CHAPTER 24 #3
Her eyes widen in shock, but before she can come up with a decent comeback, my phone vibrates inside my pocket. It must be Haider. I’d asked him to meet me in the office cabin to discuss the chaos waiting outside the walls of RK Estate.
I close my eyes briefly, fighting the urge to ignore the call and stay right here above her. But then, I release her wrists and push myself off the bed.
Siya immediately moves backwards away from me. She’s still furious. Still glaring. Still breathtaking.
My wife.
“You’re staying in this bedroom with me,” I say, my voice calm enough to stress the threat beneath it. “Start getting used to your new reality.”
“Never.”
I ignore her and walk towards the door, then stop midway and glance back at her.
“And when I return, I expect to find my wife exactly where she belongs.” Our eyes lock for one brutal second. “On my bed.” Then I walk out, shutting the bedroom door behind me.
As I step downstairs, I find Siya’s mother standing outside her bedroom on the lower floor.
“Where is Siya?”
I exhale harshly, having no patience left today to deal with the mother-daughter duo.
“In my room upstairs.”
Her entire face changes.
“In your room?” she demands angrily. “What is she doing there?”
I hold her gaze without flinching. “Exactly what a wife should be doing after coming home with her husband on the first night of marriage. Figure out the rest yourself.”
The next moment, the slap lands across my face so hard that I don’t see it coming.
My head jerks to the side, my jaw tightening from the impact.
An eerie silence falls over the villa. Any other person in this world would have signed their own death warrant for raising a hand on me like that.
But this is Siya’s mother standing in front of me.
And the rage burning in her eyes right now is not fear. It’s pure f*cking fury.
“How dare you?” she shouts, her voice trembling violently. “You may have forced my daughter into this marriage, but you will not do anything beyond that because I won’t let you.”
I stare at her silently.
“You had left the mafia world, didn’t you?
Siya told me you were redeeming your life here at RK Estate.
So, you should be ashamed of yourself, Raghav, for what you did to my daughter.
She had come to you for help! She trusted you.
And this is what you gave her in return?
You dragged her straight into another nightmare, the very one she was trying to escape? ”
I clench my jaw.
“Siya stopped me from creating a scene on that jet because she knew I was already disturbed,” she continues furiously. “But now that we are finally here, let me make one thing very clear to you.”
She steps closer, fearlessly, despite knowing exactly who I am.
“The kind of pain you caused my daughter…” Her eyes shine with tears now. “No mother will ever forgive that. And if you think Siya will quietly accept all this and become some obedient wife…” A bitter laugh escapes her. “Then you don’t know my daughter at all.”
My gaze sharpens slightly.
“She will fight you every single day for this. So now you figure out the rest yourself. Because your life is about to change.”
I already know that.
“Because my daughter is not weak,” she adds, lifting her chin proudly despite the tears in her eyes. “And I, Rukmini Vardhaan, dare you to try and hurt Siya again. Just wait and see what happens then.”
The world seems to tilt beneath my feet.
Rukmini?
That name lands inside my head like a blow I never saw coming.
For one horrifying second, I forget how to breathe.
That name hits something deeper inside me…
because it also belonged to my late mother.
The woman I’ve never seen, never felt the touch of.
The woman whose absence shaped my entire life.
All I have is her name, which is sacred to me, and I respect it more than anything else I ever have.
How the hell did I never know that Siya’s mother’s name was Rukmini?
While I’m still processing this, she looks at me one final time with sheer disappointment in her eyes. Then, she turns and slams the bedroom door directly in my face.
For a long moment, I simply stare at the closed door. Nobody has ever done that to me before. Shut the door in my face. Strangely, though, I don’t feel angry.
My mind is still stuck on one thing: Siya’s mother’s name is Rukmini.
I drag a hand slowly over my jaw before turning away and heading out of the villa and move towards the office cabin where I manage most of my business operations.
Once the door shuts behind me, I head straight to the desk and yank open the drawer.
I pull out the file Haider had prepared months ago on Siya Vardhaan.
It has every detail, from her background checks to her family history. My fingers tighten around the file as I flip through the pages, my eyes suddenly stopping at that one line.
Mother’s Name: Rukmini Shamsher Vardhaan.
A humourless laugh escapes me. How the hell did I not see this before? I recall the rage I saw in Siya’s mother’s eyes just minutes ago. For one f*cked up second, it felt personal. As if my own mother was standing in front of me, furious. As if she was disappointed in me.
I instantly hate that thought. I have no memories of my mother. No idea what it feels like to have someone protect you that fiercely just because you belong to them. That kind of unconditional love was never meant for men like me.
Yet back at my villa, when Rukmini Vardhaan slapped me without the slightest trace of fear in her eyes, ready to fight the Dark Prince himself for her daughter… an old wound cracked open inside me. A wound I stopped acknowledging a long time ago. The ache of never knowing my mother.
The cabin door suddenly opens behind me, and Haider walks in. One look at my face is enough for him to realise my mood is already lethal tonight.
“Word has already started spreading through the underworld across every continent that the Dark Prince is alive and operating from here… the RK Estate.”
That was bound to happen.
The moment the mafia came to know about me, there was no going back to the quiet life I had built here.
From now, nothing stays simple anymore because the underworld knows I’m alive and exactly where to find me.
Which means every damn day from now on will be about survival again.
Protecting and eliminating threats before they even think about reaching my people.
No loopholes.
No mercy.
Putting Siya’s file away, I lean back against the edge of the desk.
“What about the security here?” I ask.
“Increased everywhere,” Heather replies immediately. “Additional men have already been deployed around the estate and spread across Shivtara Valley as well. All perimeters have been secured, and all routes leading through the vineyards are under constant surveillance.”
Good. From tonight onwards, RK Estate stops being a mere luxury resort. It becomes a fortress.
“I’ve also instructed our men to monitor every suspicious movement around the valley,” Haider continues. “If anyone from the mafia tries getting close—”
“They die before they even reach the gates,” I finish coldly.
Silence settles briefly as he nods in agreement.
Then I look at him again. “What about the security at Shergill Mansion back in Mumbai?”
“Ayaan’s men are already on high alert,” he replies.
“Not enough.” My voice hardens instantly. “I want our eyes there too. On Baba. Meher. Ayaan. Everybody.”
Haider nods once.
“I know GLEN won’t leave any stone unturned,” I continue darkly, “but I’m not gambling my family’s lives on assumptions anymore. Not after this.”
Haider watches me carefully, probably trying to understand whether I regret any of this. But I don’t. Not one f*cking bit.
I would walk into that wedding again.
I would burn the entire Vardhaan Mansion down again.
I would marry Siya again in front of the whole underworld if I had to.
The consequences? I’ll handle them. Every single one of them. Because after all the chaos and bloodshed, Siya is finally here. Safe. Inside my home. Exactly where she was always meant to be. With me. Forever.
That’s all that matters.
“Everything will be taken care of,” Haider says at last, exhaling slowly. “But right now, you should get some rest too. You hardly slept on the flight.”
Rest? The word almost sounds laughable.
Too many things are moving already. Too many enemies will wake up tomorrow after hearing that the Dark Prince is back. Too many people will come looking for my blood now.
Yet despite all this, getting some rest doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. Because when I return to the villa, Siya will be sleeping in my bedroom... on my bed... as my wife.