Chapter 25 — Run
986 Words
“Now.”
The word cracked through the night like a gunshot.
Meera didn’t argue again.
She ran.
Kabir grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the shadowed stacks of shipping containers lining the edge of the yard at Mumbai Port Trust. Metal groaned in the wind. The sea hissed beyond the docks. Footsteps thundered behind them.
Aarav did not run.
He moved forward.
Straight toward the men.
A decoy. A wall. A storm wearing a suit.
“Stop!” one of them barked.
Aarav didn’t.
The first punch landed before the warning finished echoing. Fast. Precise. The kind of hit that said he had learned to survive in rooms where no one came to help. A second man lunged; Aarav pivoted, drove an elbow into ribs, and the air left the attacker in a broken gasp.
But there were too many.
Hands grabbed. A shoulder slammed into him. He staggered, recovered, struck again. Pain bloomed along his jaw. Blood touched his tongue.
He kept them busy.
That was the point.
Kabir and Meera ducked between containers, breath tearing in and out of their chests.
“This way,” Kabir whispered.
“Where?” Meera asked.
“My bike. Parked near the east gate.”
Behind them, shouts. The metallic clang of someone hitting steel. A curse. A body falling.
Meera’s heart twisted. “Aarav—”
“He knows what he’s doing,” Kabir said, though fear edged his voice. “He’s buying us time.”
They reached the narrow lane between stacked crates. The path forked.
Kabir hesitated half a second.
That half second cost them.
Two men appeared at the far end.
“Stop!”
Kabir pulled Meera behind him. No exits. No cover.
Her fingers went to her clutch instinctively.
The pen drive.
The reason this night had teeth.
One of the men stepped forward, palm out. “Give it. Walk away.”
Meera’s mind raced.
If they handed it over, everything ended.
If they didn’t—
She glanced at Kabir.
He gave the tiniest shake of his head.
No.
The man advanced.
And then—
A metal rod flew past Meera’s shoulder and struck the man squarely in the face.
He dropped.
Aarav.
Breathing hard. Lip split. Eyes blazing.
He didn’t slow down. He grabbed the second attacker by the collar and slammed him into the container wall with a sound that made Meera flinch.
Silence fell, broken only by their breathing.
For a second, the three of them just looked at each other.
Alive.
Aarav turned to Meera. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, eyes wide.
Kabir scanned the yard. “More will come.”
Aarav nodded once. Decision made. “We leave. Now.”
They ran together.
They didn’t stop until the lights of the main road replaced the shadows of the docks. Kabir’s bike waited where he’d said. Aarav’s car was too exposed to go back for.
Kabir tossed Aarav a helmet. “You ride.”
Aarav didn’t argue. Meera climbed between them, heart still racing.
The engine roared to life.
They disappeared into the sleeping city.
Twenty minutes later, they stood inside Aarav’s penthouse, doors locked, curtains drawn, the city glittering far below like it had no idea what war had just begun.
Meera finally exhaled.
Her hands were still shaking.
Aarav noticed. He stepped closer without thinking and held her wrists gently.
“I’m here,” he said quietly.
The words did something to her. She hadn’t realized how terrified she was until that moment.
Kabir watched them, then looked away, giving them space.
“We don’t have much time,” he said. “Rajeev will escalate.”
Aarav nodded. “So do we.”
Meera took out the pen drive and placed it on the table like a loaded weapon.
“We leak this,” she said. “Tonight.”
Aarav looked at her. “To whom?”
She met his eyes. “Everyone.”
Kabir frowned. “That’s risky.”
Meera’s voice was steady now. “No. It’s protection. If the truth is everywhere, no one can bury it.”
Aarav stared at her for a long second.
Pride flickered through the exhaustion in his eyes.
“Okay,” he said.
They opened laptops.
Created copies.
Drafted anonymous mails.
Attached files.
Evidence.
Audio.
Documents.
Years of lies compressed into megabytes.
Kabir paused before hitting send. “Once this goes out, there’s no going back.”
Aarav didn’t hesitate. “Good.”
They sent it.
To journalists. To board members. To legal authorities. To people Rajeev had spent years impressing.
The truth left the room in seconds.
And with it—
Rajeev’s control.
Aarav’s phone rang almost immediately.
He looked at the screen.
Uncle.
Meera’s breath caught.
Kabir watched silently.
Aarav answered.
Rajeev’s voice was no longer calm.
“You think you’ve won?”
Aarav’s voice was ice. “I think you’ve been exposed.”
A bitter laugh came through the line. “You have no idea what you’ve started.”
“Neither do you,” Aarav replied.
A pause.
Then Rajeev said something that made Aarav’s blood turn cold.
“Check the news.”
The call ended.
Kabir grabbed a tablet. Opened a news site.
And Meera felt her stomach drop.
A breaking headline flashed across the screen.
Industrialist Aarav Khurana involved in violent dockyard assault. Multiple men hospitalized. Police investigation underway.
There were photos.
Blurry.
But clear enough.
Aarav fighting.
Aarav striking.
Aarav looking exactly like the monster Rajeev had always painted him to be.
Meera whispered, “He set this up…”
Kabir nodded slowly. “He sent those men knowing this would be recorded.”
Aarav understood instantly.
Rajeev couldn’t stop the leak.
So he changed the narrative.
From whistleblower—
To criminal.
Sirens wailed faintly somewhere in the distance below the penthouse.
Meera’s heart started pounding again.
Kabir looked at Aarav.
“They’re coming for you.”
- Writer
