Chapter 34 #2
‘Shut up! You don’t know anything!’
Swayam smirked. ‘I know your password.’
Viraj froze.
‘You are such a self-obsessed asshole. You really couldn’t think of anything better than your birthday?’ Swayam asked, disappointed.
Viraj realised they truly knew the password and had accessed his laptop. His anger faltered immediately.
‘And if you had been man enough to love Lavanya even half as much as you love yourself, she wouldn’t have needed to betray you,’ Kashvi added with disgust.
Viraj merely scoffed, puffing out his chest. ‘Go ahead and celebrate for now but you’re still screwed once the reboot timer kicks in.’
Dhruv snorted. ‘Oh, you mean the timer that uploads copies of all your documents to your drive before the laptop automatically factory resets?’
Viraj’s jaw dropped. All his swagger vanished as he stammered, ‘How did you find out?’
‘You’re not the only one with connections in high places. Our friend handles military-grade cybersecurity. This was child’s play for him.’
Viraj shook his head in disbelief. ‘You couldn’t have hacked it. That’s not possible.’
‘We didn’t need to stop it,’ Swayam said casually. ‘Once everything was uploaded, Kuber hacked into your drive and got everything.’
Viraj froze as panic flickered across his face.
‘They’re just bluffing,’ Karthik said with a dismissive wave.
Kashvi sighed. ‘You know, Dad, most people usually learn from their mistakes. But you just don’t seem capable of it.’
Siya held up her phone and turned the screen towards them.
Kashvi instantly understood the shock on their faces.
They were looking at Viraj’s laptop sealed inside a transparent evidence bag, a stark white label across it marked Exhibit A.
Siya had taken the picture herself.
‘We made a list of every person you’ve taken advantage of,’ Siya said coldly. ‘They deserve to know exactly how you violated their trust and privacy, so we plan to tell them everything.’
Abhay crossed his arms. ‘I recognised a few of those names. They have... interesting ties to the underworld, from what I’ve heard. I’m curious to see how they’ll react on seeing this.’
Dhruv let out a low chuckle. ‘Guess I finally understand why he worked so hard to become friends with them.’
‘And they will protect me!’ Karthik shouted.
Swayam stepped forward, his glare hardening. ‘No decent man is going to protect monsters who prey on women. You’re both going to prison for a very long time.’
Karthik exploded, slamming his fist against the desk again. ‘How dare you threaten me in my own house!’
Swayam didn’t back down. ‘You had the audacity to get your wife killed, extort your daughter with private pictures, and exploit your family for money. Honestly, you should be grateful all I’m doing is sending you to jail.’
Karthik looked at Siya, a taunting glint entering his eyes. ‘You won’t do that.’
‘Why not?’ she asked.
He flashed her a smug smile. ‘Because I know you love your sister. You won’t send her to jail.’
Her expression turned glacial. ‘Really? Watch me.’
Kashvi’s breath hitched as fear curled low in her gut.
Swayam wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer against his side. ‘Don’t worry. I won’t let that happen,’ he whispered in her ear.
She squeezed his hand but didn’t answer.
Karthik seemed to realise his eldest daughter was far too furious to fall for his manipulation now, so he turned to Kashvi instead. ‘You know how your sister gets carried away when she’s angry. Tell her to stop before she ruins all our lives because she’s too cheap to give me some money.’
Kashvi stared at him. Her father was actually asking her for mercy. The memory of him disconnecting the call when she had asked for help after the accident made it easy to deny him now. ‘Some money? You don’t deserve a single rupee.’
‘How can you do this to me? I’m your father.’
Kashvi lifted her chin. ‘All you are to me is my mother’s murderer.’
‘Then that makes you one too!’ he shot back with a cruel smile, pointing a finger at her.
She didn’t even flinch. ‘Yes. It does. And I fully intend to make both of us pay for it, even if I have to drag you to hell with me.’
‘You’re better than this, Kashu,’ Karthik pressed desperately, realising his younger daughter was slipping out of his control too. ‘You’re not cold-hearted like Siya. She was always your mother’s pet, but you... You were my girl.’
Kashvi braced her hand against the desk and leaned down until they were eye level.
‘You’ve got it all wrong. You feared Di because her anger was loud. You should’ve feared me, because my rage has lived in silence for years. Now it’s your turn to choke on it.’
Her lips curled into a sharp, vicious smile as she stared straight at him. ‘After all,’ she said softly, ‘I’m your favourite daughter, am I not?’
He recoiled as if she had struck him. ‘There’s too much of your mother in you,’ he sneered.
A genuine smile flickered across her face. ‘That’s the best compliment you’ve ever given me.’
Karthik held her gaze for a moment, then dragged a hand down his face. He sighed. ‘Fine. Keep your money. I’ll leave you alone.’
Siya laughed in disbelief. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. I won’t stop until you’re rotting in prison.’
‘You can even have the photos back,’ Karthik ordered, snapping his fingers at Viraj to hand them over.
‘What the hell? What are you doing?’ Viraj snapped.
‘Shut up. Let me handle this,’ Karthik chided. He turned his glare to Kashvi. ‘You’re so desperate to send me to jail, but do you really think you’ll survive in there?’
Siya chimed in. ‘She has a better chance of surviving than you. Kashu was a minor when the accident happened. The law will be kinder to her.’
Kashvi caught the intent behind it and added, ‘I’ll testify against you. I’ll reveal exactly what you made me do as a witness. Maybe I’ll get only a couple of years for my naive part in it, if that. But you?’
She answered her own question with a click of her tongue.
‘This is ridiculous. No one will believe I had anything to do with Arohi’s death. I wasn’t even in the car.’
Siya shook her head. ‘The last call Maa made was to you, right before the accident. We found the record of it.’
Karthik scoffed, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. ‘Everyone already knows that. I even gave interviews about it because my PR team said it would help my popularity. And it did.’
Siya clenched her jaw. ‘I remember you crying about wishing for more time with her.’
He was fucking sick.
Kashvi glared at him. ‘But you hid the fact that we were in the car too. You kept that out of the media. But we’ll reveal it. All I have to do is confess that you told me to close her eyes, and I obeyed because I was your little girl.’
His jaw clenched. ‘Do you even hear yourself? Are you really crazy enough to ruin your life for this?’
‘If I have to lose everything to destroy you, then so be it,’ Kashvi shot back without hesitation.
He raised his hands, his words tumbling out in a rush. ‘No, listen to me. We can work something out. It doesn’t have to end this way.’
Siya spoke calmly. ‘And it won’t… if you agree to my conditions.’
Kashvi whirled around, her forehead creasing in shock. ‘Di, what?’
Siya squeezed her hand but said nothing.
‘You bitch!’ Karthik burst out. ‘I should’ve known you came with an agenda.’
Siya held his gaze, unyielding. ‘I learned from the best. This is your only chance if you want to hear it, because I’m too busy to visit you in jail later.’
Karthik barely held himself back, his fists clenched on the desk. ‘Fine. What the fuck is it?’
‘Don’t tell him just yet, jaan,’ Abhay cut in smoothly, glaring at him. ‘He still hasn’t asked nicely.’
Karthik let out a sharp exhale. ‘What do you want?’ he asked through gritted teeth.
Siya’s expression turned cold. ‘You will hand over all your electronic devices so we can wipe out your sicko collection. You will be blacklisted from every Kashyap property and business. And you will step down from the trust board, with your access to the fund cut off permanently.’
A beat of silence passed, thick and suffocating.
Viraj let out a disbelieving laugh. ‘He won’t agree to that. This is insane!’
‘Oh, thank you for your useless opinion, because it leads me to my fourth condition,’ Siya remarked in a sickly sweet tone. She turned back to her father. ‘Viraj takes the fall for you and goes to jail. He’s a serial predator who has extorted over fifty women.’
Karthik chuckled. ‘Finally, this is something I can agree to.’
‘It’s in your best interest to agree to all of it. You have five minutes before the police arrive,’ Siya said.
Viraj glowered at her, agitated. ‘Fuck you!’
Swayam spoke easily. ‘Siya, add dowry harassment and domestic violence to the charges too. Lavanya texted an hour ago that she will file an FIR against him.’
Viraj’s head whipped towards him. ‘You’re lying.’
‘I’m not.’
Viraj grabbed Karthik’s arm in a desperate grip. ‘You can’t do this to me. I did everything you asked. You can’t just throw me under the bus like this.’
Karthik yanked his arm free, and his patience snapped. ‘This is your fault. You left your laptop out like an idiot. Now deal with this mess.’
Viraj recoiled. ‘You think I’ll just take this? I’ll expose you too!’
Karthik’s gaze flashed with rage. ‘Are you threatening me?’
Kashvi clicked her tongue softly. ‘See? All you ever do is buy loyalty with fear. In reality, none of them gives a crap about you.’
Dhruv smirked as he looked at Karthik. ‘Exactly. I mean, look at Viraj. He kept a folder of transaction records between the two of you. I thought he’d betray you the second Kashvi gave him the money. Turns out, I was right.’
Fury blazed through Karthik. ‘You greedy, ungrateful idiot! I knew you were shameless, but this?’
Viraj’s jaw tightened. ‘You’re screwing me over too, so I’d say we’re even.’
Then he turned to Kashvi and waved her phone in his hand. He spat venomously, ‘You whore. I’ll leak your pictures right now before anyone can drag me to court.’