The Ultimatum
Episode---- 36
Dust floated in shafts of dawn light, catching on broken beams and cracked crates.
But no dust could soften the sharpness of Rajveer's smile — a scarred twist of amusement and malice.
Raian stood frozen, grey eyes locked on the man he'd once called mentor.
The silence pulsed, alive with old hate.
Rajveer's voice, when it came, was soft as silk drawn over a blade.
"You've grown, Raian. Taller. Colder. But still carrying ghosts you never learned to bury."
Raian's jaw clenched. "You shouldn't have come back," he rasped.
"And yet," Rajveer drawled, stepping forward, the raincoat brushing wet stone, "here I stand. And there you bleed."
---
Aria's breath trembled as she pressed closer to Raian.
"Who is he?" she whispered.
"The man who taught me to hold a knife before I was old enough to hold a pen," Raian murmured, voice rough.
"And the man I tried to kill to free myself."
Rajveer chuckled, low and cold. "Free? You built a kingdom of corpses, boy. You just changed whose corpses."
---
Ayan shifted, leg shaking but pistol steady. Lina hovered beside him, iron rod white-knuckled in her grip.
"You came for revenge?" Ayan demanded, voice raw.
"Revenge?" Rajveer's head tilted, amusement flickering. "No, boy. I came for what was always mine."
---
Raian's gaze darkened. "You want the empire," he rasped.
"I want what you built on blood that should have been spilled in my name," Rajveer said, stepping closer. His scars caught the dawn light, cruel lines twisting his smile.
"And I've come to claim it."
---
Silence tightened around them, heavy as a noose.
"And if I refuse?" Raian asked, voice low, trembling on the edge of fury.
Rajveer's eyes flickered to Aria — then back to Raian, slow and deliberate.
"Then she dies," he said, voice soft as falling ash.
"And so does every loyal shadow still breathing your air."
---
Aria's heart slammed into her ribs. "Raian—" she whispered.
Raian's chest heaved, breath raw with guilt and terror.
"You'd use her," he spat, voice shaking.
Rajveer's scarred grin widened. "What else would you expect? You taught me never to leave leverage unused."
---
Ayan took a step forward, pain twisting his features. "Touch her," he hissed, voice rough as broken glass, "and I'll tear you apart."
Rajveer's gaze flicked over Ayan, then Lina — dismissive, cruel.
"Children playing at knives," he murmured. "But the grown man knows better."
---
Raian's fists clenched, knuckles whitening. "She has nothing to do with this," he rasped.
"She has everything to do with this," Rajveer purred. "Because she is the only thing you love more than power."
Aria's breath caught — the truth laid bare and sharp as steel.
---
"And that," Rajveer finished, stepping closer until shadows danced across his ruined face, "is why you'll choose:
Your empire… or the doctor's life."
---
Silence crushed the room.
Outside, gulls screamed over the river.
Inside, Raian's pulse roared in his ears, drowning out reason.
"I'll give you until dusk," Rajveer murmured, turning away. "When the sun dies… your answer comes with it."
His footsteps echoed into the stairwell — the promise of violence lingering in his wake.
---
The door slammed, dust settling slowly in the trembling quiet.
Raian staggered back, breath ragged. Aria caught him, fingers trembling as she pressed against his chest.
"Raian," she whispered, voice cracking. "Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?" he rasped, eyes hollow.
"Like you're already deciding to trade yourself," she breathed.
---
He swallowed, voice raw. "It's my fight, Aria."
"And it became mine the moment I saved your life," she snapped, tears burning. "Don't you dare shut me out."
Raian's gaze dropped, guilt and terror twisting in his chest.
"I swore to protect you," he whispered. "Not condemn you to die for my sins."
---
Behind them, Ayan lowered his pistol, breath sharp.
"He won't stop at Aria," Ayan rasped. "Rajveer wants everything — even your ghosts."
"And ours," Lina whispered, voice small but fierce.
---
Raian turned, exhaustion and pain bowing his shoulders. "I can't let him touch her," he murmured, voice cracking.
"Then don't," Aria whispered, stepping closer until her breath brushed his skin. "But don't you dare choose alone."
He met her gaze, grey eyes raw and wet. "If I choose the empire… you'll hate me."
"And if you choose me over thousands who trust you… you'll hate yourself," she breathed.
---
His voice broke. "Then what do I do, Aria?"
"You fight," she whispered, trembling but steady. "Not to save the empire. Not to save me. But to save the part of you that still believes love is worth it."
---
For a heartbeat, dawn turned warm across cracked tiles — hope fragile, but breathing.
Raian's hand lifted, trembling, brushing rain-damp hair from her cheek. "Even if I fail?" he rasped.
"Especially then," Aria whispered. "Because failing while trying is still choosing love."
---
Lina stepped forward, voice softer but fierce. "We won't run," she said. "Not this time."
Ayan nodded, breath ragged. "You're not alone, Raian," he murmured. "The past taught us nothing but blood. Let the present teach us to fight for something else."
---
Raian's gaze swept them — these broken souls, bruised but standing.
Slowly, painfully, he drew a shaking breath.
"Then we plan," he rasped. "And if Rajveer wants my blood… he'll learn I'm not done fighting."
---
Outside, clouds gathered again — thunder rolling far over the Hooghly.
Inside, the four of them leaned over broken crates, whispers weaving together: fear, hope, strategy.
For the first time, Raian spoke of Rajveer not as a nightmare — but as an enemy to face.
---
In the hush between plans, Aria touched his hand. "Promise me," she whispered.
"What?" he murmured, voice low.
"That you won't choose alone," she breathed, tears catching in her lashes.
Raian's fingers closed around hers, rough and trembling. "Then promise you'll still be here when the sun sets."
"I promise," she whispered, voice shaking but fierce.
---
Outside, the morning darkened under gathering clouds.
And inside, for the first time, the hunter felt the weight of hunted hearts willing to bleed beside him.
---
Teaser for Episode 37:
At dusk, Rajveer's demand arrives — and Raian must decide: sacrifice the woman he loves… or burn the empire he built in blood.