Chapter 4
SAURAV
I was sprawled on the couch, playing video games, when someone knocked on the door.
“Come in,” I said, shoving popcorn into my mouth, eyes glued to my laptop screen.
“Sir… ”
I snapped my head up the moment I recognized the voice. It was my father’s secretary. His secretary? He almost never came himself.
“What’s wrong, Uncle Dhruv?” I asked, immediately abandoning the game and getting to my feet. I ran a hand through my hair and tugged my T-shirt into place, suddenly aware of how careless I must have looked.
He stepped inside, immaculate as ever in crisp suit, perfect tie, hair styled exactly the way my father preferred. Everything about him was controlled and professional except his face.
“Sir… there is a legal notice,” he said carefully, extending a brown envelope.
The look on him made my stomach tighten. He looked like he was about to pass out or worse.
“Legal notice? For what?” I snatched the envelope from his hand and tore it open. The first thing my eyes landed on was a name. Kavya Singh. For a second, my brain refused to process it. It felt wrong and unreal as if my mind simply rejected the letters in front of me.
Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it was someone else with the same name.I read it again and again, but the name didn’t change. My fingers tightened around the paper as I scanned further.
Complaint.
Harassment.
Attempt to rape.
The words blurred, but their weight slammed straight into my chest. “This is fake.” A short, hollow laugh escaped me as I flung the papers away like they were contaminated. “What the fuck is this? Are you kidding me?”
I glared at Dhruv, waiting for him to say something, to correct it, to laugh, to tell me it was some ridiculous misunderstanding. But he didn’t. His gaze stayed fixed on the floor, stiff and guilty, as if he were the one who had filed the complaint.
I dragged a hand through my hair, breathing hard. The words replayed in my head, over and over, each time louder. Legal notice. Complaint. Harassment. Attempt to rape.
“Bullshit!” I hissed, my fist cutting through the air. My heart hammered violently, anger and disbelief twisting together in my gut. This was insane, disgusting and impossible.
“Senior Sir wants to have a word with you, Sir,” Dhruv said slowly, almost reluctantly. “He’ll be here in a few minutes.”
A cold knot formed in my stomach. “But what… ” The words stuck in my throat.
“Excuse me, Sir,” Dhruv cut me off before I could say anything more and quickly walked out of the room.
“What the hell is this?” I whispered, my chest pounding with shock and disbelief.
Kavya Singh? Why would she do this to me?
Why would she file a false report? I hadn’t even touched her.
I had only tried to help her and in return, she was destroying me.
This was the same Kavya who had been crying last night.
The same Kavya whose silence I had mistaken for weakness.
The same sweet, innocent Kavya who barely ever raised her voice.
I pressed my fingers into my temples, trying to make sense of it.
“She wouldn’t,” I muttered. “She can’t. This is fake.”
I rushed back to the papers and scanned them again, slower this time, desperately searching for a mistake. A wrong seal. A forged signature. Anything. But the stamp was real. The signatures were real. The complaint was horrifyingly real.
She really did this.
My hands trembled as I grabbed my phone. I was about to call Kavya, to demand an explanation, to force her to say this was some twisted misunderstanding…
But the door burst open. My father stormed inside like a caged animal finally set free. His face was red, jaw clenched so tightly the muscles twitched. His eyes locked onto me, burning with fury and something even worse…disgust.
“Saurav, what is this?” he demanded through gritted teeth, pointing toward the papers.
My father was a man of reputation, power, and image. A man whose approval could build you and whose anger could erase you. “Answer me!”
I had never seen him this angry before. His face was rigid, his entire body trembling with restrained violence.
“Dad…”
The slap came out of nowhere.
My head snapped to the side, the sting exploding across my cheek.
“How dare you do such a thing!” he thundered.
“Dad, listen to me…”
“Shut up!” he roared and didn’t give me a chance to explain. “You have stained our family’s name. How dare you touch a girl and think this would stay hidden?”
“I didn’t!” I shot back, my teeth clenched, my chest heaving. “It’s a lie. I didn’t do anything. How could you even believe this?”
“Because I know you, Saurav,” he said tightly.
“I know how women have always been your weakness. How you move from one to another without thinking. Do you have any idea what this has done to us? To my company?” His eyes narrowed.
“Somewhere, I always knew this day would come. The day my son would face these kinds of charges.”
“That girl is lying,” I said hoarsely. “How can you not believe me?”
He stepped closer, invading my space, his voice dropping into something lethal.
“The police came to our house last night when you weren’t here. Reporters are already sniffing around.” His lips curled. “Do you know what that means for a family like ours? Do you have any idea what this does to your so-called reputed job?”
That was when it truly hit me. My throat went dry and my heartbeat thundered in my ears.
“You could lose your dream job forever,” he continued coldly. “And I could lose my position in the market if this case is not handled cleverly.” His gaze hardened into something merciless. “If this girl does not take back her complaint… I will forget that I ever had a son.”
I stared at him, disbelief crashing into something close to horror.
“You will fix this,” he said, pointing at me. “Or I will make sure you never step into my life again.”
And then he turned and walked out. The door shut behind him, leaving me standing there alone in the silence, my cheek burning, my hands shaking, my mind drowning in shame and a terror I had never known before.
The next moment, I grabbed my car keys and drove straight to Kavya’s house. I needed answers. Why did she do this? Had I attempted to rape her? Fuck. The thought alone made my stomach twist. I should never have helped her. Never invited her into my house. What if this had all been planned?
Her face flashed in my mind as she was sitting on my bed, looking at me, silently. I remembered the way she had stared, the way I had misunderstood that look. What if she had done it on purpose? What if this had been a trap from the very beginning?
I felt rage surged through my chest, hot and blinding. Desperation followed right after. I had to end this before it destroyed everything.
I pulled up in front of the building and got out of the car, slamming the door behind me. I recognized the place, I had seen her enter it yesterday.
“Kavya!” I shouted as I stormed inside, my voice echoing against cracked walls and narrow corridors. “Kavya!”
“How dare you come here?”
An old man’s sharp voice cut through the air.
Before I could even turn fully, a young man rushed at me, throwing punches. They landed clumsily, full of anger but weak. I barely moved. I could have crushed him right there but I didn’t need another case added to my name.
“Where is Kavya?” I demanded, looking between them.
“After what you did to her, you still have the nerve to ask?” the old man said. His voice shook, tears gathering in his eyes. “What more do you want from my poor child?”
“I’ll kill him, Pa!” the young man snarled, lunging at me again.
I caught his wrist easily and met his eyes with a hard glare. He froze at the same spot.
“Whatever she’s filed against me is wrong,” I said through clenched teeth. “All of it.”
“Wrong?” He took out photographs from his pocket and threw them at my chest. They fluttered to the floor. “We have proof. Look at those and tell me they’re wrong.”
Slowly, I bent to pick one up. The moment I saw it, my breath stalled.
“What the hell is this?” I hissed, crushing the photo in my fist. “Who the fuck took these pictures?”
“We don’t know,” the old man said quietly. “We found them outside our door yesterday.” His eyes hardened. “But I’m glad they exist. They’ll put you behind bars.”
“Are you insane?” I glared at him. “Where is Kavya? I need to talk to her.” I moved toward the stairs, but the young man stepped in front of me and shoved my shoulders.
“You’re not going anywhere near her,” he said. “You’ve already done enough damage to my sister.”
“Where is she?” I demanded, clenching my fist. “I want her to take this complaint back.” My voice dropped dangerously. “I’ll pay. Whatever amount you want.”
“She will not!” her father shouted, loud enough for the neighbors to hear. “You people think money washes away everything?”
“My sister is not something to be used and thrown away,” her brother added bitterly. “She could have been ruined. Do you understand that? Ruined.”
I noticed movement outside as people slowed down, watching and murmurs began to rise. It was becoming a public scene. And it was dangerous not just for me but for my father.
For the first time since this nightmare had begun, something colder than rage crept in. Damage. Reputation. Consequences that could never be undone.
“I want justice,” Kavya’s father said, dragging me back from my thoughts. “And if your family truly feels ashamed then there is only one way.”
I frowned. “What way?”
He looked straight at me. “Marriage.”
The word hit like a gunshot as it went straight through my chest.
“You,” he said coldly, “will marry my daughter.”
I froze.
“So the people know,” he continued, “that we didn’t sell her silence… we protected her honor.”
The air felt thin. My blood drained from my face.
Marriage?
“No money,” he added firmly. “No settlements. My daughter is not for sale.”
My legs felt unsteady. This had gone far beyond a complaint. This was a trap. Somewhere behind that closed door, Kavya was silent. She never once came out. Never once denied it. Never once looked at me.
I had never imagined even in my worst dreams that she would do this. And for the first time since I had read that legal notice, real fear took hold of me.
Because whatever game this was…I was no longer the one controlling it. My life, my career, my future…they were now in someone else’s hands.
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