(Present Time – Inside the SUV)
BANG.
The heavy, military-grade bulletproof door sealed shut with a deafening, metallic thud.
The sound echoed through the luxurious, armored cabin... cutting the orphanage off from the outside world completely. Like a vault locking away a nightmare.
SILENCE followed.
Not an awkward silence.
A strange, heavy, vibrating one.
The massive SUV began to glide forward, the engine nothing more than a powerful, barely-there purr.
Rain traced l-a-z-y, zigzagging paths down the heavily tinted windows, blurring the decaying orphanage into nothing more than faded, ugly grey shapes.
Riya didn't look back.
She couldn't.
She sat perfectly, rigidly still in the exact dead center of the enormous leather seat. Her feet didn't even touch the floormats.
It didn't even feel like a car.
It felt like a private, exclusive lounge.
Soft, buttery cream leather that practically swallowed her tiny frame. Dark, polished walnut panels that gleamed in the low light. Warm, ambient golden lights hidden seamlessly beneath the plush ceiling.
The faint, rich scent of expensive leather... fresh mint... and the unmistakable, intoxicating cologne all four brothers somehow smelled like. Crisp, clean, and ridiculously expensive.
Everything was spotless. Untouched. Luxurious.
Nothing like the damp, weeping walls... the broken, squeaking metal beds... or the moldy, scratchy blankets she'd grown up with for five endless years.
The difference wasn't just shocking. It was almost frightening.
S-l-o-w-l-y...
Very slowly...
The fierce, burning fire inside her began to fade.
Out there, on the cracked orphanage porch... she had been angry. Really, truly angry. She had shouted. She had scolded Lakshya Singhania, the most feared man in the city. She had even pointed at him and called him by his name.
But now...
Now, wrapped in the quiet hum of this moving fortress, there was no anger left.
Only a thirteen-year-old girl sitting inside a vehicle worth more than the entire plot of land her orphanage was built on.
Her tiny fingers curled tightly, defensively, into the faded, rough fabric of her cotton dress.
She suddenly became hyper-aware of herself.
The patched, frayed sleeve. The worn, muddy sandals. The loose, pathetic little thread hanging near her scraped knee.
She felt like a smudge of dirt in a pristine, million-dollar room.
Then... her dark eyes cautiously lifted.
Lakshya.
God... he was huge.
At the orphanage, when she was five, he'd always felt older. Bigger.
Now... he felt impossible. A mountain of muscle and controlled violence.
Broad, tense shoulders stretched the crisp black shirt across his imposing frame. The rolled sleeves exposed thick, tanned forearms covered in faded scars. Reminders of a life she couldn't even begin to imagine. Heavy silver rings rested against powerful hands that looked entirely capable of crushing stone...
Yet, only minutes ago... those exact same hands had held her like she was made of the thinnest, most fragile glass. Like he was terrified he might break her.
She swallowed, feeling overwhelmed, and looked away.
Maan.
Perfectly pressed charcoal suit. Straight, impossibly rigid posture. Not a single unnecessary, wasted movement.
Even sitting down in a moving car... he somehow looked like he was attending a high-stakes board meeting where billions were on the line. The silver watch glinting on his wrist probably cost more than every bed, plate, and ceiling tile inside the orphanage combined.
Across from her... Ranchit lounged carelessly against the opposite seat, a picture of lethal elegance.
Tie loose. Top button open. One arm stretched l-a-z-i-l-y across the backrest, his long legs crossed at the ankle.
He looked relaxed. Effortlessly charming.
Until her eyes drifted downward, noticing the heavy, matte-black pistol resting against his waist, just beneath the edge of his tailored jacket.
Her breathing caught in her throat.
A real gun. Not plastic. Not a toy from a mela. Real.
Beside him... Abhiraj caught her wide, terrified eyes staring.
He grinned immediately. The exact same bright, shameless, boyish grin from five years ago.
Then... with a smooth, casual flick of his wrist, he deliberately pulled his jacket over his own weapon, hiding the steel from her view.
Gone.
"...Better?" he asked softly, his eyes remarkably gentle.
Riya blinked, her heart fluttering like a trapped moth.
"...A little."
His grin widened, reaching his eyes. "There she is."
The tiny, stubborn corner of her lips twitched... before immediately disappearing again. She was supposed to be mad, wasn't she?
Nobody pushed her to talk. Nobody filled the heavy silence with useless questions. Nobody asked 'how have you been?' because the answer was painfully obvious.
For once... even Abhiraj stayed quiet.
Because all four brothers, despite the blood on their hands and the empires they ran, could see it clearly.
The tiny, ragged girl sitting between them... wasn't angry anymore.
She was scared.
The silence stretched.
Heavy. Gentle. Almost... careful. As if breathing too loudly would shatter the illusion.
No one wanted to break it.
Then—
The massive tires of the SUV rolled over a speed bump on the ruined road.
A tiny one. Barely enough to make the heavily suspended vehicle sway.
But Riya flinched anyway.
HARD.
Her small shoulders jerked violently. Her breathing hitched, a sharp gasp tearing through the quiet cabin.
For one terrifying, heart-stopping second... her mind wasn't inside the warm, mint-scented SUV anymore.
It was back inside the orphanage. Back inside the storage closet. The one with the spiders. Dark. Cold. Suffocatingly alone.
What if this isn't real?
The thought slipped in so quietly, so insidiously... it terrified her.
What if I wake up? What if I'm still on the thin mattress? What if Mrs. Verma is standing over me again with the cane? What if they disappear... again?
Her chest tightened. Painfully. Like an iron band crushing her ribs.
Before she even realized what she was doing... her hand SHOT out. Then the other.
She grabbed the front of Lakshya's expensive black shirt with both tiny fists. Tightly. Knuckles turning stark white. As if letting go for even a microsecond would make him vanish into thin air.
The movement was so sudden, so desperate... everyone in the car looked up instantly, every muscle tensing for a threat.
Without thinking... Riya leaned sideways, completely abandoning her rigid posture, and buried her face against the solid, warm wall of his chest.
"...Don't."
It came out as barely a whisper. A fractured, bleeding plea.
"So..." "...don't go."
SILENCE.
Absolute, heartbreaking silence.
Lakshya didn't speak immediately. He didn't offer empty platitudes.
He simply looked down at the little girl clutching his ruined shirt with everything she had in her.
His jaw tightened. Hard. So hard his teeth ached. A thick vein ticked dangerously near his temple.
S-l-o-w-l-y...
Very, very carefully...
He shifted closer on the leather seat.
One massive, heavily scarred arm slid around her trembling shoulders. Pulling her against him entirely. Not forcing. Not trapping. Just... holding. Creating an impenetrable fortress around her with his own body.
His other hand came up... resting impossibly gently against the back of her head. His rough fingers moved through her messy, unwashed hair with impossible care. Like he was afraid she'd disappear if he touched her too quickly.
His voice, when it finally came... was barely above a gravelly whisper. But it carried the weight of a vow.
"I've got you, baccha."
A pause. Another slow, grounding stroke through her hair.
"I'm here."
His chin rested lightly, protectively against the top of her head.
"You don't have to be scared anymore."
That was all it took.
The quiet certainty in those words shattered whatever pathetic remaining strength she had been holding together for five years.
Her fingers twisted tighter into his shirt, her voice muffled against him. "...Promise?"
The single word broke. Completely.
Lakshya closed his dark eyes. Just once. A slow, agonizing blink.
When they opened again... the warmth was still there for her. But underneath it... something ancient. Something TERRIFYING. The kind of blood-soaked promise only a man like him could make.
"I don't break promises twice."
His voice stayed calm. Steady. But the air in the cabin seemed to drop ten degrees.
"But this one..." He leaned down, pressing his lips to the top of her head. Softly. Fiercely. "...I'll keep until my last breath."
Across from them... nobody spoke.
Abhiraj looked away first, staring blankly out the rain-streaked window. His usual, effortless grin was gone. Completely.
Ranchit aggressively rubbed both hands over his face. Hard. As if trying to physically erase the suffocating guilt that had lived in his bones for five years.
Maan remained perfectly still, his eyes fixed on his silver cuffs. Only the rhythmic, violent tightening of his jaw betrayed the storm inside him.
Four brothers. Four ruthless men who had built an underworld empire from scratch. Who could order executions without blinking. Who could terrify corrupt ministers... bribe high-court judges... and decimate entire rival criminal syndicates before breakfast...
And yet... none of them knew how to forgive themselves... for making one little girl wait five years.
The silence lingered.
Not uncomfortable. Just... full. Full of everything none of them knew how to say out loud.
Then—
Abhiraj suddenly leaned forward, resting both elbows heavily on his knees.
He looked at Lakshya. Then at the tiny, messy head buried against Lakshya's chest.
He sighed DRAMATICALLY, shaking his head.
"So..."
Nobody answered.
He nodded to himself, a tragic hero in his own mind. "I see how it is."
Still nothing.
Abhiraj dramatically clutched his heart, right over his gun holster. "I almost died building an empire."
SILENCE.
"I risked my beautiful face."
Ranchit snorted softly, the tension breaking just a fraction. "What beautiful face?"
"I sacrificed my youth."
"You were annoying before."
"You've just become annoying with money," Ranchit corrected smoothly.
Abhiraj looked genuinely, deeply offended. "Excuse me?"
Then he looked at Riya, tilting his head. His voice immediately became pitiful, dripping with fake sorrow. "...Little menace."
No response. She just stayed buried against Lakshya.
He gasped loudly. "Not even one look?"
Riya stayed exactly where she was, though her breathing had slowed.
Abhiraj pressed a hand against his chest, falling back into his seat. "Oh..." "I understand." "My little sister doesn't remember me anymore." "...Tragic."
He looked at Maan, his expression deadpan. "Tell Uncle Anant I died today of a broken heart."
Maan didn't even raise his head, straightening his tie. "I'll inform him after dinner."
Abhiraj frowned, dropping the act for a second. "...That's cold."
"I learned from experience."
"You have no emotions."
"I have several."
"You've shown none."
"They're internal."
Ranchit laughed, a genuine, rich sound. "Liar."
Abhiraj sighed heavily, throwing his hands in the air. "So this is how it ends." "I survive bullets..." He pointed DRAMATICALLY at the back of Riya's head. "...only to be ignored by a thirteen-year-old."
A tiny, vibrating sound escaped Lakshya's chest.
Not quite a laugh. Close. Very, very close.
Abhiraj noticed immediately. He practically vibrated with victory. He pointed an accusing finger straight at the mafia boss. "You!"
Lakshya looked at him, his face perfectly blank. "What?"
"You laughed."
"I breathed."
"You smiled while breathing. I saw teeth."
"I didn't."
"You absolutely did."
Lakshya's expression remained perfectly straight, carved from stone. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Lakshyaaaaaa..." Abhiraj whined, sounding exactly like he did when they were teenagers.
"Don't encourage him," Maan said flatly, looking out the window.
"I'm not."
"You are."
"I've said exactly three sentences."
"Exactly. Three too many."
Ranchit nodded wisely, stroking his chin. "He's becoming talkative in his old age."
Lakshya s-l-o-w-l-y looked at both of them, his dark eyes narrowing lethally. "...Should I leave you on the highway?"
Both highly-trained, incredibly dangerous brothers answered at the exact same time. "No." "Good."
A tiny giggle.
Soft. Barely audible over the sound of the rain.
Every single head in the car snapped toward the sound.
Riya was still hiding against Lakshya's shirt... but now... the corner of her mouth had curled upward. Just a little.
Abhiraj saw it. His entire face lit up like someone had handed him the keys to the city.
"There it is." He pointed DRAMATICALLY at her cheek. "I knew my comedy career would save the day."
Riya finally peeked out from her safe fortress. Only one dark eye visible.
"...Your jokes are bad."
Abhiraj f-r-o-z-e. Hand frozen in mid-air.
"...Excuse me?"
"They're very bad."
Ranchit immediately burst into full-blown laughter, clapping his hands once. "I've been telling him that for years!"
"You stay out of this," Abhiraj hissed, completely betrayed.
"You just got roasted by a thirteen-year-old in a faded dress."
"I was emotionally vulnerable!"
"You got destroyed."
"I demand a rematch."
For the first time since stepping into the intimidating, million-dollar SUV... Riya's stiff, terrified shoulders relaxed.
Only a little. Just a fraction of an inch.
But enough for all four eagle-eyed brothers to notice.
And somehow... that tiny, microscopic change... felt infinitely bigger than every victory they'd won in the underworld over the past five years.
The laughter s-l-o-w-l-y faded out. Comfortably. Like rain settling into the earth after a violent storm.
Riya's fingers were still wrapped around the fabric of Lakshya's shirt. Not as tightly now. Just... enough to remind her own brain that he was still there. Solid. Real.
She looked at them again from the safety of his arm. Really looked. One by one.
Lakshya, with his terrifying aura and scarred hands. Maan, with his robotic perfection and calculating eyes. Ranchit, with his charming smile that didn't quite hide his lethal edge. Abhiraj, massive, loud, and carrying a concealed weapon like it was a cell phone.
Then... very quietly... "You all look..."
She hesitated, biting her lower lip.
"...scary."
SILENCE.
Nobody interrupted her. Nobody defended themselves.
She swallowed hard. "I mean..." She looked down at her small, empty hands. "...really scary."
Another pause. The rhythmic hum of the tires filled the gap. "You don't look like my bhaiyas anymore."
Her voice became smaller. Almost sad. "You look like..." She searched her limited vocabulary for the right words. "...the bad men from movies."
The cabin fell silent again. This time... it was infinitely heavier.
Abhiraj's playful smile faded first, melting into something solemn. Ranchit's amused expression completely disappeared, his eyes dropping. Even Maan lowered his gaze for a brief, incredibly human moment.
Because... she wasn't wrong. They were those men.
They had blood on their hands. Lots of it. They had built an empire through unapologetic violence and fear. They had become exactly what frightened ordinary people in the dark... so that ordinary people could never, ever frighten her again.
Lakshya didn't say a single word. His massive arm only tightened around her tiny frame. Almost protectively. As if he were trying to shield her... even from the ugly truth of what he had become.
Maan quietly reached into the inside pocket of his immaculate suit jacket.
He pulled out a chocolate bar. Swiss. Imported. Thick, wrapped in pristine gold foil. Still perfectly intact.
He leaned forward, holding it toward her across the space.
"For me...?"
Riya blinked, her big eyes moving from the gold wrapper to his face.
Maan nodded once. "You always liked sweets."
She stared at it. Then at him. Astonished. "...You remembered?"
His stoic, terrifying expression softened. Barely. But the corners of his eyes crinkled. "I remember everything about you."
He gently, methodically placed the heavy chocolate into her small, calloused hands.
"You may think we look frightening." His voice remained completely calm. Steady. Anchoring. "But that's only for everyone else."
He leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees, ensuring she met his eyes. "To you..." "We're just four idiots who happen to own too many suits."
Ranchit nodded immediately in profound agreement. "And unfortunately..." He pointed a lazy finger toward Lakshya. "...that one thinks smiling is illegal."
Lakshya s-l-o-w-l-y looked at him. "I smiled yesterday."
Ranchit blinked, looking genuinely surprised. "...Did you?"
"I almost did."
"That absolutely does not count."
"It was progress."
Abhiraj sighed DRAMATICALLY, throwing his head back against the headrest. "See, Riya?" "I've been trying to fix his disastrous personality for years." "He refuses to be saved."
Lakshya finally leveled a dark, warning look at Abhiraj. "...You're alive right now because she's sitting here."
Abhiraj immediately straightened up, saluting mockingly. "I apologize for existing, Sir."
"You should."
"...Rude."
A tiny, entirely undignified snort escaped Riya before she could stop it.
She quickly slapped both hands over her mouth, her eyes going wide. "...Sorry."
All four brothers looked at her instantly.
Then—
Lakshya gently tapped the tip of her nose with one calloused index finger.
"Don't apologize..." His voice was impossibly soft, contrasting wildly with the man he was. "...for laughing."
"You've done enough crying."
The words settled quietly, warmly, inside the armored cabin.
Riya lowered her eyes to the thick gold chocolate resting safely in her lap. Then... almost shyly, a tiny smile playing on her lips... she whispered, "...Thank you."
It wasn't just for the chocolate. They all knew that.
Riya looked down at the chocolate. Her thumb s-l-o-w-l-y traced the smooth, embossed gold wrapper.
It was so... pretty. She'd never seen chocolate wrapped like this before. Usually, the orphanage got the cheap, broken ones nearing expiration.
She smiled to herself. Tiny. Completely unconscious.
Then she looked up, her innocent gaze meeting Maan's. "...Can I ask something?"
"Anything." Lakshya answered for him immediately.
She hesitated, her brow furrowing slightly as she tried to make sense of their world. "...You said..." "...you're only bad to monsters."
Maan nodded once, his face serious. "Yes."
Riya was quiet for a few seconds. Thinking. Really thinking. Processing this new set of rules.
Then...
"...Mrs. Verma is a monster."
The words weren't loud. They weren't dramatic or meant to cause a scene. She simply stated them like an obvious, geographical fact.
"She used to beat the little kids with a cane whenever they cried."
SILENCE.
The warmth inside the SUV disappeared. Instantly. Eaten by a sudden, terrifying vacuum.
Lakshya stopped breathing. Not literally. It just... looked like his lungs had forgotten how to function.
The incredible softness vanished from his dark eyes. Not toward Riya. Never, ever toward her. But toward the image her words painted.
His jaw locked with an audible click. A thick, pulsing vein rose slowly, visibly along his neck.
Across from him... Ranchit's elegant fingers curled into a fist. Once. The expensive leather seat beneath his hand creaked in protest.
Abhiraj's playful smile disappeared. Completely. Wiped clean. No jokes. No teasing. Nothing but cold, unadulterated murder in his eyes.
Maan s-l-o-w-l-y removed his silver glasses. Folded them. Placed them deliberately on the seat beside him.
"...Did she?" he asked quietly.
His voice was calm. Way, way too calm. The calm of an ocean right before a tsunami hits the shore.
Riya looked at him, completely oblivious. She didn't notice the lethal shift in the air. To her, it was just a story.
"They cried because they missed their parents." She looked back down at the beautiful gold chocolate. "So she'd hit them until they stopped making noise."
A pause.
"...Sometimes they cried more."
Nobody spoke.
Rain continued tapping against the bulletproof windows. Softly. Almost peacefully.
Inside the SUV... it felt utterly suffocating. Toxic.
Lakshya finally spoke. His voice was barely a rough whisper. "...Did she ever touch you?"
Riya looked up, her braids falling over her shoulder. She blinked, thinking back.
"...Once."
Four heads lifted. At the exact same time. The synchronized movement of predators locking onto prey.
"She tried." Riya shrugged like it wasn't a big deal, a small spark of defiance in her eyes. "I bit her."
Abhiraj blinked, momentarily pulled from his homicidal thoughts. "...You what?"
"I bit her." She demonstrated, snapping her tiny teeth together in the air. "Very hard. She bled."
A tiny, proud nod. "Proud of it."
For the smallest, briefest second... something fiercely resembling pride flickered across Ranchit's dangerously dark face. "...That's my sister."
Maan shot him a sharp, silencing look. "...Not now."
Ranchit cleared his throat, his jaw setting hard again. "...Right."
Riya continued innocently, completely unaware of the bomb she was casually dropping. "Then she locked me in the storage room for two days. The one with the rats."
Nobody moved. Nobody blinked.
Lakshya s-l-o-w-l-y turned his head. The movement was almost robotic. Terrifying. "Maan."
Just one word. That was all.
Maan was already pulling his sleek black phone from his inside pocket. His face had become completely, horrifyingly unreadable. Cold. Professional.
The exact same expression people saw... just before their lives ended violently.
Maan's thumb hovered over the screen for barely a fraction of a second. Already dialing a private line.
Lakshya never took his eyes off Riya. Not once. His voice remained frighteningly quiet. Casual.
"The team we left behind."
A pause.
"Bring Mrs. Verma."
Another pause.
"South warehouse."
The cabin felt like walking into a freezer.
"Alive."
Maan nodded once, placing the phone to his ear. "Understood."
The call connected. He didn't say hello. He didn't waste a single syllable.
"Secure the warden."
SILENCE.
"No injuries."
Another pause as he listened to the confirmation on the other end.
"She's to be delivered to Warehouse South immediately."
His expression didn't change, his eyes dead, shark-like. "...No one touches her."
A final pause. The killing blow.
"That order comes from Lakshya."
The call ended. Just like that.
No dramatic shouting. No angry threats. No elaborate explanations.
Only lethal, absolute instructions.
Because in their dark, bloody world... an order from Lakshya Singhania didn't need repeating. It simply happened.
Riya watched the exchange quietly, her eyes wide. Her gaze moved from Maan... to Lakshya's tense jaw... to the phone now resting back in Maan's pocket.
"...They're really going?" she asked softly, amazed.
Maan looked at her, his eyes softening instantly as they landed on her face. "They're already there."
Her eyes widened further. "So fast?"
Abhiraj leaned back against his seat, crossing his arms. A crooked, dark smile finally returning to his face. "We have very, very efficient employees."
Ranchit snorted darkly. "They're terrified of Lakshya."
"They're terrified of all of us," Abhiraj corrected.
"True."
Riya looked at Lakshya again. Really looked at him.
The man who had knelt in the filthy mud for her... the same man who, with one calm, whispered sentence... could make dozens of heavily armed men move across a city.
She didn't fully understand it. She was only thirteen. Politics, syndicates, and mafia wars were beyond her.
But one thing became very, very clear. Like a sudden sunrise in her mind.
Nobody... absolutely nobody... was ever allowed to hurt her anymore.
The realization settled deep inside her chest. Warm. Unbreakable. Safe.
It wasn't the promise of a mansion. It wasn't this expensive SUV. It wasn't the luxury clothes she apparently owned now.
It was... them.
For five agonizing years... she had protected herself. Bit people. Fought back. Scratched, hid, and learned to survive in a place that didn't care if she lived or died.
Now... she didn't have to survive alone anymore.
Her fingers s-l-o-w-l-y tightened around the gold chocolate wrapper. Then she looked up at Lakshya, her big eyes searching his face.
"...Will..." She hesitated, suddenly worried. "...will you get in trouble because of me?"
Lakshya frowned, the icy rage breaking just for her. "...Because of you?"
She nodded anxiously. "You always get angry when someone hurts me. What if the police..."
A faint, deep breath escaped him. Almost a laugh. Almost.
He reached over... and gently, so gently, tucked a loose strand of her messy hair behind her ear. His rough, scarred fingers couldn't have been softer against her skin.
"Baccha..." His dark, powerful eyes met hers, holding her gaze so she would never doubt it.
"You are the reason..." "...we became the kind of men who don't get into trouble."
A pause. A terrifying, absolute truth.
"We are the trouble."
No one laughed. Because none of them could deny it.
And for the very first time in her life... Riya didn't feel frightened by that thought.
She felt... protected.
Silence settled over the SUV once again. But this time... it wasn't heavy with unsaid things. It was peaceful.
The harsh rain outside had softened into a gentle, rhythmic drizzle. The blurry city lights slid across the tinted windows in long, beautiful golden streaks, illuminating the dark cabin in flashes.
Riya blinked slowly. Once. Twice.
The Swiss chocolate still rested perfectly in her hands. Half unwrapped. Half forgotten.
She tried to stay awake. She really, truly did.
But the day had been... too much.
Five years of waiting. Five years of crying herself to sleep. Five years of fiercely pretending she was perfectly okay.
And then... in a single, chaotic afternoon... her whole world had violently, beautifully come back to her.
The adrenaline crashed. Hard. Her eyelids grew impossibly heavy.
She fought them, widening her eyes aggressively. "...I'm not sleepy."
Abhiraj looked at her. Then at the way her head literally nodded forward against her will. "...Liar."
"I'm..." She let out a massive, jaw-cracking yawn. "...not."
Ranchit smiled, leaning his head on his hand. "The evidence says otherwise, sweetheart."
"I can stay awake." Another yawn. A bigger one this time. Her eyes watered. "...See?"
Maan adjusted his silver glasses, looking amused. "I've never seen someone lose a verbal argument to their own yawn."
Abhiraj nodded seriously, crossing his arms. "A historic, devastating defeat."
Riya puffed her cheeks weakly. "I hate all of you."
"We know." Abhiraj grinned. "You've said that at least twelve times today."
"...Thirteen." Maan corrected automatically without missing a beat.
Everyone looked at him.
He shrugged smoothly. "I counted."
Riya let out the tiniest, sleep-drunk laugh. "...You're weird, Maan bhaiya."
"I've been told."
Lakshya looked down at the little girl still leaning heavily against his side. Her eyes were barely open now, fighting a losing battle against exhaustion.
She blinked... longer this time. Then suddenly looked up at him. Very, very serious. A sudden flare of panic in her sleepy eyes.
"Lakshya..."
"Hm?"
"If I sleep..." She hesitated, her voice trembling slightly. "...you won't disappear?"
The question was so quiet... so incredibly fragile... it almost broke the air in the car.
Lakshya didn't answer immediately with words.
Instead... he gently took the unwrapped chocolate from her loosening hands and placed it carefully beside him.
Then, with impossible care... he shifted, lifting her entirely. Like she weighed absolutely nothing.
She curled against him instinctively, her small legs pulling up. One small hand reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt again. Refusing to let go.
Lakshya reached across the seat for the soft, expensive cashmere blanket folded neatly beside him. He spread it delicately over her tiny body. Tucking it securely around her small shoulders. Making absolutely sure not even a wisp of the air-conditioning could reach her.
Only then, when she was completely secure against his chest, did he answer.
His lips rested lightly against her warm forehead. Soft. Fiercely protective.
"I'll still be here."
A pause.
"When you wake up..." He smiled into the darkness of the cabin. "...you'll be home."
Riya looked at him for another long, searching second. Staring into his eyes. As if making absolutely sure he meant it this time.
Then... very slowly... she nodded against his chest.
"...Okay."
One word. Complete, utter trust.
Her heavy head settled right over his heartbeat. The steady, powerful rhythm filled the quiet space between them.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Safe.
Within minutes... her breathing completely evened out. Her tiny fingers finally, blissfully loosened their death grip on his shirt.
She was asleep.
For several long seconds... nobody spoke. Nobody wanted to disturb the fragile, beautiful moment they had waited five years for.
Abhiraj was the first to break the silence. Naturally.
He leaned forward, looking closely at the sleeping girl. Then quietly whispered— "...She still snores."
Ranchit leaned forward immediately, defensive. "She does not."
Right on cue, a tiny, adorable snuffling sound escaped Riya's parted lips.
Abhiraj pointed DRAMATICALLY at her face. "I rest my case."
Even Maan's lips twitched upward into a genuine, albeit tiny, smile.
Lakshya ignored them all, looking down at the little girl fast asleep in his arms. His entire world.
He gently brushed a loose strand of hair away from her relaxed face. His thumb lingered against her temple for just a second.
Five years ago... he had left this wretched orphanage with empty hands and a bleeding heart.
Today... he was finally, permanently, taking his little sister home.
And for the very first time in five long, painful years...
Riya slept... without fear.
To be Continued...
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