Page 67 of The Redemption
The room goes silent, and the only sound left is that of my heavy breathing.
“I want him alive long enough to understand exactly whose ground he stepped on before he dies. Then send whatever is left of him back to the Singhals. I want every man in that clan to look at him and remember one thing,” I say coldly. “If anybody even thinks of touching my people at RK Estate again… this is how it ends.”
Haider exhales slowly, thinking it through.
“That kind of message won’t go unnoticed, Raghav,” he replies. “He was sent by the Singhals. They’ll be waiting for a report. If he disappears, they’ll start digging. If he turns up dead… they’ll suspect.” He pauses. “Sending his body back is not just retaliation. It’s a statement. It tells them there is someone inside RK Estate who operates like them. Thinks like them. Answers like them.”
I don’t respond.
“And when they do,” Haider continues, stepping closer, “they’ll know it wasn’t the Vardhaans who killed him. Nor was it the Reddys. Someone else stepped in. Someone capable enough to intercept a threat like that, eliminate it, and send a message back without leaving a trail. And then they’ll start looking for him. Looking foryou.”
Haider is being logical. But all I see is that red laser dot on her shoulder. All I hear is the crack of that shot. And I don’t like that.
I hold his gaze. “Let them.”
“That trail leadshere, Raghav,” he presses. “It risks exposing you.”
I step a step closer.
“They already crossed onto my land,” I say quietly. “They already fired that shot. Do you think I care what they suspect after that?”
His jaw tightens.
“I care,” he says. “Because I’m the one making sure you don’t become a target again.”
“And I’m the one deciding what happens when someone comes after my people.”
We hold each other’s gaze.
“Raghav,” Haider breaks the silence first. “Think again.”
“Think again?” I bark out a bitter laugh. “They almost killed her tonight, Haider. She was this close to death. If I had been one second late, Siya would be dead inside RK Estate.”
Haider doesn’t interrupt, but something shifts in his expressions, as if he can read more into my words than I’m expressing right now. I don’t care if he does.
“Handle it,” I say, finally dropping ontothe couch, forcing myself to get my breathing under control.
That’s when the door opens, and Siya walks in with Esha close behind her. She shouldn’t be here. Esha knows it too. I can see it in the way my resort manager avoids my gaze.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Esha says quickly. “I tried to take her back to her cottage, but she insisted—”
I groan in frustration, rubbing my palm over my exhausted face. When has Siya ever listened to me?She f*cking never does.
Esha glances at my face, reads both the silence and my frustration, and takes that as her cue to leave. The moment she is gone, Haider strides towards Siya in two steps. Whatever restraint he had been holding onto until now is gone.
“You,” he says, stopping in front of her. “Ever since you stepped foot in here, you’ve been nothing but trouble. All that was still manageable. But this…” He gestures towards me. “This is not.”
Siya lowers her gaze in guilt.
“That man came here to kill you,” Haider continues, his tone hardening. “And because of that, Raghav put himself in the line of fire.”
Still, Siya remains silent and takes it all without a word.
I don’t stop Haider either because none of what he’s saying is wrong. I know why he’s doing this. The man is shaken, much more than he’s letting on. He’s spent years watching my back, years making sure nothing gets close enough to touch me. And tonight, for the first time in a long while, he feels like he has failed in that responsibility.
I understand his anger. Hell, I should probably be saying far worse myself after the stunt she pulled tonight.
Yet hearing him raise his voice at her makes me bristle. I’ll have to tell Haider not to do it ever again. This little scolding session is the first and the last. Because my mind has already placed Siya in a space where nobody gets to speak to her harshly. Not in front of me. Not behind my back either.
