The room shifted.Dilip stared at her as if she had spoken in a language he refused to understand. His brows drew together.
“What is that supposed to mean?” he demanded. “How can you takehisside?” His voice rose. “Do you even know what he has done?”
Mishti did not respond. Her face remained still.
“He married you to take revenge on me,” he continued, pacing a step closer before stopping himself. “You must have realised this by now. He stood right here and told me himself that he would make your life hell.”
His lips curled bitterly.
“And he did,” Dilip barked. “He destroyed everything I had built for you and Daksh. Everything.” His hand sliced through the air. “I know how men like him are. He must be treating you well in front of others, playing the perfect husband. But behind closed doors, inside the four walls of his house, he must be giving you pain and suffering. Just like he promised me he would.”
Mishti’s fingers curled into fists at her sides.
“And you are standing here asking me why I tried to killhim?” Dilip scoffed. “Why would I not, Mishti? He hurt my children. He snatched their happiness. How else was I supposed to react?”
That was when Mishti finally spoke.
“Hesnatched our happiness?” she scoffed. “Hehurt us?” Her eyes lifted, blazing now. “You are putting the blame on him?”
She took a step forward angrily.
“Why don’t you count your own sins instead?” she snapped. “Why do you never look at yourself? You were the one who started this. You were the one who looted the Wadhwas. You were the one who destroyed their lives bit by bit.”
Dilip stiffened.
“And when that was not enough,” Mishti continued, her voice trembling now with fury, “you killed Karan’s mother.”
For the first time, Dilip faltered. His mouth opened, then closed, as if looking for a defence that refused to come.
“You did not just wrong Karan,” Mishti went on. “You did not just wrong the Wadhwas. You destroyed your own family.” Her voice broke for a brief second before steadying again. “You destroyed your wife’s dreams. You destroyed your children’s future. You destroyed our lives.”
He shook his head sharply. “I did it formyfamily,” he argued. “Everything I did was for you and Daksh. So thatyou bothcould live the life I couldn’t in these prison walls.”
“For us?” Mishti let out a hollow laugh. “I would have preferred death over living on money soaked in other people’s blood.”
She swallowed hard, memories pressing against her ribs.
“You didn’t build our lives; you embarrassed us in society, you snatched our rights to live with our heads high. You didn’t protect us; you only made karma hit us hard, because ofyoursins.”
Dilip’s face darkened. “I am your father,” he said forcefully. “You cannot speak to me like this.”
“No, you are not my father,” she shouted. “That tie ended long ago. You lost that right the day I learned what you did to Karan and his family.”
His eyes widened, completely shocked at Mishti’s behaviour and tone. “Yes, right. You cannot be my daughter,” he snapped, anger rushing in to replace his shock. “That man has poisoned you against me.” His lips twisted as he spat Karan’s name like an insult. “That b*stard has brainwashed you.”
Mishti stepped forward again, close enough now that he saw her trembling with fury.
“Take my husband’s name with respect, Dilip Goel,” she said loudly. “Or I will forget that the man standing before me is the one whose blood runs in my veins.”
He stared at her, stunned into silence.
“If there were a way to erase every trace of you from me,” she continued, “to erase every gene, every drop of blood, I would have done it long ago.” Her eyes glistened. “Because I regret having a father like you.”
Her chest rose sharply as she inhaled, forcing herself to stay upright.
“You said you did it for us,” Mishti went on. “For your family.” She shook her head slowly. “No. You did not.”
She looked at him with disdain.
