CHAPTER 22
RAGHAV
Two Days Ago (RK Estate)
Flashback
The second Trisha disconnected the call and informed me that she wasn’t bringing Siya back to the RK Estate, something inside me snapped completely. Ayaan was sending Siya away from me? How dare he? How f*cking dare he do that to me?
My jaw clenched so hard it physically hurt. I had trusted him with this operation because he was supposed to help me get Siya out safely. Not make decisions behind my back and disappear her to the other side of the world.
And Siya… did she genuinely believe I was helping her start a new life somewhere far away from everything? Far away from me after what happened here between us? Never.
The thought alone made something dark explode inside my chest. Before I even realised it, I grabbed the half-filled whiskey bottle from the desk and hurled it across the cabin in a fit of rage.
The bottle smashed violently against the wooden wall beside the fireplace, sending glass shards exploding everywhere.
Whiskey splattered across the floor and furniture while the sharp crash echoed through the entire cottage.
“F*ck!” The growl ripped out of me viciously.
I shoved the heavy chair backwards with such force that it toppled onto the floor before my fist slammed straight into the edge of the work desk hard enough to rattle everything on it. Files scattered in every direction, and the glass paperweight crashed down and shattered near my boots.
My breathing turned rough as I braced both palms against the desk and lowered my head, squeezing my eyes shut as I tried to regain control.
But it was useless. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Siya walking away from me.
Boarding a flight. Disappearing somewhere across the world where I could no longer reach her.
There was no way I would let that happen. Siya was not going anywhere. Period. And Ayaan… that f*cking idiot had done all this behind my back because he already knew I wouldn’t allow it.
“No one takes away what’s mine. Not even my own f*cking brother.”
The words came out low and lethal as I slammed my fist hard against the edge of the desk once more. The door burst open, and Esha rushed inside, looking alarmed.
“Sir, I heard a crash,” she said quickly, scanning the messy cabin. “Are… are you okay?”
No. I was far from okay. The moment I turned towards her, she froze. She had probably never seen me like this before.
“Where’s Haider?” I asked.
For one second, she looked genuinely scared to open her mouth. She hesitated before answering carefully, “Haider… he’s at the private shooting range.”
Without even caring to acknowledge her, I walked past her.
By the time I reached the open shooting grounds near the lower valley ridge, my anger had only worsened. Even the cold mountain air couldn’t soothe the fire in my lungs as thoughts of Ayaan’s betrayal kept replaying inside my head.
I won’t let Siya disappear like that. Absolutely f*cking not.
Haider was standing at the shooting range with a rifle in hand, practising on the target board at the far end of the field. The second he saw me approaching, his posture changed. Something was wrong, and he understood it instantly.
“What happened?” he asked carefully.
I was too furious to explain.
“Get the jet ready,” I said immediately. “We’re leaving for Cape Town.”
That clearly caught him off guard. “Cape Town?” His brows drew together in confusion.
I paced restlessly, unable to stand still for even two seconds, my veins ready to rip through my skin.
Haider watched me closely before speaking again. “But Trisha is already there for Siya’s extraction.”
I stopped walking and turned towards him. One glance at my face was enough for Haider to recognise the fury barely hanging by a thread.
“Ayaan changed the plan at the last minute. The drop-off location is no longer RK Estate, and Trisha refuses to tell me where they are taking her,” I snap. “I f*cking won’t let him move Siya away from me, Haider. We are going there. I’m bringing her back myself.”
I already knew Haider wouldn’t be happy about me going to Cape Town, back into a world that believed I was dead. And judging by the tightening of his jaw, he understood exactly how this situation was spiralling far beyond control.
But this was no longer about what Haider or Ayaan wanted. This was about what I wanted. And nobody… not Ayaan, not GLEN, and not even Siya herself was taking that away from me.
“Just get the f*cking jet ready. We are flying tonight.”
I turned to leave but Haider blocked my way.
“You’re not thinking straight,” he said. “If Ayaan has changed the plan and Trisha is following his orders, we can still send someone else to fix this mess. But not you. We cannot risk that.”
I glared back at him. This man had always thought about my safety, but this time, even he cannot change my decision.
“Just do as I say, Haider,” I said, almost pressing my palm once against his chest to push him out of my way.
“Activate every silent unit we have in Cape Town. Every sleeper cell. Every man still loyal to me. I want weapons loaded, routes secured, and our convoy ready within an hour. We are going to crash Siya’s wedding. ”
Haider’s face changed instantly as he understood what those orders meant.
“That would mean direct confrontation with the Vardhaans and the Reddys,” he warned. “There’ll be a war, Raghav.”
“Then let there be a f*cking war.” The words echoed throughout the shooting range. “If I have to burn down the entire underworld to bring Siya back,” I yelled, glaring straight at him, “I’ll do it.”
Haider was not a man who argued with me repeatedly. Usually, one look was enough for him to understand when my decision was final. But today, he kept pushing back again, and every second of it was scraping harder against my temper.
“This is madness,” he said. “You’re exposing yourself again. The second you step into Cape Town openly, the entire underworld will know the Dark Prince is alive.”
As if I didn’t already know that. For thirty f*cking months I had stayed buried. I had killed the Dark Prince the night I pulled that trigger on my father. And now, Siya had somehow dragged that monster back out of his grave.
“Think about this again,” Haider insisted, still trying to convince me.
I grabbed the front of his shirt violently and slammed him back against the table of weapons hard enough to rattle the metal across its surface.
“This,” I snarled. My fingers trembled with rage as I held my thumb and forefinger barely an inch apart. “I’m this f*cking close to losing Siya, and you want me to rethink?”
Haider held my gaze silently.
“I’m not letting her go, Haider. So stop arguing and mobilise the men.” I released him roughly. “There will be a war. And anybody from the underworld stupid enough to stand between Siya and me is going to leave that battlefield in a body bag.”
A thick silence filled the shooting range after that. My gaze shifted towards the weapons table again, where the guns rested in neat rows.
For thirty months, I hadn’t touched one. But today…
Today, Siya was slipping beyond my reach, and suddenly every promise I had made to myself felt meaningless compared to the thought of losing her.
My hand moved before my brain could stop it. I wrapped my fingers around the gun. The weapon still fit perfectly in my hand, as if those thirty months had never happened. A cold rush of power crawled back under my skin the longer I held it. My fingers instinctively adjusted around the trigger.
Then, a violent tremor ran through my hand. The memory of blood, smoke, and my father, Tej Khurana, collapsing on the ground after I shot him hit me hard. I almost wanted to drop the gun, and never touch it ever again.
But then, Siya’s face flashed through my head.
That was it.
I angrily lifted the gun towards the target board and pulled the trigger. Once. Twice. Thrice. I kept firing relentlessly, emptying round after round into the target without stopping even once. Twelve bullets, and every single one of them hit the exact same spot. The bullseye.
Smoke curled from the gun in my hand as Haider watched in grim silence, as if he had just witnessed the Dark Prince come back to life.
“We fly tonight,” I said before turning around and walking away.
Present – Vardhaan Mansion (Cape Town)
An eerie silence spreads across the grand wedding mandap of Vardhaan Mansion, despite the sheer number of underworld figures gathered there.
Nobody moves. Nobody even dares to breathe too loudly.
Everyone seems to be in a state of stunned disbelief as every mafia lord, every syndicate member, every armed guard, and criminal kingpin present here turns their attention towards me.
Half of them are still trying to process that the Dark Prince is alive.
The other half are waiting to understand why the hell I’m here.
Around them, my men have taken control of this estate.
Every gate is locked down. Every exit covered.
Every rooftop occupied by my snipers. And every single gun around the mansion is pointed straight at anyone reckless enough to challenge me tonight.
This is how power works in the underworld. Not through peace and negotiations, but through terror so absolute that people forget how to breathe in your presence. And right now, every mafia family standing here remembers exactly who I used to be.
This power I hold over these f*cking b*stards here suddenly reminds me of the old times. The Dark Prince never walked into enemy territory unless he was fully prepared to leave it painted in blood. And that reputation still lives on.
Anyone here who so much as reaches for a weapon will be shot dead.
But the man I truly want bleeding at my feet tonight is Parag Reddy.
He can barely remain standing after the bullet I put through his shoulder.
Blood soaks through his clothes while his gaze keeps shifting between Siya and me, desperately trying to understand what exactly earned him that bullet tonight.