Chapter 30

Innara was busy cooking while softly humming. The apartment door opened with a familiar click. Tired Nitya who came straight from the parking lot threw her bag on the couch and sat there lazily. Her head was thrown back and her hands sprawled beside her head. Her eyes closed and she sighed softly. Today was a hectic day for her. When she felt the apartment was unusually silent she looked up and saw Innara humming to herself softly which gained her attention.

Nitya stood up, shrugging off her coat. She raised her brows and looked around because there was no sign of Little, mischievous Aria's presence there. Her menace. She turned around and walked towards Innara who couldn't hear her due to noise cancelling earphones. Nitya smirked to herself and rubbed her palms together as if planning something evil in her mind already.

"BOOOOOO!!!" She screamed loudly near Innara's ear with a slap on her shoulder startling her.

Innara looked up instinctively from the stove, where lentils simmered softly, their scent filling the kitchen. Evening had deepened while she waited- light fading into indigo beyond the balcony doors, the city's noise settling into its night rhythm. She removed the earphones immediately and shot a tiny ghare at Nitya with her other hand on her heart.

"You scared me." She accused her, making Nitya shrug her shoulders casually.

"That was the motive." She said. Innara shook her head in denial really done with her antics. Innara immediately filled a glass of water and passed it to Nitya.

"Thank you, wifey." She said taking the glass and winking at Innara. Innara smiled at her and turned around.

"You won't believe the shift I had. Three emergency C-sections back-to-back and a resident who nearly passed out." she muttered, putting the glass into the sink.

Innara smiled faintly again.

"You're home early." she said, turning the flame lower.

"Miracle, I know. Where's the menace?" Nitya replied, stretching her neck. Her eyes flicked toward the hallway again, then the living room. Innara wiped her hands on a towel.

"Playing at Lucía's. I dropped her an hour ago." Nitya nodded, relief softening her features.

"Good. She needs socialization. Otherwise she'll grow up thinking it's normal to interrogate people before bedtime." she joked. Innara laughed quietly.

The apartment felt warm. Grounded. Safe.

That illusion lasted exactly seven minutes. The phone rang. Innara froze. It wasn't the sound itself- just a normal ringtone but something in her chest tightened instantly, sharp and unexplainable. She stared at the phone on the counter as if it were something alive. She always has this fear of getting hunted down soon and every unknown call or person scares her. Nitya noticed.

"Innara? You're not even touching it." she asked, her tone shifting.

Innara swallowed and reached for the phone. Lucía's name flashed across the screen. Her fingers trembled. Her motherly instincts screamed that something was wrong but she calmed herself down first. Then she answered.

"Lucía? Is everything okay?" she said.

There was no greeting on the other end. Only sobbing. Raw. Broken. Gasping. Innara's knees weakened. She already started to imagine the worst things possible.

"Lucía? What happened? Where's Aria?" She said again, louder now.

The silence that followed was worse than screaming. Then- Lucía dropped the bomb.

"They took her." She sobbed out on the line. Innara stopped breathing.

"What?" she whispered. She just couldn't believe her ears.

"They took Aria. Men-- they broke in-- they thought-- Innara, I tried-- I swear I tried---" Lucía choked.

Innara dropped the phone. It hit the floor with a hollow crack. Her knees buckled and she was ready to fall. Nitya caught her before she fell.

"Innara. Look at me. What did she say?" Nitya said sharply, gripping her shoulders.

Innara's mouth opened. No sound came out. Nitya grabbed the phone from the floor.

"Lucía. This is Dr. Nitya. Slow down. Start from the beginning. What happened?" she said into it, voice suddenly clinical, controlled.

"Aria and Sophia-- they were playing-- giggling-- everything- everything was going good. But- Sophia went to mom's room-- to bring her doll. Aria was in her bedroom-- then some- some- men broke into our apartment. They were goons-- they came a few days ago too- to warn us about Mateo's debt. They- They thought Aria was Mateo's daughter and they took her with them." She voiced out through pain.

Lucía's words came out in fragments, doors breaking, men, screaming, Aria's voice calling for her mother. Every sentence was a knife. Nitya listened. Innara didn't. She stood frozen, eyes wide, face drained of all color, hands clenched so tightly her nails bit into her palms. She was lost. She felt as if she lost everything in her life, her baby, her Aria was her everything.

"She was screaming for Innara, she kept saying 'Momma.' I tried to stop them--- I swear--I tried---" Lucía sobbed.

Innara made a sound then. Not a cry. A broken breath. Nitya ended the call gently and turned to her.

"Innara. We need to move. Now." she said firmly. Innara shook her head slowly, as if the world had tilted wrong.

"No. No, she was right there. She was just playing. I was coming back. I should've stayed." she whispered. Nitya cupped her face.

"This is not your fault. Do you hear me? This is not your fault." she said urgently.

Innara's eyes finally filled.

"They took my baby. They took my baby again." she said hoarsely.

Nitya pulled her into a tight embrace as Innara collapsed against her, sobs tearing out of her chest- deep, animal sounds that came from somewhere primal, somewhere wounded beyond reason.

"She was calling me. She was calling me and I wasn't there." Innara cried.

Nitya held her, jaw clenched, eyes burning.

This wasn't random. This wasn't a coincidence. This was the past clawing its way back. And whoever had taken Aria had no idea what they'd just unleashed. Outside, the city went on. Inside the apartment, everything that had been built over two and a half years cracked- violently, irreparably.

"Innara! Innara! Listen to me! This is not the time to break down! We have to find our baby, our Aria." Nitya said shaking her violently which brought Innara back to her senses.

She looked at Nitya. Her gaze wavering. She came back to her senses. She immediately removed the apron she was wearing and threw it away harshly. She wiped her face roughly but fresh tears again gathered in her eyes. But she didn't care. She sniffed and looked at Nitya with determination.

"I want my d-daughter back. No one can take her away from me. She's mine and I'll bring her back to me." Innara said with a new found hope in her eyes. Nitya smiled at her encouragingly though she had also tears glistening in her eyes.

They both walked out of the apartment. By the time they reached the building it was almost dark outside. The streetlights flickered on one by one as dusk bled into night, each yellow halo casting long, trembling shadows across the pavement. Innara ran beneath them, her breath sharp in her throat, her phone clenched so tightly in her hand that her knuckles had gone white. Every step felt like a prayer and a curse at once.

"Aria!" she screamed again, her voice cracking as it tore through the quiet neighborhood.

"Aria, baby-- please!" She sobbed out.

Beside her, Nitya kept pace, her dupatta slipping from her shoulder as she jogged.

"Innara, slow down. We'll miss something if we rush past." she said, though her own voice shook.

"How can I slow down?" Innara snapped, then immediately hated herself for it. She swallowed hard, eyes burning.

"She was right here. Right here." She stopped abruptly at the small park entrance, pointing with a trembling finger.

"She was in the apartment with Sophia- playing. I turned my back and came to our apartment. I wasn't even half way through the cooking and she was gone." She sobbed out.

The swing creaked softly in the breeze, moving on its own, empty. The sight of it punched the air out of Innara's lungs. Her knees threatened to buckle. Nitya caught her by the arm.

"Hey. Look at me. We will find her. We're not stopping." she said firmly, forcing Innara's gaze up. Innara nodded, though tears spilled freely now, blurring the world.

"I promised her. I promised I'd always be there to protect her. It's just been us for so long. I'm all she has." she whispered.

"You're not alone.You have me. And Aria has both of us right now, whether she knows it or not." Nitya said, squeezing her arm.

They split up through the park, for something- a clue or anything that would let them to Aria. Circling the swings and slide, checking behind bushes, calling Aria's name until their throat felt raw. Each unanswered call made the panic coil tighter in Innara's chest. Her mind filled with terrible images she tried desperately to push away.

She remembered Aria's laugh that afternoon- how she'd apologized to her showing her artistic skills on Nitya's book with a crayon, how Innara had smiled and forgave her, thinking the world could wait. The guilt crashed over her in waves so strong it was hard to breathe. She thought she shouldn't have left her alone there, she should have stayed back with her.

"Aria! Momma's here!" she shouted again, her voice hoarse. Nothing. Nitya returned from the far end of the park, shaking her head.

"No one's seen her here. I asked the watchman- he says a man was standing near the gate earlier, but he didn't notice anything strange. Then how did they take her without any alarm?" Nitya said clenching her jaw hard. Three men had taken her away.

She remembered those three men from her past who came to take her away from Agustín's apartment- a forgotten memory. Were they back? But Lucía said they were some goons who were behind Mateo for the debt and took Aria misunderstanding her as Sophia. What was the truth actually? Did her past really come back looking for her or a new future unfolding for her? The word echoed in Innara's head, cold and terrifying. Her hands began to shake uncontrollably.

"Oh God. Oh God, what if---" Innara murmured.

"Stop. Don't go there. Not yet." Nitya said quickly, gripping her shoulders. She understood what was coming to Innara's head in this situation.

"But what if she's scared? She is scared of the dark. She cries when she can't find me for even a second. Nitya, she's just a child. Where those men have taken my child?" Innara sobbed. Nitya pulled her into a tight hug, letting Innara's sobs soak into her shoulder.

"Then we'll be loud enough for her to hear us. We'll search every street, every shop. She knows your voice." she said softly.

They moved through the nearby lanes, knocking on doors, stopping strangers, showing Aria's photo on Innara's phone with shaking hands.

"Have you seen this girl? She's not even three. She has a pink ribbon in her hair." Innara asked again and again.

Some people shook their heads with sympathetic frowns. Others offered vague maybes that led nowhere. Each dead end felt like another piece of Innara breaking off inside her. At the corner candy shop, Innara nearly collapsed when the owner said he'd seen a little girl crying earlier- but it had been an hour ago, and three men were trying to stop her from crying in a moving car but he thought maybe she was crying for something they didn't want to buy her.

Innara slid down against a wall, her legs finally giving up. Her chest hurts, each breath shallow and painful.

"I can't do this. If something happens to her… I won't survive it." she whispered.

Nitya crouched in front of her, holding Innara's face in her hands.

"Listen to me. You have survived everything life threw at you. You raised her alone. You fought every day for her smile. This- this is not the end of your story." she said, eyes fierce despite the fear swimming in them.

Innara let out a broken laugh that turned into another sob.

"She calls me her superhero. What kind of superhero loses her child?" she said weakly.

"The kind who's human. And humans don't stop searching." Nitya replied.

"You can't give up like this. You are her superhero. Get up and let's find her." Nitya said encouraging her.

Innara also stood up and wiped her tears away. They both started looking for Aria again- calling her name out in the hope that maybe she would reply from somewhere. And somewhere in the dark, men believed they had taken the right child. They were wrong. And the cost of that mistake would be devastating.