KABIR'S POV :

My phone buzzed once.

Kartik.

I picked it up instantly. “Yeah?”

His voice didn’t sound right. Too sharp. Too urgent.

“Kabir... Shanaya’s with Isha.”

Everything around me slowed.

I didn’t breathe. I didn’t blink.

“What did you just say?” My voice was barely a whisper.

“I called her ten minutes ago. She sounded... happy. Said she randomly met Isha and they were catching up. She didn’t know anything. She trusted her.”

I was already on my feet. My chair screeched back against the marble floor.

“Where?” I snapped.

“Cafe Nova.”

I started walking. Fast. My hand clenched the phone so tight my knuckles turned white.

“Send my team. Now. Every man we have in a ten-kilometer radius.”

“Kabir... listen to me,” Kartik said, voice low. “She was fine when I called. But the moment she mentioned Isha’s name—something felt off. I told her to leave. Told her not to trust her. And then the line dropped. It’s been silent since.”

I stopped in the middle of the hallway.

“She didn’t call back?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

“No. Her phone’s off now.”

Something cold spread through my chest.

No.

No. Not her.

Not again.

Not after everything.

The air shifted. The silence around me was no longer still—it was threatening.

“Isha disappeared five years ago for a reason,” I said slowly. “And now she shows up again, right after Shanaya reenters my world? Right after the gala?”

“You think she planned it?” Kartik asked.

“I think... my worst fear is starting to look a lot like the truth,” I said, voice tightening.

I had tried to give Shanaya space. Tried to convince myself that being near her would only pull her back into a world she didn’t deserve.

But this... this was exactly why I should’ve never let her out of my sight.

I didn’t trust Isha.

Not then.

Not now.

And definitely not with Shanaya.

I ended the call and dialed Arjun. “I want eyes on every exit within a five-block radius of Café Nova. Pull footage. Trace every number that pinged near Shanaya’s location. Now.”

“Yes, sir.”

I grabbed my coat, mind racing, jaw clenched so hard I could feel the tension crawl up my neck.

If she laid a hand on her—if Isha had hurt Shanaya, drugged her, used her...

I didn’t care how long she’d been hiding.

I would find her.

And I would make her regret ever coming back.

---

ARJUN’S POV :

“Kabir, we have something.”

I didn’t waste time. As soon as the call connected, I started driving the truth straight to him.

“She never left through the front exit,” I said, eyes fixed on the paused CCTV footage on my tablet. “Shanaya and Isha were seen heading into the café’s private lounge at 3:24 PM. Five minutes later, the footage cuts out for exactly twelve minutes. When the feed resumes, Isha walks out alone. No Shanaya.”

Silence.

The kind that carries a storm.

“Where is Shanaya?” Kabir asked, his voice low but laced with steel.

I pulled up another screen. “We tracked Isha’s phone signal. She disabled Shanaya’s within that blackout window. But we got a hit from a traffic cam three streets down—black Mercedes SUV, tinted windows, registered under a shell company based in Prague. Guess who signed the paperwork?”

“Kshitij Mehra,” Kabir murmured.

“Exactly,” I confirmed.

“She’s working with him.”

“Looks like it.”

I took a breath, then dropped the final blow. “And Kabir… there’s something else. Isha didn’t disappear five years ago.”

I heard the sharp inhale on the other end.

“She was in Prague. Under protection. Witness program, international clearance. She didn’t just vanish. She was removed. By someone with the kind of power you don’t come back from—unless you’re given a reason.”

A pause. Then:

“She came back for Shanaya.”

A beat.

“And Shanaya doesn’t even know what happened that night five years ago,” Kabir whispered.

“No. But she’s in the middle of it again. And Isha’s making her move.”

Kabir didn’t say anything for a second.

But I knew what came next.

Orders.

And vengeance.

“Find the SUV,” he said. “Trace every connection between Isha and Mehra. If she took Shanaya for leverage… we end the game before it starts.”

I nodded. “I’m on it.”

Then he hung up.

And I knew—

Whatever held Kabir back before?

It was gone now.

And hell was coming with him.

---

KABIR'S POV :

The war room hadn’t been used in five years.

Not since that night everything spiraled.

But tonight… it breathed again.

I stood at the head of the long oak table in my underground command suite, staring at the red pins and screens lighting up every possible location Isha and Mehra could’ve taken Shanaya to. My hands were clasped behind my back, muscles coiled tight, rage pulsing like venom in my veins.

She trusted her.

That betrayal alone would’ve been enough.

But they took her.

And that?

That was unforgivable.

The door creaked open, and Vansh walked in first. His jaw was clenched, rage written across his usually calm features. Behind him came Yash—silent and cold—and Ranveer, who threw his car keys on the table like he was ready to burn the city down. Rohit arrived last, his gun holster already strapped to his side.

No one spoke. Not right away. The air was thick with memory. With fury.

And grief.

“She was with Isha when she vanished,” I said finally. “They disappeared from a blind spot in a public café. Arjun traced them to a shell company car owned by Kshitij Mehra. She was drugged. Clean hit. We found the discarded syringe outside the exit door—exact dosage and compound used in black-market hostage captures.”

A silence.

Then Vansh cursed under his breath, slamming his hand on the table. “We should’ve seen this coming. Isha doesn’t just reappear after five years with no warning.”

Ranveer nodded slowly. “She was always quiet… but sharp. If Mehra got to her years ago, it makes sense now.”

Yash paced to the monitors. “They’ll keep her alive. At least for leverage. She’s not just Kabir’s now—she’s the only emotional weak point left in the Singhania Empire.”

“And in mine,” Vansh added grimly.

Rohit finally broke his silence. “How long do we have before they move her?”

“Hours, maybe,” I answered. “That SUV is off the radar now. They’ve gone cold. Arjun’s sweeping dark routes, and I’ve activated every contact from Prague to Punjab.”

A beat passed.

Yash looked around at the room, then muttered, “Feels like déjà vu.”

I knew what he meant. Five years ago, we were in this very room, staring at bloodstains, betrayal, and ruins. And once again, it was her caught in the fire.

History was trying to repeat itself.

I wouldn’t let it.

Not again.

The door opened behind us with a sharp hiss. Everyone turned. Footsteps echoed in.

And then… Vihaan walked in.

Tailored suit. Calm expression. But something about him looked different now.

Sharper.

Colder.

“Where’s Shanaya?” he asked.

No one moved.

I folded my arms. “This isn’t your world, Vihaan. It’s not for businessmen like you to play soldier.”

He met my eyes evenly. “Good thing I’m not what you think I am.”

Silence.

He stepped forward slowly. “Codename: Ares.”

Every muscle in my body stilled.

I’d heard that name.

We all had.

Ares—one of the top-level operatives in the European underground, a ghost in high finance and warfare, someone who moved through diplomatic immunity like wind through leaves.

I stared at him. “You’re lying.”

Vihaan’s voice was ice. “You think I built my empire on stocks and headlines? I was the war. You were the ghost in Asia, Kabir. I was the one they whispered about in Geneva, Zurich, Berlin.”

I looked at Vansh, then at Yash.

None of them spoke.

Rohit stepped forward. “Why now?”

“Because she’s in danger,” Vihaan said simply. “And I let her down once. I’m not doing it again.”

For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of the monitors.

Then I turned back to the screen. “We move in thirty minutes. Arjun’s triangulating every exit point from Delhi underworld networks. We hit them hard. No negotiations.”

Everyone nodded.

Even Vihaan.

“Let’s bring her home,” I said.

And just like that, the empire rose again.

The princes of chaos.

One queen to protect.

And a war no one saw coming.

---

End of the chapter

______________________________________