CHAPTER 60! BETTER? #3
Ayaan accepted the answer immediately, his eyelids fluttering shut as his breathing evened out.
Aadhira kept her hand resting on his back long after he had stopped moving.
After putting Ayaan to bed in his nursery, Aadhira didn't return to the guest room right away.
She stood outside the nursery doorway in the quiet hallway, her hands folded in front of her.
The house was settling into its night rhythm-the soft hum of the air purification system, the distant click of external security gates closing down.
Somewhere on the floor above her, a heavy door opened.
Footsteps crossed the wooden floorboards of the upper hall-measured, unhurried, distinct.
Aadhira stayed where she was, holding her position near the frame of the nursery door.
She listened until the footsteps stopped, followed by the soft sound of a latch settling into place.
Silence returned to the corridor. Only then did she turn and walk back into the guest room.
By ten at night, the estate was absolute quiet.
Aadhira sat on the edge of the mattress under the single light of the bedside lamp, an open book resting flat on her knees.
The page hadn't been turned in twenty minutes. The guest room felt cold. Not in temperature, but in presence.
SCRATCH.
Aadhira stopped breathing. She froze, her eyes locked on the curtained terrace windows.
She sat back on the edge of the mattress, picking up her book again. She tried to read. She couldn't.
Every tiny creak of the old wooden floorboards echoed like an approaching footstep. She turned the lamp brighter, but the shadows stretching across the corners only seemed darker.
Aryav's room was just beside her.
The thought should have frightened her. Instead, what frightened her more was how much safer the idea suddenly felt.
She counted five seconds in the stillness. Nothing.
THUMP.
A dull vibration shuddered through the heavy glass frame.
She closed her book, set it on the table, and stood up without a sound.
She walked to the window and pulled back a edge of the drape.
A dark shadow swept past the exterior stone ledge, catching the pale moonlight for a fraction of a second before dropping silently into the dark foliage below.
She took two steps back.
Then came another sound from the corridor outside the guest wing.
Metal dragging against metal. A low, deliberate, mechanical click.
Her heart hit her ribs.
She walked back to the nightstand and picked up her phone. Her thumb hovered over Tara's number, then shifted to Reyansh's, then to the internal line for the front security desk.
She stared at the screen. She could press call. She could alert the guards, sit on the edge of the bed, and wait for five armed men to sweep the hall. She was capable of waiting. She had survived far worse without asking for help.
She locked the phone and set it face down on the table.
She walked quietly into the nursery. Ayaan was fast asleep, one arm thrown over his head.
She slid her arms beneath his weight and lifted him gently against her shoulder. He stirred, resting his small forehead against her neck.
"Mama..."
"Shh. I've got you."
She stepped out into the dark hallway and paused.
To her left, the guest room waited.
She could step inside, turn the deadbolt, bar the door, and handle the night alone.
To her right, the long corridor stretched into the main wing. At the very end, beneath Aryav's double doors, a thin line of warm, unbroken light spilled out across the dark wood.
Aadhira stood in the hall, feeling the weight of the boy in her arms and the quiet reality of the choice before her.
She turned right and walked down the corridor.
When she reached his doors, her hand rose. Her knuckles hovered an inch above the dark mahogany.
Aryav had never made the world feel harmless. He had made her feel prepared for it.
She closed her eyes, took a silent breath, and knocked twice.
Silence stretched across the landing. Aadhira held her breath, her fingers tightening slightly against Ayaan's back.
From inside came the heavy, deliberate turn of the deadbolt.
Click.
The latch released. The heavy door pulled inward a few inches, allowing a broad beam of soft light to cut across the dark floorboards and touch her bare feet.
The door opened fully.
Aryav stood on the threshold. Barefoot, wearing a dark linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up past his forearms. His hair was slightly disordered, his eyes clear and watchful.
His gaze moved first to Ayaan asleep against her chest. Then it rose to her face, taking in the faint tension in her posture, the steady set of her jaw.
Aryav's hand tightened briefly around the edge of the door frame. He offered no commentary. He didn't ask what she had heard, nor did his expression hold any trace of victory.
He simply stepped aside, leaving the entrance wide open.
Aadhira stood there for a single beat. Two days of distance still lingered in the air, but looking at him now, the tight wire of tension inside her chest finally released.
She adjusted Ayaan against her shoulder and stepped across the threshold into his room.
Behind her, the heavy door clicked shut.