CHAPTER 26 #3
“You cannot undo anything,” Dilip continued. “It’s done. And it’s all your father’s fault. He trusted too easily. He believed in loyalty. That was his mistake. This world does not reward honest men, Karan. It rewards the smart ones, the ones who know when to take what they want.”
Karan’s fingers pressed harder into the table, knuckles whitening. He could feel the old memories clawing their way back. His mother standing before Dilip Goel that day in his farmhouse, refusing to be intimidated. The way she had believed that truth would protect her. That law would protect her.
“You stole from my father,” he snapped. “You looted his company while he was dying. You drained it piece by piece while he lay helpless, fighting a disease that was already killing him. And when my mother tried to expose you, you killed her.” His eyes burned into Dilip’s face.
“You burned our name, our family, our future. And you are proud of it?”
Dilip’s grin remained intact, as if Karan were accusing him of nothing more than a clever business move.
“My conscience is clear,” Dilip replied calmly. “I did what I had to do. I used the opportunity when it came. That is how the world works.” He leaned back slightly. “Your father was already dying. No medicine could have saved him. The company would have collapsed anyway.”
Karan’s breath grew heavier, his control thinning.
“And your mother,” Dilip continued, almost dismissively, “she interfered where she shouldn’t have.
She should have understood the game she was stepping into before coming to confront me alone.
” His lips curved faintly. “She knew I had temper issues. She knew I could hurt her. Yet she acted like a fool.” He shrugged. “Of course she had to die.”
That was when Karan’s control slipped. He surged forward, gripping Dilip by the collar and slamming him against the wall with a force that rattled the room.
His forearm pressed hard into Dilip’s throat, cutting off his breath, his fingers curling tighter as years of rage finally found a body to land on.
“She trusted you,” Karan said, his voice shaking now. “She believed you would listen and accept your sins. But you put a bullet through her chest.”
His knuckles whitened around Dilip’s neck as the words left him, every memory crashing through his veins at once.
“You watched her die,” Karan continued through clenched teeth. “You watched her bleed on the floor, and you felt nothing.”
Dilip coughed, a broken sound forced out between gasps.
The guards shouted and rushed in immediately, gripping Karan’s arms, pulling him back before the moment could turn irreversible. One of them shouted a warning to Karan. Another threatened to end the meeting right there.
Karan let them pull him away. He did not resist. His chest rose and fell as he forced his rage back into place.
Dilip straightened his clothes slowly, still smiling, still breathing hard, but victorious in his own mind.
“See?” Dilip said once his voice returned.
“Even now, you can’t do anything.” His eyes gleamed.
“I regret nothing, Karan. I secured my family’s future.
My son runs a successful business. My daughter lives in comfort.
Respect. A good name. Soon she’ll be married into the right family, living the life she deserves.
I gave them everything. So even if I die in this prison, I’ve already won. ”
That was the moment Karan stopped breathing for a second and smiled.
“You think you’ve won?” he asked. “That you can sit behind these bars, breathing easy, enjoying the life you bought for your children while we rotted? That’s not happening.”
Dilip let out a laugh, sharp and dismissive, as if Karan had merely entertained him with an impossible fantasy. “You can do nothing,” he said with certainty. “You can never find them.”
“I have found them.”
Dilip’s laughter died mid-breath. The colour drained from his face so fast it was impossible to miss. His eyes widened.
“That’s not possible,” Dilip said, shaking his head once. “You’re lying.”
For years, even from inside these prison walls, Dilip had ensured his family remained invisible.
Through loyal men on the outside, through favours and money, he had erased every trace that could connect his children to his name, to his crimes.
They had left the city when they were young, disappeared into new lives.
And when they returned years later, grown and settled, no one had known who they were or where they came from.
That was the story Dilip had believed.
Karan watched the panic surface, and for the first time since the meeting began, he felt satisfied. The man who had once believed himself untouchable was scrambling, trying to understand where he had missed.
“I know your children Daksh Goel and Mishti Goel,” Karan stated, “are here in Mumbai for the last one and a half years.”
Dilip’s breath hitched.
“The world may not remember whose children they are,” Karan went on. “But I do.”
Dilip stared at Karan now, as if seeing him for the first time, not as a boy who had lost everything, but as a man who had rebuilt himself with purpose.
Dilip’s face was slick with sweat now, his fingers curling against the edge of the table.
“You thought you had secured their future,” Karan continued, “You built their lives on blood money. My family’s blood. So now I will take it back. All of it. I won’t let you die with your victory intact.”
Dilip’s breathing turned uneven.
Karan leaned closer, close enough that Dilip could hear the controlled fury in every breath he took.
“Your son’s empire will crumble,” he continued.
“Slowly. Piece by piece. And your daughter, your favourite of the two, the one you are so proud of, she will marry a man you would never approve of.” His lips curved slightly.
“I will marry her and make sure she pays for every sleepless night you caused my family. You will watch their world collapse, and you will not be able to stop it.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Dilip snapped, slamming a hand against Karan’s chest.
“Oh, I will,” Karan replied without hesitation, shrugging off Dilip’s hands.
“I’ll bring your son on the roads to beg.
And I will make your daughter’s life a living hell.
They will feel the same pain you gave my mother.
Betrayal. Loss. Destruction.” His gaze hardened.
“You wanted to protect them, Dilip, but the price of your sins will be paid in full. By them. That is a promise.”
Dilip surged forward, fury exploding out of him.
“You b*stard,” he shouted. “Leave them out of this.”
The guards now pulled Dilip behind, not letting him touch Karan.
“You didn’t leave us out of it, did you?” Karan said coldly. “You killed my mother in front of me. You destroyed everything I had. Now you will die watching me do the same to your bloodline.”
He turned toward the door, already done with the man behind him. Then he paused, his hand on the handle, and glanced back one final time.
“The next time we meet, your children will be broken. And you will finally know what it feels like to lose everything.”
“You will regret this, Karan,” Dilip shouted after him as Karan walked away. “I will kill you if you touch my children.”
Karan did not slow down. He did not turn back. He left the visiting room carrying his promise and having every intention to fulfil it.