Page 92 of The Redemption
So be it!
Before the tension can tighten any further, Krish cuts in.
“Alright, enough brother drama for one night,” he mutters. “Can we focus on the actual mission now?”
The conversation shifts after that. But even while we discuss the details, I can feel Ayaan watching me. Studying me. Like he is already sensing the danger coming.
And… he’s right.
Siya has become my obsession now. And to protect her and bring her back, I’m willing to burn down anything and anyone that stands in my way.
CHAPTER 19
SIYA
Two days later – (Cape Town, South Africa)
It has been four days since I returned to Cape Town, and in another three days, I’m supposed to marry Parag Reddy.
A mafia wedding.
Not the kind most people dream about, filled with music, laughter, mehendi, haldi, endless relatives, and rituals stretching across days because two families are genuinely happy to unite. None of that exists here.
This marriage has nothing to do with love. In our world, marriages are not celebrations. Marriages here are transactions. It is simply an alliance between the Vardhaans and the Reddys. Which is exactly why it feels more suffocating with every passing hour.
I don’t want this wedding to happen. I don’t want Parag. More than that, I do not want this life anymore. Even now, the only thing running through my head is the need to escape with Mom and get the hell out of here. Somehow. Some way. I just don’t know how.
Back at RK Estate, freedom had started to feel dangerously real. Shivtara Valley had given me a glimpse of a life free from guards, guns, syndicates, and constant surveillance. I hadalmost started believing that I could actually leave this world behind.
But now that I’m back inside Vardhaan Mansion in Cape Town, the cruel reality is back. I’m practically confined here. While I can move within the mansion grounds, stepping outside without permission is impossible now. Especially after Michael and Parag discovered how many times I slipped past security in Shivtara Valley.
Guards follow me everywhere. Watch me constantly. In fact, this mansion feels even more like a prison than it did before. But none of that is what truly disturbs me.
It is him. Raghav.
No matter how hard I try not to think about what happened that night at the temple event, the memories still find me anyway.God.I still cannot believe I kissed him.
It was my first kiss.
Mafia women are guarded throughout their lives, and the only man they are supposed to kiss or have any physical relation with is the one they eventually marry. I grew up hearing so much about kisses, about passion, about how people lose themselves in moments like that.
Honestly, I never understood the obsession. How intense could a kiss really be? What was so special about it?
But then I experienced it with him, and now I know. That one kiss from Raghav stole every coherent thought from my head and left me struggling for air. It was overwhelming. Possessive. Addictive. Like he kissed me with a hunger that seemed to reach straight to my soul. And the worst part? I kissed him back just as fiercely.
Without thinking, without stopping, or wanting to stop. Even now, I have absolutely no regrets about it. But no matter how calm his life looks now, Raghav still belongs to the same world I have spent months trying to escape.
So why do I still think about him so much? Why do his touches still linger on my skin? Why do I still remember the exact way his mouth moved against mine?
I hate that I don’t have answers to any of those questions. I exhale heavily as I stop outside Mom’s room. The faint sound of temple bells echoes softly the moment I walk inside. She’s praying. I stay quiet and wait near the door, watching her kneeling before the small mandir beside the window, her hands folded in front of the idols.
The moment Mom’s prayers end, I walk over and wrap my arms around her from behind. She startles slightly before relaxing.
“Siya?” Mom turns towards me with a soft smile. “What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why do you look so gloomy?” she asks gently. “And don’t tell me you still haven’t started packing. Your wedding is in three days.”
