CHAPTER 25 #4
Then he lets out a dark laugh devoid of any humour.
“My case was different. GLEN erased my records and buried my old identity. But that alone wasn’t enough to keep me alive for the last two and a half years.
I survived because I never stopped watching the underworld, even after disappearing from it.
I had men tracking every enemy, every movement, every whisper, and every rumour connected to the Dark Prince. ”
The veins in his forearm flex as he continues.
“The moment even a suspicion about the Dark Prince began to turn into a spark, it was crushed right there before it could spread.”
A heavy silence settles over the villa. Ayaan’s jaw clenches, but Raghav isn’t done.
“Who was going to do that for her?” he asks flatly. “Who was going to watch every shadow around Siya twenty-four hours a day?”
Nobody answers him. Even I stare at Raghav in shock.
Until this moment, I had truly believed that changing my identity and disappearing from the mafia world would be enough.
But now, hearing this, realising that even after disappearing, he had spent the last two and a half years constantly watching every enemy, tracking every suspicion, I suddenly understand that a changed identity alone was never enough.
Maybe one day Samarjeet would have found Mom and me too, and dragged us back. And then, the consequences would have been deadly.
Slowly, I lift my head, and my eyes lock with Raghav’s. The look in his eyes is enough to convey that I’m safe here. That nobody in this world will ever touch me again without going through him first.
“She’s nowhere safer than RK Estate,” Raghav says, holding my gaze without blinking. “She’s under my protection now... as my family. And anyone who comes for my family dies.”
Ayaan’s face hardens as he looks at Raghav.
“That still doesn’t justify you risking this entire family for a mafia princess?” he challenges.
Raghav whirls around so quickly that I flinch. His fingers fist Ayaan’s collar. “Call her a mafia princess again… and see what happens.”
Ayaan jaw locks just as hard. Neither of them backs down even an inch. Then Raghav releases Ayaan’s collar and turns to the family.
“Let me remind everybody standing here one last time. Siya is no longer some bloody mafia princess.”
My breath catches in my throat.
“She is Siya Raghav Kundra now… my wife.”
A deafening silence follows. I swear the entire room freezes at that.
Ayaan.
Meher.
Kailash Uncle.
Haider.
Even Mom beside me.
Everybody just stares at Raghav. Because this is not just a statement. It’s a warning.
“And anybody who has a problem addressing her with the respect that title carries…” His eyes move across the room slowly, ruthlessly until they lock on Ayaan. “… can deal with me directly.”
A shiver runs down my spine. After a declaration like that, nobody would dare question him. Not even me. Even Ayaan looks momentarily stunned, although the tension between the brothers still crackles violently in the room.
Raghav finally points a finger towards him.
“And this is the first and last time you go behind my back and interfere in my decisions,” he says harshly. “We’re brothers, which means we stand on the same side. Always. If you ever pull something like this again, I won’t tolerate it.”
Ayaan fingers curl into fists at the warning.
Then without waiting for a response from anyone, Raghav turns and storms towards the staircase.
The entire villa falls into dead silence again after he leaves.
Ayaan curses under his breath before angrily walking towards one of the rooms further inside.
Meher waddles after him slowly, one hand resting protectively over her stomach.
Now, only Kailash Uncle, Mom, Haider, and I remain standing there.
Uncle looks more exhausted than angry, as though the weight of both his sons has crushed his peace of mind. Despite that, he slowly looks at Mom first and then at me.
“None of us ever thought a day like this would come,” he says quietly, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Siya. I cannot defend what Raghav did. And as his family, I truly wish he hadn’t chosen this path.” His shoulders drop slightly in sadness.
Mom stays silent beside me as Kailash Uncle slowly folds his hands in front of us.
“But still,” he continues, “on Raghav’s behalf, I ask forgiveness from both of you.”
The apology shocks me, and something twists painfully inside my chest seeing him like this... defeated, helpless, and almost ashamed of the choices his own son has made. It feels wrong.
Before he can keep his hands folded in front of Mom and me any longer, I immediately step forward and gently lower them myself.
“Please don’t,” I say softly, shaken by the sight. “None of this is your fault.”
He simply looks at me, his eyes heavy with disappointment and heartbreak.
He then lifts his hand and pats my head once, almost absentmindedly, like he’s too overwhelmed to even process everything happening around him.
And before I can say anything else, he turns around and quietly walks out of the villa.
Haider follows him without a word. I look at Mom, who simply shakes her head in quiet dismissal at everything that has just unfolded inside this house since our arrival.
Without saying anything more, she turns and walks back towards her room, leaving me standing alone in the middle of the villa… inside a house where a family is already breaking apart because of me.