Tangled Ties

The Crown of Ashes

The walls echoed with cold silence.

Siya sat on the damp floor, her soaked clothes clinging to her skin. Her back was bruised from the harsh concrete, her wrists red from the ropes, yet her eyes were steady. Not fearful anymore — but sharp, alert.

Across the room, Renu Bua stood with a wicked gleam in her eyes, her laughter bouncing off the walls like nails on a chalkboard.

"Aakhir pata chal hi gaya, hai na?" she said, pacing slowly. "Didn't expect it to be me, right?"

But Siya didn't flinch. She sat still, watching her. Studying her.

"No." Siya said finally, voice low. "Somehow... I did."

Renu paused mid-step, surprised.

"I never trusted the silence behind your smiles." Siya added. "But I never imagined this level of hate."

Renu's smirk faltered. Then twisted into a bitter grin. "Hate?" she echoed, voice trembling — not from fear, but fury. "You think this is about hate?"

She let out a cold, hollow laugh, louder this time, almost manic.

"I don't just hate you, Siya. I hate everyone."

Her voice cracked, but her eyes burned.

"My parents... this family... this entire system! They took everything from me!"

Siya's brows furrowed, but she remained calm "What did they take?"

Renu stopped pacing. Her expression turned hard, jaw clenched, her voice suddenly booming through the room.

"Mere maa-baap ne meri shaadi uss bevde se karwa di!"" she screamed, fists trembling at her sides. "Do you know what that means, Siya? A life sentence — handed to me in the name of tradition."

Siya stared, stunned.

Renu's voice lowered, trembling with disgust.

"But the only good thing in that cursed marriage was that his father — my sasur — was a business partner with the Singhanias. Since generations."

She gave Siya a sharp, twisted smile.

"Jo Singhania ka tha... wo humara bhi tha. We shared the legacy. The crown. The empire. Until..."

Her voice turned to acid.

"Until my drunk, good-for-nothing husband betrayed the company. He stole, lied, gambled the trust they gave him. And what did the Singhanias do? They threw him out. Cut him off like filth."

She stepped closer to Siya, eyes wild now.

"And then he drank more. And beat more. Me. Every single day."

Her voice dropped to a whisper — empty and terrifying.

"So one day... I ended it. I killed him."

Siya's breath hitched.

But Renu laughed.

Laughed.

Like a woman unchained.

"No one suspected. No one cared. He was just another dead drunk."

A long pause followed.

Siya whispered "Then why drag us into it now?"

Renu's face stiffened.

"Because my children paid the price for his sins." she snapped. "My Virat... he deserved everything Avyansh got. Every deal. Every name. Every inch of this family's respect. But your husband and his brothers, all of you, took it without a second thought."