Marrying my Enemy's Bride

Chapter 51: The gala night

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●AUTHORS POV●

The grand hall of The Imperial Heights was bathed in opulence. Crystal chandeliers hung like falling stars from the high vaulted ceiling, casting soft golden hues across marble floors and silken drapes. The Rajvansh Foundation Charity Gala had always been a landmark event on the city’s calendar, and tonight, it had outdone itself.

Guests adorned in designer gowns and tailored tuxedos mingled over flutes of champagne. Elegant laughter mingled with the soft jazz floating through the air. Reporters and photographers roamed the periphery, capturing every perfect smile, every slow sip of wine, every deliberate turn of a head.

But beneath the glittering surface, something darker moved.

At the heart of it all stood Meera—regal, radiant, composed. Dressed in a deep emerald green lehenga with silver embroidery that shimmered under the lights, she was a vision of grace. Her eyes sparkled, her smile polite, but only those who truly knew her could sense the alertness beneath her charm. She wasn’t here for photographs and pleasantries—tonight, Meera Rajvansh was a woman on a mission.

Arjun stood a few paces behind her, ever-watchful. Dressed in a sharply cut black sherwani with silver threadwork that matched Meera’s ensemble, he looked like royalty—but his eyes, dark and piercing, scanned the room with the intensity of a hawk. His jaw was clenched, his hand never straying far from the earpiece tucked beneath his collar.

Somewhere near the banquet entrance, Aditya was seated before a sleek tech console disguised as part of the gala’s music setup. His fingers danced over hidden keys, monitoring live surveillance feeds and network activity. His usually playful eyes were narrowed in concentration, lips pressed into a firm line.

On the main floor, Sanvi and Ayansh floated among the guests like shadows in silk. Dressed to blend in, their eyes were everywhere, casually watching hands, movements, whispers.

Riya, graceful in blush pink, and Radhika, glowing in sapphire blue, handled the media with poise. They posed, laughed, guided questions—but behind each practiced smile was readiness, alert to even the smallest slip.

Everything looked perfect. Too perfect.

From a corner of the ballroom, a man in an ash-grey suit stood unmoving, half-shrouded in shadow. He wasn’t on the guest list. No one had seen him arrive. Yet there he was—drink untouched, gaze locked.

And across the security room, one of the CCTV monitors flickered—once, then again. A brief static glitch. Aditya’s brow furrowed as he noticed.

Something wasn’t right.

The gala had just begun—but the game had already started.

The lights were dimmer in the hallway near the east-wing archives. This was one of the high-surveillance zones of the Rajvansh Gala venue—a place filled with old business exhibits, closed to most guests. A faint hum of servers mixed with the clicking of Meera’s heels as she walked, deliberately slow, feigning interest in a gilded plaque about Rajvansh Corporation’s early milestones.

Unattended. Vulnerable. Just as planned.

Clutched under her arm was a sleek tablet, unlocked. Within it, fabricated files—project codes, vendor accounts, dummy offshore transactions. Enough bait for any hacker watching the gala’s surveillance feeds.

A hidden network node in the corridor pulsed silently—its Wi-Fi open, unprotected. A trap masked as a flaw.

Meera paused in front of a security camera. She knew the timing was perfect. Arjun, Aditya, and Radhika were all monitoring her from the control room upstairs. She adjusted the dupatta over her shoulder and tilted her wrist, making sure the tablet screen reflected just enough for the camera to catch it.