The Night Everything Breaks
1648 Words
HELLO LOVELIES!!! ✨🤍
Today’s chapter is intense again. A lot happens very fast.
(And yes, if you notice small grammar slips in dialogues, ignore them for now. Editing comes later.)
Phase – I
★★★
AARA
Abandoned Shipping Dock Warehouse 17
Darkness swallowed the entire warehouse. One moment the lights were on the next moment everything went black. Gunshots exploded instantly. It was loud and violent, echoing across the metal walls.
I flinched hard in my chair, heart slamming against my ribs. Men shouted in the dark. Furniture crashed somewhere behind me.
Another gunshot rang out dangerously close to my left ear.
“DOWN!” someone yelled.
My instincts kicked in immediately. I bent forward as much as the ropes allowed, trying to make myself a smaller target.
Footsteps rushed across the concrete floor.
More shouting, Some groaned in pain.
The sound of bodies colliding echoed through the warehouse And somewhere in the chaos, I heard Arjun’s voice.
Cold.
Controlled.
Dangerous.
“Move away from her.”
Another voice answered him.
Dev Rathore.
“Careful, son. Bullets don’t choose sides in the dark.”
My chest tightened. They were still here.
Still fighting and I was still tied to a chair in the middle of it.
Great. Just great.
A bright flash suddenly cut through the darkness.
One of the men had turned on a tactical flashlight.
The beam moved quickly across the warehouse floor.
And for a split second…
I saw Arjun.
Standing near the entrance.
Gun raised.
Blood running down the side of his forehead.
But his eyes?
His eyes were locked on me.
“Aara,” he said sharply.
“I’m here!”
A bullet slammed into the metal crate beside him before he could move further.
Dev’s voice echoed from somewhere behind the stacked containers.
“Still protecting her? Interesting.”
Arjun fired back immediately two quick shots and a man near the back collapsed.
Chaos exploded again my wrists burned against the ropes as I tried to pull free.
Useless. Whoever tied me knew what they were doing. The flashlight beam flickered again.
Then suddenly the entire warehouse lights flickered back on. Not fully just dim emergency lights glowing along the walls but it was enough to see everything.
And what I saw made my stomach twist.
Five men lay on the ground.
Two of Arjun’s guards.
Three of Dev’s men. Blood stained the concrete floor and right in the middle of the warehouse…
Arjun and Dev stood facing each other.
Father and son.
Both holding guns.
Both breathing heavily.
But neither pulling the trigger.
“Let her go,” Arjun said again.
Dev sighed like he was bored.
“You’re repeating yourself.”
“Untie her.”
“And if I don’t?”
Arjun tilted his head slightly.
“Then I stop pretending you’re still my father.”
Silence filled the warehouse.
Dev studied him carefully.
Then chuckled softly.
“You always did have your mother’s temper.”
Arjun didn’t react.
But I saw his jaw tighten slightly.
Dev walked slowly toward me.
Every step deliberate.
Every movement calm.
Which was terrifying.
He stopped beside my chair and rested one hand casually on the backrest.
“Tell me something, Aara,” he said softly.
I glared up at him.
“What.”
“When you saw that video… did anything feel familiar?”
My heart skipped.
“Of course not.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
He leaned closer slightly.
“Then why did your hands start shaking?”
My breathing faltered because he was right when I saw the video earlier something inside my head had twisted painfully.
Like a memory trying to push its way out, but I wasn’t ready to admit that. Not in front of him.
Dev smiled slowly.
“Memories are funny things.”
Arjun’s voice cut in sharply. “Stop playing games.”
Dev straightened again.
“You’re the one who came here, Arjun.”
“You kidnapped my wife.”
“Ah yes.”
Dev looked down at me again.
“The wife.”
Something about the way he said that made my skin crawl. “Do you know why your marriage interests me so much, Aara?”
“No.”
“Because this isn’t the first time you and my son crossed paths.”
My breath caught.
“What?”
Arjun’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Father.”
But Dev continued calmly.
“You think your story started six years ago.”
He shook his head slowly.
“It started much earlier.”
My mind spun. “What are you talking about?”
Dev smiled again. “The orphanage.”
The word hit me like a brick.
“What?”
“You stayed there for two years when you were thirteen.”
My chest tightened instantly. “How do you know that?”
Dev’s eyes flicked briefly toward Arjun.
Then back to me. “Because my son visited that same orphanage many times.”
My head turned toward Arjun in disbelief. “What?”
He didn’t answer immediately. Dev chuckled softly.
“Oh yes. He used to donate money there.”
I stared at Arjun.
“You knew me before the accident?”
His silence was answer enough and my heart started beating faster.
“You never told me that.”
Arjun’s voice came out low. “It wasn’t important.”
“Not important?”
“Not then.”
I shook my head in disbelief.
“How long?”
Dev answered before he could. “Three years.”
My chest tightened painfully.
“Three… years?”
“Yes.”
I looked back at Arjun again.
“You knew me for three years and didn’t say anything?”
His eyes softened slightly.
“You were a kid.”
“That’s not the point.”
Before he could respond Dev clapped his hands slowly.
“Beautiful reunion. Truly.”
Both of us turned toward him again. “But sadly… we’re running out of time.”
Arjun raised his gun slightly.
“What does that mean.”
Dev sighed. “It means the police are already on their way.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“Yes.”
He pulled out his phone casually.
“I made a little anonymous call earlier.”
Arjun’s eyes darkened dangerously.
“You’re insane.”
“Maybe.”
Dev shrugged.
“But imagine how interesting the news headlines will look tomorrow.”
He gestured toward me.
“Rich mafia heir.”
Then toward Arjun.
“His kidnapped wife.”
Then the dead men on the floor.
“And a warehouse full of bodies.”
The implication hit instantly.
My blood ran cold.
“You’re setting him up.”
Dev smiled.
“Smart girl.”
Arjun’s voice turned deadly quiet. “You’re not walking away from this.” Dev tilted his head slightly.
“Watch me.”
He suddenly grabbed my chair and pulled it backward.
The movement startled me so badly I gasped.
“Let go of me!”
Arjun stepped forward instantly.
“Don’t.”
Dev pressed a knife against the rope binding my wrists.
But instead of cutting it
He sliced the rope connecting the chair legs.
My chair tipped sideways.
I hit the floor hard.
Pain shot up my shoulder.
Before I could react, Dev grabbed my arm and dragged me upright.
“Last chance, Arjun,” he said calmly.
“Drop the gun.”
Arjun didn’t move.
Dev’s knife pressed lightly against my throat.
“Or she dies.”
My pulse roared in my ears.
Arjun’s eyes locked with mine For a moment neither of us spoke then he slowly lowered the gun, It hit the floor with a dull metal sound.
Dev smiled.
“Good choice.”
But the moment he looked down Arjun moved.
Fast.
Too fast for anyone to react.
He lunged forward and slammed his shoulder into Dev’s chest.
The knife clattered to the floor.
Both men crashed into a stack of crates.
I stumbled backward, my legs still weak.
They fought like wild animals. Punches.
Elbows.
Grabbing.
Dev managed to shove Arjun against the wall but Arjun drove his fist into Dev’s jaw hard enough to make him stagger.
Blood appeared at the corner of Dev’s mouth.
The warehouse echoed with the sound of their fight.
Then suddenly, police sirens wailed outside, it was Loud and getting closer. Dev froze for a split second.
That was enough. Arjun slammed him against the metal pillar and pinned him there. Gun pointed directly at his chest.
“Game over.”
Dev looked surprisingly calm.
“You think so?”
Before Arjun could react
Another gunshot rang out.
But it didn’t come from either of them.
It came from behind me.
The bullet hit Arjun square in the shoulder.
My scream tore out of my throat.
“ARJUN!”
He stumbled backward instantly.
Blood was spreading across his shirt.
I spun around in shock and saw the person holding the gun. My entire body went cold because the person standing there wasn’t a stranger.
It was someone from the mansion, someone I had seen earlier that same night. Arjun’s mother.
Meera Rathore.
Her hand didn’t shake as she held the gun, her expression looked completely calm, cold, and calculating.
Dev slowly wiped the blood from his lip and smiled.
“Well… that’s awkward.”
My voice barely worked.
“You… shot your own son?”
Meera didn’t even look at me. Her eyes stayed on Arjun And she said the words that shattered everything.
“I warned you not to bring her back into this family.”
The warehouse fell silent. Arjun looked at his mother in disbelief.
“You…”
Meera lowered the gun slightly and her next sentence made my heart stop.
“Six years ago the accident was supposed to kill her.”
My blood ran cold.
“Not you.”
- Writer
