Page 180 of Since You Stole My Heart

Swayam shrugged. ‘No, I think you’re boring. So shut up.’

Kashvi aimed her glare at Viraj. ‘You want to leak my pictures? Go ahead.’

Outwardly, she held his gaze without flinching, but fear pounded with every beat of her heart because she was terrified he would call her bluff. She didn’t know why Siya had told her to say this, but she trusted her sister.

Besides, it was too late to save anything.

They had extorted her, terrorised her, and threatened her husband and family. There was no turning back now. All she could do was make sure they suffered for it.

She held Viraj’s stare. ‘Because the second you leak them, my sister will make sure it leads straight back to both of you,’ she added, driving the tension further.

Siya gently corrected her, locking her eyes with Karthik. ‘No, no. I won’t. But the biggest criminal lawyer in the country will. He happens to be my best friend.’

Swayam glanced at her, offended. ‘Excuse me? I thought I was your best friend.’

Siya rolled her eyes. ‘Why else do you think I allowed you to marry my sister?’

Karthik’s laugh cut through, the sound booming and dismissive. ‘I understand why you’re putting on this show. Kashvi told me that you found something on Viraj’s laptop. But let me assure you, none of it can be traced back to me.’

Viraj’s expression twisted with hatred. ‘I should’ve known better than to trust a woman. I tolerated Lavanya for years, and for what? The bitch betrayed me and stole my laptop.’

‘You’re too easy to fool,’ Swayam interjected, openly mocking him.

‘Shut up! You don’t know anything!’

Swayam smirked. ‘I know your password.’

Viraj froze.

‘You are such a self-obsessed asshole. You really couldn’t think of anything better than your birthday?’ Swayam asked, disappointed.

Viraj realised they truly knew the password and had accessed his laptop. His anger faltered immediately.

‘And if you had been man enough to love Lavanya even half as much as you love yourself, she wouldn’t have needed to betray you,’ Kashvi added with disgust.

Viraj merely scoffed, puffing out his chest. ‘Go ahead and celebrate for now but you’re still screwed once the reboot timer kicks in.’

Dhruv snorted. ‘Oh, you mean the timer that uploads copies of all your documents to your drive before the laptop automatically factory resets?’

Viraj’s jaw dropped. All his swagger vanished as he stammered, ‘How did you find out?’

‘You’re not the only one with connections in high places. Our friend handles military-grade cybersecurity. This was child’s play for him.’

Viraj shook his head in disbelief. ‘You couldn’t have hacked it. That’s not possible.’

‘We didn’t need to stop it,’ Swayam said casually. ‘Once everything was uploaded, Kuber hacked into your drive and got everything.’

Viraj froze as panic flickered across his face.

‘They’re just bluffing,’ Karthik said with a dismissive wave.

Kashvi sighed. ‘You know, Dad, most people usually learn from their mistakes. But you just don’t seem capable of it.’

Siya held up her phone and turned the screen towards them.

Kashvi instantly understood the shock on their faces.

They were looking at Viraj’s laptop sealed inside a transparent evidence bag, a stark white label across it markedExhibit A.