𝗛𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲

Collision Course

I watched her walk away.

Every step Esha took out of that café felt like a blade dragging across my skin.

I should've let her go a long time ago. Before she got entangled in my world. Before she saw the truth. Before she said my name like it was poison.

Viper.

The name I never wanted her to know. The name I never wanted to matter between us.

But the illusion was shattered. And now the woman who once looked at me with fire and pride, looked at me with something I hadn't seen before—fear.

I stood in the alley behind the café a few minutes later, lighting a cigarette with hands that didn't usually shake. My second phone buzzed in my coat pocket.

Kabir: Mehra's moving fast. He knows you've gone rogue. Esha's name just showed up on his radar.

My jaw clenched. So this was how it started.

I made one mistake. I hesitated.

I tried to protect her without pulling her into the fire. But fire doesn't care who burns. And Mehra wasn't just trying to erase loose ends now—he was hunting.

And Esha Arora had officially become bait.

I texted Kabir back immediately.

Me: Put two men on her, discreetly. Don't let her see them. If she gets even a scratch, you answer to me.

I leaned back against the wall and exhaled smoke into the cold Delhi air, my mind racing. There were only two options now—pull Esha completely into my world, or cut her out forever.

But how do you cut out the one person who makes you feel human?

I had survived by being ruthless, precise, untouchable. I had built an empire in the shadows, made men bow or bleed. But Esha—she made me hesitate. She made me want redemption in a world that never offered it.

I thought I could protect her from the truth. From me.

But the truth had claws. And now they were out.

Back at the penthouse, I stared out over the city. The skyline glittered, cold and distant. Somewhere out there, she was connecting the dots—realizing how deep the web went, how many strings I'd pulled. And how close she had come to being just another piece on the board.

But Esha wasn't a pawn.

She was the queen. The threat. The game-changer.

And I wasn't sure if I wanted to checkmate her... or fall to my knees before her.

One thing was certain now.

This war wasn't about Mehra anymore.
This war was about her.
And I'd burn every empire I built to keep her alive.

●☆●

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