Her eyes moved from the disordered room to Kanika’s rigid posture, and finally to Karan. There was shock there, yes, but something else too. Something softer.
All this time, she had believed the lies he had woven about his relationship with Kanika. She had carried them quietly, letting them wound her in silence. And now she got to know the truth. That whatever he had told her existed between Karan and Kanika had never been real.
She did not know why Karan had chosen to lie to her earlier. But what mattered now was that despite his anger, the distance and the cruelty he often wrapped himself in, he had been loyal to their marriage.
To her.
She stood there, taking it all in, her lips trembling despite her effort to remain calm. Her heart betrayed her again, lifting with a fragile hope that her marriage could have a future.
Kanika brushed past her, pausing only long enough to cast one final, venomous glare in her direction. But Mishti did not respond. She did not even acknowledge it because her gaze was fixed on her husband.
Karan looked like a man who wanted to undo time itself, to erase what Mishti had finally heard. For the first time since she had known him, he seemed unsure of how to deal with a situation.
Mishti stood rooted where she was, staring at her husband. Not because she expected an explanation. She knew him too well to believe he would offer one willingly. But she waited because some part of her refused to let the moment pass unanswered.
When Karan finally strode towards the door, intent on leaving, brushing past her without so much as a glance, her instinct took over. She caught his arm firmly, stopping him.
He turned his face towards her. She too looked at him. For a few charged seconds, their eyes searched each other, reading truths, like deciphering what to say.
Mishti broke the silence first.
“How could you lie to your wife about something like that?” she asked. “You and Kanika were never involved. So why make me live through that trauma? Why make me question my husband’s loyalty?”
The next moment, Karan turned fully towards her and gripped her upper arms, pushing her back against the door behind her. The impact made her gasp, but she did not look away. Neither did he.
His face was close. Too close.
“Because I enjoy watching you suffer,” he said harshly.
Once again, his words were deliberately cruel.
“And only because I am not betraying you with another woman does not mean you stand the chance to come close to me. Remember that.”
He released her abruptly and turned away, ready to leave.
But Mishti was not finished.
She caught his arm again, pulling him back with unexpected strength. He looked at her once more, irritation flashing across his face, but she did not flinch.
“The certainty with which you say you will never give me my rights as your wife,” she smirked, “that confidence will shatter one day, Karan. It will break into pieces so small that you will not even be able to gather them back together.”
Karan stared at her for a moment longer, then he shrugged her hand off, turned, and walked out without looking back.
Only then did Mishti release the breath she had been holding, and her eyes drifted to the cabin around her. The overturned files. The displaced decor. The thoughtful effort Rajat and Abhimanyu had put into welcoming her now lay in disarray. She felt pity for them.
Yet, amidst the wreckage, something good happened today. At least she had learned the truth that there was no third presence in her marriage. No hidden woman was standing between her and Karan.There never would be.She vowed.
CHAPTER 16
KW Capital Ventures – Next Day
The next morning, Mishti returned to the office and to the same cabin that had borne the brunt of Kanika’s fury the previous day.
The room had been restored, of course. Files were back in place. The desk had been cleared. Fresh flowers stood where the earlier arrangement had been flung aside. Yet traces of what had happened lingered, because this cabin had already witnessed power, jealousy, and confrontation before it had even begun to feel like hers.
When Rajat learned about it yesterday, he apologised for his sister’s behaviour, but Mishti stopped him gently. She told him it was unnecessary. Kanika’s actions were not his responsibility, and she refused to let him shoulder a guilt that was not his. Still, the evening had soured. The dinner they had planned was quietly postponed to tonight instead, as no one was quite in the mood to pretend otherwise and celebrate.
Now, seated at her desk, Mishti tried to immerse herself in the work laid out before her.
