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Rather than releasing him, I shove him so hard that he stumbles a few steps back. Before he can regain his footing, Raghav grabs his shirt and shouts angrily.
“You killed her?” Raghav demands. “Tell me, did you kill her?”
“No, I didn’t kill her,” Tej shouts back, angered by Raghav’s hostile demeanour. “I didn’t kill Rukmini. She was already partially burnt in that hospital room when I reached to save her and my son.” He looks at us shamelessly, admitting his sins. “Yes, I had the chance to save her, but it came with a condition—I would have to sacrifice my freedom and spend the rest of my life behind bars. I wasn’t prepared for that. Also, a scarred wife would have been a burden, an ugly blemish, and I had no intention of being associated with a woman like that for the rest of my life. So, I chose to save my son instead, leaving her to die. Even if I had decided to save Rukmini, I would have had to carry her out of that room, where the corridor was teeming with the police called by Pratap and Kailash. I didn’t want to get caught and spend my life behind bars. So, at that moment, I made a decision. I prioritised my own freedom. I picked you up, jumped out the window onto the floor below and left her to her fate. And just as I landed on the floor below, I saw the roof of her room collapsing, silencing Rukmini forever. I don’t regret leaving her behind. Again, if given a choice between saving my sons and my freedom, I would choose myself even now. Because nothing comes before my own self.”
My fists clench involuntarily as he callously justifies abandoning my mother. The arrogance of his words fuels a burning rage within me. A flood of emotions, disgust, anger and sorrow engulfs me, and I try to control the agonising fury that threatens to burst forth. Raghav stands frozen in shock, unable to believe that his father could be capable of murdering his wife. Yes. It was a bloody murder. The shock of those words lingers in the silence as he realises that the man who raised him bore a dark, unforgivable secret—one that forever changed the perception of the man he thought he knew.
Unable to control my rage, I forcefully push Tej Khurana against the pillar beside Dad and Meher. Just as Dad is about to move away, Tej springs into action, snatches the gun from the guard behind Dad and points it at Dad’s head.
“Dad…” I scream.
Tej wraps his arm around Dad’s neck, holding the gun to his head as he slowly makes his way toward the exit.
“Stay where you are, or I will shoot him,” Tej growls.
I aim my gun at Tej, but he continues to back away, dragging Dad along with him. His gun is unlocked and loaded, leaving me no room for risky stunts. Dad’s life is in danger and in the hands of the man I despise—the one who left my mother to die to safeguard his own freedom.
“Raghav, get us out of here!” Tej shouts at Raghav, who is still frozen in place, his gaze unwavering on Tej.
My men have their guns aimed at Tej, awaiting my orders. However, the risk is too great. If they open fire and Tej squeezes the trigger of his gun, Dad will... NO! I don’t even want to complete that thought.
“Raghav, what are you doing? We need to leave. It’s my order. Get the car ready outside,” Tej shouts again, moving a few steps closer to the exit while keeping his hold on Dad.
“Tej, release my father,” I demand. “Let him go, or we’ll shoot.”
“Go ahead and shoot me, but remember, I won’t spare him either,” he challenges me with a grin, fully aware that I would never do anything that would put my father’s life at risk.
I keep moving forward to stop him, my men following me, with their guns trained on Tej Khurana. At this moment, Dad’s life is more important than arresting the mastermind of Bat Syndicate. I won’t allow any harm to come to Dad. Beads of sweat form on my forehead as I cautiously approach Tej Khurana, who is cunningly attempting to escape arrest.
“Raghav,” he bellows. “Are you deaf? I said, get me out of here,” he commands once again, but Raghav remains rooted to the spot.
“He won’t help you this time, Tej,” Dad manages to voice out despite being almost strangled by Tej’s arm around his neck. “You killed these boys’ mother. They missed out on their mother’s love because of you. Had Rukmini been alive, she would have told you that you had twins and Ayaan and Raghav would have grown up together...as brothers. They would have been a family. It’s only because of your selfishness that two brothers are out for each other’s blood now. They will never choose you. Never.”
Tej’s furious eyes lock with Raghav one last time as he fumes over Dad’s words. He shoves the gun further into Dad’s head, causing him to wince in pain.
I keep my gaze fixed on the barrel of Tej’s gun, aimed at Dad’s head. He has his fingers wrapped around the trigger, and I am praying that he doesn’t pull it.
“You’ve already taken one of my sons and turned him against me. And today, you did it again, Kailash,” Tej barks, taking a step back and tugging Dad along with him. “Why are you so obsessed with my sons? Is it because you never had any of your own?” he sneers with disgust. “All these years, you brainwashed Ayaan, and now you’ve succeeded in pulling Raghav away from me too.”
“I didn’t drive him away from you. Your heinous acts did. I didn’t brainwash your sons; I merely showed them the mirror of your real self, the kind of monster their father is. You are a dreadful man, Tej, and an even worse husband and father. You are ready to kill your own sons if needed to satisfy your egoistic goals, so why would they support you? You won’t be spared. You have lost the right to be called their father, too,” Dad retorts, his voice firm with conviction.
Tej freezes as soon as he hears Dad’s words, but his hold on him and the gun aimed at his head doesn’t waver.
“I have lost the right?” he asks, clenching his jaw and pressing harder on the barrel of the gun. His fingers tightly grip the trigger, and I know he is gearing up to shoot. He is that enraged, that frustrated. “I don’t regret a single thing I’ve done. I am who I am, unapologetically. If they don’t want a father like me, then I don’t care to treat them as my sons either,” he scoffs, his words dripping with bitterness. “But if I can’t be their father, I won’t let you be either, Kailash. You don’t deserve to live with my sons. Whatever happens to me from now on, I won’t let you live. Goodbye…”
Just as he says the parting words, the echoes of gunshots fill the air. A chilling silence envelops the surroundings as everyone freezes in their spot. Tej Khurana’s eyes widen as he realises the sound didn’t come from his own gun, but from mine. Seizing the only opportunity I had before he could shoot Dad, I aimed and fired directly at his head. His arm, imprinted with the Bat Tattoo on the back of his palm, gradually loosens its grip on Dad’s neck, dangling lifelessly at the side, marking the end of the Bat Syndicate’s reign. I continue to keep my gun pointed at him when I suddenly notice two bullet wounds on his head, even though I fired only once. I raise my brows as I realise that someone else has also fired a shot at the same moment as me. But who? Who fired the second bullet? As his limp body collapses to the ground, I turn around, my heart pounding at the sight in front of me—Raghav holding a gun, aimed at the same spot Tej Khurana stood. As the life drains out of Tej Khurana, Raghav drops his gun, falls to his knees and stares blankly at the lifeless body of the man who may have been merely my biological father, but he was the one who raised Raghav. Today, the same son revolted and, without a moment’s hesitation, punished his father for his misdeeds.
“Ayaan,” Dad reaches me and pulls me in a hug. While I welcome his embrace, relieved that he is unharmed, my gaze remains glued on Raghav, who is still gazing at his father’s lifeless body with a haunting emptiness on his face. Tears stream down his eyes as he looks up at the sky and releases a roar of pain. Today, Raghav has shifted loyalties, confronting the demons of his past. He has taken the life of the man who instilled in him hatred and vengeance and led him down the path of crime. Today, he sought justice for our mother by punishing the man who intentionally killed her. A glimmer of hope flickers in my heart, indicating that despite growing up in Tej Khurana’s shadows, Raghav still possesses a heart,our mother’s heart. His agonised cries reverberate through the warehouse, narrating a story of its own. Dad pulls away from the embrace and turns to look at the dead body of his once-upon-a-time friend, Tej. Meher runs into my arms and hugs me tightly, but my attention remains fixed on Raghav. The war has concluded, and as promised, the King has won, safeguarding his kingdom and his family, but I’m not happy because—my brother—lost it all.
CHAPTER 24
RAGHAV
A Week Later
Alone in the cold, sterile interrogation room, the echoes of that fateful day reverberate within me. It’s been a week since I pulled the trigger and ended the life of the man who called himself my father. Even after a week of sleepless nights, the revelations of that fateful day haunt me. His chilling words still linger in my mind—how he selfishly chose freedom over family, over us, his shocking revelation that we, his sons, were expendable if we dared to stand against him and his heartless admission of leaving my mother alone to die. The last one being the biggest reason I didn’t flinch at all before pulling that trigger to shoot him.
Ever since that day, I wake up with tears in my eyes. The haunting dreams of my mother’s faceless image, trapped amidst the raging inferno in the room, continue to blur my vision. Her anguished cries for help echo in my mind, pleading with me to rescue her. If only someone had saved her, she would have been alive, nurturing her sons with love and tenderness and shielding us from my father’s atrocity. She deserved all the affection and respect from me, not the man who callously abandoned her to her tragic fate.
