As the gleaming towers of Dubai reached for the skies, Preeti couldn't help but feel a semblance of kinship with the city. Much like the metropolis that rose from the desert sands to touch the clouds, Preeti, too, had built herself anew from the arid stretches of her own tumultuous past.
Manav, ever perceptive, could sense the subtle tightening of Preeti's grip on his hand as the car wove through the traffic. He didn't know every detail of the shadows that danced behind her stoic façade, but he knew enough to understand that each new stage was a battlefield for her—not just in the courtroom, but within herself.
Arya's innocent inquiry about the sky-reaching buildings drew a tender laugh from Preeti, offering a brief respite from her own thoughts. But in the quiet that followed, her mind
