"Revenge isn't loud. It's quiet, calculated-and wears the face of the one you used to love."

-----

A thick, suffocating silence blanketed the grand Mehra estate. Chandeliers glittered with cold, indifferent light, but the warmth that once filled the house had long since faded-burnt to ash beneath secrets and shattered trust.

At the antique mahogany dining table, Aarav Singh Rathore sat like a man who owned the world. Or was about to.

Mr. Mehra, aging and proud, stood opposite him-shoulders hunched under the invisible weight of impending doom. And Inaaya... she stood near the doorway, framed by twilight, trembling like a porcelain doll just moments before the fall.

Aarav's voice sliced through the air, smooth but lethal.

"You think I'm bluffing?"

He leaned forward, elbows on polished wood, a cruel glint in his eyes.

"You think I came here just to posture? No, Mr. Mehra. This is a deal. I want Inaaya's hand in marriage-and in return, I'll save your son."

Mr. Mehra staggered backward as though slapped.

"Reyansh... what about him?"

Aarav didn't blink. He pulled a black folder from his coat and tossed it onto the table. It landed with a cold finality, its contents screaming damnation.

"Fraud. Embezzlement. Industrial sabotage. Enough to bury him alive in court. Twenty years, maybe more."

Inaaya gasped, stumbling forward. Her voice was thin, disbelieving.

"What do you mean, evidence? Rey... Rey Bhai would never-"

Aarav rose slowly. He moved like a predator-precise, silent, unstoppable.

"Would never betray me? He already did."

He stepped closer to Inaaya, invading her space with calculated intensity.

"The media, the board, the courts... they'll devour him. But I can make all of it vanish. Wipe it clean. All you have to do... is marry me."

Mr. Mehra's lips trembled.

"You're blackmailing us."

Aarav's smirk was cruel, almost victorious.

"No. I'm offering a trade."

Then he looked only at her.

"Your daughter's future... for your son's freedom."

Inaaya stayed still, her breath stolen. The floor didn't crumble beneath her-but her world did.

"Taiyari shuru kijiye, Sasurji," he said coldly before leaving. "Jald hi aapki beti ki doli uthne wali hai."

( Arrange everything for the marriage father-in-law, soon your daughter will be married. )

And then he was gone.

The echo of his words lingered like poison in the air.

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They thought I'd flinch. That I'd blink first.

Idiots.

This wasn't a bluff. It was a verdict.

I watched Mr. Mehra deflate before my eyes-his pride, his power, his legacy-dismantled in seconds.

And Inaaya... her face.

God.

She used to look at me like I was her secret dream.

Now? I was her nightmare.

"Your daughter's future... for your son's freedom."

The silence that followed?

Delicious.

As I turned to leave, I made sure the last words I spoke carved themselves into her soul.

"Taiyari shuru kijiye, Sasurji. Jald hi aapki beti ki doli uthne wali hai."

( Arrange everything for the marriage father-in-law, soon your daughter will be married. )

Her breath hitched-shattered.

And I walked out, knowing I had just become the villain in her story.

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He left.

Just like that.

And with him, the air left my lungs.

My father stood frozen. My body trembled. My heart cracked and bled.

Reyansh... he couldn't have done this.

He wouldn't.

The Aarav I once knew-the one I used to secretly watch from the corners of our childhood gatherings-was gone.

This man wasn't him.

He was colder. Sharper. Deadlier.

And I?

I was just collateral.

The folder remained on the table, still as a tombstone.

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That Night - Inaaya's Balcony

The stars looked cruel.

I sat alone, arms wrapped around my knees, staring at the city that felt both too loud and too far.

Then it arrived.

A sealed envelope with my name on it.

Inside:

A wedding contract.

Three weeks from now.

Venue: Rathore Estate.

Dowry: Nil.

Clauses: Absolute confidentiality. Zero interviews. Full marital rights.

That last line felt like a slap.

I read it again. And again.

Full marital rights.

It wasn't just a transaction.

He meant to own me.

And yet... my father didn't fight. My brother was missing.

And Aarav waited.

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Three Days Later - Aarav's Office

I didn't wear makeup.

I didn't wear fear.

Just resolve.

I walked into his office and faced the man who held my fate in ink and signature.

"I'll do it."

He looked up slowly.

"Excuse me?"

"I'll marry you."

He stood, stepping toward me. I didn't back away.

He tucked a loose strand behind my ear.

I hated the way my skin responded-tingling like it still remembered the boy he once was.

"Good girl," he whispered.

Then closer.

"But remember, Inaaya... this isn't a marriage. It's ownership. Once you sign that paper, you belong to me."

And I...

I nodded.

"I already know."

But the truth?

I didn't know the half of it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She said the words I waited years to hear.

"I'll marry you."

And just like that, revenge tasted sweeter.

Reyansh Mehra-your sins have found you.

I watched her walk away-shoulders heavy, eyes dimmed, heart shattered.

She didn't cry.

Not in front of me.

But I knew the storm brewing inside her.

And I welcomed it.

Because this was just the beginning.

Not of a marriage.

Of her undoing.

And maybe... my own.

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To be continued...