ACT II- CHAPTER I VILE REFLECTIONS, REAL REFLECTIONS
The sunshine streamed through the window, a stark contrast to the chaos swirling in Ishaani Rajvanshi's mind.
As she lay in a bed that felt foreign and heavy, memories flickered like old film reels-too bright, too vivid, and yet too painful to fully grasp.
She blinked through the haze of confusion, wishing she could rewind the clock just a few hours.
Buzzing split the morning silence, rhythmically jarring her thoughts.
It was her phone, thrumming insistently on the bedside table like it had a life of its own.
Nayonica Sen, calling. Ishaani cursed under her breath as she saw it flash across the screen, déjà vu crashing over her like a wave.
Once, twice, then three times. Her gut twisted with each ring, swirling the unsettling mix of regret and exhilaration within her.
She wanted to smack her head against the wall for having become that girl-the one who disobeyed her mother, who broke sacred trust, who woke up disoriented and questioning everything.
The girl who had kissed knowing full well the consequences, but doing so with a reckless abandon she never thought she had.
As her phone buzzed yet again, she turned it face down, the little blue light glaring like a spotlight on her conscience. She wanted to scream, to throw the device across the room and shatter it, but instead, she just sank deeper into her own internal chaos.
When the silence became unbearable, she pounded her fist on the wall until it hurt, a physical reminder of her own torment.
The tears that she couldn't release threatened to choke her, and in a moment of desperation, she whispered Tara's name into the pillow, the soft fabric soaking in her anguish.
A wave of regret washed over her, mixed with frustration for even invoking her friend's name.
Tara....
Tara....please
Ishaani ran her fingers over her bruised skin, remnants of last night's turmoil still visible on her knuckles.
I'm a mess.
___________
Days turned into weeks as guilt settled deeper into her bones, consuming her thoughts like lightning strikes piercing the night sky.
Each passing day felt heavier than the last. Her hands, once nimble and strong, began to resemble a map of bruised constellations, each mark telling a story of a battle fought against the confines of her own fears.
By the tenth day of solitude, Ishaani could feel her mother watching her with an intensity that was impossible to ignore. Those knowing glances across the kitchen counter held an unspoken conversation, one that made her insides twist with discomfort.
"You've been quieter than usual," Mumma said, her voice light but perceptively probing as she stirred chai in a delicate cup.
"Just tired," Ishaani muttered, hoping her voice wouldn't crack under the weight of the truth.
Her mother didn't press further. Indian mothers have a way of sensing storms long before the thunder roars, and Ishaani was done being anyone's storm; she was done hurting while holding everyone else together.
That night, she retreated to her room, closing the door behind her and plunging herself into darkness. She sat on the floor, knees drawn to her chest, heart pounding as her phone buzzed yet again. The screen lit up with
When the call lapsed into silence, she pressed her face into the pillow and screamed, the sound muffled but raw and cathartic, echoing against the stark walls of her room.
___________
On a Friday afternoon, Vedika popped by, an unrelenting force of energy radiating from her. With a planner tucked under her arm, she had that look-the "I'm about to therapy you" look-shining in her eyes as she surveyed her best friend.
"Ishaani, you look terrible. Seriously, are you even eating?" Vedika's concern cut through the stagnant air, unabashedly real.
"I'm fine," Ishaani replied, but the lie sat raw on her tongue, bitter enough to spit out.
"Fine?" Vedika raised an eyebrow, arms crossed as she leaned in closer. "You look like someone who just crawled out of a horror movie. The ghost of bad choices, maybe?"
Ishaani tried to muster a smile, even though it felt forced and hollow. "Well, it's fitting, I guess."
"Whatever it is, you can't hide from it forever." Vedika's stance softened, a comforting weight on Ishaani's shoulder, yet it felt heavier still.
"Yeah, well, facing it means seeing Nayonica again," she whispered, her heart racing at the thought of confronting the chaos she had helped create.
_____________
Days later, Amaya cornered her, bringing her unfiltered drama along with her irrefutable energy. She found Ishaani near the front door, arms crossed defiantly, radiating as if she'd just stepped off a Broadway stage.
"Okay, Ishi-pishi, you've either joined a cult or broken a heart."
"Neither," Ishaani shot back, irritation bubbling just beneath the surface.
"Come on! You're not fooling anyone. You've got that broody main-character vibe-like someone who's done something morally questionable."
"Amaya, please, just stop-"
"Was it Nayonica?" Amaya's voice pierced through, loud enough to grab attention, making it impossible for Ishaani to retreat into the shadows.
"BYE, AMAYA!" she exclaimed, panic shooting through her veins, realizing they were all listening.
"Oh my god! You totally hooked up, didn't you?" Amaya's voice was like a needle, sharp and unyielding, cutting through the tension hanging thick in the room.
Vedika shot her a glare while Tara, momentarily halted in her coffee-sipping fa?ade, froze. Her eyes darted to Ishaani, something unreadable flickering there, and just as quickly, she masked it, gripping her mug tighter.
Feeling heat rush to her cheeks, Ishaani muttered something incoherent and bolted upstairs, heart pounding like a drum in her ears, panic spilling over as she raced for safety.
Vedika glanced up, startled. "Nayonica-"
"Where is she?" The sharpness of Nayonica's voice sliced through the tension, smooth yet lethal.
Vedika's uncertainty flickered in her eyes before she gestured toward the corridor. "She's upstairs, I think-"
But before she could finish, Nayonica had already vanished, a whirlwind of emotions trailing behind her.
Tara watched her retreat, a tightening knot of dread forming in her chest. She understood this kind of fury, this raw emotion- it wasn't just anger; it was love twisted by betrayal.
Something sick twisted in her mind as she relished the fact about the situation that Nayonica Sen was distressed because Ishaani didn't want to speak to her.
Tara's rosy lips tilted at an angle which she usually reserved for boardrooms or while exchanging galleries with money. She didn't feel an ounce of shame then.
You really wanted my scrapes Nayonica Sen. Bad News, I shred everything when I leave.
____________
The sudden slam of Ishaani's door startled her, the noise ricocheting through the stillness of her room.
"Nayonica?" she whispered, half-expecting, half-fearing the confrontation to come.
"Don't you 'Nayonica' me!" The voice that thundered through the room belonged to Nayonica, each word crackling like electricity. "You disappear for two weeks after leaving me on that bed all alone-no calls, no texts, nothing! What the hell is wrong with you?"
Ishaani's heart sank. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words materialized. She felt exhausted, the weight of sadness etched into her bruised knuckles and the lazy bun she barely maintained. It was like she'd been fighting a battle against invisible foes, ghosts that wouldn't let her rest.
"I didn't mean to-" she began, but Nayonica's scoff silenced her.
"You didn't mean to?" Nayonica's voice shattered into a brittle laugh, filled with hurt. "You can't just hold me like that one night and then vanish like I never mattered, Ishaani. YOU CAN'T-"
The air between them thickened with unspoken pain. Nayonica's voice broke as she continued, "You can't make me believe you wanted me."
That last line hung in the air, heavy and suffocating.
A sick twist of guilt churned in Ishaani's chest. "I didn't mean to hurt you," she murmured, desperation clinging to every word. "I swear I didn't. But that night-" Her throat tightened, forcing her gaze to the floor. "That night wasn't what you thought it was."
Nayonica's eyes darkened, a storm brewing. "Then what the hell was it, Ishaani?"
Silence enveloped them, broken only by the sound of a heart fracturing.
Finally, Ishaani's voice came out a whisper. "It wasn't you in my head. It was her."
Instant stillness fell over Nayonica. "You mean-Tara." came out a venomous drawl from the depths of Nayonica's heart.
Ishaani nodded, trembling. "I'm sorry, Nayonica. I don't know what's wrong with me. I can't stop thinking about her. Even when I try-especially when I try-she's there. Every time I close my eyes. I feel pathetic, and sick, and guilty, and-"
"Stop," Nayonica interrupted, her voice sharp yet laced with unshed tears.
Please don't cry. Thought Ishaani.
"You're telling me I was just-what? A stand-in? A replica for your heartbreak?"
"It wasn't like that-" Ishaani protested.
"It was exactly like that!" Nayonica's voice erupted, shaking with emotion. "You used me to fill the silence she left. You used me to forget her-and I let you, because I thought maybe...." Her voice broke, "....just maybe, you'd finally see me."
Nayonica gasped for breath, eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I could've been everything you wanted, Ishaani. I would have been. You just had to look at me once and mean it."
Desperate, Ishaani stepped forward. "Nayon-please-"
"NO!" Nayonica's voice cracked, raw and wounded.
"Don't you dare say my name like that. I loved you, Ishaani.
" Her yell was drowned out by a whisper, showcasing the betrayal and disbelief pooling beneath her demeanour.
"I love you. I always have since we were kids playing on those grounds and you punched a boy for me.
" Nayonica's eyes had turned glassy with the supposed memories of her dying days of loving Ishaani- her eyes held the truth for a person as Ishaani that she indeed would be loved if she had simply throttled for it in the right place.
Nayonica's voice was the edge of a broken porcelain plate- fragile, destructed, sharp to the touch.
"I waited, thinking one day-one day-you'd stop writing poems for someone who never deserved you. "
Her breath hitched, breaking the last of her composure. "And I thought that night was it. I thought you finally saw me."
Tears flooded Ishaani's eyes, hands trembling as she whispered, "I did see you, Nayonica. That's what makes it worse."
A hollow laugh escaped Nayonica's lips, almost like a sob, stirring the silence around them. "You saw me? How generous of you."
With a turn, frustration and heartbreak replaced anger in Nayonica's frame. "You can't keep breaking people because you don't know how to fix yourself, Ishaani. You may not be cruel, but you do cruel things."
---
Tara Kapoor hadn't planned on stopping at the top of the stairs. She was supposed to be in and out, just a quick drop-off of the gallery file they needed. But the moment she heard Nayonica's voice rise, something in her froze.
"-It was only her."
"You mean.... Tara."
That one line sliced through the air, wrapping around Tara's heart and squeezing.
She stood there, hidden in the shadows, her breath stalling in her throat.
She wasn't supposed to be eavesdropping, but she couldn't help it.
A turbulent mix of reverence and longing churned inside her, feelings she couldn't quite place, feelings she thought she had locked away.
Backing away slowly, Tara felt her cheeks flush, anything but wanting to be caught. If she stayed there a moment longer, her face would betray her-a canvas of confusion and heartache.
Meanwhile, inside the room, Nayonica stood with her back turned, tension radiating off her like heat from a fire. "You already did," she said quietly, the weight of her words heavy in the air. "You lost me the second you said her name."
Ishaani's voice wavered like she was fighting to hold onto the shards of something fragile. "I never meant to lose you."
For a split second, Tara thought she saw Nayonica's hand twitch, like she was about to turn back, to reach out. But then Nayonica walked away, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor, each step echoing like an emotional countdown. Sharp. Decisive. Heartbreak wrapped in leather.
And Ishaani remained in that stifling silence, the tension thick enough to slice through. Her chest heaved like she'd just sprinted a mile, heart racing and throat dry. Everything she wanted to say hovered in the air, unspoken. The confession lay tangled in her thoughts, burning to escape.
"I ruin everything I touch," she whispered, her voice barely audible, like she was afraid the walls would judge her.
Tara clenched the file against her chest, feeling the weight of their tangled emotions in her own heart.
The air felt charged, electric with unsaid words, complicated feelings, and the echoes of a friendship that now teetered on the edge.
She wished she could just disappear, but the truth was she had a front-row seat to a heart-wrenching drama that was far from over.
As she turned to leave, a single thought swirled in her mind-nothing would ever be the same again. And deep down, she wondered if that was entirely her fault.
I ruin everything that even grazes me, my love. Touch is forbidden.
---
The living room felt colder now, like the air had been quarantined after a crime scene.
Tara's sketchbook lay open on the coffee table-charcoal smudges dark as secrets-and Vedika sat opposite her, laptop lit up like a confession booth.
"Okay," Vedika whispered. "Cipher says he installed the new triple-layer firewall."
The hacker had told them the trafficking ring was sniffing the digital trail.
Which meant the hunters had just become the hunted.
Tara leaned forward, elbows on her knees, eyes still sharp as broken glass.
"They're testing the waters," she murmured. "Trying to see how fast we react."
Vedika nodded. "And Cipher says they've already tried four probing scans today. All failed."
"All?" Tara echoed, one brow lifting. "They're getting sloppy."
"Or desperate."
Then the alert chimed.
Vedika inhaled sharply. "Here we go."
The message unfurled across the screen like a digital serpent:
Tara's spine straightened. "Open it."
Vedika clicked.
A map exploded across the screen.
Three glowing dots.
Three different corners of the planet.
"Classic," Tara muttered. "The holy trinity of tax evasion and moral decay."
Vedika zoomed in on the Mauritius node.
A string of numbers floated into view.
Vedika's jaw clenched. "Shell corp?"
"No." Tara's lips curved in that lethal way of hers. "Shell corps pretend to be real. Haven Trading pretended not to exist."
Vedika scrunched her brows. "What does that mean?"
"It means," Tara explained, leaning closer, "this is a ghost corporation. Paperwork filed, then withdrawn within minutes. Zero assets. Zero employees. Zero footprint."
"Then how the hell did they move money?"
"That's the point." Tara tapped the screen. "You can't seize what technically never existed."
Before Vedika could respond, another file auto-loaded.
A complex web of sub-entities branched out:
· Argus Capital Holdings
· Blue Grotto Relief Fund
· Kallisto Maritime
· Saint Cyprian Outreach Initiative
Every single one had:
Vedika whispered, "They're laundering trafficking money under the guise of charity."
Tara didn't blink. "It's always charity. Nothing hides sin like a halo."
Then came the last node.
The British Virgin Islands.
The screen flickered. Cipher's note popped up:
The file name loaded:
A massive sum glowed on screen-
even the digital font looked uncomfortable reporting it.
Vedika's breath caught. "Tara... that's-"
"Yeah." Tara's voice dropped into a whisper-dark hum. "That's generational wealth."
Three hundred and twenty-seven million USD. $ 327 MILLION
Frozen in place, hidden under fifteen layers of fake ownership:
· A Panamanian lawyer
· A fake Moscow address
· A deceased German national
· A defunct Korean wholesale store
· A Dubai-based export firm with zero exports
· And a trust fund "donated" to itself
Vedika blinked rapidly. "This... is huge."
Tara nodded, mind working like a machine built from vengeance and caffeine.
"They moved money from women's empowerment funds," she murmured, "into shell charities... into offshore nodes... and into this."
Vedika swallowed. "So the trafficking ring is protecting the source of its wealth."
"And now," Tara said, her eyes glinting,
"We know exactly where the arteries are."
Silence.
Then:
C1PH3R again.
Vedika whispered, "One of the Sahastra heirs."
Tara stood up slowly, rolling her sleeves like she was preparing for surgery-or a war she'd already decided to win.
"Good," she said softly.
Too softly.
Vedika raised an eyebrow. "Good?"
Tara's smile was thin, serpentine, unholy.
"He just made our job easier."
Tara worked thoroughly beside Vedika, pretending to be fine as if no other beat could distract her from her own sonatas. But she wasn't fine.
Because the sound of Ishaani saying her name like a prayer was going to haunt her for a very, very long time.
That girl will be the death of me, and I won't be able to control that in any way the Old Tara Kapoor would have.
Fuck You, Ishaani Rajvanshi.
____________
A/N: Dear Readers,