"Behind the mask of innocence lies a hunger for revenge, where power reigns supreme and secrets dictate the game."
•••
Ananya's light conceals dark shadows.
Secrets fester.
Revenge fuels.
Betrayal lingers.
Obsession rules.
What will Trayaksh do whe...
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"Speak."
The café hummed quietly around them, the sound of murmured conversations filling the air as a waiter set down two cups of black coffee, the ones Ritika had ordered the moment they stepped in.
At Trayaksh's blunt command, she faltered for a moment, her fingers tracing the rim of her cup. She looked down, her voice soft but heavy with regret.
"Why behave like such a stranger, Trayaksh?" Her fingers trembled slightly. "I—"
"Get to the point."
The sharpness in his tone made her pause, but she pushed through, her chest tightening.
"I know what I did three years ago wasn't right. I didn't have a choice then. My career..." She trailed off, her gaze lifting to meet his, openly vulnerable as her eyes searched his, hoping to see if he was even remotely interested in her reasons.
Trayaksh didn't answer. His face was a blank canvas. Unreadable. Unaffected.
It was as if her words hadn't even reached him.
Ritika's lips trembled slightly at his indifference. It stung more than she'd expected. After all these years, she had hoped her disappearance might've left some mark on him, but he remained as he always was.
Heartless.
The silence stretched on, and her eyes began to shimmer with unshed tears.
She took a deep breath and reached into her purse, pulling out a sheaf of papers and sliding them toward him across the table.
"Trayaksh, I know you've moved on, but I haven't been able to. I still care about you... deeply. And it's because I care that I came to you with this." She paused, her voice faltering. "I stumbled upon these, and my first thought was of you. Of the potential harm they could cause."
Trayaksh didn't look at her, but his eyes dropped to the documents. "What are these?"
Ritika's breath hitched. She hadn't expected him to be this... unconcerned. But what had she expected, really? He'd always been unpredictable, even as a child. Very few people understood him, and her brother was one of them. But not her.
Never her.
She had always been an outsider in his life. Always.
Her fingers tightened around the edge of her cup.
"These documents," She continued softly, "are about a woman named Onalika Sen. Operator of India's most notorious red-light areas. She goes by the name Kaku. And Ananya..." Her voice trailed off for a moment, before she finished. "is her daughter."
