Page 28 of The Redemption
Men watching every step I took. Men reporting every word I spoke. Men stationed outside my room like I was some fragile heirloom that needed guarding from the world. I tolerated it because Mom asked me to. She feared that my defiance would only lead to my brother torturing me even more. He had already fixed my marriage alliance to Parag Reddy, and that was enough of a torture already.
And now the thought that the similar situation might repeat itself here, in a different country, annoys me. If Raghav doeswhat he said, my guards will know exactly when I leave my suite, where I go, who I speak to, and what I do. Every movement will travel straight back to Samarjeet. Which means the very reason I came here will collapse before it even begins.
No! There has to be a way around this.
By night, my irritation has grown strong enough that I finally pick up my iPad from the table. If I don’t call Mom at least once a day, she starts to imagine the worst. The video call connects almost instantly. Mom appears on the screen, exactly where I expected, sitting in the garden lawn of our mansion in Cape Town. Holding a porcelain teacup in her hand, she looks composed as always.
“Hi, Mom,” I say, settling into the chair at my desk and adjusting the iPad so she can see me properly. “You look beautiful today.”
She raises one eyebrow at me. “You only say that when you’re about to confess something… or when you’re trying to distract me, Siya.”
I smile faintly and reach for the small bottle of nail polish lying on the desk. If I’m going to explain the chaos of last night, I might as well do something productive with my hands while I do it.
“Maybe I’m simply appreciating my sweetest mom,” I reply lightly as I begin to brush the colour over one nail.
She looks at me, then sighs softly. “What happened? What have you done now?”
I roll my eyes slightly. “You always assumeIhave done something wrong. Can’t things just happen to me without it being my fault?”
“So somethinghashappened?” she asks, panicked. “Will you just tell me? Don’t raise my anxiety levels.”
I sigh and begin telling her about last night. At first, the story sounds almost ridiculous, even to my own ears. A midnight walkthat was supposed to clear my head, a fence I apparently crossed without noticing, and a forest I walked into like someone with no survival instincts.
And then there was the wolf.
Mom doesn’t interrupt as I describe the encounter. She listens quietly as I continue to tell her everything, including my reactions to what happened after the incident, and how Raghav intends to give my guards full access to the estate cameras.
A small silence falls between us when I finish.
“So he did all that, saved your life, and instead of being grateful to him, you threatened to expose his true identity?” she asks.
I shrug lightly even though a small part of me knows exactly how absurd it sounds. “He threatened me first.”
“Siya.”
“He’s turning my stay here into another surveillance operation, Mom,” I continue angrily. “What else was I supposed to do?”
“So this is your solution?” She frowns. “To blackmail the man who saved you?”
“I didnotblackmail him.”
“You did, Siya. He risked his life to save you from that wolf, and you responded by threatening to expose the truth that he is actually the Dark Prince.”
Hearing it out loud, I admit it does sound slightly dramatic. But if Raghav threatens to lock down my movements, I will threaten his entire identity. It’s only fair.
Mom shakes her head slowly. “Siya, I was already uncomfortable with you going to the RK Estate in the first place. You chose to walk directly into the territory of a man whom your father and your brother have always wanted dead. And now you are provokinghim?”
I fall silent.
“How can you stay in that place knowing exactly who he is? And you’re not even allowing your guards to protect you properly. What if something goes wrong?”
I lean back slightly in my chair and study her expression.
“You know why I came here,” I remind her gently.
She closes her eyes briefly before putting the teacup down.
“Yes,” she admits softly. “And that’s exactly why I believe you might be knocking at the wrong door. Raghav may have left the mafia world behind… but he’s far more dangerous than most men you’ve encountered.”
