Ch39 The Awakening of RV #3
That was the singular, haunting thought looping endlessly through my mind as I sat at the foot of the bed. My hands moved in slow, rhythmic motions, rubbing the swelling out of her cold feet, but my mind was a chaotic battleground.
Why does seeing you broken like this rip through me so violently?
Why, despite every ounce of my resistance, do I find myself gravitating closer to you with every passing day, Rivanya?
Why are the unyielding, iron-clad walls that I spent years building around my heart suddenly turning to dust the moment you stand before me?
I cannot let you get any closer to me. I simply can't. History is my proof anyone who has ever loved me, anyone who has ever stayed by my side, has been brutally snatched away from me. I am a marked man. I am destined to exist in absolute isolation.
My heart can scream, yearn, or bleed all it wants I don't fucking care.
The only thing I care about right now is your absolute safety, Rivanya.
I will make sure you become completely independent.
I will push you until you are standing entirely on your own two feet, strong enough to face the storm.
And the exact moment you are capable of surviving without anyone's help, I will cut the ties.
I will distance myself from you completely. You deserve every ounce of untamed happiness this world has to offer, and a curse like me can never be the reason behind someone's smile.
Never. I will build you up, make you invincible, but I cannot accept you as my wife in my heart. I cannot make you mine, and I absolutely cannot allow myself to love you...The dark, treacherous quicksand of the world I inhabit is unpredictable.
I live on a knife's edge where death can strike at any given second. Keeping you bound to me under the title of my wife is equivalent to gambling with your very life, and that is a risk I refuse to take.
You have to leave me. You have to step out of my shadow.
Yet, even as these logical, cold thoughts cemented themselves in my mind, a sudden, blinding pain flared in the center of my chest.
It felt as though my soul were physically violently rejecting my own decisions.
Living under the same roof, breathing the same air, Rivanya had silently, effortlessly woven herself into the very fabric of my being.
She was becoming a part of me. But I had to remind myself of the brutal reality staying close to me is a death sentence for her.
And I will burn the world down before I ever let harm touch her.
The silence of the midnight room was broken only by the steady rhythm of Rivanya's soft, medicine-induced breathing.
I continued to press her swollen feet, kneading the tension out of her skin until the swelling finally began to recede.
My hands moved on instinct, but my mind was completely wired, aggressively refusing the very concept of rest.
I have a terrible, toxic relationship with sleep.
It is a curse I've carried for as long as I can remember.
I can easily go two, sometimes three consecutive days without ever closing my eyes, and my body has learned to accept the exhaustion as a permanent state of being.
The reason behind this insomniac torture is always the same my mother.
Every single time I dare to close my eyes, the same harrowing nightmares wrap around my throat, forcing me to relive the exact moment she was violently snatched away from my world.
Sleep doesn't bring me rest; it only brings me back to the graveyard of my past.
Gently sliding Rivanya's feet off my lap, I pulled the heavy duvet over her and stepped away from the bed. The walls of the room felt like they were closing in on me. Desperate for air, I walked out onto the balcony, stepping straight into the freezing chill of the unseasonal storm.
I clasped both my hands behind my back, leaning against the marble railing as I stared blankly at the endless stretch of churning, pitch-black clouds above.
The wind swept across my face, carrying the scent of heavy rain, but it did nothing to cool the phantom fire burning in my chest.
They say that no matter how long, brutal, or dark a night is, dawn always breaks.
Every night has its morning. But as I looked out into the absolute darkness, a bitter truth settled into my soul the pitch-black night that has consumed my life will never see a sunrise.
I am destined to walk in the shadows forever.
Standing alone under the weeping sky, my mind began to unspool, forcefully dragging me back through the chaotic matrix of the last few months.
Every significant incident that had completely altered the trajectory of my life began to replay behind my eyes, vivid and unstoppable, like a tragic film reel playing on loop.
I remembered my sudden journey to Vardhanpur the place where the fractures in my reality began.
It was there that I had finally uncovered that old, heartbreaking piece of paper: my mother's final letter.
That letter was supposed to be my closure, but instead, it became a catalyst, throwing me into a spiral of duty, revenge, and unvoiced grief.
Then, the scenes shifted to the chaotic days leading up to my wedding.
The plan was clear, structured, and entirely transactional.
I was supposed to marry Alisha Bedi to fulfill a specific agenda.
But destiny had played a twisted game with my calculations.
Alisha was replaced, and before I could even process the manipulation, I found myself standing at the altar with Rivanya instead.
She became my wife, a human shield caught in the crossfire of my dark world.
But the most frustrating, terrifying scene in this mental film was my own betrayal against myself.
I remembered how hard I had sworn to keep her at a distance, to treat her as nothing more than a passing responsibility.
Yet, despite every shield I put up, I had started to melt in front of her.
Watching her laugh during Holi, seeing her stand up to me with her quiet bravery, and watching her completely fall apart in my arms under the freezing shower tonight I had slipped.
Against my own will, her presence had started to dismantle the discipline I spent a lifetime perfecting.
I clenched my fists tighter behind my back, my jaw locking as the rain began to mist over my face. You are letting her get too close, Rudraksh, a cold voice echoed in my head. You are letting her touch the dark corners of your soul, forgetting that your touch is nothing but destruction.
As the endless wheel of these thoughts turned in my head, my eyes involuntarily shut for a brief second under the crushing weight of the memory. But then, a cold wave of clarity washed over me. I snapped my eyes open, the exhaustion vanishing instantly, replaced by a pure, unadulterated fury.
Up until this exact moment, I had quietly tolerated every single line Naresh Bedi crossed.
I had held back my wrath, suppressed my instincts, and let his insults slide simply because I believed he was Rivanya's father.
I didn't want his blood on my hands to become a wall between her and me.
But now? Now the truth was out. He had no claim on her.
He was nothing but a parasite who had exploited an innocent girl's life and identity for his own petty greed.
The countdown had officially ended. It was finally time for Naresh Bedi to step directly into my black shadow.
Thinking of what was to come, a dangerous, lethal smirk slowly spread across my face. It had been a very long time since I had personally orchestrated someone's absolute annihilation, and the anticipation felt like adrenaline in my veins.
I pulled out my phone from my pocket, the screen illuminating the dark balcony, and dialed a highly encrypted, private number.
The call didn't even ring twice before it was picked up on the other end.
Without waiting for a greeting, I dropped my voice into a hard, merciless tone, issuing a cold command.
"By tomorrow morning, Bedi Industries must be completely dismantled. Erase them from the market. Bring Naresh Bedi down to the streets."
The moment the confirmation left his mouth, I disconnected the call. I tossed the phone onto the balcony table and looked back out at the roaring storm, watching the lightning split the pitch-black sky.
Naresh Bedi... we have an incredibly long list of debts to settle, I thought, my eyes turning completely dark. Now, you are finally going to learn what kind of a living nightmare the name Rudraksh Vardhan truly is.
The world out there knows me as a powerful, legitimate businessman-the sophisticated face of the Vardhan empire.
But that corporate suit is nothing more than a flawless camouflage.
Behind the elegant facade of Rudraksh Vardhan lies the undisputed kingpin of the underworld: RV.
A name whispered in dark alleys with absolute terror, a shadow that people are terrified to even mention out loud.
Lately, the underground sectors had been buzzing with rumors that RV had grown inactive, that he had gone soft.
It's time to unpause the game, I told myself, checking my knuckles. It's time to resume the mission you left incomplete, RV.
Aside from Vyom, not a single soul in this country knows that I am the supreme head of the Asian Mafia.
The legal empire is just a playground; the real power rests in the hands of RV, the man who ensures that those who commit injustices die like stray dogs.
For the past few months, because of the wedding and the chaos surrounding it, RV had chosen to stay silent, watching from the sidelines.
But my patience had worn entirely thin. It was time to rule the streets again.
A dangerous, terrifying laugh echoed quietly from my throat, cutting through the sound of the howling wind.
Just like the violent, unforgiving darkness of this midnight storm, your life is going to turn pitch-black tomorrow morning, Naresh Bedi. And unlike the natural world, your sky will never see a dawn again.
Naresh Bedi... did you honestly believe you could get away with this?
Did you think I would just overlook the chaos you orchestrated at our wedding, or the toxic misery your wife and daughter inflicted on Rivanya?