Chapter -25
The car ride was silent.
Not peaceful.
The kind of silence that made every second feel like a loaded gun.
Sky drove with both hands locked around the steering wheel.
His jaw stayed clenched.
Nani sat beside him, turned toward the window.
He hadn't looked at Sky once.
Not once.
Finally, Nani spoke.
"I don't want to go with you."
Sky's grip tightened.
"I know."
"Then why are we going to your mansion?"
"Because you're not staying alone tonight."
"I can take care of myself."
"I know."
"Then stop deciding everything for me."
Sky glanced at him.
His expression softened.
"I'm not trying to control you."
"It feels like it."
That shut him up.
The rest of the drive passed without another word.
---
When they reached the mansion, Nani stepped out immediately.
He didn't wait for Sky.
He walked through the entrance.
Past the guards.
Past Tee.
Straight toward the stairs.
Sky followed.
"Nani."
Nothing.
"Nani."
Still nothing.
Sky stopped.
His voice dropped.
"Please."
Nani paused.
For one second, he looked back.
Their eyes met.
Then Nani turned away again.
That hurt more than Sky expected.
He followed him upstairs.
"Nani, wait."
Nani entered the room.
Sky stopped at the doorway.
He didn't cross it.
"Can I come in?"
Nani looked at him.
The question seemed to surprise him.
After a long silence, Nani nodded.
Sky entered.
The door closed behind them.
Neither spoke.
Then Sky broke.
"You're angry at me."
Nani looked down.
"I don't know."
"Fine."
Sky's voice cracked.
"Be angry."
He stepped closer.
"Yell at me."
Another step.
"Tell me I'm an asshole."
Nani's eyes lifted.
"You are."
Sky nodded.
"Fair."
Nani almost smiled.
Almost.
It disappeared quickly.
Sky stood in front of him.
"You can hate me."
Nani's eyes shimmered.
"But don't shut me out."
Silence.
Sky's hands curled into fists at his sides.
"I can handle your anger."
His voice became rough.
"I can handle you screaming at me."
He swallowed.
"But when you look through me like I don't exist..."
His eyes dropped.
"...I don't know what the hell to do with that."
Nani stared at him.
Sky stepped closer, then stopped himself.
He didn't touch him.
"Can I?"
Nani understood.
After a moment, he nodded.
Sky gently placed his hands around Nani's waist and pulled him into an embrace.
Nani stiffened.
Sky immediately loosened his hold.
"You can move away."
Nani didn't.
Instead, his hands slowly gripped the back of Sky's shirt.
Sky closed his eyes.
He buried his face against Nani's shoulder, breathing out like he'd been holding his breath for hours.
"Don't do that to me again."
Nani whispered,
"I didn't know what to think."
"I know."
"You were there."
"I know."
"You looked so cold."
Sky's eyes closed tighter.
"I was."
"You didn't help."
"I should have."
Nani's voice cracked.
"Why didn't you?"
Sky was quiet for a long moment.
"Because I was twenty-one and stupid enough to think money was the worst thing a man could lose."
Nani looked at him.
Sky continued.
"I thought it was a debt."
His voice dropped.
"I didn't know Niran was turning your family into a cage."
Nani swallowed.
"I don't know what to believe."
"You don't have to believe me tonight."
Sky lifted his head.
"Just don't decide I'm guilty of something I didn't do."
Nani looked into his eyes.
"Then tell me everything."
"I will."
"Promise?"
"Yes."
Sky's thumb brushed away a tear from Nani's cheek.
"But some answers aren't mine to give."
Nani frowned.
"Then whose are they?"
"Niran's."
The name made the room colder.
Nani's gaze dropped.
"I hate him."
Sky's expression hardened.
"So do I."
A beat.
"But I don't want your hatred to consume you."
Nani gave a bitter laugh.
"Easy for you to say."
"No."
Sky shook his head.
"It isn't."
He looked at Nani like the confession physically hurt.
"I've spent years letting anger run my life."
His voice became quieter.
"Then you walked into it."
Nani's breath caught.
Sky's forehead rested lightly against his.
"And somehow you made this dead part of me start beating again."
Nani whispered,
"Sky..."
"Don't."
Sky closed his eyes.
"Don't look at me like you pity me."
"I don't."
"Good."
A faint, broken smile appeared.
"Because I'd rather you hate me."
Nani frowned.
"Why?"
Sky's voice dropped to almost a whisper.
"Because hatred means you're still looking at me."
Nani's eyes filled again.
Sky pulled him closer.
"But don't distrust me."
He held him tighter.
"Please."
The word sounded foreign coming from a man like Sky.
Nani rested his forehead against Sky's chest.
"I'm confused."
"I know."
"I don't know who's lying."
"I know."
"I don't even know what happened that night."
"I know."
Nani gripped his shirt.
"But I can't hate you."
Sky went completely still.
Nani's voice broke.
"I tried."
A shaky breath.
"I fucking tried."
Sky shut his eyes.
"Then don't."
Nani looked up.
Sky's expression was stripped bare.
No arrogance.
No cold mask.
Just fear.
"Don't hate me."
A pause.
"But if you need someone to blame..."
His voice cracked.
"Blame me for being too late."
Nani stared at him.
Sky whispered,
"Just don't blame yourself."
The room fell silent.
Outside, rain began tapping against the windows.
Nani finally leaned into him.
Sky wrapped both arms around him.
Neither spoke.
For tonight, there were no answers.
No villains.
No evidence.
No ghosts from 2021.
Just two people standing inside the wreckage of a past neither of them fully understood.
And somewhere beyond the mansion gates...
a phone screen lit up.
One message.
He still trusts Sky.
A second message appeared.
Then we need to break that trust before he remembers everything.
----------------
The room was almost completely dark.
Niran sat alone behind his desk.
A glass of untouched whiskey stood beside him.
He hadn't taken a sip.
He was too busy staring at an old photograph.
Nani.
Years younger.
Smiling.
Innocent.
Niran dragged his thumb across the photograph.
A bitter smile crossed his face.
"So you've grown up."
He leaned back.
"All these years..."
His expression twisted.
"And somehow you're still slipping through my fingers."
He threw the photograph onto the desk.
"First you run from the wedding."
His jaw tightened.
"Then you run to Sky."
That name made his expression turn vicious.
"That damn man."
Niran stood.
He began pacing.
"Sky was never supposed to matter."
He stopped beside the window.
"But now he's an obstacle."
His reflection stared back at him.
Older.
Colder.
Unhinged.
"He thinks he can protect you."
A laugh escaped him.
"How cute."
He picked up his phone.
There were photographs.
Nani leaving Dew's villa.
Nani entering Sky's mansion.
Nani sitting beside Sky.
Nani smiling.
Niran's fingers tightened around the phone.
"You're smiling again."
He whispered.
"After everything."
His smile disappeared.
"That won't last."
Then-
A voice came from behind him.
"Your basket is overflowing, Niran."
Niran froze.
The phone slipped from his hand.
He slowly turned.
Nobody.
His breathing changed.
"What the hell?"
The voice came again.
"Every crime."
A pause.
"Every lie."
Another pause.
"Every person you destroyed."
Niran's face drained.
"The basket is full."
He stepped backward.
"Who's there?"
A woman's silhouette appeared in the doorway.
Niran stopped breathing.
The light from the hallway touched her face.
He knew those eyes.
His lips parted.
"No..."
The woman stepped forward.
"Hello, husband."
Niran stumbled backward.
"Alisha."
She smiled.
Not warmly.
Not lovingly.
Like someone who had spent years imagining this exact moment.
"No."
Niran shook his head.
"You're dead."
Alisha tilted her head.
"You believed that?"
"I saw the reports."
"You saw what I wanted you to see."
Niran's face twisted.
"My wife..."
His voice dropped.
"You should have died."
Alisha's smile vanished.
"You've always been disappointed when people survive you."
Niran's breathing became ragged.
"You can't be here."
"I've been here."
She stepped closer.
"Watching."
Niran backed toward the desk.
"How?"
"Five years of hiding teaches a person patience."
His eyes narrowed.
"You were the woman helping Nani."
Alisha didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
Niran laughed.
"You think you can protect him?"
"No."
She looked directly into his eyes.
"I'm going to protect him."
Niran's smile returned.
"You've lost."
"No."
Alisha's voice remained calm.
"You did."
Silence.
She stepped closer.
"You thought money could bury everything."
Another step.
"You thought fear could keep everyone quiet."
Another.
"You thought Nani would remain broken forever."
Niran's expression hardened.
"Careful."
Alisha laughed.
"Still threatening people."
She shook her head.
"Some things never change."
Niran suddenly lunged toward her.
Alisha stepped backward.
The lights flickered.
And she was gone.
Niran stood frozen.
"Alisha!"
Nothing.
He rushed into the hallway.
Empty.
Only darkness.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
Niran answered.
"Who the hell is this?"
Silence.
Then Alisha's voice.
"Your end is coming."
Niran's face went pale.
"Where are you?"
"Closer than you think."
The call ended.
Niran stared at the screen.
His hand trembled.
Then another message appeared.
A photograph.
His own house.
Taken from outside.
Underneath it:
You spent years hunting everyone else.
Another message arrived.
Now it's your turn to be hunted.
Niran's face twisted with rage.
"Alisha..."
He threw the phone against the wall.
It shattered.
But the laughter that followed wasn't his.
It came from the hallway.
Quiet.
Female.
Then silence.
Niran stood alone.
For the first time in years...
he looked afraid.
Because the woman he'd convinced himself was dead had returned.
And she wasn't asking for forgiveness.
She was coming for everything.