Kiaan's POV
The problem with fake IDs wasn't the moral grey.
It was the lamination.
"Seriously?" Kiaan muttered, holding the latest one up to the light like a disappointed schoolteacher. "They didn't even get the hologram right. What am I, a B-grade spy?"
The forger, a man with breath like battery acid and zero sense of urgency, grunted. "You said fast, not flawless."
Kiaan sighed, tucking the ID into his wallet with the resignation of someone who'd stopped expecting competence from the world years ago.
It would last a week-two if no one looked too closely.
Which was perfect. He didn't plan on staying in Delhi longer than that.
Unless someone got themselves killed again. Which, judging by the past 24 hours, was a high-stakes game of
Who's Next?
He stepped outside the dingy building, pulled his hoodie over his head, and blended into the city's chaos. Delhi was too loud to be safe. Too quiet to be trusted. His kind of place.
His burner phone buzzed.
Unknown number. Again.
He didn't answer. Not yet.
Instead, he slipped into a corner diner near Green Park, ordered a double plate of biryani and two boiled eggs-because paranoia burned calories-and slid into the farthest booth from the door. Always the farthest. Always facing the entrance.
The guy trailing him since Connaught Place hadn't followed him inside.
Yet.
Kiaan leaned back, watching the steam rise off the rice like a man deeply aware this could be his last supper. Not the religious kind. The someone's-about-to-put-a-bullet-in-my-spine kind.
But damn if the biryani didn't slap.
He was halfway through his plate when the burner buzzed again.
This time, he answered.
"What?" he snapped, voice low.
A pause. Then:
"You're not as hard to find as you think."
Kiaan's fork froze mid-air.
"Cute," he said, chewing slowly. "Let me guess. Creepy voice. Shadowy threats. You've got a trench coat and a tragic backstory too?"
No response.
But then came a name. One he hadn't heard in years.
"The Raven. Stop looking."
The line went dead.
Kiaan stared at the phone, rice forgotten, blood suddenly ice.
The Raven?
He hadn't thought about that name since his father's files. Since the night he learned the truth about the Agnihotris and what *really* triggered the Malik-Rathore downfall. A shadow with no face. No trace. Just a codename whispered across intelligence briefings like a bedtime story for spies.
And Vidhi Sharma- her name had come up with that whisper again.
Coincidence? No such thing.
Kiaan's phone lit up again. This time, a message.
Address. Coordinates. One line: "Bring the girl. Or don't bother showing up."
He muttered something unprintable and slammed the rest of his biryani like a man prepping for war.
The thing about ghosts?
Sometimes they hunted you back.
________________________________
Adhvika's POV
Adhvika didn't believe in fate. She believed in systems, in codes, in patterns. It was what made her a damned genius at tracking things that didn't want to be found.
But there were times-like now-when she almost wished fate was real. At least then she could blame someone besides herself for the mess she was in.
She sat at her desk, eyes narrowing as her fingers danced across the keyboard, weaving through encrypted files like a woman possessed. Behind her, her half-finished tea sat cold and untouched. She was too far in the zone to care. Too far to pull back.
But then her VPN crashed-again.
"Are you kidding me?" she muttered, watching the screen freeze. She slammed the power button, cursed, and restarted the entire system. Something was off. She could feel it-a presence.
Not the kind that made the hair on your neck stand up, but the kind that made the world feel too quiet. Too still.
When the screen flickered back on, she hesitated for a fraction of a second before diving back in.
There it was-again. The coordinates. The same ones Vidhi had sent earlier, along with the single chilling line:
"Bring the girl. Or don't bother showing up."
A trap. Plain and simple.
Adhvika didn't need to be a psychic to know this was no coincidence. She had been tracking Vidhi's case, the same case that had drawn attention from all the wrong people, including the Agnihotris. But this was different. The Raven-whoever the hell that was-was no mere puppet master.
This was a game of chess. And Vidhi was a pawn.
And Adhvika? She wasn't just going to watch.
She grabbed her phone and fired off a text before she could second-guess herself.
"Vidhi-don't trust the Raven. Coordinates are bait. Get out. Now."
There was no response. Of course, there wasn't. Vidhi never did what she was told.
Adhvika sighed and spun in her chair, running a hand through her hair. She had five minutes-tops-before she would need to act. That meant no more pretty theories, no more "figuring it out." It was time to play dirty.
She scanned the room, eyes landing on the collection of phones scattered around, the ever-growing pile of encrypted backups, burner accounts, and intel she'd stolen from a thousand half-baked operations. The Raven had made a mistake. They thought they were untouchable.
Everyone makes mistakes.
Her fingers moved faster, typing out a message to her underground network-contacts who didn't ask questions, but damn sure knew how to find answers.
She didn't need permission. She just needed action.
The silence stretched on, and then the familiar buzz of her phone broke it. A new message.
Her eyes flicked to the screen. Kiaan Chauhan.
"Adhvika-coordinates. Same ones you just got. I'm going. See you there."
Adhvika's heart skipped a beat.
She didn't need to be psychic to know that Kiaan was about to make everything a hell of a lot more complicated.
Without another word, she grabbed her jacket, slung it over her shoulders, and locked the door behind her.
Tonight wasn't going to be quiet. Not for her, not for anyone.
________________________________
Adhvika's POV
Adhvika crouched behind the rusted pillar of the half-demolished metro station, moonlight painting the concrete in a shade of unease. The coordinates had led her to this godforsaken ghost zone outside city limits- Pranali Mehta's last known location, apparently.
She'd expected silence.
She got headlights.
A matte-black SUV rolled up with the confidence of someone who *owned* the ground beneath its tires. Not good. Very not good.
She instinctively reached for the stun baton strapped to her thigh.
Raven's people? Maybe.
Agnihotri's cleanup crew? More likely.
Or worse-Chauhan muscle sent to erase the paper trail?
Her grip tightened. She wasn't about to wait to find out.
The driver's door creaked open-and a tall figure stepped out.
Sharp build. Rolled sleeves. Messy hair like he hadn't slept in days and didn't care. He looked around like a man used to danger but not afraid of it.
Adhvika watched from the shadows, her heart hammering. Her breath caught.
Too calm.
Whoever he was, he wasn't new to this game.
Her phone buzzed-just once.
Unknown number:
"Don't engage. I'm watching. Let him lead you in."
Her blood chilled.
What the hell does that mean? Who's "watching"? Who's "him"? Was someone tracking her phone? Or-God forbid-inside her network?
She looked up again.
The man was walking into the structure, flashlight low, scanning the abandoned stairwell like he knew what he was looking for.
She didn't.
But if he was Agnihotri... she needed to get there first. Or get it away from him before he disappeared with whatever Pranali left behind.
________________________________
Kiaan’s POV
The metro station reeked of mold and disuse—an old beast breathing out rot and memory.
Kiaan moved with careful steps, the flashlight in his hand cutting a narrow path through the dust-fogged air. The sound of dripping water echoed like a slow metronome, each drop a warning. This place hadn’t seen commuters in years, but it had seen something else—fear, maybe. Silence weaponized into something sharp.
He paused.
A rustle behind him. Barely audible.
He didn’t turn around. Not yet. Let them think he hadn’t heard.
His hand slid toward the concealed blade clipped inside his jacket. He didn’t trust guns. They were loud, arrogant. Steel was quieter, more honest.
Then a whisper of breath. A shift in air.
“I know you’re there,” he said, voice flat. “If you wanted to shoot me, you missed your window.”
Silence. Then—Adhvika’s voice.
“You’re late.”
He exhaled—half relief, half irritation. “And you’re following me. Again.”
She stepped into view, eyes sharp, lips pressed tight. “You’re lucky it’s me.”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “Lucky’s the word.”
They stood like that—neither dropping their guard, both watching the shadows like they were alive.
“Someone texted me,” Adhvika said quietly. “Said to let you lead.”
Kiaan’s jaw clenched. “They texted me too. Gave me your name like they were dangling bait.”
She blinked. “So we’re both bait.”
“Looks like.”
Then—click.
A faint mechanical whir echoed up from below. Kiaan’s flashlight found a panel on the far wall, cracked open. The faint green glow of something electronic flickered inside.
Kiaan walked toward it slowly.
On the ground beside it—dust disturbed. A small footprint. Female.
“Pranali was here,” he said. Not a guess. A fact.
Adhvika nodded grimly. “You think she left something?”
Kiaan’s answer came when a small device inside the panel beeped and a new message scrolled across a tiny embedded screen.
Welcome to the game.
-R
He stared at the screen. “The Raven’s real.”
Adhvika crossed her arms. “Or someone really wants us to believe they are.”
“Either way,” Kiaan murmured, “they’re watching.”
He turned to Adhvika, his face hard now. “Let’s find out what the hell they want before someone else ends up dead.”
________________________________
Vidhi's POV
Vidhi crouched low behind the crumbling wall of the empty warehouse, the rough cement biting into her knees. Her breath was measured, steady—not because she wasn’t afraid, but because fear was useless now. Fear made your hands shake.
And her hands couldn’t afford that.
Not when they were wrapped around the cold steel of her Glock.
The room beyond was dim, lit only by the dying flicker of a single, swinging bulb. The sound of a door creaking somewhere behind her made her pivot instinctively, gun raised, finger on the trigger.
Nothing.
Just wind.
But she knew better. The air was too still. Too rehearsed.
This wasn’t paranoia.
Someone had staged the silence.
She moved silently to the far side, scanning the floor. Dust was everywhere—but not untouched. Footprints. Big ones. Two sets, maybe three. Leading toward the service elevator that hadn’t run in years.
She didn’t trust elevators even when they did work.
Her phone buzzed—once.
Unknown Number:
“Wrong floor, Vidhi. But I admire the effort.”
Her jaw clenched. She didn’t like games.
Especially when she wasn’t the one running the board.
She typed back fast.
Vidhi:
“You sure you want to be cute with someone who’s armed?”
No reply. Just silence.
But now she knew. They knew she was here. They were watching. Testing her.
And something told her they weren’t bluffing.
The Raven.
Her mind went back to the files she'd stolen months ago, the encrypted threads she'd traced through shell companies, closed-door deals, dead-end aliases. There was always a name that never had a face. A codename whispered under redacted reports and digital firewalls.
The Raven. Always three steps ahead.
And now... watching her.
Her grip on the gun tightened as she advanced, slow and controlled. She didn't have time for shadows. She needed facts. Evidence. A lead.
Or a body.
Because if the Raven thought she was prey?
They hadn’t done their homework.
________________________________
okayyy- I had soo much fun writing this.
do like and let me know how was the chapter.
Write a comment ...