VR Tower — 6:45 AM
Aarav never slept. Sleep was a luxury for people who weren't being hunted.
He stood before a digital board with every person who had ever stepped foot near his penthouse. From personal chef to private cleaners to his most trusted inner circle — the list glowed in cold blue light.
Beside him, Dev waited silently.
Aarav: Filter by those who were on duty the day Sara lost her bracelet.
Dev's fingers flew. The list collapsed from thirty names… to five.
One more filter.
Aarav: Remove anyone who has been vetted by me personally.
Four names vanished.
One remained.
Dev (voice low): Rhea Sethi.
Personal assistant to the Head of VR Security Division.
Aarav's gaze sharpened.
Aarav (cold): She was never supposed to be inside my penthouse perimeter.
Dev: She came as backup. A system auto-flag pulled her in. Standard procedure.
Aarav: Nothing about my life is standard.
He stepped closer to the screen, eyes narrowed.
Aarav: Bring her in. Room 5. Full isolation. No warning.
Dev: Understood.
As Dev left, Aarav looked once at the screen again… then reached for his phone.
A.V.R: Are you awake?
Sara: Yes.
A.V.R: Don't touch the bracelet. I'm sending someone to scan it.
Sara: …What did you find?
A.V.R: Something is hidden inside it.
The message ended there. No details.
Classic Aarav — only reveal 10% of the danger.
💍 Sara's Apartment — 7:20 AM
Sara sat at the window, wrapped in a blanket, the toxic silence of early morning humming around her.
The bracelet — the one that had once been just a sweet memory — now lay on a sterile white cloth, untouched.
A knock.
Her door access panel lit up.
Access Verified: DEV
She opened it. Dev entered with a small scanner device, nodding respectfully.
Dev: Mr. Rathore said to check this before anything else.
Sara watched as he placed the bracelet under a faint blue scan light. A soft beep.
Something clicked inside the bracelet.
Not just a metal curve.
A hollow compartment, expertly sealed.
Dev used a magnetic tool.
A tiny chip slid out. No bigger than a rice grain.
Sara's heart stopped.
Sara: Is that… a tracker?
Dev didn't answer.
He simply placed the chip into a decoder.
The screen lit up.
🔴 LIVE — ACTIVE FEED
📁 Folder Name: "The Actress & The King"
🎥 First File Timestamp: 3 months ago.
The night she first walked into his penthouse.
Her laughter.
Her bracelet slipping.
His hand catching it.
Someone was watching them from the very beginning.
🎭 Back at VR Tower — Interrogation Room 5
Rhea Sethi sat with perfectly straight posture. No panic.
She didn't look like someone making a mistake.
She looked like someone following orders.
Aarav entered.
She didn't even flinch.
Aarav (calm, quiet): You accessed my private floor.
Rhea (smiling, too composed): I follow protocol.
Aarav: Your protocol does not include spying on my life.
Rhea leaned back, almost amused.
Rhea: "My life doesn't belong to me, sir. It belongs to the one who paid more."
A deadly silence fell.
Aarav (voice freezing): Who paid you?
For the first time… Rhea smiled like a devotee speaking about a higher power.
Rhea: "We don't say her name."
Aarav: Eris.
Rhea flinched.
Just once.
A crack.
Aarav caught it.
And when Aarav catches a crack — he shatters it.
Aarav (soft threat): Tell me where she is. Or I'll erase you quietly, and your entire bloodline will forget you ever existed.
Rhea closed her eyes.
Then smiled a terrifying, calm smile.
Rhea: "Mr. Rathore… you're asking the wrong question."
She leaned forward, eyes burning with eerie devotion.
"You shouldn't be asking where she is…"
"You should be asking — how much she already knows."