Her voice broke. “I couldn’t believe it. Honestly.”
Mishti swallowed hard, while VK and Rajat exchanged furious looks. How could Kanika do this? They had strictly told her not to say anything. But where Mishti was concerned, Kanika always lost her cool. This wasn’t carelessness. It was spite.
Avni turned to face both Karan and Mishti now, feeling betrayed. “I don’t care how your marriage is. That’s your business. But I do care to know, why did you mess with me again? Why did you come to London, Mishti? Why did you get close to me?”
Her gaze snapped to Karan. “Did my brother send you? To stay around me?”
She shook her head in disbelief. “What was all this? All this time you were with me, testing me, becoming my friend, my sister, while I was foolish enough to believe we were building something real. How could you both make a fool out of me like this?”
“No,” Mishti said firmly. “I didn’t know you were his sister. Not until I came to Jaipur with you, Avni. Believe me.”
Tears rolled down Mishti’s cheeks as she spoke, but Avni shook her head violently.
“Don’t lie now,” Avni snapped. “Just get away from me.” She shoved her away when Mishti tried to reach for her.
Mishti stumbled back, almost losing her balance, but Karan instantly caught her. He gripped her firmly around her waist; his expression darkened as fury surged through him.
“That’s enough,” he snapped, turning to Avni. “Stay within your limits, Avni. That’s my wife you are disrespecting now, and I won’t tolerate it either.”
The possessiveness in his voice, the way he shielded his wife, stunned both Mishti and Avni.
Avni let out a slow, hollow, mocking clap. “Wow,” she said bitterly. “So much affection for a woman you hardly knew and married barely a year and a half ago. And absolutely no concern for your own blood sister. I really don’t understand this.”
She turned as if to walk away.
But Mishti didn’t let her.
She stepped forward, grabbed Avni’s arm, and turned her back around. “You want to know the truth?” she demanded. “Then listen to me.”
“Mishti—” Karan warned sharply.
But she didn’t stop.
“Your brother didn’t send you away because he wanted to get rid of you,” Mishti said through tears. “All these years you believed he didn’t care about you.”
Her voice shook but didn’t falter. “But the truth is, Avni, he was protecting you.”
Avni froze.
“He kept you safe,” Mishti continued. “He watched over you from a distance. He buried his own emotions so you could live safe, secure and grow up in a normal family, have a normal childhood and life.”
She swallowed hard. “He protected you, Avni. Everything he did… he did it for you.”
Avni shook her head in disbelief. “He was protecting me?” she scoffed. “Really? From whom?”
Mishti didn’t hesitate this time.
“From my father…Dilip Goel. The man who killed your mother,” Mishti went on. “The man who destroyed your family. The man who shattered Karan’s life and innocence.”
Her tears fell freely now. “The man whose actions forced Karan to live the last sixteen years burning in revenge, wanting to destroy him and everything he stood for.”
Avni stood frozen in shock. Her knees gave way as the truth hit her. She stumbled back, almost collapsing onto the edge of the bed. Mishti sat down beside her and told her everything. It was time, long overdue, for Avni to know every single truth that had been hidden from her all these years.
About how Dilip Goel had destroyed their lives. About how he had even tried to abduct Avni once to scare off Karan, and how that one incident had forced Karan to take the most painful decision of his life:sending Avni away.
Mishti told her how Karan never wanted Avni’s life to be tainted by any of it. How he had only one purpose left in him after that—revenge.
Tears streamed down Avni’s face as VK continued. He explained that changing Avni’s surname had been their decision, so she couldn’t be traced, and she could remain safe.
