HER SAFE PLACE

Last wish

Shivangi's POV

As the door clicked shut behind him, I sat there, staring at nothing, feeling… empty.

I should have felt relieved that he was gone, but I didn’t. Instead, a hollow ache settled in my chest, an unsettling silence wrapping around me. My mind was a mess—torn between the storm of emotions he had left behind and the unbearable weight of everything I had just discovered.

Then, suddenly, my phone rang.

I flinched at the sound, blinking as I reached for it with trembling fingers. A name flashed on the screen—Vani Di.

A strange sense of unease settled in my stomach as I picked up the call.

“Hello?” My voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.

“Shivangi,” Vani Di’s voice came through, urgent, serious. “Aunty called me. She was crying—badly.”

I stiffened. My heart skipped a beat.

My mother?

I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, Vani Di continued, her tone sharp yet laced with concern.

“As much as I don’t want you to go there, I want you to go to that house. Please. It’s urgent.”

I inhaled sharply, my grip tightening on the phone.

Vani Di never liked my parents. She never hid her disapproval, never wanted me to go near them. So, if she was saying this, if she was insisting that I go…

It meant something was really wrong.

I swallowed, my throat dry. “Okay, Di, I will go.”

“No.” Her voice turned firm, almost demanding. “Go now.”

A chill ran down my spine.

Something wasn’t right.

Tension coiled in my stomach, but I nodded, forcing out a weak, “Okay.”

Just as I was about to cut the call, her voice stopped me.

“Come out,” she said, her tone softer now, but still urgent. “I’m waiting for you outside.”

I froze.

She was already here?

I didn’t waste another second.

Pushing myself up from the bed, I ignored the exhaustion weighing me down, ignored the ache in my body, and grabbed my phone before rushing towards the door.

Whatever this was…

It wasn’t good.

As soon as I stepped outside, I saw Vani Di leaning against her car, arms crossed, her expression unreadable. But the moment she spotted me, something shifted in her eyes—something that made my heart clench.

Without a word, she opened the car door. “Get in.”

I didn’t ask questions. I just obeyed.

The drive was tense, silent except for the sound of my pounding heart. Vani Di gripped the steering wheel tighter than usual, her knuckles turning white. She was nervous.

I swallowed hard. “Di… what’s going on?”

She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she exhaled, shaking her head as if trying to find the right words.

Then, finally, she spoke.

“It’s your father, Shivangi.”

My body went cold. “What… what about him?”