"Arav."

Aanya stared at him, her breath trembling, her legs weak from the earlier fight. Still—she forced herself to stand tall in front of him, refusing to show even a flicker of pain.

"You... what are you doing here, Arav?" she whispered, disbelief coating every word.

Arav stepped closer, his smirk widening as if her shock entertained him.
"Me? I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be," he said slowly. "In my world."

"Your... world?" Her voice cracked. "You're the... Corvo?"

He tilted his head, almost proudly.
"Yes. I am Corvo—the mafia leader of Divalo."

Aanya's breath caught.
"No... no. This can't be real," she whispered. "You kidnapped Dii. You kidnapped Bella. And now me?"
She shook her head as if her mind refused to accept the truth.
"How could you do that? Why would you betray Ishaan like this?"

Arav didn't flinch.
"Because betrayal is just another word for choosing myself," he said calmly.
Then, with a chilling smile:
"And because your husband was too blind to see the enemy sleeping right under his nose."

Aanya felt her stomach twist.

"And yes," Arav continued as casually as discussing the weather, "I kidnapped Nisha. And Bella. And now you."

"But... why?" Aanya's voice cracked, louder this time.
"What did Nisha ever do to you?"

His expression shifted—rage, pain, longing, madness—all tangled together.

"What did she do?" he echoed with a bitter laugh.
"She breathed with other man."

Aanya froze.

"She lived in a world that didn't deserve her. She lived... loving the wrong man."
His eyes darkened to something terrifying.
"Your brother. That weak, pathetic man who couldn't protect her from me." he Lough like mance.

Aanya felt her heart tear.

"She chose him."
Arav's jaw tightened, muscles flexing.
"She chose him when I could have given her everything.
Safety. Power. A life she deserved.
But she chose your brother—and rejected me."

Arav took one slow step toward her, voice cutting like a blade.
"I love her, and I just want her to except my love but she choose him."
He leaned in, breath cold against her ear.
" so I took her from him."

Aanya flinched away, horror rising in her throat.
"You kidnapped her because she didn't love you back?" she said, voice shaking.
"That's not love, Arav. That's obsession. That's madness."

Arav's smirk faded.
He stared at her silently... until the silence felt suffocating.

Then he spoke.

"I loved Nisha," he said, the words cracking like thunder.
"With a devotion no one will ever understand. I would've burned cities for her. I did destroy men for her. But she... she looked at me like I was nothing."

His voice shook for the first time.

"Do you know what it feels like, Aanya... to love someone so fiercely that it becomes the only thing keeping you alive—
and to watch her walk away from you?"
"I loved her so much, that i almost forgot my revenge from ishaan." I was ready to sacrifice all the think. But no not now. She is here in my world now. I will destroy ishaan now. For what he did."

Aanya swallowed hard.
"Arav, that doesn't mean you imprison her—" and why do you mean destroy ishaan , what he did."

Arav cut her off sharply.

"I didn't imprison her."
His voice dipped, low and venomous.
"I saved her. From your brother. From the world. From the pain she was drowning in."

Aanya's hands curled into fists.
"You faked her death,! You destroyed her life. You destroyed Ishaan," she shouted.

Arav's eyes gleamed with something unhinged.

"Yes," he hissed.
"Yes, I did. And I'd do it again."

"And you—" he scoffed, eyes narrowing in annoyance—"You were never part of this game. Not even worth noticing."

Aanya flinched.

"But it seems you enjoy dancing with danger," Arav continued, circling her like a predator. "You made a place for yourself in this war... the moment you fell for Ishaan. The moment you get close to him."
The word close dripped from his tongue like poison.

Aanya's heart throbbed painfully.

"You're going to pay for that, Aanya," he whispered.

She egnor him.

Where is Nisha?" she demanded, surprising even herself with how steady her voice sounded.
The guards exchanged glances; Arav stopped walking.

He turned toward her, expression unreadable.

"You should worry about yourself first," he replied.
"Not about nisha."

Her stomach twisted — fear, anger, disbelief — all crashing together.

But she stepped forward.

Just one step.
Small... but fearless.

"I asked you something."
Her voice cracked but didn't break.
"Where. Is. Nisha.dii?"

Arav raised an eyebrow, amused.

"You speak like you're not standing in my mansion."

"So?" Aanya fired back instantly.
"A place becomes a prison only if I let it cage my voice. And you don't scare me enough for that."

The guards stiffened.
One of them muttered, "Is she insane?"
Another whispered, "She should be crying right now, not arguing with boss."

Aanya ignored them all.

Arav stepped close — too close — until she could feel his breath, his cold authority, his power pressing over her like a shadow.

"You're brave," he murmured, eyes narrowing.
"Or stupid."

Aanya's pulse raced, but she didn't move back.

"Maybe both," she said, meeting his eyes head-on.
"But I promised  I would protect Nisha. And I'm not breaking that promise." and ishaan will come to protect me."

A flicker — surprise? irritation? — crossed Arav's face.

"You think Ishaan is coming?"

Aanya took a breath, straightened her spine, and smiled —
A bold, trembling, stubborn smile.

"I don't think, i KNOW it."

Arav watched her with an unsettling calm—
the kind of stillness that hides something venomous beneath.

His gaze flicked over her face, reading every tremor, every flicker of doubt.

Then he spoke, voice smooth like silk wrapped around a knife.

"Ah... I see it now," he murmured.
"He has trapped you beautifully inside his words.
You trust him far too easily."

Aanya stiffened, confusion tightening in her lungs.

"What are you talking about, Arav?"
Her voice tried to hold strength, but the uncertainty crept through.

Arav tilted his head, studying her like she was an experiment he already knew the ending of.

"I wonder what you will do," he whispered,
"when the truth finally tears through your pretty little delusion."

Her heartbeat stumbled.

"What truth?"

Arav's smile sharpened—not warm, not human—
a smile meant to break.

He stepped closer, lowering his voice until it brushed her ear like poison.

"The truth that will shatter every illusion you have built around Ishaan.
The illusion that he is coming for you...
that he loves you."

Aanya felt the ground shift beneath her.

"Stop speaking in riddles. Say it clearly, Arav."

Her fear was starting to leak through the cracks, and he could see it—
he enjoyed it.

He laughed softly, almost kindly, but the sound carried cruelty.

"Why should I tell you?
You will not believe me anyway."

Her breath hitched with growing dread.

"Just tell me, Arav!"
She yelled, panic scraping her voice raw.

Arav's expression changed.
Not anger—
but satisfaction.

He leaned closer, eyes dark and triumphant.

"Fine."

A beat of silence.

Then the blade:

"He does not love you, Aanya."
His voice was soft... deadly.
"He never did."

Aanya felt something collapse inside her chest.

He watched her break—
and smiled.

"He still loves Bella."

It was a whisper, but it hit like a strike across her heart.

Aanya shook her head instantly, desperately.

"No... He used to love her.
But not anymore.
He told me he loves me."

Arav chuckled, low and mocking.

"And you believed it?"

He took one slow step toward her.
Aanya didn't move.

"From a man who has hurt you more times than he has held you?"

Her throat closed.

The memories crashed in—

The night Ishaan whispered those words like a confession carved from his soul...
the way he held her, as if she was the air he breathed...

And then—

The morning he disappeared.
Leaving her alone.
On cold sheets.
Without a word.
As if none of it mattered.

Her chest tightened painfully.

She wanted to believe Ishaan.
She tried to believe him.

But the doubt—
burning, poisonous—
rose like smoke inside her.

Arav saw it.
He saw the crack forming.

Arav watched her silently, as if studying a fragile glass about to crack under its own weight. Then he spoke, his voice low, smooth, and deliberately sharp.

"Tell me one thing, Aanya..."
He stepped closer, his eyes glittering with calculated cruelty.
"Did Ishaan ever mention... that he met Bella?"

Aanya's breath stumbled.

Arav didn't wait for her answer.

"Bella has been escape of this mansion for three full days."
His words slid into her ears like poison-coated truth.
"And she went straight to meet him the moment she escaped."

Aanya blinked—slowly, stiffly—because her mind was already replaying the morning... the confession... Ishaan revealing that Bella had come back two days ago.
Two days.

Two days... and he hadn't told her.

She remembered standing in that hall, the shock on everyone's face...
but the one thing that clawed at her heart was that he hadn't told her privately.
Not last night.
Not this morning.
Not when she lay in his arms.

Nothing.

Arav saw her drifting into that realization, and he leaned in with a sickening smile.

"He didn't tell you she returned before everyone else, did he?"
He whispered.
"He didn't think you deserved to know that truth."

Aanya's throat tightened.

And then Arav delivered the next blow, slow and merciless.

"Did he tell you Bella is staying in his apartment?"

Her eyes widened—shock, disbelief, hurt swirling like a storm.

Arav's voice dropped into a mocking purr.

"The same apartment they used to share when they were in a relationship."

Aanya's heartbeat froze.

Shared.
Their space.
Their memories.
Their past.

Her mind spun.

Arav continued, almost gently... almost kindly... but every word was a blade.

"They've been together for almost three days, Aanya."
His smirk grew.
"Just yesterday, when Ishaan and I were talking in the morning... he told me he had just come back from meeting Bella."

He didn't tell her why Ishaan met Bella.
He didn't care to.
All he wanted was the damage.

And he saw it landing with perfect precision.

Aanya's gaze went empty, drifting sideways as her mind pieced the horror together.

He met Bella.
He didn't tell me.
He didn't even think I needed to know.

Her inner voice trembled.

So my suspicion was right...

Aanya felt her chest crack open, raw and burning.

Ishaan... slept with me...
The memory of his warmth, his whispered confessions, the way he held her like she meant everything—

—shattered.

And then he left me... the moment morning came...
left her alone on the cold bed
without a note
without a word
without a promise.

He didn't even wait for me to wake up...

Her stomach twisted painfully.

He went straight to Bella...
the thought stabbed deep.
Straight to the woman he once loved.

And he didn't tell her.
Not even once.

Aanya's lips parted, breath trembling as shock consumed her.

Arav watched her break, slowly... beautifully... completely.

And in her silence, in her wide, wounded eyes—

he knew she start to believed him.

Aanya's voice trembled, but she forced steel into it.
"No... no, he would never do that. I don't believe you. You're just trying to manipulate me. You're lying."

Arav tilted his head, smiling as if her resistance amused him.

"Lying?"
He chuckled softly.
"Aanya, I'm not lying. I'm only telling you the truth—the same truth Ishaan himself told me."

Her heartbeat stuttered.

"What do you mean?" she whispered, terrified yet desperate.

Arav slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. His smile widened.

"You don't trust me? Fine. Then listen to him."

He tapped the screen.

The recording began—
Ishaan's voice, cold, sharp, laced with a hatred Aanya had never heard before thats how it sound in recording. but its nothing like that.

"I planned that I would stop chasing Aransh. I wouldn't kidnap him again. Instead... I would do to her sister what he did to Nisha."

Aanya's breath caught.

"I decided I would make Aanya fall in love with me. Make her trust me. Make her believe that I love her. And when she finally did..."
"I would break her. Break her so badly she wouldn't be able to think again." but i feel guilty now. 

Every syllable stabbed through her like shards of glass.

Arav watched her face — watched the color drain, watched her lips part in silent devastation — and smiled like a man admiring his own handiwork.

He slipped the phone into his pocket once the recording ended.

"Satisfied? He said it himself. Now do you believe me?"

Aanya shook her head violently, almost stumbling backward.

"No—no. This... this must be old. From before he knew the truth. Yes... that's it. Before he knew Aransh bhai was innocent."
Her voice trembled but she kept going.
"He told me... he told me he wants to accept me. That our marriage deserves a chance."

Arav exhaled a short, mocking laugh.

"Old? No, sweetheart. This recording is from one day before Bella escaped. Ishaan and I met at the club. He said this then. Fresh. Recent. Brutally honest."

His eyes darkened.

"As for your marriage — yes, he wants to give it a chance. But not because he loves you. Only because he feels guilty."

Aanya froze.

Arav stepped closer, lowering his voice.

"He forced you into marriage. Hurt you without your fault. Made you suffer. He wants to 'accept' you only to quiet his own guilt."

He leaned in, whispering like a serpent.

"He pities you, Aanya. 

He loves only Bella."

Aanya flinched as if slapped.

"No," she whispered. "He said he loves me."

Arav's smile sharpened.

"Did he propose to you?"

Aanya halted... breath shaking. She shook her head slowly.

"Exactly."

Arav nodded.

"He never proposed to you. But when he propsed bella fisrt time he gave her a grand proposal—with his entire family present, blessings, celebrations, everything.
What did he give you?"
His voice dropped, taunting.
"A whispered 'I love you' inside a room? Words spoken in the dark, not in the world?"

Aanya's chest tightened painfully.

Because Arav's words stabbed where she was already bleeding.

The confession had been whispered.
Private.
Hidden.
Uncertain.

Arav wasn't done.

"Outside that room... you are nothing to him. A stranger."

Aanya's breath hitched, the truth cracking her from inside.

Her mind screamed.

No. No. Ishaan loves me. He said it. Didn't he?
Didn't he?
But why... why did he leave the moment morning came?
Why didn't he stay?
Why didn't he wait for me to wake up?
Why did he go to Bella right after... after...

Arav watched her spiraling and delivered the final blow.

"You're just a third person between two people who have loved each other for seven, eight years. Their bond doesn't break in five months."
He shrugged.
"You're the outsider, Aanya. The third wheel. Nothing more."

Aanya's breath shattered.

"I... I am not a third wheel in anyone's love story," she whispered with trembling fury. "That's not who I am."

Arav laughed quietly.

"But that is what you've become. Now it's up to you: stay in their story... or walk away. I've only told you the truth."

Aanya swallowed the pain burning in her throat.

"I don't believe anything you say," she said through clenched teeth, even though her voice shook.
Inside, she was breaking.
Inside, everything Arav said made horrifying sense.

But she refused to fall in front of him.

Arav raised an eyebrow, amused.

Aanya lifted her chin, eyes burning with fierce resolve.

"You know what, Arav?" she said with a strength she didn't feel.
"You're jealous. That's all this is. You hate Ishaan because he has something you don't—love. The love you never had.  you kidnapped Nisha dii. I understand that why you did."
She stepped closer despite the fear.
"But what did Ishaan ever do? Why destroy him? Why break him? Why ruin me?"

Her voice cracked — but her spirit didn't.

She stood there, bruised, exhausted, trembling —
yet unbroken.

And for the first time...

Arav's smirk flickered.

Just a little.

Aanya felt her breath hitch as Arav's voice cracked open the silence—raw, furious, and trembling with wounds that had never healed.

"What he did?" he snarled, breath shaking. "He destroyed my entire bloodline, Aanya. Every last piece of it."
His voice wasn't just angry—it was shattered, trembling under the weight of a childhood drowned in blood. "Once... I had a family too. Once... someone loved me. But his father—your father-in-law—tore everything away from me."

Aanya's heartbeat stumbled. The fury in his eyes felt dangerous, almost inhuman.

Arav's hands balled into fists, knuckles pale as he forced the words out.
"I was only a child," he whispered, voice cracking with a grief too old to be soothed. "A child who watched both his parents die... right in front of his own eyes." His chest heaved violently. "And the reason for that nightmare... was the Mehra . Ishaan's father."

Aanya's lips parted, but no voice came. Her world was tilting, spinning.

Arav continued, his voice choked with agony and venom.
"my father was murdered, my mother had a heart attack the same night. She died in front of me—while I was screaming for help. But even then... even after taking both my parents, the Mehra family didn't stop."
His eyes darkened like a storm ready to break.
"The only person I had left—my uncle—was hunted down too. And the man who killed him..." he paused, his voice rising into a scream, "...was Ishaan Mehra."

Aanya felt her knees weaken. Her breath trembled out of her as she whispered,
"No... no, Ishaan would never do that."

Arav laughed—a hollow, cruel, bitter sound.
"He did, Aanya. Your husband is not the innocent man you think he is."

Aanya swallowed hard. "What do you mean?" she asked, voice barely stable.

Arav stepped closer, eyes bright with poisonous satisfaction.
"Your father-in-law wasn't just a businessman. He was a mafia leader—the head of one of the most dangerous mafia group."
He tilted his head, studying her shock.
"And your precious husband, the man you believed was just a CEO? He's sitting on that throne now. He is the mafia leader."

Aanya froze, completely paralyzed.

Her lips shook.
"He... he's mafia?" she whispered, her voice breaking.

Arav nodded slowly, the hatred in his gaze burning hotter.
"Your husband destroyed everyone I ever loved. And now it's my turn."
His voice roared through the room.

Arav's voice dropped into a low, chilling calm—the kind that didn't waver because it had already crossed every moral boundary long ago. His eyes held no regret, only a twisted pride, as he began to confess the truth Aanya never imagined existed.

"I came into his life for one purpose—revenge."
His tone was steady, almost disturbingly composed.
"I studied everything about him. Enrolled in the same college. Befriended him. No one knew who I was, where I came from. And that anonymity made it easy. Everything was going according to plan."

Aanya stood frozen, her breath trapped somewhere between shock and terror.

Arav continued, a dark smile tugging at his lips.
"But then I met Nisha... and everything changed."

For the first time, a flicker of something raw passed through his eyes—love, pain, obsession tangled into one suffocating knot.

"I fell for her."

He let out a bitter laugh.
"But she was already in love—with Aransh. I was furious. I wanted to kill him right then. But I controlled myself. Because my real intention was only revenge."

He took a slow step closer, his words slicing the air.

"Still... my love for her grew. Even when I knew she belonged to someone else. I waited. Patiently. Stupidly. Until her graduation."

His smile warped into something shattered.

"That day, I finally proposed to her. She rejected me."
His jaw tightened.
"I didn't give up. I thought if I kept trying, she would eventually choose me. After all, how long could she stay with that Aransh?"

Aanya's heart hammered painfully as she listened.
Arav wasn't just confessing; he was unraveling.

His voice dipped lower—colder.
"But she destroyed every last piece of hope I had... when she announced that after Bella and Ishaan's wedding, she and Aransh were getting married too."

Aanya felt her stomach drop.

Arav's eyes burned, a storm of hatred and heartbreak twisting together.

"That... was the moment I snapped."

He exhaled sharply.

"I decided I would have it all. My revenge... and Nisha."

Aanya felt the blood drain from her face.

Arav spoke like he was narrating a victory.

"I drugged Aransh. Just enough to make him lose control. Enough to frame him. And the plan worked beautifully."
He smirked.
"Nisha broke up with him after she saw him with another woman. Perfect, isn't it?"

Aanya's hands curled into fists, nails digging into her palm, the horror settling deeper.

"Once she was vulnerable, I started giving her mild doses of drugs through her secretary. Just enough to weaken her mind... to make her dependent on me... to pull her under my control."

Aanya felt nausea rise.
This was beyond obsession.
This was calculated evil.

Arav's voice sharpened.

"But one day, she walked into my office. Unannounced."

His eyes darkened.

"She heard me talking to my men. She found out the truth."

His jaw clenched as he remembered.

"She was furious. She screamed at me. Threatened to expose me. I tried to calm her, control her... but she wouldn't listen."

He whispered, horrified,
"So i drugged her..."

"I had no choice. I gave her a stronger dose. A dose that can... unhinge the mind."
He shrugged carelessly.
"I knew it would make her unpredictable. Violent. Self-destructive."

Aanya's face twisted in disbelief and disgust.

Arav's voice dropped to a chilling whisper.
"I didn't know she would run home. That the drug would hit her so hard she'd slit her own wrist in pain."

For a moment, even Arav looked haunted by the memory—but the look vanished as quickly as it came.

"But I did know one thing."
His smile returned—slow, poisonous.
"Whoever found her—whether the Mehras or the Vermas—would rush her to the hospital. And that... would begin my final plan."

Aanya felt her knees weaken.
Her heart pounded against her ribcage.

Arav's tone hardened with sickening triumph.

"I was going to make her disappear from my office, but that would have raised suspicion. So I created a different plan...  a hospital one. a better one. A plan to make the world believe Nisha was dead."

He looked at Aanya like a monster admiring his own handiwork.

"And that," he said softly, "is how everything began."

Arav leaned back slightly, a cruel satisfaction glinting in his eyes as he continued—his voice dripping with venomous pride.

"I hit three targets with one single strike that day."

Aanya felt her breath hitch, but he didn't slow down.

"First, I made the entire world believe Nisha was dead."
His grin curled, wicked and triumphant.
"Second, I got Mehra Corporation sealed under a drug scandal. Their reputation... destroyed. Their empire... collapsing."

He stepped closer, his presence suffocating.

"And third, I pinned the entire blame on Aransh."

Aanya's eyes widened, her pulse pounding in her ears.

Arav let out a low, mocking laugh.
"And Ishaan? His hatred for Aransh only grew. Exactly as I planned."

His voice hardened into pure spite.

"He became desperate to hurt Aransh back—desperate to destroy him just like he believed Aransh destroyed Nisha."

Arav lifted his chin proudly.

"And that is when I gave him the idea to marry you."
His smirk deepened.
"A perfect move. A perfect trap. Everything was going according to plan."

Aanya's stomach twisted painfully.
Every word felt like a blade.

Arav's expression shifted—mockery mixing with rage.

"But then you happened."

Aanya flinched.

"You put truth into his head."
He spit the word like it disgusted him.
"You pushed him to dig deeper. You made him question everything."

His voice rose, filled with growing anger.

"And you... a nobody... turned out to be a hacker."
He let out a humorless chuckle.
"You found everything. You unraveled every thread I had woven so carefully."

He moved closer, his face twisted with fury.

"And then that girl—Bella—ran away."
His eyes flashed with violent irritation.
"Both of you ruined everything. You destroyed a plan I built for months."

Aanya took a step back, fear crawling up her spine.

Arav didn't stop.

"But it doesn't matter. I still have Nisha."
His voice dipped into a chilling whisper.
"And all that's left... is Ishaan."

Aanya's heart dropped.

Aanya stared at him, numb, horrified, unable to fathom how a human being could fall this low. Her voice broke on a whisper.

"You're... a monster."

Arav's expression turned monstrous—pure hatred blazing in his eyes.

"I'm going to destroy your husband, Aanya."
He leaned closer, whispering each word like a death sentence.
"I will kill him."

The sheer violence of his words snapped Aanya out of her shock. Something inside her chest tightened—not fear, but a fierce instinct. Her breath steadied. Her spine straightened. Her trembling stopped.

She stepped closer to Arav, meeting his rage with a cold, sharp gaze of her own.

"In your dreams, Mr. Corvo," she said, each word dipped in frost. "Because as long as I'm breathing, you won't even get close enough to touch him."

                                     ***

Thanks for giving your precious time for this story. Please vote and comment.
Bye bye take care. Loves✨🫀😊