A muffled scream rips through the air, and my blood roars in my ears.
I bolt towards the sound, kick open a bedroom door, and freeze.
Meera is tied to a chair, her hair dishevelled, terror etched deep into her eyes as Veer stands in front of her, a knife glinting in his hand.
“Dev…” she cries, her voice cracking, tears spilling down her cheeks. Something in me shatters. Fury ignites in my chest at the sight. In that instant, I know with absolute certainty that the brother I trusted, the one I loved… he’s gone.
“Bro, it’s not— I was just—” he stammers the moment he sees me and steps back from her.
The knife slips from his hand and hits the floor with a dull thud.
That sound is the final snap I need. I lunge at him, pin him back against the wall, and drive my fist straight into his jaw.
“How dare you touch my wife?” I snarl, grabbing him by the collar and slamming him hard against the wall.
Before he can spit out some half-baked excuse, another voice from behind orders me.
“Dev. That’s enough.”
I freeze mid-breath, my grip loosening as I let him go and face my father a few feet away. My dad… he’s involved too.
The brother I loved, the father I trusted—they’re both complicit in destroying what I hold most dear.
“You… too, Dad?” My voice cracks, hoarse with fury and hurt. “You’re involved in this?”
Dad’s eyes flick to the side, where Meera is still tied to the chair.
“She was becoming a problem,” he says flatly, as if stating a fact.
My hands curl into fists at my sides. “What did you just say?”
“Spare me the surprise,” he says sharply. “You’ve always known how badly I wanted her out of the picture.”
My heart hammers so hard I can feel it in my throat. “So it was you… You were the one who attacked her at the park, not some random man.”
Dad’s eyes harden, and his voice is cold and unapologetic. “Yes. It was me. I did what was necessary. I even had one of my men waiting outside her office, ready to scare her into backing off. But before he could, Samarth pulled her back and saved her. Fucking luck seemed to be on her side every time we tried to get close.”
His words hit like a knife. I knew Dad and Veer had never been fond of Meera, but I thought their love for me would be stronger. That they’d let me be happy. That they would never go this far. Never try to destroy the one thing that made me whole.
“It… it was you,” Meera breathes, her face ashen as she looks at Dad. “In the house… when I felt someone there… I thought I was imagining it.”
“You weren’t,” Veer says, sliding closer to Dad. “We wanted to scare you. To break you. Push you to the point where you’d learn… your limits.”
She sucks in a breath that sounds like it hurts. And that tells me my confrontation with Dad can wait. Right now, Meera needs me.
I’ve already wasted too much time dealing with them when what matters is freeing my wife and making her feel safe.
With my heart pounding, I rush to her and drop to my knees in front of her, my hands shaking as I work frantically at the rope biting into her wrists.
The moment she’s free, she collapses into me. Her fingers clutch at my shirt like she’s terrified I’ll disappear. Her sobs cut through me, tears soaking my chest as her body shudders violently against mine— fear and relief melting through her all at once.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart,” I murmur into her hair, my arms locking around her. “I am here.”
She nods weakly against my chest. I take a deep breath, steady myself, and gather her close as I stand, still holding her against my chest. Only then do I turn to face Dad.
“Why, Dad… when you knew what she meant to me?” I demand, my voice shaking with rage.
“Because since the moment she entered your life, you stopped being ours,” Dad says accusingly. “You changed. Your priorities shifted. Your loyalty moved. You chose her over blood, and I couldn’t stand by and watch that.”
