand on Aditya's and smiled to reassure him. "I am alright now, I was scared when he tried to..." She shuddered at the thought of what could have happened if Aditya hadn't come there on time. "You must be tired, go freshen up. I am fine, don't worry."

When Aditya came out of the bathroom, Anjali was sitting on the bed with her sketchpad. She immediately put it aside when he came to bed. He pulled her in his arms, and held her close. They both lay there in silence for several moments, just enjoying being together.

After several moments, Anjali broke the silence. "Aditya, it wasn't your fault either." She lifted her head to confirm her suspicions. He had been to quiet and controlled since the incident. She knew he would feel as thought he should have done more to protect her to prevent this type of incidents.

Aditya looked down at his wife, and sighed, he knew he couldn't hide anything from her. He should have been quicker in finding out about Nick. He wouldn't have survived if something had happened to her. When he had walked into that room and seen Nick slap her across the face, he wanted to strangle Nick with his bare hands. Only the thought of Anjali had prevented him from smashing Nick's head in the wall over and over until he was dead.

Anjali sighed when he didn't say anything, he could see the play of emotions on his face, and knew it will take him a while to believe that he can't protect her from everything, he can't predict how someone will react to any given situations. Nick was hell bent on revenge, and that's all he cared for, he thought he was being clever, but didn't really think through his plan.

She sat up next to Aditya, cupped his face in her hands. "The important thing was that you were able to find me, and nothing happened. I had complete faith in you, I knew he would guide you to me, I just had to hang on long enough." She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

When she pulled back, Aditya cupped her face and looked into her eyes. "I was so scared when I got that phone call, my whole world turned upside down, when they told me you were taken by two goons while shopping. I don't know what I would have done, if something had happened to you. Anjali, you are my whole world, I love you more than my life." This brought tears to Anjali's eyes. "I love you too."

Aditya pulled her to him and kissed her. He tightened his arms around her and laid her on the bed. He wanted to reassure himself that she really was unharmed by the incident and show her how much he loved her. He wanted to shut the real world out for rest of the night.

It took several weeks for Aditya to get over the incident and he relaxed enough to let a security guard accompany Anjali and Kajal on their shopping trips. The first two weeks, he went everywhere with them. It was Kajal who finally put a stop to it, by claiming they were hardly able to do anything because he didn't like anything that Anjali chose for herself. She told him to butt out, and let her do the shopping. He finally relented when Anjali also asked him to please back off.

The Family was amused by Aditya's behavior and never missed an opportunity to tease him mercilessly. Even his grandmothers' were able to get a smile out of him, and make Anjali flush. They thought it was cute that he worried for his wife so much and wondered what he would do when he became a father.

Anjali on the other hand finally had a long talk with her father. When she went to see him after the incident, she had been surprised to see genuine worry in his eyes. He had finally opened up to her and told her how sorry he was that he wasted so much time resenting her. He then told her about her mother, and she finally realized how much her father had loved her mother, and her dying like she did, had shocked her father. He turned his grief into hatred towards her.

She understood her father's reaction to her mother's death. She realized that love that precious could change anyone, and this is what would happen to her, if Aditya were to be taken away from her suddenly. Aditya told her he was happy that her relationship with her father was on the right track now, and was glad that her father finally realized how special she is.

Her brother had also surprised her with introducing her to his friend, who he plans to marry soon. He told her his fiancé Sweta, who had met during his work in America, was the one to make him realize how wrong he had been to turn his back on Anjali. She stood by him while he went through the messy divorce, and now that she is also in India, he decided he wanted to marry her, so he proposed to her and she accepted without hesitation. She told Anjali she had loved Raj from the moment she met him, and would do anything for him. Anjali had been elated to hear this, and she loved her sister-in-law to be.

Kajal and Vishal's wedding preparations continued full force. The three families had decided to have the wedding at one place, so it could all be done in one day.

When the wedding day finally arrived, the Mehta family was happiest of all. Their happiness knew no bounds, and they celebrated each event with grand preparations, sparring no expenses.

Anjali cried the most when it came to Kajal's departure, everyone looked on with tears in their eyes as Anjali and Kajal hugged one last time. Seeing this Sonal's aunt came to Ramila and apologized for her rude comments on the engagement day, and told Ramila, after seeing Anjali doing all the wedding work, never missing a step, and how much she is loved by everyone, she could understand why Ramila chose Anjali as her daughter-in-law.

Ramila had thanked Sonal's aunt graciously and reassured her that Sonal will be loved just as much as Anjali.

Later that night Aditya told Anjali about the conversation between his mom and Sonal's aunt. Anjali was relieved to hear that Sonal's family was not holding anything against her.

Anjali and Aditya's relationship continued to grow stronger through the years. Their love was boundless that continued to blossom as their family continued to grow.

They were made for one another, and even with the separation after they first met, their destiny brought them back together. Regardless of the obstacles thrown their way, if two people are meant to be together, nothing will stop them from being with each other.

*~+~*

The End