The wind howled against the tall glass windows of his penthouse, but Kabir barely heard it. His mind was elsewhere—stuck in the sound of her voice from earlier, the silence between her sentences, and the weight of emotions they hadn't dared to name.

He poured himself a drink, the amber liquid settling as his phone buzzed again.

Arjun.

He picked up, jaw clenched. “Talk.”

“I’ve been tracking the communications from the east wing server, just like you asked,” Arjun said. “There’s something off.”

Kabir stilled.

Off never meant anything good in his world.

“How off?”

“There’s a loop in the data. Someone’s rerouting internal files through a masked channel. It’s been quiet, consistent, and subtle. But too precise to be random.”

Kabir’s eyes darkened. “Where’s it pointing?”

“The final bounce is a dead end, but it’s been accessing logs from your personal systems—especially the ones connected to the security feeds, guest movement, and… her.”

Kabir turned toward the window, the city lights below casting his reflection in fractured colors. “Shanaya?”

Arjun didn’t answer at first. Then:

“Yes. Mostly surveillance around her. Movements, schedules, everything.”

A cold silence fell.

Kabir felt something twist in his chest—not fear, not even anger, but a sharp clarity he hadn't wanted to revisit.

And yet, here it was again.

History’s bitter echo.

“Who's been accessing it?” he asked, voice flat.

Another pause.

“Cross-checking log-ins, passwords, and terminal IDs… it traces back to Isha.”

The glass in his hand tightened. He didn’t speak.

“I double-checked it twice. It’s clean, Kabir. It’s her.”

No. Not again.

His eyes narrowed as he stared at his reflection—at the man who had vowed not to repeat his mistakes. At the one who had once believed too blindly in people who knew exactly how to lie without ever speaking.

“Any idea what she’s doing with it?”

“No. Not yet. She’s smart—using internal clearances, staying within behavioral patterns. But there’s a difference between watching and protecting, and what she’s doing? It’s surveillance. Targeted. Timed.”

“She’s watching Shanaya,” Kabir muttered, mostly to himself.

Arjun’s voice dropped. “And someone might be watching Isha.”

It felt like a slow venom, crawling under his skin.

Isha had always known where to stand, what to say, how to appear loyal. But something had shifted lately—something in the way she hovered, in the way her presence now felt more strategic than familiar.

He didn’t want to believe it.

But belief was a luxury Kabir didn’t afford anymore.

“She’s close to Shanaya again,” Arjun said. “If there’s any danger… she won’t see it coming.”

Kabir’s eyes hardened.

“No,” he said. “But I will.”

And this time, if there was a game being played behind his back, if someone dared to use Shanaya again—

They wouldn’t make it out breathing.

Not again.

Not on his watch.

---

SHANAYA’S POV :

I hadn’t seen her in five years.

Five whole years.

And yet, the moment I saw Isha standing at the far end of the little cafe tucked into the quieter lane of London, time folded in on itself like it had only been yesterday. She still wore her hair long, straight and parted at the center like always, with that familiar soft smile I once trusted more than my own reflection.

“Shanaya,” she whispered as I stepped forward, voice cracking with something that sounded dangerously like nostalgia.

My throat tightened. “Isha.”

And then we hugged.

I didn’t expect it to feel this… overwhelming. But it did.

The scent of her perfume, the way her fingers clutched the back of my jacket, the warmth of familiarity—all of it hit me in waves. We used to be inseparable. Secrets, heartbreaks, ambitions, every detail of my life had once lived in the shelter of her presence. Until she disappeared. Until that night… the one I never let myself think about.

“I missed you,” she said softly as we sat down, eyes glimmering.

“I missed you too,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. “So many times I typed out messages. I just… didn’t know what to say after everything.”

“I know,” she said, reaching for my hand across the table. “But I never stopped thinking about you. Not once.”

A lump formed in my throat. “Where did you go?”

She hesitated, then sighed. “It was complicated. Things were falling apart, I—I thought it was better if I disappeared. Safer.”

Safer.

The word lodged itself somewhere in my chest, but I didn’t press. I wanted to believe her. Maybe part of me needed to.

We spoke for what felt like hours. Catching up on everything. Nothing. She told me she’d been traveling, working, healing. I told her about my life in the city, about how things had been… heavy. Complicated.

She didn’t mention Kabir.

And neither did I.

“I’m so proud of you,” she said finally, her eyes glassy. “You survived everything they threw at you.”

I smiled, weakly. “Sometimes I think I didn’t survive it at all. I just… adapted.”

She nodded slowly, reaching for her purse. “I have something for you. Wait—”

That’s when my phone buzzed.

Kartik.

I picked it up with a small grin. “Hey, I’m kind of in the middle of something—”

“Shanaya.” His voice was sharp. Urgent. “Where are you?”

“I’m with Isha. I told you I was meeting her—”

“Leave,” he cut in. “Right now. Don’t argue. Just get up and leave, Shanaya. Now.”

His voice was never like this. Never panicked. Never loud.

My smile faded.

“Kartik, what’s going on?” I stood halfway, confused. “She’s just—”

But before I could even finish the sentence, I felt something sharp press against the side of my arm. A sting. Cold. Sudden.

I turned, eyes wide, staring at Isha.

She looked calm. Focused. As if this wasn’t the first time.

“I’m sorry, Shanu,” she whispered. “You weren’t supposed to pick up the call.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but the world tilted.

The ground shifted beneath me.

The air thickened. My limbs felt like they were being pulled under water. My vision blurred—lights and shadows spinning.

“Isha…?”

And then the darkness pulled me in like a storm.

---

KARTIK'S POV :

Something didn’t feel right.

The second I saw that number flash across the encrypted tracker Kabir had installed on Shanaya’s phone for security—I knew.

It wasn’t the cafe that bothered me. It was the name.

Isha.

I hadn’t heard that name in five years. Not from Shanaya. Not from anyone. Because she had disappeared the same night everything changed. When Shanaya shattered and Kabir walked away. When the attack happened, and the pieces were never put back together.

And now she was back? Just like that?

I didn’t trust it.

I gritted my teeth as I tapped into the live feed from the camera outside the café’s entrance. There she was—Shanaya—smiling, laughing even, like nothing had ever gone wrong in the world. Like her best friend hadn’t vanished without a trace the night her life fell apart.

My gut twisted.

I didn’t wait.

I dialed her number, pacing the control room floor of my private office like the floor might split beneath me.

She picked up. “Hey, I’m kind of in the middle of something—”

“Shanaya.” I said sharply, trying to keep my voice calm. “Where are you?”

“I’m with Isha. I told you I was meeting her—”

“Leave.” I didn’t care how paranoid I sounded. My instincts screamed, and I’d learned long ago to trust them. “Right now. Don’t argue. Just get up and leave, Shanaya. Now.”

There was a beat of silence. Then confusion in her voice. “Kartik, what’s going on? She’s just—”

And then—nothing.

A pause. A sharp inhale on her end. A sudden drop in background noise.

“Shanaya?” I called, heart in my throat.

No answer.

Just the sound of her phone falling.

And then the line went dead.

“Shit.”

I slammed the laptop shut and bolted out of the room, already shouting down the hallway. “Code Red. Locate Shanaya Singh—dispatch team Alpha and Beta. Kabir needs to know. Now!”

My heart pounded as I jumped into the car, gripping the steering wheel like it might ground me. My fingers itched to call Kabir, but I needed to get eyes on her first. If this was what I feared… if it was her—

I didn’t even let myself finish the thought.

All I knew was one thing:

I’d failed her once five years ago.

And I would rather burn this city to the ground than let it happen again.

---

End of the chapter

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