## **Chapter 16: The Forgotten Letter**
387 Words
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Two days had passed since that evening by the window—since Aaryan had asked her to stay.
Anjali had barely slept, not because of fear anymore, but because her heart was beginning to betray her. She wasn’t just here for Aarush… she was starting to fall for the man whose life was built on silence and scars.
The morning sun peeked through the curtains. Anjali walked into the study to place a book back on the shelf. Her fingers grazed over the wooden edge, and suddenly something slipped behind the books — a yellowed envelope tucked deep behind a row of medical journals.
Curious, she pulled it out.
The envelope was worn, and on it, a name written in fading ink:
**“Aaryan – Open only if something happens to me.”**
It was **Rhea’s handwriting**.
Anjali’s breath caught. Her heart thudded.
She didn’t open it. Not yet.
Instead, she walked straight to Aaryan, who was reviewing files in his home office.
“I found something,” she said, placing the envelope in front of him.
The moment his eyes saw the handwriting, his face changed. Every bit of calm vanished.
“Where did you get this?” His voice was sharp, but trembling.
“In your study. Behind the books.”
Aaryan sat down slowly, eyes glued to the letter. He hesitated before opening it — his hands shaking for the first time since she’d known him.
He read silently. Line by line. Word by word. As he did, his face turned pale.
When he looked up, his voice was barely above a whisper.
“She knew she was being watched. She knew someone was after her…”
Anjali’s eyes widened. “What?”
Aaryan stood up and handed her the letter. “It says here that if anything happened to her, I should check the villa’s basement — the old storage room. She mentions a diary hidden beneath the floorboards.”
Anjali felt the chill of something bigger.
“You think someone in this house…?”
“I don’t know who to trust anymore,” Aaryan admitted. “But I need you, Anjali. I need your strength.”
It wasn’t just about marriage anymore.
They were now tied together by a deeper mission — **uncovering a truth buried in silence**.
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