CHAPTER 47 #2
The meeting room was small but private, with just a table and two chairs.
Mishti had stepped inside alone. The guards remained outside, alert, visible only through the glass panels from their side, not from within the room.
Inside, there was no way to see who stood beyond the walls, only the knowledge that every word spoken here would be heard.
She had even asked Rajat to stay back on the other side of the door, close enough to hear, but far enough not to interfere.
And just when she was still questioning if her decision to come here was right or not, the other side door opened, and he walked in… her father, Dilip Goel.
He looked older than she had imagined. Thinner. His hair was streaked with grey. But his eyes were the same. For a second, he stared at her as though he was looking at a mirage.
Then his face changed as he recognised her.
“My daughter,” he breathed, almost hurrying his steps so abruptly that it scared her. “My Mishu.”
That name twisted something ugly in her stomach. It was what he used to call her once. Long before his hands had been stained with Karan’s mother’s blood. Long before everything had broken.
“I have been dying to see you, my baby,” he said, taking another step toward her.
His eyes shone with a possessive warmth that made her stomach churn.
“I knew one day you would come. I knew it. My sweet, innocent Mishti. You finally know I am alive.”
He reached out, his hand moving toward her face, but Mishti stepped back sharply before he could touch her.
“Don’t touch me,” she said angrily, like a storm was raging inside her. “Stay away.”
The words stunned him into stillness.
“You lost the right to call me that,” she added, her eyes blazing. “You don’t get to call me Mishu anymore.”
She stood there, watching him with anger and disgust.
“Mishu,” he tried again, lowering his voice as though tenderness could undo decades of damage. “What happened? I have waited for this day. For you. Why are you behaving like this?”
“Because your daughter hasn’t come to see you,” she snapped. “Karan Wadhwa’s wife has.”
The colour drained from his face.
She met his gaze head-on, refusing to look away even as her chest burned. “I am here to confront you,” she continued, “for trying to kill my husband. My Karan.”
The room shifted. Dilip stared at her as if she had spoken in a language he refused to understand. His brows drew together.
“What is that supposed to mean?” he demanded. “How can you take his side?” His voice rose. “Do you even know what he has done?”
Mishti did not respond. Her face remained still.
“He married you to take revenge on me,” he continued, pacing a step closer before stopping himself. “You must have realised this by now. He stood right here and told me himself that he would make your life hell.”
His lips curled bitterly.
“And he did,” Dilip barked. “He destroyed everything I had built for you and Daksh. Everything.” His hand sliced through the air.
“I know how men like him are. He must be treating you well in front of others, playing the perfect husband. But behind closed doors, inside the four walls of his house, he must be giving you pain and suffering. Just like he promised me he would.”
Mishti’s fingers curled into fists at her sides.
“And you are standing here asking me why I tried to kill him?” Dilip scoffed. “Why would I not, Mishti? He hurt my children. He snatched their happiness. How else was I supposed to react?”
That was when Mishti finally spoke.
“He snatched our happiness?” she scoffed. “He hurt us?” Her eyes lifted, blazing now. “You are putting the blame on him?”
She took a step forward angrily.
“Why don’t you count your own sins instead?” she snapped. “Why do you never look at yourself? You were the one who started this. You were the one who looted the Wadhwas. You were the one who destroyed their lives bit by bit.”
Dilip stiffened.
“And when that was not enough,” Mishti continued, her voice trembling now with fury, “you killed Karan’s mother.”
For the first time, Dilip faltered. His mouth opened, then closed, as if looking for a defence that refused to come.
“You did not just wrong Karan,” Mishti went on. “You did not just wrong the Wadhwas. You destroyed your own family.” Her voice broke for a brief second before steadying again. “You destroyed your wife’s dreams. You destroyed your children’s future. You destroyed our lives.”
He shook his head sharply. “I did it for my family,” he argued. “Everything I did was for you and Daksh. So that you both could live the life I couldn’t in these prison walls.”
“For us?” Mishti let out a hollow laugh. “I would have preferred death over living on money soaked in other people’s blood.”
She swallowed hard, memories pressing against her ribs.
“You didn’t build our lives; you embarrassed us in society, you snatched our rights to live with our heads high. You didn’t protect us; you only made karma hit us hard, because of your sins.”
Dilip’s face darkened. “I am your father,” he said forcefully. “You cannot speak to me like this.”
“No, you are not my father,” she shouted. “That tie ended long ago. You lost that right the day I learned what you did to Karan and his family.”
His eyes widened, completely shocked at Mishti’s behaviour and tone. “Yes, right. You cannot be my daughter,” he snapped, anger rushing in to replace his shock. “That man has poisoned you against me.” His lips twisted as he spat Karan’s name like an insult. “That b*stard has brainwashed you.”
Mishti stepped forward again, close enough now that he saw her trembling with fury.
“Take my husband’s name with respect, Dilip Goel,” she said loudly. “Or I will forget that the man standing before me is the one whose blood runs in my veins.”
He stared at her, stunned into silence.
“If there were a way to erase every trace of you from me,” she continued, “to erase every gene, every drop of blood, I would have done it long ago.” Her eyes glistened. “Because I regret having a father like you.”
Her chest rose sharply as she inhaled, forcing herself to stay upright.
“You said you did it for us,” Mishti went on. “For your family.” She shook her head slowly. “No. You did not.”
She looked at him with disdain.
“You did it for your greed.”
Dilip opened his mouth, but she didn’t let him speak.
“My mother never demanded a rich life from you. She never asked for luxury. She asked for dignity. For honesty.” Her lips trembled. “And Daksh bhai and I were too young to even understand what money meant.”
She wiped her tears angrily with the back of her hand.
“You did it for yourself,” she said. “Because you wanted money without hard work. Without years of effort. You wanted shortcuts. So, you stole from the Wadhwas, and you broke Karan’s father’s trust.”
Her breathing turned uneven.
“And when his mother caught you and confronted you, you lost control.”
Her eyes burned.
“You killed her.”
The room fell into complete silence.
Only the sound of Mishti’s breathing remained, as tears streamed down her face. She felt Karan’s pain in her bones now, just recalling this incident.
“You did not think of your family,” she said quietly. “Not even for a second while taking that shot.” Her voice shook. “All you thought about was saving yourself. Escaping the situation.”
She swallowed hard.
“But it went wrong,” she said. “And you got caught.”
Her eyes never left his.
“And even then, you did not stop.” Her voice rose again. “You did not feel remorse. You did not feel guilt. You still went after the Wadhwa family’s innocent children.”
Dilip flinched.
“You threatened Karan and Avni.” She shook her head in disbelief and rage. “Was killing their mother not enough for you?”
Her tears kept falling, but her spine stayed straight.
“No matter what excuses you give me,” Mishti said firmly, “you cannot justify any of this.”
She wiped her tears once more, her expression turning frighteningly calm.
“And by trying to kill Karan now,” she said, “you crossed the final line.”
He watched her warily as she took another step closer in a warning, pointing a finger at him.
“If you ever harm him again,” she said slowly, “if you even think of touching my Karan or his family, you will face my wrath.” Her gaze hardened. “And I promise you, it will be worse than anything you have known so far.”
Dilip stood rooted to the spot, speechless. The man who had always believed himself untouchable suddenly looked stripped of every illusion he had carried for years.
“When I learnt what you did,” she said, “and when I found out you were still alive, I never wanted to see your face again,” she added. “If I came here today, it was not for you but for my husband. For Karan. To warn you to back off from his life.”
Dilip’s lips trembled, but she did not stop.
“You will never see me again,” she said flatly. “Because I do not want even the shadow of a man who ruined two beautiful families. His own. And my husband’s.”
Dilip simply watched her as his own tears rolled down his face. But Mishti didn’t stop.
“They say a father is the pride of every daughter. But if fathers are like you, then I was happy being raised as an orphan.”
That was the final blow.
Mishti turned away, her vision blurring as tears finally slipped free. She walked to the door, wiping her tears, refusing to let the man behind her see her crumble.
Behind her, something inside Dilip finally broke.
The guilt he had buried. The regret he had never allowed himself to feel.
The reality he had denied for decades. It all surfaced at once.
His shoulders sagged. His breath shuddered.
For the first time since his imprisonment, his face reflected the regret of his crimes.
But there was no one left to see it.
Mishti was already gone. And with her, his only chance to ever see his daughter again vanished forever.
The moment Mishti crossed the threshold of the meeting room and came out, she froze. Because just outside, at the glass wall separating the meeting room where she had been, stood her husband, Karan.
For a second, her mind refused to accept it.
What was he doing here? When had he come here?
And the way he looked at her, she realised he had heard it all.
Her eyes darted to Rajat, who was a few steps away, and the answer was already there.
Rajat’s silence said everything. He called him here.
He couldn’t hide it from his best friend.
Mishti almost choked as she tried reading Karan’s expressions. There was no explosion in his eyes. No visible fury. No questions. That terrified her more than his anger ever could. His face was carved into stillness, the kind that came only when something inside had already hardened.
She knew he was angry. Not just angry, he was hurt. That she had lied to him and come here to meet her father. She should have told him, but she chose not to.
She took a step forward, instinctively reaching for him, but before she could speak, before she could explain, Karan’s hand came out and closed around her arm firmly.
He did not look at Rajat as he turned her toward the exit. He did not say a word to anyone. He simply walked her out. Mishti stumbled slightly, not because of the grip, but because her legs felt weak. But she did not resist.
Behind them, Rajat followed quietly until they were out. Karan’s driver was already waiting. Karan opened the backseat door for her, and without a word, she got inside, and he followed suit. Once the door shut, the vehicle pulled out of the prison grounds.
Silence wrapped around them instantly.
No words.
No accusations.
No explanations.
Mishti sat stiffly, her hands clenched in her lap, her gaze fixed on the window. The city passed by in blurred fragments, but she saw none of it. Every second stretched, heavy with everything unsaid. Karan too did not look at her throughout the ride.
Mishti wanted to reach for him. To tell him why she had done it. To tell him she had needed to say those words. That she wanted to face that man and end everything between them. But his hard silence warned her not to.