The black SUV cruised through the chilled London evening, its windows tinted, its silence heavy.
Inside, tension wrapped around the three people in the car like smoke.
Sara shifted uncomfortably in the passenger seat beside Ruhan. She had waited twelve years for his return, imagined a hundred ways they would talk, laugh, reconnect. But none of those fantasies had prepared her for this cold stranger sitting next to her now.
She turned toward him, hesitating, and finally whispered in a voice laced with emotion—
"You came back after all these years... and didn’t even properly look at me. Not a word. Not a glance."
Ruhan’s storm-grey eyes slid toward her, unreadable.
Then he said, calm and quiet—
"Sara… I’m not the same Ruhan anymore. And we’re not kids anymore."
His words were sharp — not cruel, but heavy with distance. It wasn’t rejection. It was warning.
Sara flinched.
Her heart sank.
They had been best friends since childhood — partners in crime, confidants, secret-sharers.
And yet today, it felt like he was miles away.
She swallowed, forcing a bitter laugh.
"Seriously, Ruhan? What’s that supposed to mean?"
He exhaled sharply, frustration lacing his voice now.
"Can’t you just stay quiet for once, Sara?"
Her breath caught. Her throat tightened. She didn’t argue this time.
She simply turned away — and the tears fell without warning.
Looking out of the window, she blinked rapidly, as if hiding the tremble in her eyes would somehow hide the ache in her heart.
And Ruhan?
Ruhan saw it.
And he hated it.
Of all the things in the world — betrayal, blood, power, even death — the one thing Ruhan Singhal couldn’t bear was seeing the people he loved… cry.
Especially not Sara.
Without thinking, he reached out, pulled her toward him, and wrapped his arms tightly around her.
His scent — rich and familiar — surrounded her as her tears poured freely into his chest.
She clutched him like she had as a child — like he was the only safe place left.
And he let her.
From the front seat, Daksh glanced at the rearview mirror and smirked inwardly.
“Drama queen,” he muttered to himself.
Backseat, Ruhan gently rubbed her back and whispered, guilt softening his voice.
"I’m sorry, Sara… I lost my temper. You know I changed when I went to New York. You’ve known this version of me. Still, you provoke me like before."
Sara, through sobs, choked out—
"What do you want me to do, Ruhan? She’s gone. Aarohi... after you left, she disappeared too. Some family adopted her. We tried to trace her, but the trail ended. The orphanage manager said her new parents may have taken her abroad. We searched, Ruhan. We really did."Silence.
Then Ruhan’s voice dropped — low, intense, and full of quiet promise.
"I’m back now. And I will find her."
Sara remained pressed against his chest, and Ruhan kept stroking her hair. Their bond was something rare — not romantic, but soul-deep. Unspoken understanding.
They had survived this world together. And now…
They were preparing to burn it down, together — if it meant finding her.
Daksh’s voice finally interrupted.
“Boss, should I head to the office or the mansion?”
Ruhan didn’t even blink.
“Mansion.”
Just one word.
But in that word was the beginning of a storm that no one would see coming.
The car turned toward the private estate — away from the towering skyline, away from the noise of power and politics — and straight into the heart of silence that had long awaited its king.
Sara hadn’t moved from his chest. Her breathing was still shaky, but her hands had finally relaxed.
Ruhan looked down at her and spoke again, softer this time.
“You held everything together while I was gone… didn’t you?”
She nodded weakly.
He sighed. “I don’t say it often… but I see you, Sara. You’ve done more than anyone else ever would have. Even when I wasn’t here.”
Sara blinked back with more tears, trying to smile through them.
“I just wanted to keep her safe, Ruhan. For you. For us all. But she vanished like a ghost. I failed—”"No."
His voice cut her off like a blade.
"You didn’t fail. I failed. I left her. I left both of you. Now I have to fix it."
There was a kind of pain in his voice that didn’t come from guilt…
It came from loss.
From obsession.
From love that had never even gotten a name, yet had left a scar so deep it never stopped bleeding.
Sara finally sat up, wiping her face.
“Where will you even begin?”
Ruhan’s jaw clenched.
“From the start. Every file. Every lead. Every name that touched her life in that orphanage. I’ll burn the world if I have to. But I will find her.”
Daksh, still watching through the mirror, felt the air in the car shift.
There it was again.
That madness in Ruhan’s eyes.
The kind of madness that had once taken him from a teenage heir to an underworld crown.
And now?
It was back.
This time… for a girl who had once smiled at him without saying a word.
Sara leaned back in her seat again and whispered:
“You really never forgot her… did you?”
Ruhan closed his eyes.
And in the silence, the only thing he saw was the image of a little girl, sitting in the corner of an orphanage, holding a broken doll and smiling at him like he was the only person who’d ever noticed her.
He opened his eyes slowly, voice barely above a breath—"Some faces… don’t fade."And this time — he wouldn’t let hers disappear again.
Thankyou 💜
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