The third ring of the phone finally made Vivaan leave the shell of the room and approach the basement.
Three rings.
Usually, he'd pick the calls in the first ring itself, if not then 'Three rings' rule was go to.
Vivaan's rules were well known among everyone who worked with him.
It took him three rings to attend a call. Unanswered first call? he's busy. Unanswered second call? he's in a meeting. But third call meant that the issue was very urgent. It cannot wait.
Only then would he excuse himself from whatever he was doing.
Mirhaan had called him for the third time. He was in the room, sitting on the plush armchair, his laptop placed on the table, and his deft fingers tapping rhythmically against the table.
"Sir, the company is very disappointed that you cancelled the meeting without any prior schedule and..."
Vivaan held his hand up, a gesture to pause his second assistant.
"Ask Ms.Priyal to schedule my meeting next week."
"Sir, this week can be more appropriate for the deal. The delay in the meeting is causing issues in the execution of the latest project."
"I am occupied this week." Vivaan said calmly, silencing his phone for the second time. Mirhaan knew him too well, second was an indication.
"Next week, any day. Schedule it."
Before his assistant could say another word, the phone rang for the third time.
His hand didn't move to silence the phone for the third time. Urgent issue.
"Are there any agendas left to discuss?"
"No, sir. Finance report analysed, latest deals discussed, meeting abroad to be scheduled next week, monthly performance at departments discussed, the issue with Sky-High Towers resolved. It's done for today."
Vivaan nodded.
"The meeting is adjourned."
Impatiently, he stood up and rushed out of the room, his laptop still glowing in the dim room.
He entered that dimly lit room again, the same basement which held a lot of stories no one dared to hear. Mentally, he has categorised the room as the danger zone.
The passed through the same corridor, fighting the urge to let his anger take over him. The same corridors where he witnessed the blood trail of his grandfather, the same corridor where his father stopped stepping in, the same corridor which turned from a warm professional place... to a place of dark secrecy.
The basement was dark. The flickering bulb was still the same. His shoes made prints on the dust as clear to identify the shape of his shoe even. He moved his eyes around. A huge room, shaped in a semi-circle form. The walls still had those ancient paintings that his grandfather had hung. In the very front was a plush sofa covered in red velvet fabric. Two single person sofa's on its both sides and a glass table at the middle, which was broken ever since his grandfather died. That's where the dead body was found.
He stepped ahead, to one of the bookshelves. The hidden room. This was the room where his grandfather kept every document, every important paper, details which were not useful to family but confidential to him. People called his grandfather dumb for that.
Who won't?
That old man believed that they were ancients of a long-ago royal family. He collected historical papers, any evidence he could gather find. It's not like he was scared it do it openly in mansion, but one specific day, his wife threw all the papers in anger, feeling that her husband was getting mad day by day.
Half of the day, his grandfather spent there. Vivaan was too young. He may not have understood the implications, but he did understand how bad a person can search for something. The three-year young Vivaan would blabber weird things, would stay with his grandfather whenever he could escape from his parent's eyes. He would ask innocent questions, and his grandfather would answer every single one.
When he grew up, he made sure to never forget the answer to any single question he asked.
Because that...
was the last memory of his grandfather he carried with him.
And again, he was stepping here. For a case, which threatened the life of Kruthi, his forced contract wife.
He pulled a book from the bookshelf, the hidden room unlocked.
Racks ruined with rusted iron, papers everywhere, and a thick layer of dust on the floors. Surprisingly, the chandelier was still there, hanging on the wall, even after all these years.
Mirhaan was standing there, with a file in his hands.
"Found something?"
Mirhaan nodded.
"Not just something."
"What is it?"
"This file is... not one of those you told your grandfather collected. This is different. Pictures are there. An unknown man, Ayesha's father, Rushaan's father... but not your father."
Vivaan's hand stiffened for a moment. How could he not know? Or perhaps, he didn't even visit her for a single time to involve in all these hidden theories.
"You claim it's related to Kruthi's incident?"
"I don't claim. But I claim that this hidden information is answer to those questions which were ignored in past, and those incidents which have occurred recently." He looked at Vivaan. "We can't take a risk. We don't know which piece fits the puzzle."
Vivaan nodded and took the file in his hands. It was a thick file devoid of any facts his grandfather collected. He raised his eyes and took another file from the rack. It wasn't the file either.
"Mirhaan, check all the files here with me. Tell what types of files you find."
He said and already moved around to retrieve files. His hands flipped the pages fastly. His keen eyes scanned every page.
They didn't check every single file but made sure to check few files from every rack. It took them almost an hour.
"Vivaan, every file is of an ancient fact. I checked all the front section of each rack"
But Vivaan's eyes were fixed on that single file in his hands, which Mirhaan handed him.
"I checked all the files at back, each rack. They weren't any historical fact... they were something different. Photos, documents... the papers of grandfather's starting company, which was destroyed, details of his company which was abandoned after his death."
"Svidevzalia?" Mirhaan asked him.
"I built it from scratch, since I was mere 19."
"What about that multi trillionaire property?"
"Grandmother had it till I turned 18."
"Your father's and grandfather's companies?"
"Rushaan's father acquired it."
Mirhaan nodded.
"Do I have to...?"
Vivaan nodded precisely.
"Check all these files, analyse, then inform me."
"Time?"
Vivaan looked up at his only trusted man. His lips twitched lightly, as if they knew what they were doing.
"As long as you want."
"This life only?"
Vivaan nodded.
"I want the details in this life only."
Mirhaan rolled his eyes away with a light smirk on his face.
"Too early." He said.
"Good, now back to work." Vivaan tapped his shoulder lightly and went away from the basement while making another call to tighten the security team and summon those trusted people to help Mirhaan retrieve the file.
The one file Mirhaan gave...
was still in his hands when he left.