CHAPTER 16: SHADOWS OF REVENGE
CHAPTER 16: SHADOWS OF REVENGE
Arjun's Point of View
You don't become successful in business without making enemies.
I learned that the hard way.
Pia and I had just celebrated our second wedding anniversary, and every moment with her felt like a blessing. We had built something strong—something most people spent a lifetime searching for. And when she told me she was pregnant, I felt like I was holding the whole universe in my hands.
I remember how she ran into my office that day, her eyes sparkling, a little picture of her sonography in her hand. She didn't even need to say the words. I just knew.
We danced in our living room that night. No music. Just our laughter.
I should've known the peace wouldn't last.
Raghav Malhotra. My biggest competitor. A man who wore expensive suits and a charming smile, but who would slit your throat the second you turned your back.
I beat him to a government infrastructure contract two years ago—one of the biggest our city had seen. It wasn't just about the money. It was about influence, reach, reputation. I had worked night and day with my team, pitching every detail to perfection. Pia had stayed up with me many nights, bringing coffee and encouraging words.
We won.
Raghav didn't take it well.
At first, it was subtle. Rumors in the market. Clients backing out last minute. Anonymous legal notices. My team thought it was just bad luck. I knew better.
I confronted him once. I still remember his smirk.
"Enjoy the top while you can, Mehra. It's a long fall."
I brushed it off. I thought he was just bitter. I underestimated him.
A month later, Pia met with the accident.
She had gone to meet her friend Meera for lunch. I remember calling her, just to hear her voice. She laughed and told me she bought the cutest baby shoes. "Just few weeks, Arjun," she said. "And we'll be holding our baby."
Thirty minutes later, I got the call.
They said she was hit on the highway by a speeding car. The driver ran off. No license plate caught. No CCTV footage. She was rushed unconscious to a nearby hospital.
I still hear the voice of the doctor in my ear. "We're sorry. We couldn't save the baby."
I died that day.
The police wrote it off as a hit-and-run.
But something didn't sit right.
I started digging. Quietly. Using some of the private security contacts I had made over the years.
It didn't take long.
The vehicle that hit Pia had been stolen two days earlier. Found abandoned an hour after the accident. Clean. No fingerprints. No blood. Wiped perfectly.
Too perfectly.
I followed trail after trail, every lead drying up at the last moment.
Until one night, I got a call from someone who used to work for Raghav. He'd been laid off recently and wanted to make amends.
"Your wife's accident," he said, voice shaking. "It wasn't an accident. Raghav… he arranged it. Said he wanted to send a message. That he'd destroy the thing you loved most."
My vision had gone red.
He told me more. How Raghav had paid a contract driver in cash. How everything was covered up using his connections. How the job was to scare, not kill—but it went too far.
I wanted to burn his empire to the ground.
But I didn't.
Not yet.
Pia needed me.
She didn't know the truth. She still doesn't.
How do you tell the woman you love that your success brought this tragedy into her life?
That her pain was a consequence of your ambition?
I vowed that day to never let anything hurt her again. I doubled security. I sold parts of the company quietly, keeping only the core business. I cut ties with anyone even remotely connected to Raghav. I changed numbers, addresses, routines.
I didn't want revenge anymore.
I wanted to protect her.
I see her now—curled on the hospital bed, her face pale, her body weak.
And I wonder if I made the right choice.
Was it enough?
Because the damage was done.
Our child was gone.
And Pia… I wasn't sure if I'd ever get her back—the way she was. The light in her eyes. The way she used to laugh, unburdened, free.
I will carry the guilt of that day for the rest of my life. Even though it wasn't my fault.
Because in the end, I brought the storm to our doorstep.