📢 Tangled Souls,

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Meera's pov

I stepped through the grand doors of the Kapoor mansion, and for the first time in my life, it didn’t feel like home.

It felt like a battlefield.

The walls that had once been my safe haven now loomed over me like prison bars, closing in, suffocating me. But I couldn’t afford to let the fear show. Not now. Not when everything was at stake.

My father was waiting.

Ramesh Kapoor sat in his study, his fingers tapping against the desk, his eyes cold and calculating, as if he already knew every move I was about to make.

"Meera," he said smoothly. "You finally came home."

Home. The word felt foreign.

I swallowed hard, forcing my shoulders to relax. I had to play my part. I had to make him believe me.

"I needed time to think," I murmured, keeping my voice steady.

His sharp gaze didn’t waver. "And what did you decide?"

Every muscle in my body tensed.

Lie. Make him believe you.

I let out a soft sigh, lowering my gaze just enough to sell the deception. "That you were right."

A beat of silence.

Then—he smiled.

That same smile that had once made me feel safe, the one that had convinced me for years that he was the man I could trust.

Now?

It made my skin crawl.

"Good girl," he murmured, standing.

I didn’t flinch when he stepped closer, when his hand settled on my shoulder.

I didn’t pull away when he whispered, "I knew you wouldn’t betray me."

But inside, I was screaming.

Because I already had.

And I wasn’t done yet.

Outside, I knew Arjun was watching. I couldn’t see him, but I could feel him. His presence, his silent strength. The only thing keeping me from breaking.

My fingers itched to send him a message, to tell him I wasn’t sure I could do this. That standing here, pretending to be the daughter my father wanted, was suffocating me.

But I didn’t.

Because this was my fight.

Late that night, when the mansion had fallen into silence, I moved.

I slipped into my father’s office, my pulse hammering in my ears. My hands shook as I rummaged through the drawers, searching for something—anything—that could bury him.

And then, I found it.

A ledger.

Hidden behind a false panel in his desk.

My breath hitched as I flipped through the pages.

Names. Transactions. Proof of everything he had done.

And then—a name that shattered me.

Arjun Verma.

My entire body went cold.

Why was his name here? What did my father know?

A sickening dread settled in my chest, twisting like a knife.

And then—a voice cut through the darkness.

"I was hoping you'd find that."

My heart stopped.

I turned sharply, my breath catching—

And came face-to-face with my father.

His expression was unreadable. Not angry, not surprised. Just calm. Too calm.

I was so careful. So sure.

But the look in his eyes told me everything I needed to know.

I hadn’t fooled him.

Not even for a second.

A lump rose in my throat as the weight of my mistake came crashing down.

I thought I was playing him.

But Ramesh Kapoor had been playing with me all along.

And now—I had just walked straight into his trap.

To be continued
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