Chapter 52: The Trap

Chapter 52: The Trap


Aanya’s POV

The night had been quiet, almost too quiet.
I had fallen asleep with Milo curled into the crook of my arm, his tiny breaths steady against my skin. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’d wondered where Raaz had gone. The faint sound of his voice with Yash earlier had reached me, but before I could really think about it, sleep had pulled me under.

I woke to chaos.

The first thing I heard wasn’t voices—it was the sharp, unmistakable crack of gunfire. It tore through the air like thunder, jolting me upright in bed. Milo leapt off my lap, barking frantically toward the door. My heart began to race before my feet even touched the floor.

“Raaz?” I whispered to no one, as if saying his name could summon him back.

The bedroom door burst open. Yash stumbled in, his shirt half untucked, his gun drawn, his eyes scanning the room before locking on me.

“Aanya, we need to move. Now.”

I froze. “Where is Raaz? What’s happening?”

He was already crossing the room to me, his movements quick but calculated. “No time. We’re under attack. Get up, come with me.”

The word attack lodged itself like a stone in my chest. I was out of bed before I even realized I’d moved, my bare feet hitting the cold floor. Milo barked again, circling us, but Yash’s voice was sharp now.

“Leave him—come on!”

“No! Where is Raaz?!” My voice cracked with fear.

Yash’s jaw tightened. “He’s not here. We have to go before—”

The sentence was never finished.

The sound came first—a deafening bang that made my ears ring—and then I saw it. The way Yash’s body jerked forward, his breath catching in a half-strangled sound. He stumbled, dropping to one knee, and when he turned slightly toward me, I saw the red bloom spreading across the back of his shirt.

“Yash!” I screamed, moving toward him.

“Stay back—” His voice was a rasp now.

And then the doorway filled with a shadow I recognized instantly, even though I had only seen him once before. Kartik.

He looked nothing like Raaz. Where Raaz’s presence was a storm you felt before you saw it, Kartik was more like a snake—quiet, coiled, waiting for the right moment to strike.

His smile made my stomach turn. “There you are.”

Two men stepped into the room behind him, guns in their hands.

Yash tried to raise his own weapon, but Kartik’s boot came down hard, sending it skidding across the floor. “Don’t be a hero,” Kartik said almost lazily.

“What do you want?” My voice shook, but I didn’t move from Yash’s side.

“What I’ve always wanted,” he said, stepping closer to me. “Leverage.”

I could feel Yash trying to push himself up, his arm brushing mine. “Run,” he whispered under his breath.

I didn’t get the chance.

Kartik’s hand moved faster than I could react. The slap cracked across my cheek so hard that the world tilted sideways for a second. My skin burned, my ears rang, and I tasted blood.

“Don’t make me chase you,” he said.

I blinked back the sting in my eyes, my heartbeat loud in my ears. Somewhere outside the room, the gunfire was still going, shouts echoing through the halls.

Kartik crouched beside Yash, his voice low but carrying enough menace to make my skin crawl. “When Raaz comes back, tell him I’ll destroy him. And I’ll start with her.” His eyes flicked toward me. “Every piece of her.”

Something in me snapped at those words, and I tried to twist away from the man holding my arm. I almost made it to the door, but another hand clamped down on my shoulder, yanking me back so hard I gasped.

“Take her,” Kartik ordered.

The two men dragged me out into the hall, my heels scraping against the floor. Milo barked furiously, darting toward us, but one of them kicked at him, sending him yelping toward the corner. My heart twisted painfully at the sound, but I couldn’t stop them.

Every turn of the hallway was a blur of shadows and gun flashes. The air smelled of smoke and metal, and my ears were ringing from the noise. I tried to twist, kick, anything to break free, but they were stronger, their grips bruising.

As we reached the front entrance, I caught sight of Yash still in the bedroom doorway, struggling to stand. His voice carried over the distance, hoarse but burning with defiance.

“You won’t get away with this!”

Kartik only laughed. “I already have.”

The last thing I saw before they shoved me into the waiting vehicle was the farmhouse—Raaz’s fortress, my supposed safe haven—burning with the sounds of war.

And Raaz wasn’t here.

Meanwhile…

Raaz’s POV

The warehouse smelled of oil and dust. My men moved like shadows, their boots making no sound on the concrete floor. The place was almost too easy to breach—no alarms, no real resistance. That should have been my first warning.

We fanned out quickly, weapons ready, scanning every corner. But something was wrong.

Instead of Kartik, I found a handful of his men—maybe six at most. They were startled to see us, but they didn’t fight hard. It was almost… staged.

One of them was on the ground within minutes, my boot pressing into his chest. “Where is he?” I demanded.

The man’s lip curled. “Not here.”

My grip on my gun tightened. “Where?”

He smiled, a slow, deliberate thing. “By now? Probably with your wife.”

The world tilted for a moment, my blood going cold before it ignited into something far worse.

I didn’t hear the rest of what he said. I didn’t need to.

I was already moving, barking orders to my men, my voice sharp enough to cut through the haze in my head. “Fall back to the farmhouse—NOW!”

The convoy roared to life outside, tires screeching against asphalt. My mind was a blur of images—Aanya asleep, Aanya smiling at Milo, Aanya looking at me with those eyes that didn’t yet trust me. And now, the thought of Kartik’s hands on her—

I would burn the world down before I let him take her.

The engines screamed against the empty night roads, every second on the clock another second she was out there with him.
My hands were clenched on the wheel, leather digging into my palms, but I couldn’t loosen them. The rage was too tight, the fear too deep.

I had walked straight into his trap.

“Boss—” one of my men in the passenger seat began, but I cut him off with a single look. Talking was useless now. The only thing I needed was to see her again. Breathing. Unharmed.

The farmhouse came into view in the distance, but the sight of it made my stomach turn—smoke curling into the dark sky, the crack of distant gunfire still echoing in the air.

He had come here.
To my home.
To her.

We tore through the gates, the convoy splitting in two—half fanning out along the perimeter, the other following me straight to the main house. The front door was hanging crooked on its hinges, one pane of glass shattered into glittering fragments across the porch.

I was through it in three strides, my boots hitting the marble floor hard enough to echo.

“Clear the rooms!” I barked. My men moved instantly, guns sweeping each hallway, each door.

The scent of gunpowder was thick inside, and the air was warm with the aftertaste of violence. My heart pounded against my ribs, a rhythm that only sped up as I made my way toward the east wing—toward our room.

The sound of a pained groan pulled me up short. I turned the corner and found Yash slumped against the wall, one hand pressed against his side where the blood had already soaked through his shirt.

I was kneeling beside him before I even realized I’d moved. “Yash!”

His eyes flicked up to mine, glassy but still sharp with urgency. “Raaz… he took her.”

The words sliced through me. “Where?” My voice was too rough, the question more like a growl.

He shook his head. “Didn’t say. Just—he wanted me to tell you… he’ll destroy you. And he’ll start with her.”

I swore, the sound low and lethal. “Get the medic—now!” I shouted to the men behind me. They moved in instantly, lifting Yash carefully.

He caught my wrist before they could pull him away. “Go after her. Don’t waste time here.”

I didn’t waste a second. I was already moving, already calling for the surveillance room to be checked, for every man to be on the hunt.

Our bedroom door was open. Milo was in the corner, whining, his small body trembling. My throat tightened at the sight of him, but I forced my legs to keep moving.

The bed was a mess—sheets tangled, the pillow she had slept on still faintly smelling of her shampoo. It made something inside me twist painfully. She had been here. Minutes ago. Now—

I gripped the bedpost hard enough for the wood to creak. “Kartik…” The name came out as a promise.

I stormed into the control room at the far end of the hall. My head of security was already there, fast-forwarding through the feed. “We’ve got movement on the east exit at 02:14. Black SUV, tinted windows. Two men with her. One matches Kartik’s profile.”

“Track it,” I ordered. “I want every street camera, every toll booth. Get eyes on him now.”

The techs scrambled, the hum of equipment loud in the enclosed space. I stood there, my body thrumming with the kind of focus that only came when someone touched what was mine.

I had built walls around her. I had kept her here, away from the world, because I knew there were men like him out there. And still, he had taken her.

The images on the screen shifted to a grainy night shot—her, struggling between two men, her hair loose, her face pale. Even from a distance, even in bad quality, I could see the fear.

Something inside me snapped.

“When we find him,” I said quietly, “no negotiations. No second chances. We end him.”

The room went still for a moment. My men had seen me angry before, but this was different. This was not rage. This was war.

I left the room before they could speak, before I could waste another second.

The hallways felt wrong without her in them. The house was loud with movement—boots on marble, radios crackling—but to me, it felt silent.

I walked past the backyard doors, and for a moment, I saw it again—her crouched on the grass, laughing as Milo licked her cheek. She had looked up then, her smile catching me off guard. I had almost gone to her, but I’d stayed back, letting her have that moment.

I should have gone to her.

I should have never left her tonight.

My phone buzzed sharply. It was the tech team—license plate hit on the highway. Kartik was heading east. Toward the industrial docks.

“Ready the cars,” I said, my voice low but absolute. “We move in five.”

I went to Yash before leaving, crouching beside him where the medic was stitching the wound. His face was pale, but his eyes were steady.

“I’ll get her back,” I told him.

His jaw tightened. “Bring her home, Raaz.”

I nodded once.

As I stepped out into the night, the convoy engines rumbling to life behind me, I made myself one last vow—

Tonight, Kartik had taken her.
By morning, I would take everything from him.