In a dimly lit, high-end lounge in South Mumbai, the air was thick with the scent of expensive gin and manipulation. Mehak sat close to Vikrant, a man five years her senior with eyes like polished obsidian and a smile that never quite reached them.
"You're the eldest, Mehak," Vikrant whispered, his hand resting possessively over hers. "In any other dynasty, you would be the Queen. But your grandfather... he's blinded by Sia's tricks. A Master's degree at fifteen? It's unnatural. It's a circus act."
Mehak looked into his eyes, finding the validation she craved. "He's handing her everything on her eighteenth, Vikrant. In three months, I'll be taking orders from my seventeen-year-old cousin."
Vikrant leaned in, his voice a seductive purr. "Not if she's proven unfit. Not if the board sees her as a cold, calculating risk rather than a leader. You don't need to be smarter than her, Mehak. You just need to be more 'human.' People fear Sia. They love you. We just need to show them that her 'genius' is actually a mental instability."
He slid a small, encrypted drive across the table. "Use the internal access Sia gave you for the gala. If we can link her 'Shadow Terminal' to a series of erratic, high-risk trades, the board will panic. They'll beg for a 'stable' elder like you to step in."
Mehak took the drive, her heart racing. With Vikrant by her side, she didn't feel like a jealous cousin anymore. She felt like a revolutionary.
The Silent Observation
Across the city, in the quiet sanctuary of her glass-walled bedroom, Sia sat cross-legged on her bed. She wasn't sleeping. She was looking at a digital map of the city's social connections.
Rohan was sitting on the floor, tossing a stress ball against the wall. "I saw them again, Sia-paa. Mehak and that Vikrant guy. He's bad news. His family's firm, *Vardhan Industries*, has been trying to break into our logistics sector for a decade."
Sia didn't look up from her copper disc. The blue light reflected off her pale, porcelain skin, making her look like a hologram herself. "I know who he is, Rohan. I audited his father's tax returns two years ago as a hobby."
"He's playing her," Rohan said, his voice uncharacteristically sharp. "He's feeding her ego so she'll do his dirty work. He's turning your own family against you."
Sia took a slow, deliberate bite of Rasmalai, the saffron milk cooling her palate. She looked at the screen, where a red dot represented Vikrant's phone location—currently at the same lounge as Mehak.
"Mehak thinks she's found a lover," Sia murmured, her black high ponytail swaying as she tilted her head. "She's actually just found a parasite. She thinks they are plotting to take my crown, but Vikrant is plotting to take the entire kingdom once I'm out of the way."
The Strategic Counter-Move
Sia tapped a command into her terminal.
"Rohan, I need you to do something for me," Sia said, her "baby-innocent" face turning toward him with a chillingly calm expression. "Go to the parties Vikrant frequents. Be your usual charming, loud self. But I want you to drop a hint—just a whisper—that I've found a 'glitch' in the Malhotra merger that could bankrupt anyone who shorts our stock."
Rohan grinned, the stress ball stopping in his hand. "You're baiting him. You're making him think there's a weakness so he rushes the plan."
"Exactly," Sia said, standing up and smoothing her silk pajamas. "Mehak is blinded by love. Vikrant is blinded by greed. And as any Master of Business knows..."
"...the easiest way to defeat two enemies is to make them run toward the same cliff. Mehak wants my legacy? Fine. I'll make sure it's the heaviest thing she's ever tried to carry."
The Midnight Reflection
As Rohan left, Sia walked to her floor-to-ceiling window. The Singh-Malhotra empire was spread out beneath her in a sea of lights. Her brother, Aryan, was already securing the paternal side. Her younger sister, Riya, was safe in her dreams.
Sia touched the cold glass. She was seventeen, a genius, and the future of a dynasty. She was loved by her parents and protected by her best friend. But as she looked at her reflection—the pale skin, the sharp eyes, the porcelain mask—she realized that the "Silent Takeover" was no longer just about business.
It was a war for the soul of her family. And in war, love was the most dangerous variable of all.