Devyani's screams
Rudraksh, Payal and Aaradhya passed the corridor on an errand. The three of them slowed, drawn by the unmistakable sound of someone plotting aloud.
Kashvi was sitting in a sunlit lounge, phone tucked against one ear, her fingers drumming on the arm of the chair.
Her voice was bright and a little breathless with excitement.
"I flew all the way from London for him can you imagine?
And now he didn't even come." She made a tiny, theatrical pout.
"But that's fine. Next month is the meeting.
I worked two years to set this up, and I'll make the most of it. "
She leaned forward conspiratorially, eyes glittering. "Listen everyone says he never interacts with girls, never lets anyone come close. He hates women, they claim. That's just a challenge. A puzzle. And you know me I love puzzles." She laughed softly, a sound like silk.
Kashvi's tone shifted from disappointment to fierce determination.
"Once I talk to him, I'll use my charm. I'll make him listen.
I'll make him see me." She tapped her nails on her glass and closed her eyes a little, imagining the scene.
"I'll be subtle at first the right question, the right compliment, a quiet laugh at something he says.
And then little by little he'll look. He won't know why, but he will look. "
She grinned, the smile that was all confidence and strategy.
"After that, I'll make sure it becomes impossible for him not to notice me.
He'll begin to be curious. Curiosity leads to conversation; conversation leads to meetings.
And well... I plan to be unforgettable." Her words were practiced, each one polished to sound casual but meant to land like a stone in a pond.
Kashvi's voice dropped slightly, the private thrill of it becoming almost greedy.
"Everyone talks about him already. Imagine when he's with me, the world will talk about us.
His name attached to mine... that will be my moment.
I can see the headlines already." She laughed again, the sound full of delicious anticipation.
"And let's be honest," she added, tossing her hair, "he's handsome. He's dangerous. That combination it's irresistible. I don't just want to be noticed; I want to be the reason people notice him differently. I want to be the one who changes his world."
Rudraksh, Payal and Aaradhya exchanged looks. Rudraksh snorted softly under his breath. Aaradhya rolled her eyes; Payal's smile was sharp and sour. They moved on quietly the information sinking in like seeds that would sprout trouble later.
Kashvi, unaware that her monologue had been overheard, continued, softer now, as if confessing to herself, "I can't wait. Next month, I'll meet him. I'll see what he's really like. People say he's cold, but everyone has a crack. I'll find it. And when I do... everything will change."
The three of them moved like a single unit a ripple of family loyalty turned into motion.
"How dare she." Aaradhya's face flashed hot; her voice was small but sharp.
"Who does she think she is?" Rudraksh ground out, cheeks flushed. "Talking about our brother like that acting like she can just walk in and steal him."
Payal's eyes burned. "Even if he were single, she'll never be our bhaiyya's wife. Not on our watch."
"I'll kill her," Aaradhya blurted, more fury than threat in her tone.
"Come on," Rudraksh said, rising, "let's show her who the Thakur siblings are."
They strode toward Kashvi like thunder over marble. The air around the lounge tightened; the quiet clink of cutlery paused as a few servants glanced up. Kashvi, still sitting, finally felt the shift and looked up. Her smile faltered for the first time.
"You guys want something?" she asked, trying to keep the laugh in her voice.
Aaradhya didn't wait. "First get up before you talk to us."
Kashvi's brow drew together. She rose slowly, smoothing her dress with a practiced hand. "What's the matter?" she said, peevish, trying to toss off the tension as if it were only a trifle.
Payal leaned forward, eyes cold. "How dare you speak of our brother like that? It's disrespectful."
Kashvi rolled her eyes, the gesture sharp as a knife. "Oh, so you heard me," she said, with mock innocence. "Did no one teach you manners? You don't eavesdrop on other people's conversations."
Aaradhya's jaw worked. "And is it good manners to talk about someone else? To call someone cheap and then boast you'll be the one to marry our brother?" Her voice rose, controlled rage riffling with every word.
Kashvi's smile thinned the first crack in her poise.
Aradhya's eyes flashed. "Listen to me," she snapped, leaning forward, "don't you dare speak my brother's name like that. And don't you even think about marrying him step out of your delusion."
My brother is "MARRIED"
The word landed like a thunderclap.
Kashvi's face went white. "What? He's already married? When? Where? How? You're lying."
Rudraksh's voice snapped like a whip. "We're not lying. He is married." His jaw tightened, anger boiling up. "The girl you insulted at the dining table she is our bhabhi. She is Rivan Thakur's wife."
The statement hit Kashvi so hard she could barely breathe. Her planned future the headlines, the parties, the claim to fame collapsed in an instant. Her voice came out in a strangled whisper. "What? Married? Him?"
"You heard us," Payal said coldly. "So control your mouth."
Kashvi's panic turned to fury. "That cheap girl is his wife? Have you lost your minds? How can he be married? He's mine—"
Before she could finish, Aradhya's hand moved. The slap landed clean across Kashvi's cheek, the sound sharp in the hush that followed.
"Mind your filthy tongue," Aradhya hissed, eyes blazing. "He is married. Not yours. How dare you call her cheap? She is our bhabhi. She is Rivan Thakur's wife. Don't you dare speak about her that way."
Kashvi stood stunned, fingers touching her burning cheek, the color draining from her carefully made-up face. Around them, the younger Thakurs' expressions hardened protective, fierce, and unmistakably family.
Kashvi's lips curled into a snarl, crimson flushing her cheeks as if the room's air had suddenly heated. "How dare you hit me?" she spat, each word sharp as glass. The insult hung in the corridor like a thrown challenge.
Rudraksh moved without thought not violence for the sake of violence, but the raw, immediate ferocity of a brother who had seen a threat to someone he loved.
He stepped forward close enough that she could see the hard set of his jaw, the white seam of his knuckles.
His voice dropped to a tone that left no doubt it was a promise, not a threat: "Touch her again, and I'll show you a kind of hell you didn't know existed.
" The coarse curse he breathed out had the weight of the family behind it.
It was the language of protectors fierce, final, and deadly calm.
Around him, the others tightened. Aaradhya's eyes flashed like steel; Payal's fingers curled into a small, controlled fist. Their presence expanded until it felt as if the air itself conspired to box Kashvi in.
The siblings were no longer merely annoyed they had become a single, impenetrable wall of wrath that radiated a dangerous, territorial heat.
"You hear me?" Rudraksh said, each word low and close to her face. "You will not ever say anything disrespectful about our bhabhi. Not here, not anywhere. If a single breath leaves you that tries to humiliate her, I'll make sure you regret the day you opened your mouth."
Aaradhya stepped forward, her own voice a hard-edged echo of his.
"She's family," she said simply. "And you will not speak of family like that.
Get out of our way before we decide what the consequences will be.
" Her hand was steady, her face a portrait of controlled fury.
It was an anger born of love quick, uncompromising, and protective.
Kashvi's smile, the one that had been so confident only moments ago, crumbled.
The place that had been full of gilded comfort now felt too small, too loud.
For the first time since she arrived, she was the one who looked exposed.
Her practiced poise faltered; the veneer of entitlement cracked.
Her earlier swagger gave way to a brittle tremor.
"You can't—" she tried to retort, but the words stuck in her throat, swallowed by the heat of their united glare.
"Leave this place," Aditya said finally, his voice flat and unbending. "Before you make more enemies than you can count." There was no menace in his tone, only the chill of absolute refusal.
The siblings turned as one and left, their footsteps heavy and precise, the echo of each step a promise that they would not forget this.
Behind them, the air settled cold and hard, and Kashvi stood alone amid the grandeur that suddenly felt hostile. She raised a trembling hand to her face, to the sting that reminded her she'd crossed a line she hadn't intended to cross.
Kashvi stood alone in her suite, the grand mirrors and silk drapes suddenly feeling like witnesses to her humiliation.
The slap still burned across her cheek; the sting was nothing compared to the taste of defeat in her mouth.
She had imagined headlines, celebrations, and a life rearranged around him and now that dream lay crushed at her feet.
Her breath came fast and shallow. For a moment she simply stared at her reflection: perfect hair, flawless makeup, a dress designed to turn heads. On the surface she looked unhurt; inside, a storm raged.
"How dare they?" she hissed into the silence, the words jagged. "How dare they treat me like this? Who do they think they are?" She paced the room, heels clicking harder with each step, the sound matching the beat of fury inside her.
Betrayal burned hotter than the slap. He was married married to someone she'd called cheap.
The picture she'd painted in her head of him kneeling, smitten and grateful, lay shattered like glass.
Instead of being the victor, she'd been publicly humiliated.
It wasn't just a bruise to her pride. It was an insult to the future she'd already charted.
Her fingers curled into fists. "They'll pay for this," she whispered, voice low and cold. "They will all pay." The calm in her whisper was worse than a scream it carried that raw, methodical edge of someone who'd already begun arranging casualties.
Kashvi's thoughts darted to Devyani, fragile, pale, and untouched by the world. Fury curdled into something colder. If that girl was indeed the reason she'd been discarded, then the girl would be her target. Not with open violence that would be crude and obvious but with humiliation.
She laughed then a short, humorless sound at how quickly her daydream of glamour had curdled into a manual for revenge. "They think they can shut me out," she muttered, walking back into the room. "They have no idea what they've unleashed."
Kashvi called someone and said coldly, "Do exactly as I said." Then she cut the call, a dark smirk curving her lips. "Now let's see who will save you," she whispered. "Rivan is mine — mine! I won't let anyone take him from me, not even in their dreams."
.
.
Moments later, Payal entered the room where Devyani was sitting quietly by the window. "Bhabhi," Payal said sweetly, "for tonight's party, Badi Maa has sent some designer sarees. She said you can choose whichever you like."
Devyani smiled faintly and nodded. "Haa, okay. Thank you, Payal."
Then she looked a little tired and said softly, "Payal, since it's at night, I want to rest for some time."
Payal smiled understandingly. "Of course, bhabhi. It's still noon you can rest as much as you want." Saying this, she left the room.
After some time, there was a knock on the door. Devyani got up slowly and opened it. A servant stood there with her head bowed.
"Ma'am," the servant said politely, "Bade Ma'am has called you."
Devyani frowned slightly. "Called me? Where?"
The servant said, "Please, let me guide you."
Devyani just hummed softly and started following her. They walked for quite a while the palace was so enormous that each hallway looked endless. After some distance, Devyani's steps slowed; her feet were starting to ache.
She asked softly, "Where are you taking me? It's too far..."
The servant kept walking, her tone slightly nervous. "Only a little more, Ma'am. We are almost there."
The servant's hurried footsteps echoed in the long corridor, the marble floor cold beneath Devyani's bare feet. The sunlight from the windows was fading, replaced by dusky shadows that crawled along the walls of the Oberoi Palace.
"Where... where are you taking me?" she asked again, her voice trembling this time.
The servant didn't meet her eyes, only muttering nervously, "Just a little ahead, Ma'am. Bade Ma'am said she's waiting."
Devyani frowned slightly, clutching her saree pallu tightly in her hand. "But... this place... it doesn't look like—"
Her voice faded as they turned a corner.
The corridors here were different no lights, no decorations, no sound of people only silence so deep that even her soft anklet seemed too loud.
"Please, go inside, Ma'am," she said, voice tight.
Devyani blinked, confused. "But... you're not coming?"
"I've been told only you can enter," the servant replied, taking a step back. "Bade Ma'am is waiting inside."
Devyani's fingers trembled as she looked at the door tall, carved with golden borders, but eerily quiet behind it. Something inside her screamed not to open it.
Her throat went dry. "You're sure she's... inside?"
"Yes, Ma'am," the servant whispered quickly, her eyes darting around nervously.
And then, before Devyani could ask another word, the servant turned and hurried away her footsteps fading down the long hall.
Devyani stood there, alone.
Her heartbeat was so loud she could hear it in her ears.
She took a small step toward the door. Her hands shook as she reached for the knob. "Bade... Ma'am?" she called softly, her voice echoing into the silence.
No response.
Her chest tightened. She hesitated, then slowly pushed the door open it creaked sharply, slicing through the still air.
The room inside was dark, only a faint orange light spilling through a high window. The air smelled strange like dust and something burnt.
"Bade... Ma'am?" she called again, her voice smaller now.
Still nothing.
She stepped inside, taking one, two hesitant steps forward. The door behind her suddenly shut with a loud thud.
Devyani froze, spinning around
but the door was already locked.
Her hands reached for the handle, trembling, twisting it wouldn't move. "He... hello? Is someone there?"
Her voice cracked, fear beginning to claw its way up her throat.
Unseen from her, a figure leaned against the wall Kashvi, smirking wickedly as she watched her.
"Now let's see," she whispered to herself, eyes glinting darkly, "who saves you this time, Mrs. Rivan Thakur."
Her smile widened into something almost insane.
"Because tonight, I'll make sure you disappear before the party even begins."
Kashvi stood waiting like a viper, her smile gone; all the sweetness was gone from her face. The moment Devyani stepped in, Kashvi lunged forward and yanked at her hair with a force that stole the breath from Devyani's mouth.
"How dare you call yourself Rivan's wife?" Kashvi snarled, hauling Devyani closer by the hair. "How dare you carry his name? He is mine!" Her fingers dug into Devyani's scalp; the pain was white-hot and immediate.
"Please... please stop... it's hurting... I didn't mean—" Devyani choked out, tears streaking down her face. She tried to block her hair, to curl away, to make herself as small as possible. The room spun. Her voice sounded thin and far away.
Kashvi laughed, a cold, cruel sound. "Don't worry. In a few hours you won't feel anything at all." She leaned in, eyes glittering with a horrible, childish triumph. "No one will come. You'll be gone before the party even starts."
"Wha—" Devyani's protest dissolved into a sob. "No... please... don't... I didn't do anything... leave me..."
Kashvi's palm shot out and gripped Devyani's throat, fingers pressing hard enough that the girl's words choked into silence. "Don't you dare speak to me," Kashvi hissed. "You grubby, village idiot. How could Rivan ever marry trash like you? He must have been forced. You're nothing but dirt."
The world narrowed to the pressure at Devyani's neck, the hot sting behind her eyes, the metallic taste in her mouth. Panic flared so bright it was almost a light. Her legs trembled.
Kashvi's smirk deepened. "You heard me, right? This room's sealed tight. The air's thin here—" she laughed softly, the sound echoing off the stone walls, "—so you won't be able to breathe for long. Good luck surviving, Mrs. Thakur. Pray that I never see you again."
With that, she turned and walked out, her heels clicking with cruel satisfaction as the door slammed shut.
Devyani staggered where she stood, clutching her throat as if her trembling hands could summon air. The silence in the room felt heavy, pressing down on her lungs. Each breath came shorter than the one before; her body shivered from fear and exhaustion.
Tears blurred her vision. She stumbled toward the door, pushing weakly against it. It didn't move. Her voice trembled out, barely a whisper
"Please... someone... help..."
Her knees gave way and she slid to the floor, back against the cold wall. Everything in her wanted to stay awake, to keep trying, but her body was giving up faster than her will. She pressed a hand to her chest,praying someone would find her before it was too late.
The room was swallowed in darkness thick, suffocating, and endless. The air felt heavy, pressing against her lungs with every shallow breath she tried to take.
Her trembling hands brushed the cold wall as she tried to steady herself, but the silence only made her heartbeat louder, echoing in her ears until another sound began to rise. A voice.
Her Bapu's voice.
"Don't cry, you worthless girl—"
"You'll never be enough for anyone—"
Devyani's eyes widened. She covered her ears, shaking her head as the past clawed its way back into her mind. The dark room became that old mud house again the place where she'd screamed, where no one had ever come to help.
"No... please... stop..." she whispered, sinking to the ground. The sobs tore out of her chest, breaking the fragile silence.
Her shoulders shook as tears streamed down her cheeks. She tried to breathe, but the air felt thinner with every second. The voices wouldn't stop. They grew louder, crueler, until she couldn't tell if they were real or in her mind.
"Please... someone..." she gasped, her voice trembling, desperate. "Please... come..."
Her breaths turned uneven, hiccupping between sobs. Her chest ached, her throat burned, and she clutched her saree tightly as if holding on to something could stop the darkness from swallowing her whole.
"Pa...pati ji..." she whispered weakly, her voice almost fading into the still air. "Please... come..."
Her plea hung in the emptiness raw, breaking, helpless like a prayer lost in the dark.
She pounded on the massive door with all her strength, but it barely budged. The wood was thick, polished, and unyielding just like the grand doors in the palace, but far lonelier, far more isolated. No one would ever think to come here; no one would ever hear her screams.
Still, she screamed. She screamed until her throat burned, until every sound cracked and disappeared into the empty space.
Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the sweat and dust on her cheeks.
Her chest heaved, each breath ragged and shallow, and the walls around her seemed to close in tighter with every sob.
Devyani's breaths came out heavy, uneven her chest rising and falling like it was fighting to stay alive. She wanted to scream, she really did, but her throat refused to open. Her voice was trapped, trembling somewhere between her lungs and lips.
I wish I could call him...
Her mind whispered helplessly.
Tears blurred her sight as she choked on her own sob. "Please..." she whimpered, her voice shaking in the empty room. "Just... some magic... anything... let him come... or Adi bhaiya... Papa... Maa... anyone who thinks of me and searches for me..."
Her trembling fingers clutched her saree close to her chest as she looked around at the darkness.
"I don't want to die... not after finding such a good family.
.. please, not now..." she cried softly, hiccupping between each word.
"At least one year... just one year with them. .. then I'll leave... I promise..."
Her tears soaked her face. "Kashvi... please open the door... you'll be his wife, not me... please let me stay with them... I won't take anything from you..."
Her voice broke, turning into a low sob. "Just let me be with everyone... please..."
But no one answered. The silence grew louder swallowing her words, her cries, her hope.
The walls felt closer now, pressing against her from all sides. It was too dark, too silent, too strange. "It's scary..." she whispered, clutching her arms. "So, so scary..."
Back in her village, darkness had felt familiar gentle even. Those cracked mud walls, those tiny lamps... they never scared her. But this darkness... this darkness was rich and cruel. It stared at her, laughed at her fear, mocked her helplessness.
"I'm not used to it..." she cried softly, curling up against the cold floor. "Not this kind of dark... not these walls..."
Her breath trembled again loud, heavy, uneven as her tears pooled beneath her cheek. The only sound left was her faint sobbing and the desperate pounding of her heart, praying that someone, anyone, would hear her before the silence swallowed her whole.
Her breath started coming out in short, trembling gasps now — huh... huh... huh... — her small body shaking as if even the air around her was too heavy to breathe.
"I'm scared..." she whispered into the emptiness, her voice so tiny that even she could barely hear it. "Please... someone... please come..."
She crawled toward the corner, pressing her back to the cold wall as if it would somehow protect her. "I don't like this... I don't like this darkness..." she whimpered. "It's eating me... it's eating everything around..."
Her fingers clutched at her saree, her nails digging into her own skin. "Pati ji..." she whispered his name broken, barely audible. "You always scare me... but now I just want to see you once... even if you shout at me, it's okay... just come..."
Her lips quivered. "I'll listen to everything... I'll not talk back... not even blink wrong... please..."
The room echoed with her faint sobs. She looked at the locked door again, hoping maybe it would move, maybe a shadow would appear. But nothing. The silence was cruel.
Her mind started to spiral imagining footsteps that weren't there, whispers in the dark, her name being called from far away.
No answer. Just the sound of her own breath louder, harsher.
She pressed her hands to her ears. "Stop it, stop it..." she cried softly. "Please stop this silence..."
Her tears wouldn't stop now. They fell endlessly, burning her cheeks. "I want to go home..." she whispered through hiccups.
Her head throbbed, dizzy with fear. The shadows on the walls began to look like faces angry, twisted faces staring at her. "No... no..." she cried, shaking her head. "Don't look at me... I didn't do anything wrong..."
She curled up tighter, hugging her knees to her chest. "Please come, someone please come... I'm sorry for everything... please don't leave me alone..."
Her voice broke completely now words slipping between sobs, fragments of prayers and apologies blending into one desperate cry.
Finally, when her voice gave out completely, she sank to the cold floor, curling into herself. Her small hands clutched her ears tightly, as if the sheer pressure could shut out the cruel silence and the echoes of her terror. Alone. Helpless. Forgotten.
Time stopped meaning anything. Minutes... hours... she didn't know. The tears on her cheeks had dried, leaving faint salty marks. Her throat burned from crying, her lips cracked, her eyes half-open yet seeing nothing.
She had stopped calling for help now.
Stopped whispering names.
Stopped hoping.
A faint, broken smile curved her lips. "Maybe... maybe this is how it ends..." she murmured weakly. "Alone... in dark..."
A tear slipped again slow, heavy, final."They were all so good to me... I wish I could tell them... that I was really happy..."
Her vision blurred, darkness thickening around her.
Her fingers loosened their hold on her saree.
A strange calmness crept in a tired kind of peace.
And then—
The sound ripped through the silence, loud, violent, shaking the walls.
Devyani flinched, her half-closed eyes snapping open as the door burst inward.
Blinding light poured into the room, chasing away the suffocating darkness.
And in that doorway framed by fury and fire stood a man, his jaw clenched, eyes burning with pure, terrifying anger.
Devyani let out a shuddering sob, finally allowing herself to release everything the fear, the terror, the loneliness she had swallowed for so long. "She... she locked me here... in the dark... I... I was scared..."
RIVAN's hands tightened around her, protective, grounding. "Shhhh, shhhh... bacche, I'm here now. No one will scare you. No one will hurt you again. I promise."
She pressed herself closer, letting him hold all the fear she had carried. Her tears soaked through his shirt, but he didn't move; he let her cry, let her let go, letting every sob and hiccup reach him.
He was squeezing them with his tongue, and our saliva was shamelessly dripping.
Ewwww, but I like it... chiiii.
I gulped; something is happening in my abdomen area.
Yeah, something that aches really badly like I want something to be shoved inside that part.
He smiles... why is he smiling after hearing my sound?
Is it bad?
I bite back my sounds.
He whispered, "Don't hold your moans, kitten. It's a pleasure to hear them."