When I opened my eyes, the heavy curtains of the bedroom were still closed. The room was dark, but the space next to me in the large bed was empty. It was cold.
I sat up slowly. My muscles ached from the jump into the ocean yesterday, but my mind was wide awake.
"You are awake."
I jumped slightly. Rudra was standing near the bedroom door. He was already dressed in a sharp black suit. He looked tired. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his jaw was covered in a rough stubble. He hadn't slept at all. He had just stayed awake, watching me breathe.
"Where are you going?" I asked, pulling the blanket up to my chest.
"I am going to the medical facility," Rudra said. His voice was flat, trying to hide his emotions. "I need to speak with Maya. I need to know everything Kabir did to her so I can hunt him down."
A sharp pain hit my chest. He was going to see his first love. The woman he spent five years crying over.
Rudra walked over to the bed. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. His lips felt hot against my skin.
"Do not leave this penthouse," he ordered quietly. "My best guards are standing right outside the front door. The elevators are locked. You are safe here. I will be back in a few hours."
"Okay," I whispered. I didn't look into his eyes.
He touched my cheek one last time, turned around, and walked out. I heard the heavy front door open and close. The electronic locks clicked loudly.
I was completely alone.
The silence in the massive safe house was too loud. I got out of bed and walked into the living room. The large screens on Rudra's command desk were turned off. The place felt like a high-tech prison.
I walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water. My mind was racing. Rudra said I was his present, but how could I fight against a ghost from his past? Maya was the victim. I was just the daughter of the man who supposedly ruined her life.
I walked back to the living room and sat on the soft leather chair behind Rudra's desk. I just wanted to sit where he sat. I wanted to feel his presence.
As I placed my hand on the glass desk, the main computer screen suddenly lit up.
I froze. I hadn't typed a password. Rudra must have been working on it all night and forgot to lock the screen in his hurry to leave.
The screen showed a lot of complex data, maps of the city, and security camera feeds. But right in the middle of the screen, there was an open folder. The title of the folder was: "Docks Recovery - Container 4".
My heart started beating faster. Container 4. That was the red shipping container where they found Maya last night.
I knew I shouldn't look. I knew it was dangerous to dig into Rudra's mafia business. But my hands moved on their own. I picked up the computer mouse and clicked on the folder.
There were pictures of the rusty container. Pictures of broken locks. And at the very bottom, there was a single audio file. It was named: Hidden Mic - Recording 01.
Rudra's men must have found a hidden microphone inside the shipping container. They probably downloaded the audio last night to find clues about Kabir.
My hand was shaking as I moved the mouse over the audio file. I clicked 'Play'.
At first, there was only static. Then, I heard the sound of rain hitting the metal roof of the container. This recording was from yesterday, right before Rudra and I arrived at the docks.
Then, a voice spoke. It was a deep, rough voice with a heavy accent. Kabir.
"They are coming," Kabir's voice said through the computer speakers. "My men at the gate just saw Rudra's black cars."
I stopped breathing. Kabir was inside the container with Maya before he ran away?
I leaned closer to the speakers, waiting to hear Maya crying. I waited to hear her begging for help.
But the voice that answered him didn't sound scared at all.
"Good," a woman's voice replied. It was Maya. But her tone was totally different from the broken, crying woman I saw last night. Her voice was cold, calm, and sharp. "Is the scar makeup holding up?"
"Yes," Kabir laughed a little. "It looks very real. He will feel so much guilt when he sees your face. He will break."
"He needs to drop his guard," Maya said flatly. "He has become too powerful in the last five years. His new security army is too strong. The only way to get close enough to kill him is if he brings me inside his safe house himself."
My blood turned to ice. My hands flew up to cover my mouth.
"And what about the girl?" Kabir asked. "His new wife?"
"She is nothing," Maya sneered. The hatred in her voice was scary. "Rudra is obsessed with guilt. The moment I start crying and telling him how much I suffered, he will throw her away. Just stick to the plan, Kabir. I will play the broken victim. I will get inside his head. When the time is right, I will unlock the doors for your men."
"Do not fail me, Maya," Kabir warned. "We waited five years for this."
"I won't," Maya answered. "Tonight, the great Rudra Singh falls into our trap."
The recording ended. The screen went black.
I sat in the chair, totally paralyzed. I couldn't breathe. The room started spinning.
Maya wasn't a victim. She wasn't a prisoner kept in the dark for five years. She was working with Kabir! She faked her own death. They destroyed my father, they ruined my life, and they set this whole trap just to kill Rudra.
And right now, at this very second, Rudra was sitting in a hospital room with her. He was holding her hand. He was feeling guilty for a crime she helped plan. He was falling right into the devil's trap.
I jumped out of the chair. Panic exploded in my chest.
I had to warn him. I had to tell him that the woman he was crying for was actually a snake waiting to bite him.
I ran to the heavy front door of the penthouse and grabbed the handle. I pulled it hard, but it didn't move. The electronic lock glowed red. It was locked from the outside.
"Open the door!" I screamed, hitting the heavy wood with my fists. "Please! You have to let me out!"
I knew Rudra's guards were standing right on the other side. But they didn't answer. Rudra gave them a strict order to keep me locked inside, and they would never disobey him.
I stepped back from the door, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
Rudra was walking straight into a death trap, and I was locked in a golden cage, unable to save the monster I loved.