The Trap Inside the Trap
1441 Words
HELLO LOVELIES!!! HAPPY WEEKEND READERS✨🤍
This chapter shifts a lot of power on the board. And not everyone you think is trapped… is actually trapped.
(As always, ignore small dialogue slips for now. Editing comes later!)
Phase – I
★★★
AARA
Dock District Outside Warehouse 17
The police cars disappeared into the distance and the sirens faded.
Red lights slowly shrinking until they were nothing but tiny flickers against the dark night road.
And just like that…Arjun was gone. My chest felt strangely empty like something heavy had been ripped out and taken away with those flashing lights.
Around me, the dock area was still filled with police officers some were securing the warehouse while others were questioning the few guards who had survived the shootout, but I wasn’t paying attention to any of them.
My mind kept thinking that this was planned.
A very serious plan.
The thought alone made my stomach twist.
Why would someone plan their own arrest?
Unless… Unless the arrest itself was part of something bigger.
“Miss?”
I turned slowly and one of the officers stood in front of me holding a notepad.
“We need a statement.”
My brain felt slow.
“What?”
“About what happened in the warehouse.”
I looked past him toward the dark road where the police convoy had disappeared.
“I don’t know anything.”
The officer frowned slightly.
“You were kidnapped, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And the suspects involved were Mr. Arjun Rathore and Mr. Dev Rathore.”
My chest tightened.
“No.”
He paused.
“No?”
“They didn’t kidnap me.”
The officer exchanged a quick look with another cop nearby.
“Miss, we have several witnesses who saw Mr. Rathore enter the warehouse with armed men.”
“That doesn’t mean he kidnapped me.”
“So who did?”
My mouth opened but no answer came out because the truth was… I didn’t know.
Someone had drugged me in the mansion, someone had brought me here, but the person I woke up to was Dev, and now even that didn’t make sense.
The officer sighed and closed his notebook.
“You should come to the station tomorrow morning.”
“Why?”
“For a formal statement.”
Before I could respond, another officer walked over quickly.
“Sir, you should see this.”
They both turned toward the warehouse.
Curiosity got the better of me.
I followed.
Inside the warehouse the forensic team had already started working.
Cameras flashing. Evidence bags are being filled but the officer stopped near one of the metal crates.
“Here.”
He pointed to something on the floor, as I stepped closer my heart skipped.
A small black device sat beside the crate.
Wires sticking out of it. A timer that's still running.
00:03:12
“What is that?” I asked quietly.
The officer’s face went pale.
“Everyone out!” he suddenly shouted.
“MOVE!”
My brain froze. Bomb. It was a bomb.
The entire warehouse erupted into chaos again. Officers running toward the exit.
Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me outside.
We barely made it twenty meters away when
BOOM.
The explosion tore through the warehouse roof.
Fire shot into the night sky.
The shockwave pushed everyone backward. I fell onto the pavement hard, and my ears rang painfully as smoke poured into the air.
Flames swallowed the entire building within seconds.
And suddenly my thoughts and instincts made terrifying sense.
This was planned.
Because now… Every piece of evidence inside that warehouse was gone.
★★★
ARJUN
Police Convoy Highway 48
The inside of the police vehicle was quiet.
Too quiet.
Arjun sat in the back seat.
Hands cuffed. Two officers were sitting on either side of him, and another car following behind them.
Through the front windshield he could see the dark highway stretching endlessly ahead but his mind wasn’t on the road.
It was on Aara. He hated leaving her there alone, surrounded by enemies and right now he had absolutely no control over what was happening next.
That thought irritated him more than the handcuffs did.
The officer beside him cleared his throat.
“You’re strangely calm for someone being arrested.”
Arjun didn’t respond.
The officer continued.
“You know the charges against you are serious.”
Still nothing.
“Multiple illegal weapons. Suspicion of homicide. Organized crime connections.”
Arjun finally turned his head slightly.
“You forgot kidnapping.”
The officer frowned.
“Yes. That too.”
A small smirk appeared on Arjun’s lips.
“Interesting list.”
“You won’t find this funny once you reach the station.”
Arjun leaned back slightly.
“You’re assuming we’re going to the station.”
The officer’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Before Arjun could answer, the convoy suddenly slowed down then stopped completely and all the officers looked forward.
“What’s going on?”
Through the windshield they could see something blocking the road.
A large truck.
Parked sideways across the highway.
Its headlights shining directly toward them.
The lead police car honked loudly.
No movement.
The driver muttered under his breath.
“This better not be another accident.”
Two officers stepped out of the first car cautiously.
Walking toward the truck.
Arjun watched quietly then he noticed something strange, the truck driver’s door was open but no one was inside.
The moment the officers reached the truck suddenly the world exploded. A massive blast erupted from underneath the vehicle.
Fire and metal pieces shot into the air.
The first police car flipped sideways instantly.
The shockwave slammed into Arjun’s vehicle seconds later.
Glass shattered.
The car spun violently across the road.
Then everything stopped.
Smoke.
Fire.
Screams. Arjun’s ears rang as he lifted his head slowly.
The officers beside him were unconscious. Blood running down one man’s forehead. The car door had been blown open.
Outside… Several dark figures were already approaching. Boots crunching over broken glass. One of them stepped closer and cut the handcuffs with a bolt cutter.
Arjun looked up and recognized the man instantly.
Raghav.
His brother crouched down in front of him with a grin.
“Well… that was easier than expected.”
Arjun flexed his wrists slowly.
“You blew up a police convoy.”
Raghav shrugged.
“They’ll survive.”
He gestured toward the burning truck.
“Probably.”
Arjun stepped out of the wrecked car.
His shoulder injury from earlier still hurt, but he ignored it.
“What do you want.”
Raghav’s smile widened.
“To save your life.”
“I wasn’t aware I asked for help.”
“You didn’t.”
Raghav leaned closer.
“But you’re going to need it.”
Arjun’s eyes narrowed.
“Explain.”
Raghav’s expression changed slightly.
For the first time that night… he didn’t look amused.
“Father isn’t the one running this game.”
The words hung in the air.
Arjun didn’t blink.
“What.”
Raghav glanced toward the dark road behind them.
“Mother is.”
Silence stretched between them.
Then Arjun said quietly,
“I already know.”
Raghav shook his head slowly.
“No. You don’t.”
His voice dropped lower.
“You think she tried to kill Aara because she changed you.”
“That’s what she said.”
“Yes.”
Raghav smiled again. “But that wasn’t the real reason.”
Arjun’s jaw tightened. “Then what is.”
Raghav looked him straight in the eye.
“Because Aara isn’t just some girl from an orphanage.”
A cold feeling crawled down Arjun’s spine.
“What are you talking about.”
Raghav spoke slowly.
Carefully.
Like revealing a secret that had been buried for years.
“She’s the daughter of the man who destroyed our family.”
The world seemed to stop, Arjun’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“That’s impossible.”
Raghav shook his head. “No.”
Then he added the final piece.
“The man she pushed off that bridge six years ago…”
Pause.
“…was her own father.”
Silence swallowed the highway. Arjun stared at him, he was completely still.
“Say that again.”
But Raghav only smiled.
“Now do you understand why mother wanted her dead?”
And far away at the burning dock warehouse…
Aara suddenly collapsed to her knees as a memory violently crashed back into her mind.
Rain.
A bridge.
A man grabbing her wrist and a voice shouting one sentence she had forgotten for six years.
“Run, Aara! They’re coming for you!”
- Writer
