CHAPTER VI FIXATURES OF A GODDESS
The call came at 2:11 a.m., slicing through the quiet like a blade meant to draw blood.
Vedika Rajvanshi was awake because she was always awake.
The dining table was buried beneath files and case law, papers spread wide like the aftermath of a controlled explosion.
Her laptop hummed softly, screen casting a pale glow over her sharp features.
A pen rested between her teeth, chewed nearly to death.
Law did not sleep. Fear didn't either. So when her phone lit up and Ishicka Malhotra bloomed across the screen, Vedika didn't answer.
She stared at it. Long. Hard. Like it might strike if she moved too fast.
Across the room, Devika-barefoot, restless, already halfway feral-stopped pacing by the window. The city lights reflected in her eyes. "Who is it," she asked, though she already knew.
Vedika exhaled slowly and removed the pen from her mouth. "Her."
Devika scoffed, sharp and humorless. "The wife?" She let out a hollow laugh. "Oh, now she remembers we exist?"
The phone kept buzzing. Not polite. Not measured. Persistent. Insistent. This wasn't the calculated silence Ishicka was infamous for. This was panic, bleeding through glass.
Vedika answered.
"What," she said flatly.
There was no greeting. No diplomacy. Ishicka's voice cracked through the line like something shattering under pressure. "He took her."
The silence that followed was absolute. Total. It fell so hard it rang in the bones.
Vedika's spine went rigid. Every muscle locked. "Don't you dare," she said quietly. "Don't you dare say her name like that."
"Ishaani," Ishicka said. Clear. Broken. "Rajveer took Ishaani."
Devika surged forward and grabbed for the phone. "You lying bitch-"
"I tried to stop him," Ishicka snapped, rage flaring hot and sudden. "I tried. I fought him. I am not on his side. I will never be on his side. I've already told you and Tara about it."
Vedika stood so fast her chair toppled backward and clattered to the floor. "You let him!" she said, her voice finally shaking. "You slept in the same fucking bed as him. You smiled at our faces. And now you're calling us at two in the morning saying what-that you grew a conscience?"
"I called for action, perhaps later than deemed moral but," Ishicka shot back. "I remembered."
Devika laughed, sharp and hysterical, the sound of someone cracking at the edges. "Oh, this is rich. The Ishicka Malhotra Sen moral awakening. Should we clap?" Devika shot harshly, as Vedika turned the call to speaker mode, "-or would you prefer slaps?"
"I babysat her," Ishicka said suddenly, completely disregarding what Devika had said, her voice dropping into something raw.
"I watched her eat mangoes on my terrace.
I saw her teach Nayon how to throw a proper punch.
She fell asleep on my couch with a book on her chest and drool on the page.
I watched her grow teeth and opinions and rage.
I could and would not let him destroy her. You have to believe me on this."
Ishicka Malhotra Sen, was a woman of honour and bold arrogance, you would never catch her asking for anything, let alone pleading yet this version of her from across the other end of the phone seemed to put Devika and Vedika in a whirlwind of billows.
Ishicka not only sounded grounded but also, desperately pleading.
Vedika could still remember Ishicka from Cambridge, ruthless and sharply opinionated, and how she had once kicked a boy in the face so hard he had burst a blood vessel and splattered blood on the pristine marble.
Ishicka was not the one who to roll with empathy and humanly thoughtfulness.
Vedika's throat tightened, traitorous and painful. Against her will and against her better judgment.
"You knew," Vedika whispered. "You knew he was capable of this."
"Yes," Ishicka said. "And I hated myself for staying. Every single day. But, not for long, trust me; I've had my behind the curtains ready."
Devika as per usual had not a single ounce of sympathy for vulgarly violent bitches claiming to have been through a lot as a reason so as to why they had been hurting others.
She rarely had a soft corner for humans who had actually been through boulders of hardships in reality, let alone a heinous privileged bitch, who could stop this mental maze fuckery all along.
Devika's voice dropped low and lethal now. "Where is she?"
"I don't know yet," Ishicka said, as she gulped down to get rid of her parched throat. "But he's lying. And when he lies, it's because he thinks he's untouchable."
Vedika closed her eyes. Just for a second. When she opened them, there was blood in them. Not literal. Worse.
"Send us everything," she said. "Every message. Every file. Every suspicion you swallowed for your marriage. If you're lying-"
"I won't survive it," Ishicka finished quietly. "I know."
The call ended.
For three seconds, the house didn't breathe.
Then Devika exploded.
"THAT MOTHERFUCKING BASTARD," she snarled, already grabbing her phone. "I'll burn his goddamn empire brick by brick, and flush those ashes down the toilet." Vedika looked at her older sister properly and realized Devika had lost her composure as well as her temper after a long while.
The way Devika's neck craned as she looked down at the iPad, the jugular vein popping out to an extent where Vedika could name it's exact shade.
How Her pale and big hands were clenched, giving rise to a web of veins coiling around muscles and bones, ready to strangle a man who had took from her the only person she had and would ever care about and love.
Vedika couldn't look at this form of her sister without getting a tad bit uneasy hence she was already dialing.
Rajveer Malhotra picked up on the third ring, irritation thick in his voice.
A man who slept on the hardships of others claiming to have broken a sweat because he had to stack them all to make his bed.
"Do you know what time-"
"Where is my sister?" Vedika said, each word sharpened into a weapon. Devika looked up instinctively, raising an eyebrow letting Vedika know she wished to be let in on the conversation as well, allowing Vedika to put the call on speaker.
Rajveer had paused to let out a yawn which yet again shrieked of pretentiousness and self-assurance, then a scoff. "What sister?!"
"Don't play stupid," Devika cut in, forwarding a step forward or two. "You don't have the range."
Rajveer laughed. Actually laughed. "I have meetings with ministers in six hours. I don't have time for your time of the month hysteria, ladies."
Vedika's hand trembled, from how hard she had been digging her nails into the palm of her hands, enough to leave indentations on it. "If you have even touched her-"
"Touched?" Rajveer interrupted, with the audacity of every fool who considered being owed to be heard by the world.
His sigh ever eminent with the ignorance of a man who rested his foot on the neck of everyone he had ever tortured.
"God, you women are exhausting. I have better things to do than abduct some girl. "
Devika leaned closer to the phone, her voice low and venomous.
"If she so much as has a scratch on her, I will personally make sure you never get to call yourself a man.
" Even Vedika looked shocked at the sheer brutality Devika was owning to offer, yet Rajveer was an insolent human being who rolled his eyes on the other side, shifting in his bed, looking at the woman beside him who was definitely not appeared as Ishicka.
Rajveer yawned, "Threats don't suit you, Devika. You're better at crying like a bitch in court." He chuckled, as though the statement served as a joke of his show and he was righteously the puppeteer.
With that being said, before Devika could annihilate him verbally, the line went dead, with the retrieval of the coward, who had boasted about power not even four minutes ago.
Smart choice from his court for he wouldn't have been able to piece his ego back when Devika would've been done with her opinion on the matter.
Devika stared at the phone as her breathing became shallower than the usual human rhythm and with that, she screamed and hurled the phone across the room.
It collided with the wall and shattered against the it, titanium and glass raining down to fragments of what served as the byproducts of Devika's rage.
Vedika didn't blink, as her eyes remained widened.
Devika eyed Vedika for a moment and with that certainity of every younger sister who was a teeny-tiny bit scared of her older sister, Vedika nodded.
You would not judge her if only Devika Rajvanshi stood in front of you with her big almond eyes filled with rage to the brim of their brown-blue orbs.
Vedika opened her laptop as her fingers flew. Her eyes were blurry yet the blur couldn't have been an aftereffect of sadness or grief, only a maddening sense to drag the prick to the ground who dared to touch her weakest nerve. This wasn't grief yet. This was hunt-mode switching on.
Across the city, in a building that smelled of disinfectant and stale coffee, Naina Rizvi-Roy, 4x recipient of the Fearless Journalism Award, stared down at the file on her desk as something ugly coiled in her gut.
Rajveer Malhotra. Again. Her eyes couldn't believe at first what she was witnessing but she dared not question it all for she knew just how deep down the burrow Rajveer and his sick mentality had been infested.
Shell companies.
Money laundering.
Sex-trafficking.
Political blackmail.
Witness intimidation.
A monster wrapped in tailored suits and sanctimonious interviews.
And now this.
She dialed her sister, Officer Aarya Rizvi -Roy
Aarya answered immediately. "What, didi?"
"They finally gave me clearance," Naina said, "He's dirtier than we thought." Aarya was already moving, shrugging into her jacket. "Say it plain. What exactly do we have at hand?"
"He's running an illegal detention network," Naina said. "Off-the-books holding. Young women. Blackmail leverage. Shell companies, and accounts in places he has no business being in."
Aarya stopped walking to her car, as she heard exactly what she had meant to hear.
"Say that again, di" she said softly.
"Ishaani Rajvanshi, Rajeev Rajvanshi's youngest daughter is missing," Naina continued. "And every thread points to the Malhotra Manor."
The air around Aarya went cold.
"I'll get me a warrant," she said. "Now."
And just like the end of a tyrant's reign, with the slow, hazy ascension of the Sun and the dawn cracked the sky open, as the city was vibrating with it. Something was about to snap.
Rajveer Malhotra was sipping his morning coffee when the knock came.
Not polite and surely not hesitant. A knock that announced consequence.
He opened the door with a smile already loaded. "Officer Rizvi-Roy. To what do I owe-"
Aarya didn't let him finish.
"Rajveer Malhotra," she said, voice flat, eyes lethal. "You are under arrest for conspiracy, unlawful detention, financial crimes, and obstruction of justice."
His smile faltered. Just a flicker.
"This is outrageous," he said. "Do you know who I am?" The audacity he had mustered to sound offended almost baffled Aarya.
"Yes," Aarya said, snapping cuffs around his wrists. "A man who thought power made him invisible."
Behind her, officers flooded the manor like a storm. "You don't have proof," Rajveer sneered. Aarya leaned in, close enough that he could smell her aftershave. "That's what we're here for."
The search was merciless. Drawers ripped open. Walls tapped. Floors scanned. In the west wing, behind a false panel, they found the room.
Dark. Cold. Soundproofed.
A girl lay on the floor, wrists bound, skin pale, bruised and battered, lips parted in shallow breaths. Unconscious yet alive. But barely. Ishaani.
Aarya's chest cracked open. "Medic!" she shouted, dropping to her knees. "Now!"
As they lifted Ishaani onto a stretcher, Aarya looked up.
Rajveer was watching from the hallway, his face finally stripped bare.
"You're done," she told him. "You don't get to touch the world anymore."
Somewhere far away, Vedika's phone rang. She answered with shaking hands.
"We have her, Ms. Rajvanshi" Aarya said. "She's alive."
Vedika jutted her eyes shut as the turmoil made her collapse to her knees, a sob tearing out of her like something feral.
Devika closed her eyes and whispered, "I'll kill him."
And across the city, alone in the grand marble hall, Ishicka Malhotra sat with her hands clasped so tightly her knuckles bled.
Her eyes glared at the man who had petitioned to own her life being dragged away, hopefully forever, leaving the empire to its sole mistress and for the first time in years, she didn't feel like a villain.
Just a woman who had finally chosen to burn the right monster. And reclaim her altar.
And Tara Kapoor wasn't there.
Not in the way that mattered.
She stood out in the hallway, back pressed flat against the cool wall, forehead resting against the glass of the ward door.
Her hands were shaking. Not the dramatic, visible kind.
The quiet, traitorous tremor that crept in when the adrenaline burned out and left you alone with yourself.
The kind you couldn't bully into stopping.
Four days.
Four fucking days of waiting. Of thinking. Of imagining and forcing herself to stop imagining and failing anyway. Four days of holding her breath through every phone call, every update, every delay.
She hadn't screamed. She hadn't collapsed.
She hadn't given anyone the cinematic breakdown they expected from grief.
She had worked. She had coordinated. She had sat shoulder to shoulder with Vedika and cracked open servers with C1PHER, fingers flying across keyboards, voice steady, eyes dry.
She had fetched water. Answered calls. Issued orders.
She had stood like a pillar while everything burned around her.
And now, in the quiet, she felt useless.
Because what the fuck good was she, really?
Ishaani had been taken. Hurt. Broken open by monsters. And Tara had been efficient. Helpful. Functional.
But not there.
The thought sank claws into her ribs. If anything had happened-if Ishaani had died-Tara knew, with sickening clarity, that she would have survived it. She would have kept breathing. Kept moving. Kept functioning.
And that realization made her feel vile. Made her feel less like the dignified woman she honourably held the sash to.
Without meaning to, her soien pressed to the cold hospital wall and she slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor, knees pulled to her chest, head bowed.
Her breath hitched once, twice. She pressed her fist into her mouth to choke the sound before it escaped.
Not here. Not where anyone could see. Not in front of the sisters who were already carrying too much weight.
Inside the ward, Devika paced with her phone pressed to her ear, voice clipped and lethal.
"No bail. I don't care if his name opens doors.
He's charged with trafficking, unlawful detention, assault.
Let him rot. If anyone even whispers the word 'leniency,' I will bury them in paperwork so deep their grandchildren will still be filing appeals. "
Vedika nodded absently, eyes never leaving Ishaani's face. "Good," she murmured. "Let him choke on it. Let him fucking gag and choke until he can't breathe. Such so even if he dies, he gets re-alived to go through the same torture again."
Sneha brushed Ishaani's cheek with her thumb, her voice trembling as she whispered, "Thank you, God. Thank you for bringing my baby back."
Ishaani didn't move. Not yet.
The hours dragged like they were being pulled through mud.
Nurses came and went. Night bled into morning and back again, time losing its edges.
Eventually, Tara stood. She wiped her face, straightened her shoulders, and walked to the sink.
She washed her hands until the water ran cold, scrubbing like she was trying to strip something off her skin-guilt, fear, the image of what could have been.
Then she went back in.
She took a place near the window. A deliberate distance. Close enough to see. Far enough not to intrude. She didn't speak. Didn't sit. She just watched.
And then -movement.
It was small. Barely there. A tremor. Like a bird testing its wings inside a cage.
Vedika saw it first.
"Ishu?" Her voice cracked instantly, shattered on the name. "Ishu, baby?"
Devika leaned in, breath held tight in her chest. Sneha gasped softly, hands flying to her mouth.
Ishaani's lashes fluttered. Her brow creased as if the light hurt. Her lips parted, a weak, broken sound slipping out. Confusion crossed her face first, then pain, then something sharp and raw that looked terrifyingly like fear.
"It's okay," Vedika said quickly, hands cupping her face. "You're safe. You're safe."
Ishaani swallowed hard. Her eyes moved slowly at first, unfocused, then sharpened as the room came into view-machines, white walls, familiar faces hovering too close.
Her gaze slid past them.
And landed on Tara.
Five seconds.
That's all it took.
Her eyes filled instantly, like a dam shattering without warning. Tears spilled over, silent at first, then her face crumpled completely, grief and relief colliding too hard to contain.
Tara froze.
She had been stone for six days. Had convinced herself she could stay that way forever if that was what survival required.
But stone doesn't stand a chance against rain.
Ishaani made a sound-small, raw-and reached for her.
It wasn't graceful. It wasn't strong. It was desperate.
She dragged herself forward with what little strength she had left, arms wrapping around Tara's waist as Tara dropped to the edge of the bed.
Ishaani buried her face against Tara's chest like it was the only solid thing left in the world.
"Tara," she cried, the name breaking apart in her mouth. "Tara... Tara..."
The sound tore straight through her.
Tara didn't think. Didn't decide. She shattered.
Her arms came around Ishaani hard-too hard-pulling her close like she was trying to fuse them together. One hand cradled the back of Ishaani's head, fingers threading into her hair, the other wrapped around her shoulders, holding her upright, holding her together.
"I've got you," Tara choked, tears spilling freely now. "I've got you. I've got you."
Ishaani sobbed against her, body shaking, weak and wrecked and alive. She clutched Tara's shirt in both fists, twisting the fabric like it was the only anchor left in existence.
"Tara," she wailed again, muffled and broken, repeated like a prayer. No one else heard it properly, her face buried where it was-but Tara felt every syllable vibrate through her chest.
She tightened her hold, almost suffocating, like if she held on hard enough nothing bad could ever touch her again. Her tears soaked into Ishaani's hair, her neck, the thin hospital gown.
Vedika let out a broken laugh-sob, hands flying to her mouth. "Oh my God," she cried. "She's awake. She's awake."
Devika stepped in, wrapping her arms around both of them, pressing her forehead to Ishaani's back. "Don't ever do that to us again," she said hoarsely. "You hear me? Never."
Sneha joined them, kissing Ishaani's temple again and again as her tears finally spilled free. "My Shona, don't ever get away from me again." she whispered.
They became a mess of arms and grief and relief, a knot of people clinging to the simple, fragile fact that this girl was still breathing.
Tara held Ishaani tighter, no longer trying to hide the way her shoulders shook. Ishaani didn't stop saying her name. Each time it landed, it hurt and healed all at once.
And Tara Kapoor crumbled completely to date because even statues crumble when they're made to wait.
She buried her face against Ishaani's head, tears unstoppable now, uncaring of who saw or what it meant. All that mattered was this-warmth, weight, breath, life in her arms.
And she knew, with terrifying certainty, that she would choose to be vulnerable each day, if that's what it took to keep her there.
For the first time in days, the room felt full.
Not of fear.
But, Of life.