Chapter 28 — Live Wire
1019 Words
Meera didn’t look away from the tiny camera in the corner of the study.
She stepped closer to the desk, into full view.
“Since you’re watching,” she said evenly, “let’s stop pretending this is private.”
Kabir caught on instantly. He pulled his phone out, switched to live video, and angled it to frame Meera, the room, the blinking transmitter under the desk.
“Go live,” she whispered.
He did.
Within seconds, viewers began to join.
Curious. Then multiplying.
Meera spoke to the camera like it was a courtroom.
“This is Rajeev Khurana’s study. The same room Aarav entered tonight. The same room with a hidden camera and transmitter recording everything.”
Kabir tilted the phone to show the device. Comments started flooding the screen.
Meera continued, voice gaining strength.
“You said Aarav is unstable. That he’s violent. That the documents are fake.”
She leaned down, unplugged the transmitter from beneath the desk, and held it up.
“Then why record this room secretly, Mr. Khurana?”
Hundreds. Then thousands watching.
Kabir flipped the camera briefly to show the ceiling device.
Meera looked straight into the lens again.
“You planned this. You wanted him to find the file. You wanted him at the docks. You wanted those photos.”
Her phone buzzed in her pocket nonstop—notifications exploding.
Rajeev’s press conference was still playing on the TV behind them.
Perfect timing.
Perfect collision.
Meera raised her voice slightly.
“You talk about mental instability? Let’s talk about manipulation. About framing your own nephew for years. About stealing from your own company, Khurana Global Holdings.”
Kabir turned the phone so both of them were in frame.
“Everything we leaked is real,” he said. “And we have backups.”
The live viewer count surged again.
Comments scrolling too fast to read.
Meera’s eyes burned, but her voice stayed sharp.
“You thought fear would silence us.”
She stepped closer to the lens.
“You were wrong.”
At the police station, an officer rushed into the room where Aarav sat.
“Sir—you need to see this.”
He turned the monitor toward him.
A live stream.
Meera.
In Rajeev’s study.
Exposing everything in real time.
Aarav’s breath caught for the first time that night.
Not from fear.
From awe.
“She’s… live?” he asked quietly.
The officer nodded. “Half the city is watching.”
Aarav stared at the screen.
At her courage.
At the way she stood in the lion’s den and refused to tremble.
Something inside his chest tightened painfully.
Rajeev had called her a variable.
He had no idea how powerful she really was.
Back at the house, Meera’s phone rang.
Rajeev.
She answered on speaker, still live.
His voice had lost its calm edge.
“Turn that off.”
She smiled faintly. “No.”
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing,” she replied.
Kabir moved the camera slightly closer.
Meera continued, “You wanted a narrative? Here’s one you can’t control.”
Rajeev’s breathing was audible now.
“Leave my house.”
She didn’t.
Instead, she walked to the study door and opened it wide, showing the hallway, the silent house.
“No guards,” she said to the stream. “No staff. Just secrets.”
Kabir whispered, “Ten thousand watching.”
Meera didn’t flinch.
Rajeev tried one last angle. His voice dropped low.
“You’re putting yourself in danger.”
She answered without hesitation.
“You already did that.”
And ended the call.
Minutes later, sirens grew louder outside the house.
Not private vehicles.
Police.
Kabir checked the stream. “They traced the location.”
Meera nodded. “Good.”
She wanted witnesses now.
Official ones.
The gate lights flashed red and blue as patrol cars arrived.
Officers entered cautiously.
One of them recognized Kabir from the news photos.
“What is going on here?”
Meera held up the transmitter. “Evidence tampering. Illegal surveillance. And attempted framing.”
The officer looked around the study, then at the live phone.
“You’re broadcasting?”
“Yes.”
He took a slow breath. “Don’t end it.”
At the station, the senior officer’s phone rang.
He listened for ten seconds, then looked at Aarav.
“You’re free to go.”
Aarav stood. “Just like that?”
The officer nodded. “This is no longer an assault case.”
A pause.
“It’s a corruption investigation.”
Aarav didn’t waste another second.
He walked out.
Back at the house, Meera finally exhaled as officers began documenting the room.
Photographing the camera.
Bagging the transmitter.
Kabir ended the live stream only when an officer asked him to preserve the footage as evidence.
Silence returned slowly.
Heavy. Real.
Meera’s hands started shaking now that it was over.
Kabir noticed. “Adrenaline’s gone.”
She nodded weakly.
Then headlights swept across the gate again.
A familiar car stopped outside.
Her heart skipped.
Aarav stepped out.
He didn’t run.
He walked in fast, eyes scanning until they found her.
Meera didn’t move.
Neither did he.
For a second, the world shrank to the space between them.
Then he closed the distance and pulled her into him so tightly she could barely breathe.
She didn’t complain.
Because she had never felt safer.
Aarav’s voice was rough near her ear.
“You did this.”
She shook her head against his chest. “We did.”
Kabir watched quietly from a distance.
For the first time since he came back—
He felt like maybe this nightmare had an end.
But as Aarav held Meera, his eyes lifted past her shoulder.
To the television still running in the study.
Rajeev’s press conference had vanished.
Replaced by breaking news.
Authorities move to question Rajeev Khurana following explosive live evidence.
Aarav’s jaw tightened.
Because he knew Rajeev.
And men like him didn’t surrender quietly.
They made one final move.
And somewhere, deep in his instincts—
Aarav felt it.
This wasn’t over yet.
- Writer
