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“Sanjana, run. Now!” Dev screamed.
Two of his father’s men held him down while that awful man, who’d taken pleasure in cutting Dev’s skin, threw her a lascivious look. Dev wanted to kill him.
Sanjana backed away, but before she could turn, the man caught her arm and held her to him, a knife at her throat. She screamed, but the bastard planted his palm against her mouth. She struggled, but to no avail.
“Dad…” Dev begged. “Let her go. She’s innocent. She’s your child.”
“She’s not my child. No child of mine would have killed their mother at childbirth.” His Dad lifted his jaw. “I don’t care about her, but I know you do. Choose Dev, your friends or her.”
“Dad, no! Don’t make me choose. I can’t. They’re my friends.”
“And I’m your father. Your loyalty ought to be with me.”
“Please, Dad. I can’t betray them.”
“Then she will pay.”
Sanjana’s afraid eyes met Dev’s.
Dev’s stomach pitched. He was in a fix. Maybe if he could placate his dad now, then he could figure out how to help his friends later. “Fine, Dad. I’ll do as you say; please just let her go.”
“That was too easy.” His dad faced him. “I don’t believe you.”
He nodded to the man holding Sanjana. “Shamsher, show him how serious I am about this. He needs to learn that his place is only by my side.”
That man, Shamsher, held Sanjana’s wrist and began to nick it. She screamed and struggled against her captor, but he was stronger than her. Blood dripped down her arm and onto the tiled floor next to the pool.
“Dad, please stop!” Dev cried, tears running down his face.
Shamsher continued to cut through her wrist. Sanjana swayed, her voice cracking as she screamed.
Dev struggled against his captors, anger taking him over, giving him more strength than he had in the moment. He tripped one man holding him and punched the other, and made to run to his sister.
“Stay right there,” Shamsher said, his knife still at Sanjana’s wrist. “So far, I’ve been generous. But one cut to her vein, and she will bleed to death.”
Dev halted. His father laughed, and in that moment, Dev knew he’d lost. He couldn’t allow Sanjana to be punished, and to save her life, he’d have to betray the men who were like his brothers. He’d have to betray the girl he loved.
“I’ll do it,” he accepted. “I’ll do whatever you say.”
“I still don’t believe you, Dev.” His dad faced Shamsher. “Throw her in the water. Let her drown.”
“No!” Dev yelled. Sanjana went under, struggling until she lost consciousness in the pool. He stepped to jump in after her, but the men held him again.
He turned to his father. “If you don’t allow me to go to her, you will lose not one but two children tonight. I will die for her.”
“Then save her, but first promise me here and now that you will do as I say,” his father said. “You will not turn your back on me.”
“I will do as you say, but only if Sanjana remains safe.”
He didn’t wait to see or hear his father’s acceptance. He just dove in after his sister. His barely healed back protested. The wounds burned. But he didn’t care. He dived under and pulled Sanjana out of the water. His father’s men followed him as he rushed her to the hospital.
Dev looked at Sanjana, who was weeping now.
“His men never left me alone, even for a second, as I waited for the doctors to heal you. I couldn’t send a note or a message to Aaryan or Vihaan. I had no way of contacting Avantika. When you woke up a few hours later, I realized that you’d forgotten what had happened. The trauma had made you lose the memory of that painful experience—the only silver lining, if I can call it that, in that entire episode. I decided not to tell you anything about what had really happened; it was enough for me to remember for both our sakes. Instead, I made up a story that you’d come in when Dad and I had been fighting, and Dad had thrown a glass in a fit of rage. I told you that you slipped and cut your wrist, and you were dizzy and fell in the water.”
Sanjana sobbed. Aaryan drew her to his chest, looking stricken. Even Vihaan looked disturbed. Avantika wiped her eyes, tightening her hand around Dev’s.
“You should have told me…” Sanjana said, leaving Aaryan to come to him. “Why did you hide it from me?”
