The Night Everything Was a Lie
1878 Words
HELLO LOVELIES!!! ✨🤍
I read all your comments under the last chapter and some of you are already connecting dots that I didn’t expect anyone to catch yet 👀
Things start getting even more complicated now. Trust no one. Not even the people who look innocent.
(Also ignore small dialogue mistakes if you notice any… editing will come later 😭)
Phase – I
★★★
AARA
Rathore Mansion Total Blackout
There was complete darkness, not the normal kind but the kind that suffocates. The kind that makes your chest tighten because suddenly you can’t see anything around you.
One second ago the corridor was filled with chaos, gunshots, guards shouting orders, Arjun standing beside me like an immovable wall.
The next second… Everything vanished.
The lights went out and a voice whispered right beside my ear. “You’re starting to remember now… aren’t you?”
My blood froze because that voice didn’t belong to Arjun. It didn’t belong to Raghav either. It was someone else.
Someone standing dangerously close to me in the dark. My heart started pounding so hard I could hear it echo inside my skull.
“Arjun?” I called instinctively but no response.
A hand suddenly grabbed my arm.
Cold.
Firm and before I could react, I was pulled backward my back slammed against a wall. A rough palm covered my mouth.
“Shhh,” the stranger whispered. “Don’t scream.”
Adrenaline surged through my body. I bit his hand so hard.
“f**k"
The grip loosened for a split second. That was enough. I shoved him back with everything I had and ran blindly into the corridor.
Gunshots echoed again somewhere behind me. Men shouting.
Furniture crashing. But I didn’t stop.
I ran because one thing was clear now someone inside this mansion wanted me and it wasn’t just Raghav.
★★★
ARJUN
The moment the lights went out, Arjun knew something was wrong.
Very wrong.
His instincts screamed danger.
“Stay behind me,” he had told Aara seconds earlier but now she wasn’t there. He spun around instantly.
“Aara.” No response.
His jaw tightened. “Aara!”
Nothing. Gunfire erupted at the end of the corridor again. One of his guards shouted from somewhere in the dark.
“Sir! Attackers in the west wing!”
Arjun ignored it while he grabbed the flashlight from the nearest guard and turned it on.
The narrow beam cut through the darkness and revealed exactly what he feared.
Aara was gone. Completely gone.
His expression turned deadly.
“Find her.” The guard looked confused. “Sir?”
“NOW.”
The command exploded from his chest like thunder. Within seconds, the entire security team started moving through the mansion.
Searching every corridor. Every room. Every staircase. They were searching and fighting at the same time
But Arjun already knew something they didn’t. This wasn’t random.
Someone had taken her.
★★★
AARA
I didn’t know where I was running. The mansion corridors all looked the same in the darkness.
Left.
Right.
Another staircase. My breathing was getting heavier. The blackout made everything worse.
The emergency lights had failed too which meant someone planned this.
Very carefully.
Suddenly a strong arm wrapped around my waist again.
I gasped. This time a cloth pressed against my mouth, and a sharp chemical smell filled my nose.
My head started spinning.
No. No no no. Not again.
I struggled. Kicked. Tried to scream but my strength faded too quickly. The last thing I heard before everything went black was a familiar voice muttering softly.
“Easy now, little witness.”
Witness?
Then darkness swallowed me completely.
★★★
ARJUN
Twenty minutes later the mansion looked like a battlefield with huards running everywhere.
Medical teams arriving. Broken glass across the floors but Arjun wasn’t paying attention to any of it.
His entire focus was on one thing which was finding Aara.
He grabbed one of the security officers by the collar.
“Report.”
“We checked the east wing, sir. No sign of her.”
“Basement?”
“Clear.”
“Security cameras?”
The officer hesitated.
“That’s the problem.”
Arjun’s eyes turned icy.
“What problem.”
“The system was hacked during the blackout.”
Of course it was Raghav or whoever was helping him.
Arjun released the officer slowly. “Check the perimeter gates.”
“They’re locked down.”
“Check them again.”
“Yes sir.”
The man hurried away. Arjun stood in the middle of the hall, breathing slowly but inside him something dangerous was building, Something violent because this wasn’t just another attack.
They had taken her from inside his own house and that meant one thing. There was a traitor inside the Rathore mansion.
His phone vibrated in his pocket.
Unknown number.
Arjun answered immediately. “Where is she?”
A soft chuckle came from the other side.
“Well… that was quick.”
Arjun’s eyes darkened.
“Raghav.”
“Relax brother. You’re sounding tense.”
“Where is she.”
“You lost her pretty fast.”
“Raghav.”
The warning in his voice was lethal but Raghav only laughed again.
“You think I took her?”
Silence. Then Arjun said quietly,
“If you didn’t… you’re dead anyway.”
Another pause.
Then Raghav spoke again.
“You should check the old shipping docks.”
Arjun froze slightly.
“What.”
“Dock 17.”
“Why would she be there?”
“Because the man who took her works for someone even more dangerous than me.”
Arjun’s grip on the phone tightened.
“Who.”
Raghav’s voice lowered.
“That’s the interesting part.”
“Speak.”
“You already met him tonight.”
Before Arjun could ask anything else the call disconnected. His jaw clenched.
Dock 17.
Without another word he grabbed his coat and walked toward the exit.
Three of his men followed instantly.
“Sir?”
“We’re leaving.”
“Where?”
“Dock 17.”
One of them frowned.
“That’s abandoned.”
“Not tonight.”
★★★
AARA
My head hurts a lot. Everything felt heavy like my body didn’t belong to me.
Slowly… very slowly… I forced my eyes open. The first thing I noticed was the smell.
Salt.
Ocean air. My heart skipped.
The second thing I noticed… My hands were tied again. I was sitting on a metal chair inside a dark warehouse.
Dim yellow lights hung from the ceiling with wooden crates stacked along the walls and right in front of me… Someone was sitting casually on another chair watching me wake up.
My breath caught because I recognized him instantly.
The man from the photograph. Arjun’s father.
Dev Rathore.
He smiled slightly when he saw my eyes open.
“Good evening, Aara.”
My voice came out rough. “You kidnapped me?”
“Such harsh words.”
“You drugged me,” I repeated to confirm it was kidnapping.
“Temporary inconvenience.” he shrugged
Anger flared inside me.
“Where is Arjun?”
Dev chuckled softly. “Oh he’s coming.”
My stomach twisted.
“What do you want from me?”
He leaned forward slightly.
“Answers.”
“About what?”
“About the night you should have died.”
Cold fear crawled through my chest. “I don’t remember everything from that night.”
“I know.”
“Then why bring me here?”
Dev’s smile widened slowly.
“Because sometimes memories return under… pressure.”
My pulse raced.
“What kind of pressure?”
Before he could answer the large warehouse doors suddenly slammed open everyone in the room turned.
Boots echoed across the concrete floor.
Heavy.
Confident.
Arjun walked inside alone with a gun in hand.
His expression looked calm, too calm but his eyes... His eyes were pure rage.
They landed on me instantly.
“Aara.”
Relief hit me so hard I almost cried but Dev simply sighed.
“Right on time.”
Arjun raised the gun. “Let her go.”
Dev stood slowly. “You always were impatient.”
“Last warning.”
“You won’t shoot your own father.”
Silence filled the warehouse as the tension felt suffocating. Then Arjun said something very quietly.
“Try me.”
Dev studied him for a moment. Then laughed.
“You really have fallen for her.”
“I don’t repeat myself.”
Dev sighed again and turned toward me.
“You see this, Aara? This is exactly why you’re dangerous.”
My confusion grew.
“What are you talking about?”
He looked back at Arjun.
“Tell her.”
Arjun didn’t move. “Tell her what?”
Dev’s smile turned colder. “Tell her what happened after the accident.”
My eyes shifted between them. “What happened?”
Neither of them spoke.
Until Dev finally said the words that made my blood run cold.
“You didn’t just survive that night.”
Pause. “You killed someone.”
The world tilted around me. “What?”
Dev’s eyes locked onto mine. “The man who sabotaged the car.”
My heart pounded violently. “That’s impossible.”
“You don’t remember because you hit your head during the crash.”
My voice shook. “No.”
But Dev continued calmly. “You woke up before the ambulance arrived.”
I felt dizzy.
“No…”
“You saw the man trying to finish the job.”
My chest tightened.
“Stop.”
“And you pushed him.”
My breathing stopped.
“Stop.”
Dev’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“You pushed him off the bridge.”
Silence swallowed the entire warehouse.
I stared at him.
My hands trembling violently. “That’s not true.”
Dev tilted his head.
“Isn’t it?” Then he pulled out his phone and pressed play. A grainy video appeared on the screen.
Rain.
Headlights.
A broken guardrail and a girl standing near the edge of the road. That was me.
The video zoomed in slightly and showed something that made my heart stop completely.
Another man struggling near the edge of the bridge.
My hands pushing him away and his body falling into the dark river below.
I gasped.
“No… no…”
Arjun’s voice cut through the silence. “Enough.”
Dev smiled calmly. “But she needed to see it.”
I looked at Arjun with wide terrified eyes.
“Is that… real?”
He didn’t answer immediately and that silence told me everything.
My chest tightened painfully. “I killed someone…”
Dev nodded slowly.
“Yes.” Then he added the final terrifying piece.
“And the man you killed…”
He looked at Arjun. “…was working for me.”
The air in the warehouse turned deadly cold.
My voice barely worked. “Why… would your man sabotage your own son’s car?”
Dev smiled again and said the words that changed everything. “Because the target was never Raghav.”
Pause. His gaze locked onto Arjun.
“The target was you.”
And suddenly the entire warehouse lights went out.
Gunshots exploded in the darkness.
And somewhere near me…
Someone screamed.
- Writer
