CHAPTER 49
RAGHAV
One week later – RK Estate
I’m riding Zephyr through the vineyards, as usual. The weather is perfect today, touched by the golden calm of an early sunrise. I get down from the horse right in front of my villa and freeze on seeing the woman sitting on a small chair in the garden outside.
My mother.
For the first time in years, she isn’t screaming in pain.
Her face isn’t half-burnt, and she doesn’t look trapped, helpless, or lost. She’s smiling at me.
I walk towards her slowly, unable to look away, and with every step I take, her smile only grows wider.
When I finally reach her, I sit down at her feet and look up at her like I’ve been searching for this moment my entire life.
I’m almost afraid that if I blink, she might disappear.
She’s dressed in white, looking calm, beautiful, and impossibly peaceful.
She reaches down and cups my face gently. “I know you’re tired,” she says softly. “You’ve carried this burden for too long. But look at me, Raghav. I’m finally at peace. You saved me.”
I have been waiting to hear this from her. That she is safe.
A smile finally finds its way to my face too as I lean forward and press a kiss against her forehead. Then, I lower myself and rest my head in her lap like a child, and her fingers immediately begin moving gently through my hair.
“Maa...” The word leaves my mouth before I can stop it.
She smiles down at me. “Yes, Raghav,” she whispers. “I’m here.”
Yes, she’s here, and she’s finally at peace. As her fingers continue to stroke my hair, I close my eyes and simply stay there, holding on to a moment I never thought I would ever have.
But when I slowly open my eyes again, her face disappears, and the first thing I see is Siya’s mother.
Her hand is gently stroking my hair. I stare at her, disoriented, then glance around the living room.
I’m still lying on the couch, with my phone resting against my chest. The quarterly profit report I had been going through earlier lies open on the table in front of me.
And reality slowly settles in. I must have fallen asleep somewhere between reading messages and trying to finish my work.
Siya’s mom smiles softly when she sees that I am fully awake. “I think you were dreaming about something.”
Yes, it was a dream. Not a nightmare. The last time I had a nightmare, Siya had comforted me in the bathroom and stayed with me until I was okay again.
After that night, this is the first time I have dreamt about my mother again.
Usually, whenever I wake up after seeing her, I feel anxious. But today, all I feel is peace.
“I came to call you for dinner,” Siya’s mom says, pulling me back to the present.
“But when I saw you sleeping, I decided not to wake you.” Her expression softens even further.
“Then you called out ‘Maa’... I thought you were calling for me. So I stayed here for a while, waiting for you to wake up.”
My gaze moves to her hand, still resting near my head. Oh, so that was the touch I felt in my dream.
Siya’s mom studies my face carefully. “You okay?”
I nod, although my throat suddenly feels too tight for words.
She smiles. “Good. Come on, then. I’ve made rajma chawal. I asked Siya to come down too. Let’s have dinner.”
The moment she turns to leave, something inside me reacts before my mind can catch up.
My hand shoots out, and I grab the end of her saree pallu.
She stops and slowly turns back towards me.
I remain seated on the couch, still half lost between the dream and reality, while she stands beside me, looking confused.
My gaze lingers on her face, and a strange realisation hits me. For years, I have lived with the emptiness of not having a mother. And now, without even realising it, I have found one in her. She may not be mine by blood. But she’s mine nevertheless.
My fingers tighten slightly around the fabric, and she immediately notices.
“Raghav? What happened?”
I lower my gaze for a second before looking back at her.
“Can… can I call you Maa?” I ask.
Her eyes widen in shock, and for several seconds she just stares at me. Then her eyes fill with tears. I can see the exact moment her heart breaks and heals at the same time. A trembling smile appears on her lips.
“Oh, Raghav...” Her voice cracks. “You are already my son. You never needed permission.”
A tear slips down her cheek, and I look away because suddenly my own vision begins to blur. Something I would absolutely hate on any other day. But today feels different.
She slowly cups my face between her palms, exactly the way my mother had done in the dream. For a second, I almost believe the dream never ended.
“You can call me anything you want.” Her thumb gently brushes against my cheek. “But if you call me Maa…” Another tear rolls down her cheeks. “...then I think I’ll be the luckiest mother in the world.”
Before I can stop myself, I get up and pull her into a hug. I hold her tightly, like a son finally finding his way home after being lost for far too long, and she immediately wraps her arms around me as well.
As I slowly pull away from Maa, I notice movement near the staircase.
My gaze lifts to Siya, standing halfway down the staircase in a soft yellow kurta, her injured shoulder still secured in a sling.
The surgery had gone well, and just three days later, she was back home, recovering and under strict instructions to rest as much as possible.
The worst was behind her now, although she would still have to wear the sling for at least another two weeks.
She must have come down quietly because neither of us heard her approach. Her eyes are shining too, and judging by the expression on her face, she has seen and heard enough.
“Wow.” She wipes her eyes looking at Maa.
I immediately know that tone. The troublemaker has arrived. “So now you are stealing all my hugs?”
Maa laughs through her tears, while I shake my head as Siya points an accusing finger at me. “I disappear for a few minutes, and my own husband replaces me. I’m so jealous.”
That earns a laugh from both of us. Siya walks the rest of the way down the staircase and stops directly in front of us.
“Even I want hugs,” she pouts.
Maa opens her other arm. “Come here.”
Siya moves straight into her embrace, and before I know it, both of them pull me in too. Suddenly, all three of us are standing together in a ridiculous group hug in the middle of the living room, with Siya squeezed between us, her mother smiling through her tears, and me holding them both close.
SIYA
I’m too overwhelmed for words. Hearing Raghav ask Mom if he could call her ‘Maa’ feels like the biggest proof that the broken pieces of his life have finally come together.
The past week has been truly healing for both of us.
Although Samarjeet, Parag, and Singhal are dead, and Kriti is behind bars, Raghav is still cautious and doesn’t want to underestimate the rest of the mafia.
There’s no immediate threat to us anymore, but he isn’t willing to take any chances.
To the world outside, the RK Estate appears to be just a luxury vineyard resort, but only our family knows that it is now a fortress that no outsider, not even someone from the mafia, can easily infiltrate again.
So while Raghav has been busy restoring normalcy at the RK Estate, I’ve spent my days recovering at the villa, with Mom dedicating herself entirely to helping me heal.
I’m so proud of her and the strength she has shown after everything that happened with Samarjeet.
She isn’t grieving his death the way she grieved Dad’s.
Maybe because she knows there’s nothing left to mourn.
Throughout this week, not just Raghav and I, but the entire family has made sure that Mom never feels that loss in her life.
We have kept her mind occupied and created new memories together.
Good ones. Happy ones. Today, it’s not just Raghav who has found a mother in her. Mom has finally found a son in him too.
RAGHAV
One month later
Life has slowly returned to normal. The estate is fully functional again.
Looking at it now, nobody would ever be able to guess that barely a month ago, a mafia war had almost broken out right here.
We made sure of that. Nobody outside the family ever found out what had truly unfolded on this land, and the entire incident disappeared as though it had never happened.
GLEN controlled the narrative before rumours could spread.
The official statement released to the public claimed that a minor aircraft malfunction during a classified aerial mock drill had accidentally triggered an explosion in the valley.
The restricted access around the area that night was explained as standard safety protocol following the incident.
The explanation was accepted without question, and life moved on.
Siya has recovered well too. Her shoulder has healed, leaving behind the occasional ache that, according to her doctor, should disappear completely within the next couple of weeks.
Maa has gone to Mumbai and is staying with Meher and Ayaan for a while. Meher is due any day now, and Maa wants to be there when the baby arrives. Siya and I are flying there in two days to join them.
Tonight, when I return to the villa, the house is unusually quiet.
I know Siya is somewhere upstairs, probably getting ready to call it a night.
I walk into our bedroom, loosening the cuff of my sleeve, and immediately stop when I see her.
She’s wearing a black satin camisole and matching shorts, with thin spaghetti straps resting at her shoulders, looking dangerously sexy.
I step inside and shut the door behind me, but that’s when my gaze falls on the brand-new two-seater couch in our bedroom. It’s classy, I’ll give her that. But what the f*ck is it doing here?
“You ordered a couch?” I ask her, reaching closer.