Page 156 of Since You Stole My Heart

Swayam remained firm at her side. The warmth of his presence steadied her nerves despite the growing pain twisting through her stomach.

‘He’s given me until tonight to get it ready.’ She turned towards the broken window, the afternoon sun glowing softly beyond it. ‘We have maybe six hours.’

Dhruv’s expression hardened. ‘Wait. Last night, he made it sound like he’s done this to other girls too.’

Kashvi thought about it with dread. ‘The camera was hidden in the bathroom at the party, and a lot of people must’ve used it before I destroyed it.’

‘There could’ve been other parties too where he pulled the same trick, and no one would’ve known,’ Luv suggested.

It wasn’t just about her anymore. The helplessness she’d felt earlier twisted into hot, molten rage as she thought about the other girls who might’ve felt that same suffocating panic and helpless loss of control.

This needed to end.

Swayam’s expression darkened as he processed it. ‘He’s a very money-minded man, and not everyone he targets is going to be a jewellery empire heiress with a hundred crore trust fund.’

A sharp ping cut through the room. Dhruv glanced down at his phone. ‘Siya and Abhay have boarded their jet. They should be here in two hours.’

Swayam nodded. ‘That’s good. Siya will know what we can do legally in this situation.’

‘Did you tell her about this?’ Kashvi asked, gesturing at the destruction around them.

‘I told her what happened to you. She deserved to know,’ Dhruv said firmly.

Kashvi reluctantly agreed, but it was yet another thing she would have to deal with now. ‘Di better find a way, because I’ve got nothing. The money has already been allocated to the organisations, and I’ll pull it back over my dead body.’

Vihaan rubbed a hand over his jaw, thinking out loud. ‘But that’s what’s bothering me. Not many people know that exact figure, so how did he find out?’

Kashvi glanced at Swayam expectantly, who furrowed his brows in confusion. ‘What?’

‘You didn’t tell him?’ she asked.

He answered immediately. ‘Of course not.’

A creeping sense of unease spread through her. She’d assumed Swayam had let personal details slip during a casual conversation with Viraj. But if he hadn’t, then how did Viraj know?

‘Did you tell him we got married?’

Swayam shook his head immediately. ‘I wouldn’t have done that without checking with you first.’

She grabbed his arm as urgency took over. ‘Did you tell him about Di and Jiju’s adoption plans?’

His forehead creased. ‘Why would I talk to him about them?’

Kashvi swallowed, her throat suddenly dry.

‘Did you talk to him on the phone today?’ she asked shakily.

‘I called him a lot yesterday, but he never answered. I’m pretty sure he blocked me last night.’

‘Viraj seems to know a lot of personal things about all of us,’ Dhruv observed with a frown.

Swayam turned towards him.

‘But he didn’t hear any of it from me. I don’t talk about my friends’ private lives behind their backs. I wouldn’t do that to them,’ he said with conviction.

Kashvi barely registered the conversation around her. Her mind kept circling back to the phone call that had stopped Viraj. She’d assumed it was Swayam calling him, but now she knew it wasn’t.

So who was the man Viraj obeyed so immediately? Who could make him back down when he’d been seconds away from hurting her further?