The day had been spent looking after Mahesh and waiting in anticipation to see if he improved enough to open his eyes. But nothing of the sort had happened leaving the family, a little disheartened. Sherlyn had escaped to her room at the first chance she got and was avoiding the family. Her worry about Mahesh Luthra getting better and revealing her truth playing on her mind.

Mahira and Ramona to had kept to themselves and only Kareena had bothered to go and check on them. At some point the Arora's had returned to their home and the rest of the family had returned to their rooms.

Preeta who had reluctantly agreed to stay at Luthra house to save the reputation of both families finished cleaning the kitchen and made her way back to Mahesh and Rakhee's room with some warm milk for Rakhee. She knocked on the slightly open door causing Rakhee who was sitting besides Mahesh to come out of her thoughts.

"Are Preeta beta, aaja".

"Woh Aunty aap ke liye dhoodh layi thi, aapne khana bhi nahi khaiya tha toh..."

"Nahi Putar mujhe bhook nahi hai!" Rakhee said emotionally.

"Please aunty Mahesh uncle ke liye... aur meine aapki baat mani hai na? issliye mein yahan hoon tho aap bhi meri baat maan lijiiye please"

Rakhee smiled at the girl sitting in front of her, she knew that she could never say no to her after everything she had done for her family. She nodded and Preeta handed her the glass. As she finished the milk and handed the glass back to Preeta she noticed that Preeta was fidgeting, like she wanted to say something but didn't know how to broach the subject.

"Kya huwa putar? Kuch kahena hai?"

"Aunty woh mein... mein woh..." Preeta struggled trying to find the words to express her concerns.

"Putar mein teri Maa hoon aur tu meri beti, aur beti Maa se kuch bhi kahe sakti hai... Kuch bhi!" Rakhee encouraged wondering if Preeta wanted to say something about Karan. "Putar Karan ne kuch..."

"Nahi aunty!" Preeta was quick to cut her off "Karan ne kuch nahi kiya... woh mein..." she began and then quickly looked towards the door to make sure no-one was listening. "Aunty mein janti hoon ke mera koi haq nahi hai lekin..."

"Nahi putar tera pura haq hai! Tu jo chaahti hai mein tujhe dungi!" Rakhee said feeling bad that Preeta who had once opened up to her about everything was finding it so hard to speak to her today.

"Nahi nahi aunty, mein toh yeh kahena chaahti hoon ke aap aapna door andar se lock kardijiyega... Please aap galat maat samajna lekin woh... Uncle ka accident hona, unhe galat injection dena... woh mujhe ajeeb sa lag raha hai, jaise koi jaan booch ke... I mean... mujhe bas lagta hai ke Mahesh uncle ki jaan ko khartra hai" Preeta finished with her eyes closed expecting Rakhee to shout at her.

"Mein janti hoon tera ishaara kiski taraf hai!" Rakhee said thinking about Sherlyn causing Preeta to open her eyes in shock. Although she hadn't said it out aloud her heart was telling her that Sherlyn bringing the wrong injections for Mahesh wasn't a coincidence! No matter how much Sherlyn had tried to convince everyone that this had happened as a one off mistake she feared that her husband had been given the wrong medication since the beginning.

"Aunty?"

"Ha putar, mujhe bhi lagta hai ke yeh saab jo huwa hai... yeh jo ho raha hai itafaq nahi hai!" Rakhee said looking towards her husband. "Tu chinta maat kar mein door lock kar dungi!"

"Aunty woh..." Preeta said wiping a tear that left her eyes.

"Hmmmm" Rakhee replied looking back at Preeta

"Woh ek aur baat thi... Aap... Appko mujpe bharosa hai?"

"Preeta yeh tu kaisi baat kar rahi hai?" Rakhee asked feeling guilty that Preeta had to even ask.

"Aunty please..."

"Ha putar, jitan bharosa mein aapne beto pe karti hoon utna hi tumpe karti hoon!"

"Tho aap meri ek aur baat manegi? Bina kisi savaal ke?"

"Bol putar" Rakhee agreed

"Agar aap ko kisi bhi cheeze ki zaruraat ho toh aap sirf Rishabhji, Karan ya phir Sameer ko bula lijiyega! Kisi aur ko nahi... Dadi aur Kareenaji ko bhi nahi! Aur agar koi aur aapke liye kuch khane peene ke liye laiye toh please aap unhe kahe ke woh pahele khud woh try kare! Chaahe woh main hi kyun na hoon!" she pleaded.

Rakhee looked at Preeta in concern but still nodded in agreement. Listening to what Preeta was asking of her Rakhee realised things were worse that she had imagined. She would heed the warnings behind Preeta's words and only rely on her three sons as she too felt that for now only her sons could protect their father!

Although her worry grew, she didn't fail to notice how Preeta referred to Kareena as 'Kareenaji' and not Aunty or Bua. Ergo she chose to remain silent.

"Tu chinta maat kar putar mein saab dekh lungi! Aab tu ja ke aaram kar!" Rakhee reassured Preeta who looked like she was going to worry herself sick!

Karan who had followed Preeta to his parent's room and had been listening from the doorway was stunned at Preeta's words. In his anger he had spent time hurting an innocent while the true criminal had been sitting in his home playing with all of them like puppets! He too knew who was behind it and cursed himself for not seeing it before.

He was going to kill that woman he thought and he would have probably marched right into Rishabh's room and done so if he hadn't remembered the mistakes he had made recently in his anger. He took a deep breath and decided that he would deal with Sherlyn later and in a way that she would never be able to disprove his accusations! He would find proof and then he would punish her!

Just as Preeta began to turn towards the door he quickly made his way back to his room. Karan wanted to work on ending Sherlyn's chapter once and for all but knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything alone! He knew that for now his mother would make sure no further harm would come to his father and tomorrow he would speak to Sammy and make some plans on what they would do.

Today was about Preeta he thought, it was about apologising to her and trying to make things right. He knew he needed to speak to her but thought it would be best to do this in the privacy of his... NO of their room. He entered the room and looked at the changes again, Roo and Kritika had arranged all of Preeta's things, that Sammy had bought back with him when he had gone to drop the Arora's, in the room. He sat on what would now be his side of the bed and looked around hoping Preeta would be okay with everything! As he sat thinking he realised that it had been nearly half an hour since he returned to his room and Preeta still hadn't arrived. Worried as to where she had disappeared to, he decided to go and look for her.

Preeta walked around the house for some time not wanting to go Karan's room, eventually she found herself on the terrace and taking a deep breath she sat down. It was getting tiresome she thought to herself, the constant blame she always got whenever something went wrong. She was wondering why her mother let her stay in this house after everything that had happened over the last few months. She thought back to earlier that day when Sameer and Bani Dadi had come to Arora house after all the commotion with the Press.

Flashback

As the doorbell rung she had expected it to be Karan, expected that he would have come to blame her for trying to manipulate him by providing their wedding photos to the Press. However, as she stood hidden against her bedroom door she heard Bani Dadi and Sameer. She wanted to rush out and ask them to leave knowing her mother was angry and worried that in her anger Sarla would say or do something she would later regret.

To her surprise Sarla had remained quiet when she had come out of her room and spoken to Bani Dadi. But the conversation had quickly spiralled out of control as Preeta watched helplessly.

"Sarla! Preeta sirf tumhari beti nahi hai Luthra parivaar ki bahu bhi hai!" Bani Dadi declared, Preeta didn't know what to feel – she was happy that the Luthra's were finally acknowledging that she was Karan's wife but after everything that had happened her heart hurt.

"Bahu? Kaisi bahu? Mein nahi maanti iss rishte ko!" Preeta looked at her mother almost in tears.

"Woh Karan ki patni hai aur Luthra parivaar ki bahu aur mein Bani Luthra yeh manti hoon aur iss naate Preeta ko lene aaiyi hoon".

"Karan? Kaun Karan? Hum kisi Karan ko nahi jante!"

"Sarla aunty aapne khud Karan bhai ke haato mein Preeta ka haath diya tha..."

"Diya tha lekin woh meri zindagi ki saabse badi galti thi! Isse toh bahtar yeh hota ke mein aapne hi haatho aapni beti ko zahar de de ti!" Preeta closed her eyes digesting her mother's pain.

"SARLA!" Dadi shouted

Sarla looked away and wiped her tears, Preeta took a step towards her mother trying to calm her down but Daljeet beat her to it.

"Dekh Sarla, mein janti hoon ke tum gussa ho, lekin yeh kya takeeka hai?" Daljeet reprimanded her daughter-in-law.

Sarla looked at her regretting what she had said but every time she thought of what the Luthra's had done to her innocent daughter she just couldn't help but lose it.

"Biji, mein..."

"Sarla..." Bani intrupted "Mein janti hoon ke jo bhi huwa hai bohot galat huwa hai lekin ek waqt tha jab hum dono parivaar ek the. Jo huwa hai woh hum badal toh nahi sakte, lekin hum koshish karsakte hai ke saab theek kare"

Sarla looked at Bani Luthra wanted to ask her what she would have done if someone had treated her daughter in the same way but one look from her Mother-in-Law stopped her.

"Baniji aap Sarla ki baat ko dil pe maat le, woh Maa hai Preeta ki aur ussne aapni beti ke aasoon dekhe hai, dekha hai ke kaise Preeta humare liye khush hone ka dikhawa karti hai..."

"Dadi!" Preeta said looking at Daljeet.

Sarla's phone beeped indicating messages were coming through and although she watched her daughter protectively, Preeta subconsciously noted that Sarla was looking at her phone and replying to whoever was messaging her. Preeta found it strange that in the middle of such a tense situation her mother was looking at her phone but she ignored it and focused on the conversation.

"Daljeetji mein samajti hoon..." Bani said thinking about what Roo was undergoing. As she looked at Preeta she felt that their own crimes were punishing their little girl. She realised how much Sarla would have hurt every time Preeta was hurt – hurt by her family. Her guilt grew and she knew that the only thing that would help free her from it was to see Preeta get what was rightfully hers, get the respect that she deserved. With that thought she looked at Sarla with pleading eyes.

"Mein Preeta se akele baat karna chaahti hoon" Sarla said, although she seemed calmer than she was moments ago she didn't look happy. She moved towards Preeta's room with Preeta obediently following.

"Darwaza bandh karlo!" Sarla said facing the window. Preeta closed the door and turned to face her mother waiting for her to speak. After a few minutes of silence Sarla asked,

"Meri baat kya tere liye koi mayne rakhti hai?" Sarla asked still looking out the window

"Maa aap ki baat mere liye saabse jyada mayne rakhti hai" Preeta said moving closer to Sarla, her heart pounding in her ears as fear engulfed her.

"Toh kya tu meri baat manegi?"

Preeta closed her eyes and nodded knowing that Sarla was going to ask her to break all relationships with the Luthra's. She held her mangalsutra as tears leaked from her eyes. "Maa..."

Sarla finally turned to face her daughter

"Toh tu meri kasam khaa ke bol ke mein jo kahungi tu woh karegi!"

"Ha Maa, aap jo kahegi mein wohi karungi" Preeta said "Mein aapki kaasam kha ke kaheti hoon ke aap jo bhi kahegi mein wohi karungi"

Sarla smiled at her daughter who was looking at her, the honesty reflecting in her eyes.

"Mein chaahti hoon ke tu..."