The illegitimate daughter of a powerful businessman, she was sent to live with her six half-brothers after her father's sudden death.
The boys were born from privilege, pride, and perfectly manicured bloodlines. No one welcomed her. No one cared.
De...
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The car came to a slow halt in front of the Rajput mansion.
I didn't step out.
The others had reached just seconds before me, their car parked ahead. But I had refused to sit with them. I'd told them I'd come in my own car. With Xavier.
Maybe it was stubbornness. Maybe self-preservation.
Or maybe I just didn't know how to breathe in a space that held too many ghosts, too many versions of me — the ones who once longed for them, and the ones who were destroyed by that longing.
So I sat there. Still.
The engine clicked softly as it cooled down, and for a moment, all I could hear was the sound of my own heartbeat — steady, numb, detached.
I wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do.
Coming back.
But choices had long abandoned me. Or maybe I had abandoned them.
"Are you fine?" Xavier's voice pulled me out of the hollow spiral.
He didn't turn around — just looked at me through the rearview mirror, unreadable as always.
I nodded once.
And he didn't press further.
"Deliver the stuff I asked you to," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
"Yes, boss," he replied, calm and loyal.
I inhaled sharply — more out of necessity than strength — and reached for the door handle.
The air outside hit me with a sudden heaviness as I stepped out.
And then I saw them.
All six of them.
The Rajput brothers — my brothers — were already standing outside.
Each of them looking at me.
Not one of them spoke, but their eyes were filled with things I didn't know how to name.
And then, a little behind them, stood Avni.
Her posture was rigid, her arms crossed loosely. Her face gave nothing away. No smile. No glare.
Just silence. I had no idea what she was thinking. What she felt about me returning to this house.
Did she know who I really was now?
Did she hate me?
I didn't let my gaze linger.
"Let's go!" Kabeer's voice broke the silence — loud and excited, like he'd been waiting for this moment since he was a child.
And just like that, the spell broke. One by one, they turned and began walking toward the door.
