“I came to see if you still felt untouchable,” he said quietly. “Before I start taking everything you thought you protected.”
Dilip’s jaw clenched, but the reaction was fleeting. The moment passed, and arrogance slid back into place like armour he had worn all his life. Prison had taken years from his body, but it had not stripped him of his belief that he still stood above consequences.
“You talk like a man who thinks he’s already won,” Dilip mocked. “But you should know something, Karan. No matter how powerful you become out there, there’s nothing you can do anymore. You can’t touch me. I took everything from you. And I am still alive.”
The words landed exactly where Dilip intended them to. Tension coiled in Karan’s shoulders, his jaw locked so hard it ached.
Dilip watched him closely, enjoying the silence he had created.
“You cannot undo anything,” Dilip continued. “It’s done. And it’s all your father’s fault. He trusted too easily. He believed in loyalty. That was his mistake. This world does not reward honest men, Karan. It rewards the smart ones, the ones who know when to take what they want.”
Karan’s fingers pressed harder into the table, knuckles whitening. He could feel the old memories clawing their way back. His mother standing before Dilip Goel that day in his farmhouse, refusing to be intimidated. The way she had believed that truth would protect her. That law would protect her.
“You stole from my father,” he snapped. “You looted his company while he was dying. You drained it piece by piece while he lay helpless, fighting a disease that was already killing him. And when my mother tried to expose you, you killed her.” His eyes burned into Dilip’s face. “You burned our name, our family, our future. And you are proud of it?”
Dilip’s grin remained intact, as if Karan were accusing him of nothing more than a clever business move.
“My conscience is clear,” Dilip replied calmly. “I did what I had to do. I used the opportunity when it came. That is how the world works.” He leaned back slightly. “Your father was already dying. No medicine could have saved him. The company would have collapsed anyway.”
Karan’s breath grew heavier, his control thinning.
“And your mother,” Dilip continued, almost dismissively, “she interfered where she shouldn’t have. She should have understood the game she was stepping into before coming to confront me alone.” His lips curved faintly. “She knew I had temper issues. She knew I could hurt her. Yet she acted like a fool.” He shrugged. “Of course she had to die.”
That was when Karan’s control slipped. He surged forward, gripping Dilip by the collar and slamming him against the wall with a force that rattled the room. His forearm pressed hard into Dilip’s throat, cutting off his breath, his fingers curling tighter as years of rage finally found a body to land on.
“She trusted you,” Karan said, his voice shaking now. “She believed you would listen and accept your sins. But you put a bullet through her chest.”
His knuckles whitened around Dilip’s neck as the words left him, every memory crashing through his veins at once.
“You watched her die,” Karan continued through clenched teeth. “You watched her bleed on the floor, and you felt nothing.”
Dilip coughed, a broken sound forced out between gasps.
The guards shouted and rushed in immediately, gripping Karan’s arms, pulling him back before the moment could turn irreversible. One of them shouted a warning to Karan. Another threatened to end the meeting right there.
Karan let them pull him away. He did not resist. His chest rose and fell as he forced his rage back into place.
Dilip straightened his clothes slowly, still smiling, still breathing hard, but victorious in his own mind.
“See?” Dilip said once his voice returned. “Even now, you can’t do anything.” His eyes gleamed. “I regret nothing, Karan. I secured my family’s future. My son runs a successful business. My daughter lives in comfort. Respect. A good name. Soon she’ll be married into the right family, living the life she deserves. I gave them everything. So even if I die in this prison, I’ve already won.”
That was the moment Karan stopped breathing for a second and smiled.
“You think you’ve won?” he asked. “That you can sit behind these bars, breathing easy, enjoying the life you bought for your children while we rotted? That’s not happening.”
Dilip let out a laugh, sharp and dismissive, as if Karan had merely entertained him with an impossible fantasy. “You can do nothing,” he said with certainty. “You can never find them.”
“I have found them.”
Dilip’s laughter died mid-breath. The colour drained from his face so fast it was impossible to miss. His eyes widened.
“That’s not possible,” Dilip said, shaking his head once. “You’re lying.”
For years, even from inside these prison walls, Dilip had ensured his family remained invisible. Through loyal men on the outside, through favours and money, he had erased every trace that could connect his children to his name, to his crimes. They had left the city when they were young, disappeared into new lives. And when they returned years later, grown and settled, no one had known who they were or where they came from.
That was the story Dilip had believed.
Karan watched the panic surface, and for the first time since the meeting began, he felt satisfied. The man who had once believed himself untouchable was scrambling, trying to understand where he had missed.
