Chapter 23 #2
‘Oh, because she’s such a nice girl. Exactly the kind his family always wanted for him,’ Kashvi said with exaggerated praise. Her imitation faltered into a bitter smile. ‘According to his maasi, she’s perfect for him.’
A surge of anger clawed through him. ‘Let’s go drag him out before he gets the chance to do something that stupid.’
She shook her head, pushing the aviators higher up her nose. ‘I don’t want to face him.’
He clenched his hand into a fist, ready to storm out. ‘I’ll find him. I’ll make sure he understands exactly what happens if he thinks he can treat you like this.’
‘If you want to punish the person who hurt me, then start with me. I’m the culprit,’ Kashvi snapped. Her voice cracked into a whimper. ‘I’m the one forcing him to do this.’
None of it made sense, not when he could see how much she was hurting.
When she swayed again, he slid the glass of water towards her. ‘Drink this.’
The moment she reached for the Scotch again, he gently pressed her hand down against the table. ‘Kashvi, that’s enough.’
She jerked her hand back, pushing at him in a ragged, sluggish attempt. ‘Don’t,’ she muttered irritably.
Her strength was dulled by the alcohol, her palm sliding uselessly against his sleeve.
‘You’ve had enough.’
She ignored him and finished the remaining scotch in her glass.
Dhruv ran an agitated hand through his hair, wondering if he should call Siya. Though he hated admitting it, Kashvi had never leaned on him for comfort. Right now, he couldn’t tell if his presence was helping or making things worse.
Kashvi leaned forward and tucked her cheek against her crossed arms. ‘I had it all figured out, and then the universe just punched me in the face.’
Her words blurred together, and Dhruv noticed she was starting to drift off.
He lifted a hand and snapped his fingers three times. He knew Vihaan would understand the signal.
Keeping his focus on Kashvi, he adjusted her so she sat upright. ‘Hey, look. More drinks.’
Prateek came over and placed a glass in front of her. ‘Vodka martini, on the house.’
She grabbed it immediately and finished it in one go. ‘Mm. This is good. Five more of these.’
Dhruv chuckled softly. He knew from experience just how good water tasted after that much Scotch.
Kashvi finished the second glass Prateek brought over, then again folded her arms onto the table and rested her head on them.
He tugged lightly at her arm. ‘Hey, c’mon. You need to drink more to hydrate.’
‘Shh, go away,’ she mumbled faintly, her words barely coherent. ‘Just… let me sleep.’
‘You were saying something about having it all figured out.’
She mumbled into her arms. ‘Yeah. Be there for Siya, give my all to the foundation, then go to cabins to die alone. I’d hoped to earn enough forgiveness not to end up in hell.’
‘For what?’ he asked gently.
‘For my sins.’
He frowned. ‘Everyone makes mistakes, Kashvi.’
‘Not like I did. And now I never will, because I broke his heart and pushed Swayam away,’ she said, tears slipping down her cheeks and onto the table.
He didn’t resist the urge to smooth a hand over her hair, hoping to offer even an ounce of comfort. ‘Then why did you do it?’
‘Because he threatened me to,’ she mumbled, and he couldn’t tell if he’d misheard.
His blood ran cold.
He leaned closer, rubbing a hand over her back. ‘What do you mean?’
Kashvi barely reacted, lost somewhere inside her own head. She lifted two fingers in front of her eyes as she continued, ‘I mean, I could see it in his eyes. Do you think Swayam is already… engaged to her?’
Dhruv lightly shook her shoulder. ‘Hey, focus. What do you mean by threatened?’
She sighed. ‘If I didn’t, he would leak my pictures.’
He went completely still. ‘What kind of pictures?’
‘The kind that would ruin my life,’ she whispered.
The implication hit him hard and fast, making him desperately hope it hadn’t gone that far.
‘Who would do something like that?’ he asked, barely containing his rage.
‘A monster.’
‘What do you mean, Kashvi?’ he asked, urgency sharpening in his voice.
Kashvi chuckled bitterly, clumsily shoving her phone towards him. She tapped the screen impatiently. ‘You don’t believe me? Look for yourself.’
Dhruv instantly grabbed the phone, and when the message thread opened, a cold knot formed in his gut.
The messages from the unknown number stretched back weeks, only growing more invasive, more erratic, and more unhinged. Then a grey box appeared in the middle of it, marked as a deleted image by the sender.
Though he couldn’t see the image, too many possibilities struck him at once, each one vile enough to make his pulse pound against his temple.
He knew with a suffocating kind of certainty that whatever had been sent there was what had pushed Kashvi into this spiralling, unravelled version of herself.
The realisation tore through him with such brutal force that, for one savage second, he wanted to cave this man’s skull in and make him regret ever learning her name.
The recent texts were bolder, openly lewd and threatening. Every word he read only fed the fury clawing up his spine, and his shoulders went rigid as the next message slid into view.
I’ll tell you who I am if you promise to fuck me.
The tendons in his wrist stood out as he gripped the phone so hard the edge bit into his palm. A cold, heavy weight settled in his chest. Someone out there thought he could terrorise Kashvi, and Dhruv wouldn’t stop until there was blood.
No one got to hurt his sisters. He’d make sure of it.
‘Do you know who this is?’
Kashvi gave a grim nod.
‘Who is it? Tell me his name.’
‘Viraj.’
He frowned at the unfamiliar name. ‘Who the fuck is Viraj?’
‘My brother-in-law.’
Dhruv cursed under his breath. Swayam was an only child, which meant Viraj was his cousin.
‘When did he talk to you?’
‘Last night. Swayam and I went to his cousin’s house for a party, and by then I’d had enough of these sick messages. I called the number, and that’s when Viraj cornered me.’
Dhruv’s jaw tightened. ‘Talk to me. What did he say?’
Kashvi swallowed hard. ‘Just seeing my pictures on his phone was enough. I didn’t need him to tell me what he could do with them, but he did anyway. He said he’d ruin me first by leaking my pictures and then drag the rest of the family down with me.’
A sharp, violent heat burned through his chest. ‘What does he want?’
She scoffed weakly. ‘Who knows? He started by forcing me to leave Swayam and send him to his engagement. Now that I’ve done it, Viraj will decide what he wants next.’
Dhruv placed a hand on her elbow, and she jerked away with a yelp of pain. The broken sound made his heart race, and he caught the dark bruise at her elbow peeking beneath her rolled-up sleeve.
His restraint snapped and Dhruv’s voice rose as he clasped her arm carefully. ‘He touched you?’
Kashvi looked away, slipping her arm out of his hold. ‘He did everything he could to show me exactly how he could hurt me and destroy my life.’
Dhruv tried to gently tug her arm back, trying to get a closer look at the angry purple bruise. ‘Kashvi, just let me see your elbow once.’
‘Just stop it, Dhruv,’ Kashvi warned, snatching her arm away. She grabbed the Scotch, pouring it into what she thought was a vodka martini. ‘Mixing it like this will make a killer combination.’
Dhruv caught her wrist. ‘Don’t. Why are you so hell-bent on drinking more? You can barely sit straight as it is.’
A sharp wail broke out of her, and she pressed a palm to her chest. ‘Because it still hurts here. Swayam is everything to me. How do I survive letting him go?’
Dread curled low in his stomach, and he couldn’t bear to watch her fall apart. ‘You won’t have to. We’ll figure out whatever it takes to get you out of this. I won’t let that bastard get away with it.’
‘Why?’ she snapped, her voice guttural. ‘Why do you care all of a sudden?’
He frowned at the sudden shift in her. ‘Of course I care about you. You’re my sister.’
Kashvi let out a hollow, derisive laugh. ‘Oh yeah? Since when?’
Her mockery pinched at something sore inside him, and he looked away. ‘I get it, you’re drunk, so…’
She shook her head, glaring at him. ‘I might be drunk, but I remember exactly what you said to me that night. Should I remind you?’
A flicker of unease slid through him, and something told him he wasn’t going to like where this was headed. He reached for her hesitantly.
‘Don’t touch me,’ she shouted, shoving him away.
The sudden movement knocked her sunglasses off, and he finally saw just how wrecked she was.
The raw agony in her swollen, bloodshot eyes locked onto his without flinching.
‘Five years ago, the night I realised someone had taken those pictures of me at a party, I came to you for help.’
‘Kashvi, I don’t…’
‘You shut the door in my face after telling me you weren’t my real brother, so why should you waste your time on me?’ she spat.
The words hit him like a punch, and the memory came rushing back all at once.
Dhruv remembered the fear in her face now. At the time, he hadn’t recognised it for what it was.
Blinded by the anger he carried towards their father, he had thrown those cold, careless words at her in a reckless moment.
A wave of disgust rose thick and suffocating in his throat, and he had to fight the urge clawing up his spine to punish himself.
There was venom in her voice when she said, ‘You could have been my brother then, and you threw it away. Now you’re sitting here telling me to open up to you. Do you think I’m stupid?’
No. I am.
He had promised himself he would be there for them when it mattered, and he had failed.
The irony scraped against him, raw and relentless.
‘You’re right. I messed up, and I don’t have an excuse for it. But I’m here now. I’m listening, and I want to help you. Just… talk to me.’
Kashvi glared at him. ‘You made sure I understood I wasn’t worth your time. So back off and don’t play games with me now. It’s too late.’