chapter 12
1645 Words
Zulfishan sat quietly in the garden of her office building. The morning sun felt cold on her skin. She still couldn’t shake off the things she had heard and seen in the past few days.
Aabi sat next to her, watching her face carefully.
“We need to plan this smartly,” he said. “Salman is playing a dangerous game.”
Zulfishan nodded slowly. “I’ll tell him I found a USB. I’ll ask him to meet and give it to him. You’ll be there watching.”
“Exactly. We’ll finally catch him,” Aabi said.
But even as they talked, fear stayed inside Zulfishan. It wasn’t just about Salman anymore. Something deeper was going on. And it scared her.
---
As they finished talking, Zulfishan’s phone rang. It was the receptionist from the college.
“Ma’am… Mawra didn’t come today. She didn’t call either. Her phone is off.”
Zulfishan stood up at once. “She didn’t come? She left with me this morning.”
“No, she never arrived,” the receptionist said, concerned.
Zulfishan rushed home. Mawra’s bedroom door was open, her bag gone, but her phone and charger still on the table. Her clothes were untouched. It didn’t look like she planned to leave.
“This doesn’t feel right,” Zulfishan whispered, looking around the room.
They opened her laptop. Nothing strange was in her browser history. But when she checked her email,she found a draft that had never been sent — addressed to Zulfishan.
> “I found something about Azfar. It’s bigger than I thought.
If anything happens to me, talk to your stepmother.”
Zulfishan’s heart dropped.
Their stepmother? The woman they lived with? The woman who had raised them after their mother died?
No matter how cold she was, Zulfishan had never thought of her as dangerous.
---
That evening, Zulfishan entered their home, heart racing.
The air inside the house was heavy, as if holding secrets in its walls.
Her stepmother was sitting on the sofa, calmly watching the news. She turned and smiled.
“You’re home early,” she said. “Where’s Mawra?”
Zulfishan tried to keep her voice steady. “She didn’t go to college today. Her phone’s off. She’s missing.”
The smile slowly faded from the woman’s face. “Missing? What do you mean?”
“She left with me in the morning, but she never reached.”
Her stepmother looked away for a second. “Maybe she’s just upset. Maybe she needed space.”
Zulfishan looked at her closely. “Did she say anything to you last night?”
“No,” she replied quickly. “Why would she?”
There was something odd in her voice. A pause. A stiffness.
Zulfishan hesitated, then said quietly, “Mawra wrote something before she disappeared. She told me to talk to you about Azfar.”
The woman flinched.
For a moment, everything in the room became still.
“I don’t know what she was talking about,” her stepmother said finally, her voice cold.
“You knew him, didn’t you?” Zulfishan asked softly. “You knew Azfar.”
Her stepmother stood up and walked toward the window, avoiding her gaze.
“Your father had many enemies,” she said. “Azfar was once one of his trusted people. But that changed.”
“Why didn’t you tell us anything after Father died?” Zulfishan asked, her voice shaking.
“Because I didn’t want you two digging into things that could hurt you,” she replied firmly.
“Maybe that’s what’s hurting us now.”
The woman turned around slowly. “Zulfishan, you think you’re strong enough to handle the truth, but you’re not. Let this go. Don’t end up like your father.”
“What do you mean?” Zulfishan asked.
But her stepmother didn’t answer. She just walked away, leaving the room silent once again.
---
Later that night, Zulfishan sat in her room, hugging her knees.
Everything was falling apart.
Her sister was missing. Her stepmother was hiding something. Her father’s death, which she had believed was natural, now felt darker.
And Aabi… the only one who hadn’t let her down yet.
He messaged her:
> “Are you okay? I’m here if you need me.”
She replied:
> “I don’t know who to trust anymore.”
He sent back just three words:
> “You can trust me.”
And deep inside, she hoped he was right.
But fear had taken root in her heart.
She wasn’t just scared for herself anymore.
She was scared for Mawra… and for the truth they were about to uncover.
Because now, she understood:
Someone was watching.
Someone didn’t want the truth to come out.
And someone was ready to hurt them again.
---
Zulfishan couldn’t sleep that night.
Her mind kept thinking about Mawra — the strange message, the fear in her voice, the silence afterward.
She checked her phone again.
Nothing.
The house was quiet, too quiet. Her stepmother hadn’t spoken a word about Mawra since morning. Something didn’t feel right.
---
The next morning, Aabi came to pick her up. He looked tired, as if he too hadn’t slept.
“I need to show you something,” he said.
They didn’t go to the office. Instead, Aabi drove to an old records building connected to his family’s company.
He handed Zulfishan a small folder with old employee files and internal letters.
“Your father worked with us for more than ten years,” Aabi said softly. “I respected him deeply. But after his death, I found something strange in the archived files.”
Zulfishan opened the folder.
Inside were old printed emails, office memos, and one sealed letter.
One email caught her attention.
> From: Azfar
To: Director (Confidential)
“Make sure Mr. Zulfikar doesn’t talk. He knows too much about the testing unit. Offer him transfer or silence him another way if needed.”
Zulfishan’s hands trembled.
“This... this is about my father?”
Aabi nodded. “The ‘testing unit’ was a hidden research project that Azfar ran secretly through our company, using false names and codes. Your father found out and tried to report it. But no one listened to him.”
Zulfishan read another memo. It mentioned an anonymous report sent to the HR department — signed only by “Z.” It was clear her father had tried to speak up.
“But why didn’t anyone protect him?” she whispered.
Aabi sighed. “He was silenced — not physically hurt, but transferred to a dead-end department. He was slowly pushed out, made to feel like his voice didn’t matter.”
Zulfishan’s eyes filled with tears.
“My father kept all this inside… to protect us.”
---
Just then, her phone vibrated.
A new message from Mawra’s number.
Only one word:
> “Basement.”
Zulfishan’s heart raced.
She showed Aabi the message.
“Our house,” she said. “There’s no real basement — but there’s a storage room at the back. I always felt something was strange about it.”
---
They rushed to the house. Her stepmother wasn’t there — she'd left for a doctor’s appointment.
Zulfishan led Aabi to the storage room. It smelled musty and was filled with boxes, old shoes, and unused furniture.
One part of the wooden floor had always been oddly shaped. She dropped to her knees and started pushing boxes away.
Soon, her fingers touched a small iron ring hidden beneath a rug.
With Aabi’s help, she pulled.
A heavy wooden panel lifted, revealing stairs that went down into darkness.
Aabi used his phone’s flashlight.
“I’m going in first,” he said.
“No,” Zulfishan whispered. “I have to see this for myself.”
---
The stairs creaked as they walked down.
The basement was cold and dusty. There were shelves filled with broken items and papers. On one wall, someone had written something with chalk.
> “Not safe.”
Zulfishan’s breath caught.
In the corner, behind a stack of old boxes, they found a small door.
Zulfishan slowly opened it.
Inside was a dim room with only a single bulb hanging. The floor was dirty, but in the corner lay a scarf.
Mawra’s scarf.
Zulfishan rushed forward.
“Mawra!” she shouted.
Silence.
But then — a soft knock.
It came from behind another wall.
Aabi tapped it gently — it sounded hollow.
They looked around until they found a loose metal panel.
He pulled it open — and there, inside a tiny hidden space, was Mawra, curled up, pale, and shaking.
“Mawra!” Zulfishan cried and hugged her tight.
“You’re safe now,” she whispered.
Mawra’s voice was weak. “They locked me here… when I found the letter…”
---
Later, back upstairs, Mawra rested on the couch, drinking warm water.
Zulfishan sat beside Aabi, still shaken.
“What letter did she find?” she asked.
Aabi opened the sealed envelope that was found in her father’s employee file.
Inside was a handwritten note:
> “If anything happens to me, Azfar is behind it. I tried to speak up. I failed. Protect my daughters.”
– Zulfikar
Zulfishan’s hands clutched the note tightly.
Now it was clear.
Her father hadn’t died peacefully.
He had been threatened. Silenced. And now, someone was trying to do the same to them.
---
“We’re not safe in this house,” she said softly.
“I’ll move you both,” Aabi said. “Now.”
“But who locked Mawra down there?” Zulfishan asked.
Aabi looked toward the stepmother’s room. “We’ll find out soon.”
But even as they spoke, Zulfishan felt a new fear growing inside her.
If Azfar knew she had this letter…
What would he do next?
---
- Writer
