CHAPTER 6
SIYA
I spend the entire day inside my suite, pacing between the tall windows and the sitting area, trying to find a solution to my current problem. What if Raghav truly gives my guards full access to the security feeds of this estate?
The valley, the resort, the weather… nothing improves my mood.
If he truly goes through with his threat, my time here will turn into the same suffocating routine I endured in Cape Town after Dad’s death.
The memory of that period still irritates something deep inside me.
Samarjeet had called it protection, a form of house arrest wrapped neatly in the language of family concern.
But I called it a prison.
Men watching every step I took. Men reporting every word I spoke.
Men stationed outside my room like I was some fragile heirloom that needed guarding from the world.
I tolerated it because Mom asked me to. She feared that my defiance would only lead to my brother torturing me even more.
He had already fixed my marriage alliance to Parag Reddy, and that was enough of a torture already.
And now the thought that the similar situation might repeat itself here, in a different country, annoys me.
If Raghav does what he said, my guards will know exactly when I leave my suite, where I go, who I speak to, and what I do.
Every movement will travel straight back to Samarjeet.
Which means the very reason I came here will collapse before it even begins.
No! There has to be a way around this.
By night, my irritation has grown strong enough that I finally pick up my iPad from the table.
If I don’t call Mom at least once a day, she starts to imagine the worst. The video call connects almost instantly.
Mom appears on the screen, exactly where I expected, sitting in the garden lawn of our mansion in Cape Town.
Holding a porcelain teacup in her hand, she looks composed as always.
“Hi, Mom,” I say, settling into the chair at my desk and adjusting the iPad so she can see me properly. “You look beautiful today.”
She raises one eyebrow at me. “You only say that when you’re about to confess something… or when you’re trying to distract me, Siya.”
I smile faintly and reach for the small bottle of nail polish lying on the desk. If I’m going to explain the chaos of last night, I might as well do something productive with my hands while I do it.
“Maybe I’m simply appreciating my sweetest mom,” I reply lightly as I begin to brush the colour over one nail.
She looks at me, then sighs softly. “What happened? What have you done now?”
I roll my eyes slightly. “You always assume I have done something wrong. Can’t things just happen to me without it being my fault?”
“So something has happened?” she asks, panicked. “Will you just tell me? Don’t raise my anxiety levels.”
I sigh and begin telling her about last night. At first, the story sounds almost ridiculous, even to my own ears. A midnight walk that was supposed to clear my head, a fence I apparently crossed without noticing, and a forest I walked into like someone with no survival instincts.
And then there was the wolf.
Mom doesn’t interrupt as I describe the encounter. She listens quietly as I continue to tell her everything, including my reactions to what happened after the incident, and how Raghav intends to give my guards full access to the estate cameras.
A small silence falls between us when I finish.
“So he did all that, saved your life, and instead of being grateful to him, you threatened to expose his true identity?” she asks.
I shrug lightly even though a small part of me knows exactly how absurd it sounds. “He threatened me first.”
“Siya.”
“He’s turning my stay here into another surveillance operation, Mom,” I continue angrily. “What else was I supposed to do?”
“So this is your solution?” She frowns. “To blackmail the man who saved you?”
“I did not blackmail him.”
“You did, Siya. He risked his life to save you from that wolf, and you responded by threatening to expose the truth that he is actually the Dark Prince.”
Hearing it out loud, I admit it does sound slightly dramatic. But if Raghav threatens to lock down my movements, I will threaten his entire identity. It’s only fair.
Mom shakes her head slowly. “Siya, I was already uncomfortable with you going to the RK Estate in the first place. You chose to walk directly into the territory of a man whom your father and your brother have always wanted dead. And now you are provoking him?”
I fall silent.
“How can you stay in that place knowing exactly who he is? And you’re not even allowing your guards to protect you properly. What if something goes wrong?”
I lean back slightly in my chair and study her expression.
“You know why I came here,” I remind her gently.
She closes her eyes briefly before putting the teacup down.
“Yes,” she admits softly. “And that’s exactly why I believe you might be knocking at the wrong door. Raghav may have left the mafia world behind… but he’s far more dangerous than most men you’ve encountered.”
Despite the warning, I almost smirk as I think about the man who dragged me out of the forest and then nearly exploded with anger moments later. Although I may not like him, I have to admit the man is intriguing.
“Dangerous men usually make the most useful allies,” I murmur, still lost in the same thought.
“Or the most unpredictable enemies,” she replies immediately, bringing me back to reality.
Mom watches me for several long seconds before speaking again. “I don’t have a good feeling about this, Siya.”
I watch her through the screen. Every word she says about Raghav is technically correct. I’m not naive enough to believe he is harmless. If anything, I should be careful around him. Alert.
But fear is not what I feel. What I feel is something else entirely. My instincts are not telling me to run from the danger, but rather to study it closely. I finally exhale and bring myself back to the conversation.
“Mom,” I say gently, “please don’t worry. If I had any other option, I would never have come here.”
That is the simplest truth of this entire situation.
There are many powerful people in this world.
But the kind of influence I need right now cannot be borrowed from ordinary allies, as they all lead back to Samarjeet.
I need someone outside that network. Someone whose reach extends beyond the predictable lines of the mafia.
And whether I like admitting it or not, Raghav is exactly the kind of man I need.
“Raghav is my last resort,” I say quietly, watching Mom’s reaction. She stares at me before speaking again.
“Then what are you waiting for?” she asks. “Why not simply tell him what you want?”
I shake my head immediately, “I don’t trust him yet. I know he saved my life, but that doesn’t mean I can trust him with the reason I came here. I don’t know whether he’ll agree to what I’m going to ask. And until I’m certain that his answer will be yes, I can’t risk revealing why I’m really here.”
The confusion in her eyes turns into concern.
“Siya,” she exhales slowly, “whatever game you are playing is worrying me more by the second. While you wait for him to gain your trust, please do not challenge him. In fact, you should go and apologise to him.”
For a second, I’m sure I must have heard her wrong.
“Apologise?” I repeat slowly. “And me?”
“Yes.”
A small disbelieving laugh escapes me before I can stop it.
“That is not going to happen,” I say, shaking my head.
She opens her mouth to argue, but I lift a hand to stop her.
“Mom,” I say gently, softening my tone, “you need to trust my instincts on this. I know the risks I’m taking. And I know exactly how far I can push this situation. I promise I’ll handle it.”
She doesn’t look convinced. For a moment, neither of us speaks. Then I give her a reassuring smile.
“Now finish your tea before it gets cold.”
She shakes her head again, though I can see the faint trace of a reluctant smile appearing on her face. “Just be careful, Siya.”
“I will.”
I end the video call before she can add another warning.
RAGHAV
Same Night
The pool is silent except for the faint hum of the filtration system. My body is completely submerged, my arms resting loose at my sides as the faint blue lights lining the pool ripple through the water around me.
Everything feels distant down here. Muted.
I draw in a breath… and hold it.
This has always been the simplest method of controlling my mind whenever it begins wandering into places it shouldn’t. And yet tonight, even this fails to bring the silence I came here for. The moment I close my eyes, all I see is a pair of furious eyes hidden behind a golden mask.
Siya Vardhaan.
This woman has been on my turf for barely a few days, and somehow, she has already managed to create more unrest in my mind than half the enemies I dealt with during my years in the mafia world.
Even underwater, her memory returns with unsettling clarity. The way she stood there last night after I dragged her out of the forest and the stubborn fire in her eyes, even after watching me fight a wolf with nothing but my bare hands and a knife.
Most people would have thanked the man who saved their lives.
She threatened me instead. No one from my past would have dared to stand there and tell me to my face that if I disturbed their peace, they would destroy mine in return.
Anyone who even entertained that thought usually died before they found the courage to act on it.
But Siya Vardhaan stood calmly in front of me last night, blackmailing me and threatening to expose my identity.
My lungs begin to tighten as another thirty seconds pass.
The woman does not fear me. At least not yet.
Perhaps she believes the stories she has heard about me are exaggerated.
Perhaps she has only heard the versions her father and brother chose to tell her while she was growing up.
But there’s a huge difference between hearing about a monster and standing in front of one.
My chest begins to burn, my body reminding me that time is running out. I finally push myself to the surface, my head breaking through the water. Drawing in a deep breath I drag a hand through my wet hair. And that’s when I see her.
Siya Vardhaan sits casually at the far edge of the pool, her feet dipped in the water, looking just as surprised to see me as I am to find her there.