──•~❉᯽❉~•───

The vibrations of the phone hadn't just woken Riddhima they had jolted Vansh from his sleep as well. He kept his eyes shut his breathing rhythmic and fake as he felt her instantly answer.

"I'm outside. Can we meet?" Vihaan's voice was a low rasp through the receiver.

"Yes, I am coming," Riddhima whispered her heart hammering against her ribs. If Vihaan was contacting her at midnight, the world was on fire.

She slipped out of bed with feline silence, entirely unaware that the moment the door clicked shut Vansh's eyes snapped open. Dark, calculating, and cold.

Down in the shadows of the moonlit garden, Vihaan stood waiting. "What happened?" Riddhima demanded, rushing to him.

Vihaan shrugged a careless "Nothing. I was just passing by, so I thought I'd drop in. But I see it's too late. I disturbed you."

He turned to leave, but Riddhima wasn't playing games. Mr.Vihaan Ranawat

He froze. When he turned back, the casual facade was gone. His eyes locked onto hers with a lethal intensity. He stepped forward, grabbing her shoulders in an iron grip. His voice dropped to a deadly, serious register as he began to speak, pouring words into her ear that felt like venom.

As the words spilled from his lips, the blood drained from Riddhima's face. The ground beneath her tilted. Shock struck her so hard that she took a blind step backward, her balance snapping completely. She was about to crash hard against the concrete, but Vihaan caught her by the waist, trying to guide her trembling body down onto a garden bench.

Riddhima violently slapped his hands away. Bereft of speech, blind with horror, she didn't look back. She stumbled straight back inside the palace.

She had no idea that up at the bedroom window, silhouetted against the dark, Vansh had witnessed every single second of the exchange. By the time she crept back into the room and lay down, Vansh was already under the sheets, playing the part of the sleeping husband.

By morning the bed beside Vansh was icecold. Riddhima was gone.

Vansh drove to the office alone. Today was the monumental shareholders' meeting a multi-billion dollar merger that required both Raichand and Singhania empires to be perfectly aligned.

The boardroom was packed with suits, the air thick with anticipation, but Riddhima's chair remained empty.

Losing his patience, Vansh dialed her number. "I'll be there in five minutes" her voice sounded hollow over the line.

True to her word, she glided into the room minutes later, sliding into the leather chair right next to Vansh. The presentation began, numbers and charts flashing on the screen, but Riddhima was a ghost. Her eyes stared blankly ahead, completely detached from the multi-million dollar deals being discussed. Vansh watched her out of the corner of his eye, his suspicion hardening.

Mechanically, Riddhima's hand began to scribble notes on her pad. Faster and faster, until suddenly snap.

She dropped the pen. Without a word, without a glance at the board or Vansh she pushed her chair back with a harsh scrape and walked straight out of the boardroom.

A suffocating, pin drop silence blanketed the room. In the entire corporate hierarchy, no one except Vansh Rai Singhania had the audacity to question or stop Riddhima Raichand.

"Pran-priye! Pran-priye! Miss Raichand !" Vansh's voice boomed through the corridor as he stormed out after her. But it was as if she had turned deaf. She didn't look back. She simply vanished into her car, leaving the corporate world burning behind her.

At the Raichand Palace, the atmosphere was calm. Ashish, Gayatri, and Rajeshwari were gathered in the living room, drinking tea and talking quietly, when the massive oak doors were thrown open.

Riddhima stood there, disheveled and pale.

Rajeshwari and Gayatri instantly bolted to their feet, their teacups rattling. "Riddhima? You?"

Ashish turned around on the couch. The moment Riddhima's eyes collided with her father's, the armor she had worn for months didn't just crack it disintegrated. She ran. She practically threw herself across the room, collapsing onto her knees at his feet, burying her face into his knees as a violent, choked sob tore from her throat.

The entire family froze in absolute terror. They had never seen the fierce Riddhima look so small so utterly broken.

Ashish didn't ask a single question. His large, protective hand placed itself gently over her head. At his touch, Riddhima lifted her tear-stained face and threw her arms around his neck, clinging to him like a child drowning in a storm.

"Beta what happened? Did someone say something to you?" Rajeshwari cried out, her voice trembling with panic. "Please tell us, you're scaring us!"

But Ashish silenced them with a sharp look. He wrapped his powerful arms tightly around his daughter, pulling her into his chest, while she simply wept into his shoulder.

Ashish remained a silent anchor in the middle of her storm. He didn't ask questions he didn't demand explanations. He simply swept his large, protective palm over Riddhima's head, absorbing her tremors and letting her bleed out.

It had been four grueling months since Riddhima had last allowed herself to be held by her father. To the family watching, the embrace was a miracle they had prayed for. But the joy in the room was instantly choked out by a cold, haunting dread. Why was the unbreakable Riddhima Raichand crying as if her world had ended?

Slowly, the storm passed. Riddhima wiped her face

Before she could said anything Rajeshwari placed a trembling hand on her shoulder. "Baccha please, tell us what's wrong," she pleaded, her voice cracking with maternal panic. "I am terrified for you. Look at me."

Riddhima didn't even turn her head. She completely bypassed Rajeshwari's touch, her dead, icy gaze locking directly onto her father.

"You hid something so monstrous from me," Riddhima whispered, her voice a lethal vibration that cut through the silence of the palace. "You exiled me, Dad. You pushed me away into the shadows even before I took my wedding vows."

The air in the room instantly turned to frost. Ashish's face drained of color, his powerful posture freezing. He didn't speak he merely darted a sharp, heavy glance at Rajeshwari.

A silent, decades old understanding passed between the husband and wife. Rajeshwari's eyes widened slightly in realization, but she masked her panic immediately. Turning to the Gaytri she spoke quickly, "Come, Mummy-ji, let's go upstairs. This is clearly a critical business matter between father and daughter. Let them settle it in private."

The grand living room felt like an interrogation chamber.

His voice was dangerously low

"How did you find out?"

Flashback :

He stopped after hearing her voice now he was stepping into a minefield. Should I tell her or not ? But looking into Riddhima's piercing, demanding eyes, he knew there was no turning back. She would tear the truth out of him anyway.

"What is it, Vihaan?" Riddhima demanded, her voice cutting through the midnight air.

Vihaan took a deep, agonizing breath. "Riddhima what I am about to tell you is something you don't know. You have every right to know it, but please just promise me you'll listen carefully.

"Vihaan, just spill it," she ordered, her patience thinning

"A report landed on my desk at the hospital today," Vihaan said, his voice dropping to a gravelly whisper.

"Whose report?" Riddhima asked

"Ashish Uncle's."

The name struck her like a physical blow. Shock and utter confusion warred on Riddhima's face, turning her expression completely blank. "What happened to Dad? Everything is fine, right? It's just a routine checkup, isn't it?"

Vihaan shook his head slowly, his eyes filled with a heavy, grim sorrow. "No, Riddhima. It wasn't a routine checkup. He has been diagnosed with Stage 2 lungs tumor."

The world stopped spinning. A violent suffocating thud echoed in her chest. Riddhima stood in complete disbelief, her mind refusing to process the words, her tongue paralyzed.

"I found out yesterday," Vihaan continued hurriedly, desperate to fill the agonizing silence. "I've been tearing myself apart wondering whether to tell you. He already knows, Riddhima. He has been hiding it. He had his tests done at a different hospital, but the lab copies were accidentally routed to my hoslital for a secondary review. That's how I stumbled upon it."

Seeing her pale into a ghost, Vihaan stepped forward, gripping her shoulders firmly. "Listen to me, it's treatable! I will put my best team on it, I swear

But the words couldn't reach her. Riddhima violently recoiled from his touch, stumbling blindly backward as her knees buckled.

Vihaan caught her before she hit the gravel, trying to guide her shivering body onto the garden bench, but she ripped herself away. Without a single word, without casting a glance behind her, she ran back into the palace and threw herself onto her bed.

Sleep was a luxury she couldn't afford. For the rest of the night, every memory of her father flashed behind her eyelids like a cruel film reel. The way Ashish used to look at her with unconditional pride the way he would give up his entire world just to see her smile the petty, bitter arguments where she had turned her back on him.

A monstrous wave of guilt and regret clawed at her throat. How could I have been so blind? So cruel? While she was busy nursing her old grudges, acting cold and distant, her father was silently fighting for his breath. He had endured her sharp tongue, her disrespect, and her icy arrogance without uttering a single complaint, carrying the weight of a death sentence alone.

By the time she sat next to Vansh in the crucial shareholders' meeting, she was a walking corpse. The multi-million dollar figures on the screen meant nothing. The voices of the investors were just white noise. Her mind was trapped in that hospital report.

Mechanically, her fingers gripped the pen, pressing down harder and harder until the nib practically snapped against the notepad. I can't do this her mind screamed. need to see him. I need to see my heart is restless.

She dropped the pen with a sharp clatter, stood up, and walked out, leaving the corporate world in an uproar. Vansh's booming voice followed her out into the corridor "Pran-priye! Miss Raichand "but she was deaf to it. She drove like a maniac, desperate to see him.

The moment the oak doors of the Raichand Palace opened and her eyes collided with Ashish sitting on the couch, the icy facade of Riddhima Raichand shattered into a million pieces. She ran. She fell to her knees at his feet, burying her face into his lap, and let out a broken, agonizing sob that terrified the entire family.

As Ashish's warm, trembling hand brushed over her hair, she pulled away and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, weeping bitterly against his shoulder.

Present :

"I didn't want this," Ashish whispered into her hair, his own voice cracking. "I never wanted you to find out, beta. I didn't want to cause you pain. This this is just a part of life."

"How long?" Riddhima choked out, pulling back to look him in the eyes, her voice fierce despite the tears. "How long were you planning to keep this a secret from me? I am your daughter, Dad! This is the most crucial time, and you shut me out. People say daughters are outsiders, but today, you actually proved them right. You made me an outsider in my own family!"

"No, child! Never say that," Ashish countered immediately, his eyes shining with unshed tears as he cupped her face. "You could never be an outsider. Daughters are never outsiders they are a piece of their father's heart.

"Stop it," Riddhima snapped gently, wiping her tears with a fierce, stubborn determination. "Don't say these things to me now. What's done is done. From this moment on, you will do exactly as I say. I am going to get you the absolute best treatment in the world, and you are going to fight this. You are going to recover."

A soft, profoundly peaceful smile broke through Ashish's weary face. Looking at his daughter fiercely commanding him to live, a heavy burden seemed to lift from his chest.

"You have no idea how much peace your voice brings to my soul, baccha Ashish murmured, a tear finally escaping his eye. "Forgive me, child. I did a great injustice to you by keeping you in the dark. I shouldn't have done it but I was a desperate father, and I had no other way."

Ashish stared at Riddhima his eyes carrying the hollow look of a man who knew his clock was ticking.

"I did it to persuade you," Ashish confessed, his voice dropping to a gravelly, exhausted register. "I knew you would never accept this marriage easily. I just wanted to see you settled, Riddhima. I wanted to see you have your own family so you wouldn't keep getting entangled with these dangerous vigilante issues outside. I needed to know you'd be safe. After I am gone, you will have to handle everything alone, and I chose Vansh because despite your egos, despite how much you completely dislike each other, my heart told me that only Vansh Singhania is strong enough to handle a force of nature like you."

He took a ragged breath, leaning heavily against the desk. "But I was wrong. My method was entirely wrong. Still, believe me, Riddhima every word I ever said to you was just lie. You know I could never wish harm upon you. You can't be burden on me you are my pride. It was all a desperate attempt to push you, to encourage you to build a life. You are so incredibly precious to me. You are my daughter, but I could never have asked for a son Never."

Riddhima stood perfectly still, her face a mask of absolute, frozen stone. "Dad, what was meant to happen has happened," she said, her voice devoid of any warmth. "Now, all these words they have no meaning."

Across town at Singhania Textiles, the atmosphere was chaotic. Vansh was trapped in a relentless cycle of back-to-back boardroom meetings. The multi-billion dollar merger was demanding every ounce of his attention, leaving him zero time to investigate why Riddhima had vanished.

The moment the final client shook his hand and the sun began to dip below the horizon, Vansh loosened his silk tie, his composure instantly slipping into dark irritation. He turned sharply to him

"Pranav," Vansh commanded, his voice dangerous. "Where the hell did pran-priye go?"

"She went straight to Raichand Palace, sir," Pranav replied quickly. "She's been there since she walked out. Word is, she's staying the night."

Vansh didn't reply. He stared out the floor-to-ceiling glass window, a profound uneasiness clawing at his chest. Why would she abandon a crucial, historic meeting to run back there? He knew the bitter, icy wall that existed between Riddhima and her parents. For her to retreat to the very house she despised meant the puzzle pieces from her midnight meeting with Vihaan were far more volatile than he realized.

Inside the Raichand Palace, the night had grown old and quiet. The bitterness in Riddhima's heart toward Ashish and Rajeshwari had vanished, she feels home again.

She was lying on the massive bed, her head resting on Rajeshwari's lap. She was gently running her fingers through Riddhima's hair, an ancient, maternal instinct to calm the storm brewing inside her daughter. The silence was thick, broken only by the ticking of the clock.

Suddenly, Riddhima spoke up, her voice slicing through the dark.

"Can I ask you something?"

Rajeshwari's hand paused for a fraction of a second before resuming its soothing rhythm. "Ask, child. Anything."

Rajeshwari shifted slightly, her eyes wide, staring blankly into the shadows of the ceiling. The question that left her lips was entirely out of nowhere a question so unexpected

"I want to ask you about Avantika Singhania," Riddhima said, her voice dropping like a stone into the quiet room.

​ "Avantika?" Rajeshwari breathed, trying to keep her voice steady. "Riddhima, why on earth are you bringing her up out of nowhere? What could you possibly want to know about her?"

​Riddhima turned onto her side, her eyes piercing through the shadows. "I've known about Avantika Auntie for a while, I just never had the time to dig deeper. But don't you find it incredibly bizarre? In that entire, sprawling Singhania mansion, there is only one solitary photograph of her and it's in Rajveer uncle's room Nobody utters her name. It's like she's been systematically erased. I want to know the truth. How did she die?"

​ "Riddhima, you are overthinking this. There is no conspiracy. People don't throw her name around or display her pictures because the grief is too heavy. It hurts too much to remember. Vansh Vansh can't handle it, which is why her photos aren't kept in the common areas. It brings back a tragedy that breaks everyone apart. The truth is simple Avantika died in a horrific car accident. Please, for everyone's sake, don't scratch at old, bleeding wounds. Drop this."

​Sensing the suffocating tension she had just created, Riddhima stayed silent

Rajeshwari said "Let's leave the dead in the past. I am just so incredibly happy for you and Ashish tonight. You have no idea how desperately I prayed, how hard I worked behind the scenes just to see you forgive him. Ashish has never held a single grudge against you, Riddhima. He worships the ground you walk on. When you were a baby, he would hold you in his arms all day long, refusing to even let me take you. He used to ward off the evil eye from you a dozen times a day."

​Rajeshwari laughed softly, a bittersweet sound as she tried to drench the room in safe, nostalgic childhood memories.

But Riddhima wasn't looking for a fairytale.

​"Mom," Riddhima interrupted, her tone sharp and unyieunyielding. "Don't you ever miss Nanu?"

​The laughter died instantly on Rajeshwari's lips. The color drained from her face, her expression dropping into a hollow, haunted look. The silence that followed was deafening.

​"I am happy with your father,"

Rajeshwari replied, her voice clipped, cold, and entirely final.

​Riddhima didn't back down. "But it's been years. Nanu should have forgiven you by now. Tell you what give me his address, tell me everything about him. I'll go to him myself. I'll persuade her. The moment he looks at me, the moment he realizes who her granddaughter has become, she will cave. I know it."

​"No, Riddhima!" Rajeshwari's voice cracked with a sudden, desperate panic. "Do not get involved in this. Focus on your own life. He will never relent, not even if hde looks at you. I know him Now, go to sleep. Just... go to sleep."

​Morning arrived with the brittle clarity of a fresh start. Riddhimasat across from Ashish at the breakfast table, they shared a quiet, fragile meal. But as she stood up, smoothing down her designer blazer to leave for the office Ashish's hand shot out.

​His grip was warm, trembling slightly, but tight enough to make her halt.

​"Beta," Ashish pleaded, his eyes shining with the raw vulnerability of a man running out of time. "For my sake please give your relationship with Vansh one real chance. Just consider this marriage,

​Riddhima stared at her father She didn't argue. She didn't fight. She simply gave him a slow, compliant nod before stepping out into her waiting car.

​The moment Riddhima's heels clicked into the glass lobby of the Raichand Industries, Madhav rushed toward her, his face pale as he clutched his tablet.

​"Mam," Madhav intercepted her, his breath shallow. "You need to see this. Vansh Singhania sir is trending across everysocial media platform right now."

​Riddhima didn't even slow her pace toward the executive elevator. "That isn't news, Madhav. He trends every other week because of a new acquisition or a stock market surge."

​"No, Mam," Madhav said, his voice dropping into a tense, nervous whisper as the elevator doors slid open. "This time, it has absolutely nothing to do with business."

​Riddhima stopped dead in her tracks, her hand hovering over the elevator sensor. She turned her icy gaze slowly toward him."Then why the hell is he trending?"

​Madhav held out the screen, his fingers shaking slightly.

" Mam you need to see this "

───•~❉᯽❉~•───

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