CHAPTER 46 #3
“I poisoned them?” Siya kicks him in the stomach with such force that he doubles over and crashes onto the ground.
“You have always been evil, Samarjeet. They both loved you just as much as they loved me.” She stares down at him, her eyes burning with anger and hurt. “It’s sad that you could never see it.”
My men remain alert around us, their weapons ready and their eyes fixed on Samarjeet. I lower my gaze for barely a second to crush the half-burnt cigarette beneath my boot.
And that’s when it happens.
Samarjeet instantly reaches out and grabs a gun lying half-hidden beside one of the bodies. And before anyone can react, he rises to his feet, catches Siya from behind, and yanks her back against his chest. The barrel slams against her forehead.
My heart stops. For one terrifying second, I see nothing except the gun pressed against her skin.
“Siya,” I try to move closer, but Samarjeet presses the barrel harder against her forehead.
“Don’t move,” he shouts.
I pause. Every muscle in my body tenses. Even Siya has gone still. Her eyes find mine, and mine remain fixed on hers.
“Samarjeet,” I growl. “Leave her.”
“Leave her?” His eyes lock onto mine, and then his twisted laughter echoes across the valley. “Look at you.” He tightens his arm around Siya’s neck, his elbow pressing against her throat. “How does it feel to watch someone you care about at gunpoint?”
He digs the barrel harder against her forehead.
It’s hurting her. I know. Before I kill him tonight, I’m going to break the arm he dared to put around my Princess. I take a slow step forward, but the moment his finger tightens around the trigger, I stop.
“Drop the gun,” I command. It’s not a request or a plea. It’s a threat. But Samarjeet only laughs again.
“What’s the hurry?” His gaze shifts to Siya and back to me. “I’ll drop the gun. But only after I put a bullet through her head.”
Every guard around me stiffens. Every weapon rises. Siya, however, doesn’t look afraid, not even slightly. She’s furious and refuses to break.
Samarjeet notices it too. “See?” A vicious smile spreads across his face. “She’s not scared… but you are.”
I say nothing. I don’t need to. The gun pressed against Siya’s head is the only reason he’s still breathing.
He shakes his head. “You think you’ve won?” he continues. “You think because Singhal and Parag are dead, because my men are dead, this war is over?”
The smile slowly returns to his face.
“No, Raghav.” His eyes gleam. “I still have one last card left to play.”
Something cold twists in my stomach because the confidence in his voice isn’t fake. Even Siya seems to sense it, going completely still in his hold. Samarjeet laughs again, triumphantly. I don’t like this. The gun is still pressed against Siya’s forehead, his arm locked around her neck.
My men have him surrounded from every direction. He should be finished. Yet the b*stard is smiling.
“You want to know who my ace card is?” he asks, a sick grin spreading across his face. Then he turns to Siya. “Mom.”
Siya goes rigid in his hold.
“Mom?” she snaps, struggling against him. “Where is Mom? What did you do to her?”
Panic flashes across her face. She tries to break free, but Samarjeet shifts the gun to her temple, immediately restricting her movements.
Even I go completely still.
Not wanting Siya and her mother to be together at the villa, I had deliberately moved Rukmini Vardhaan to a separate, secure location within the RK Estate. A location known only to a handful of my most trusted people. No outsider was supposed to reach her.
“Where is she?” I demand, about to lunge at him.
Samarjeet immediately tightens his arm around Siya’s neck, the crook of his elbow pressing brutally against her throat. When Siya winces in pain, I stop immediately.
“Move again and she dies,” he snarls.
My body burns with rage, wanting to rip him apart.
“No matter who you pull that trigger on, Samarjeet, you’ll die too,” I warn him. “Don’t even think you’re walking out of here alive.”
“Oh, I’ll walk out of here, Raghav.” A sinister grin spreads across his face.
“And you’ll watch it happen with your own eyes.
” He then turns his attention to Siya. “My plan was simple. Take Mom back. Hand you over to Parag. Put a bullet through Raghav’s skull.
” His grin slowly disappears. “But Parag is dead now, which means you’re no longer useful to me.
” The barrel digs harder against her forehead, and my blood turns to ice.
Samarjeet keeps his eyes fixed on me. “I’ll take Mom with me. I’ll rebuild everything you destroyed. And then, I’ll come back for you, Raghav.” A dangerous glint enters his eyes. “But before leaving, I’ll make sure you lose everything tonight.”
Then he looks down at Siya. “Which means, you, my little sister… need to die.”
Every instinct inside me screams to get to her. And I move. But the moment I step forward, Samarjeet suddenly swings the gun away from Siya and aims it straight at me.
“Looks like you won’t stop making a f*cking mistake, Raghav Khurana.” His voice turns deadly. “One more step, and I’ll put a bullet through you first.”
“Do it then.” I glare at him and take another step. Taking a bullet myself is far better than watching him hurt my wife.
“No. I want you alive.” He points the gun back at Siya, pressing the barrel against her head again. “I want you to watch her die.” His eyes burn with hatred.
“Raghav, stop,” Siya screams, trying to prevent me from deliberately provoke him.
I still do. My men are already prepared to take charge, aiming their guns at Samarjeet when, suddenly, a series of bullets tears through the darkness and three of my men go down within a fraction of a second.
“SNIPER!” someone shouts.
Before any of us can locate the shooter, another round is fired at my men. The timing is too perfect. The b*stard had someone waiting out there all along, watching us through a scope and waiting for exactly the right moment to strike.
I lunge towards Siya, who uses this chaos to her benefit. Her heel slams down hard onto Samarjeet’s foot, and the moment he curses in pain, she drives her elbow backwards into his ribs. His grip loosens just enough. That’s all she needs. She twists herself free and sprints straight towards me.
Everything happens all at once.
Samarjeet stumbles backwards from the blow but recovers almost immediately. Siya is already halfway towards me before his finger closes around the trigger.
“No!” I roar.
The gunshot tears through the night.
Siya’s body jolts as the bullet tears into her shoulder, spraying blood across her clothes. For one terrifying second, my heart stops as she loses her balance and begins to collapse.
“SIYA!”
I reach her before she hits the ground and catch her in my arms. Dropping to my knees, I pull her against my chest as blood rapidly soaks through her sleeve, my hand shaking as I hold her.
My vision blurs as tears fill my eyes, and for a few terrifying seconds, everything around me disappears.
The gunfire, the shouting, Haider’s voice screaming at my men that Samarjeet is escaping…
all of it fades away. I don’t care about anything anymore.
Let him run. Let the whole damn world burn.
Nothing matters more to me than the woman bleeding in my arms.
“Siya.” I pull her closer against me. “Look at me.”
Her eyes flutter open, and relief washes over me. Thank God, she’s conscious. But she’s losing blood. F*ck!
“Raghav.” Haider places a hand on my shoulder, but I barely hear him. “Samarjeet escaped,” he says grimly. “And Mrs. Vardhaan isn’t inside the estate either.”
I hear him. So does Siya.
“Call the f*cking ambulance,” I roar.
Haider doesn’t waste a second. He rushes away, barking orders into his phone for the in-house ambulance.
“Siya,” I cup her face. “Stay with me.”
“Mom…” she sobs, clutching weakly at my shirt. “Find Mom.”
“I will,” I nod, brushing the hair away from her forehead, forcing my voice to remain steady for her. “Nothing will happen to her. I promise. But right now, we need to get to the hospital.”
I instantly slide one arm beneath her knees and the other behind her back and lift her carefully into my arms. She feels terrifyingly fragile against me. Every passing second fuels the monster growing inside me.
“Where the f*ck is that ambulance?” I bark again.
Haider rushes back towards me, disconnecting the call. “Two minutes. It’s almost here.”
“Raghav,” Siya’s fingers suddenly fist my shirt, hard, forcing me to look down at her. “I’m fine.”
We both know she’s lying. “Find Mom. Samarjeet will take her away,” she pleads.
“He won’t get far.” I press my forehead against hers. “I’m not losing you or her, Siya. Not this time.”
The distant scream of sirens cuts through the chaos.
The ambulance is finally here. The entire estate echoes with flashing lights and emergency vehicles rolling through the aftermath of the massacre.
The second the stretcher is wheeled out, I carefully lower Siya onto it.
My hands don’t want to let go, but I force myself to step back before grabbing Haider by the shoulder.
“Stay with her. Don’t let her out of your sight for even a second.” He nods, and I immediately turn back to Siya. Leaning down, I press a kiss against her forehead. “I’ll bring back your mother safely. I promise.”
Her lips tremble as she nods through her pain. The medics wheel her into the ambulance. Haider climbs in after her. Within seconds, the vehicle speeds away.
I stand there watching until its flashing lights disappear into the distance.
“SAMARJEET…” I scream, standing there surrounded by blood, bodies, and gun smoke.
He made the biggest mistake of his life tonight by putting a bullet into Siya and kidnapping her mom from under my protection.
And he’s going to pay for both. He isn’t leaving Shivtara Valley alive.
Not after this. That’s a promise. Raghav Kundra’s promise.