CHAPTER 3
Goel Mansion
The music still pulsed, the champagne glasses still clinked, and the newlyweds’ names still echoed across the hall in good wishes.
But Karan had stopped hearing any of it.
Every smile, every congratulatory tap on his back, every flash of a camera felt like grit in his throat.
Because marrying Mishti Goel wasn’t a celebration, it was a move in a game far darker than anyone in that glittering room could imagine.
Besides, just being within the walls of the Goel mansion was enough to make his stomach turn.
But what really turned the air to fire was the sight of her.
From across the hall, he watched his best friend and his wife talking like they’d known each other for years. Rajat laughed at something Mishti said, and she smiled in response. The kind of smile that could win hearts. Except his.
“She is enjoying herself,” Kanika murmured, nodding toward Mishti. “Even making friends. But Rajat’s overconcern for your wife… that’s starting to test my patience.”
Yes. It was testing his patience as well. He didn’t want his best friend to show softness towards the Goels. In a single stride, he crossed the room straight towards his friend and wife. It was Rajat who noticed him first.
“Karan, man, finally! I was just telling Mishti—”
“Enjoying yourself?” Karan’s gaze flicked to his wife, then back to Rajat, who blinked, catching the undercurrent.
“We were just talking, buddy,” he said.
“Good.” His lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “Keep it that way.”
Rajat could read his friend's jealousy, who now turned to his wife. “We’re leaving,” Karan said.
“Now?” she asked, worried. “But…the party isn’t even over. It’s our reception. How can we leave?”
“When I say it’s over, Mishti.” He stepped in closer, almost intimidating her. “It’s over.”
Before she could respond, his fingers wrapped around her wrist firmly.
“I haven’t even said bye to Daksh Bhai and Divya Bhabhi—”
“Message them,” he cut in, already steering her toward the exit.
Rajat smirked behind them. “Hey, Mishti!” he called out, loud enough for half the hall to hear. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell the others you two vanished. No one’s going to mind. Everyone knows why a newly married couple leaves early, right?”
Laughter rippled around them.
Mishti’s face burned, but Karan didn’t even flinch as he guided her through the doors of the mansion. The moment they reached the car, he let go of her hand.
“Stop being overfriendly with my friends. And be careful who you smile for, Mishti.”
Her pulse kicked. So that was his problem? That she was happy talking to his friend?
“I’m glad you noticed,” she mocked. “That, unfortunately, despite being my husband, you haven’t given me a reason to smile with you.”
His jaw flexed, eyes darkening further, but he didn’t say a word. Instead, he got into the car and started the engine. His eyes were on the road, like he couldn’t wait to be away from this house, this family, this night. Mishti turned around once to see her home before getting into the car.
The drive was silent again, with Mishti texting Divya that they had to leave early, without goodbyes.
When they finally reached the mansion, she opened the car door, expecting him to follow. But he didn’t.
“Aren’t you coming in?” she asked softly.
His hand tightened around the steering wheel. “Get down.”
She hesitated. “But—”
“Get down, Mishti,” he shouted.
The guards near the gate looked up. She stepped out, fighting the sting in her eyes. The moment she closed the door, he slammed his foot on the accelerator, and the Mercedes roared into the night again.
The taillights vanished beyond the gates, leaving his bride standing under the same stars that had watched her promise forever to a man who’d just left her at the doorstep of it.
***************
Wadhwa Mansion – A few hours later
It was midnight by the time Mishti made her decision.
She pushed the door open of Karan’s room and entered.
She knew she had no right to be here. He had already warned her to stay away from this room, but she needed answers.
From him. Where did he go every night? Why did he refuse to share a word, a bed, or even a look?
Why did he put such brutal distance between them when only hours before they had exchanged vows?
Why even marry her if this was how he had to treat her?
Mishti did not know where she found the courage.
Maybe it was the same stubbornness that had kept her upright through a childhood of half-answers.
Maybe it was that tiny, fierce voice inside her that would not be quiet anymore.
Whatever it was, she needed to know where she stood in this marriage, and in Karan Wadhwa’s life.
As minutes passed, she didn’t realise that while waiting for him on his bed, she dozed off. Not until a harsh sound snapped her awake and there, he was…standing at the edge of the bed.
Seeing those furious expressions on his face, she almost scrambled to her feet. But before she could utter a word, he grabbed her wrist and hauled her toward the door again as if she were a trespasser.
“Karan!” she cried. “Stop. Please, you can’t—”
“I told you not to come in here,” he snapped. “I don’t like people not obeying my orders, Mishti.”
Both fury and hurt flared hot as she planted her feet and faced him.
“Why?” she demanded. “Why am I not allowed? You married me, didn’t you? We stood before the holy fire. We took vows. Then why can’t you share this room with me? Why won’t you give me the respect every wife deserves?”
“Because I hate you,” he said.
The words were too blunt, yet the declaration landed like a blow. Mishti’s knees wobbled, but she knew this was not the time to back off. She had rehearsed a dozen gentler ways to ask, but not anymore.
“Then why did you marry me? If you hate me so much, then why make me your wife?”
“I don’t need to tell you why.”
“You do,” she argued, firmly this time. “I am your wife, your better half, Karan. I deserve the truth.”
He took a breath before leaning closer, so close she could read the colour in his eyes. Red.
“You are my wife, yes, but you mean nothing to me. So never use that as a leverage in our arguments.”
Heat flamed up behind her eyes. She swallowed the sob before meeting his eyes again.
“Fine. If this is how you see me, if this marriage means nothing to you and you won’t even tell me the truth, then I won’t stay here.
I’m leaving. My life at home wasn’t perfect, Mr Karan Wadhwa, but it was kinder.
At least there I wasn’t treated like this.
As a no one. You are welcome to live in your house, as you always have. Alone.”
The moment she turned around to leave, he grabbed her wrist again, but she didn’t turn yet.
“Don’t go,” he said suddenly, almost pleading. “I didn’t mean what I said. You are right. I’ve been used to living in this house empty, used to waking without someone here. I don’t want to live alone like that anymore. Stay with me. Forever.”
She blinked, bewildered. Although she was confused by his sudden softness, part of her wanted to believe him. But the moment she turned around again, his face rearranged into that same cruel calm.
“If you think I’m going to say all that to keep you here,” he continued, “to stop you? Then you are wrong. This marriage was business, Mishti. A transaction,” he finally blurted out.
“KW Capital Ventures thrives on taking over broken empires. I take over collapsing companies, strip them to their bones, and decide whether they’re worth saving or worth burying.
This time, it was your brother’s company that needed saving.
And his way of payment… was you. I saved his business.
He gave me his sister in marriage. That was the deal. ”
The room almost tilted around her. She had suspected a convenience in this marriage, but not this.
“So, I am not going to stop you from leaving. If you want to walk away, please go. But tell your brother the moment you reach his doors, that his company would not be safe anymore. Tell him, I will see it burn to ashes. He wanted to barter; he knew the terms. If you leave, you leave with that.”
Mishti felt the world tilt again. “You can’t mean that.”
“I mean every word.” He stepped forward until there was no space between them.
Her tears had nearly dried by the time he finished speaking.
The betrayal of her brother was more than she could contain.
Daksh did what he wanted to. But if Karan had wanted a wife, why subject her to this cruelty?
He hadn’t even touched her, not once. Why did he even marry her then?
He was holding parts of the truth, that much was clear, and the look in his eyes told her everything she needed to know: he would carry out his threat.
Karan stood there like a stone, without any remorse, without the smallest regard for the bond they had.
If this was going to be the life he offered, she had no reason to remain under the same roof, continuing this marriage that felt like a sentence.
She would go home first, talk to Divya and Daksh Bhai, and tell them everything; she couldn’t imagine living another day beside a man who treated her like collateral.
Karan gave her one last, cold glare before he turned around, back into his room and then snapped the door shut behind her.
If she left, he would make the Goels’ lives miserable.
If she stayed, it would still be the same.
Either way, the Goels had just signed up for their forever doom, and he couldn’t wait.
***************
The next morning, a sharp, impatient knock jolted Karan awake. He muttered a curse under his breath, dragging a hand through his hair before yanking the door open.
Maria stood there, looking pale and uneasy.
“Sir,” she began, wringing her hands nervously, “Mishti ma’am isn’t in her room.”
Karan’s expression hardened instantly.