Chapter 8: A burden

The wheels of the car screeched to a halt in front of the grand Suryavanshi estate. Aarohi’s breath hitched as she stepped out, the sprawling mansion looming ahead like a relic of her past. Eight years. That’s how long it had been since she last stood on this soil. The memories hit her in waves—her father’s strict discipline, her mother’s warmth, her brother’s protective and his sister-in-law’s supporting and caring nature— all this was nostalgic for her. And now, here she was, returning not as a daughter, but as a stranger. Worse, an outcast.

Carrying her three-month-old nephew in her arms, she walked up the stone steps, her heart pounding. The boy, blissfully unaware of the storm he was walking into, babbled softly, his innocence a sharp contrast to the darkness that awaited them inside.

The door opened before she could knock, revealing her uncle, Ajay Suryavanshi. His expression twisted the moment he saw her.