The message came at dawn.
The hunter has been identified. Come alone. – R
Aarohi dressed in darkness. She slipped out of the estate and drove to the safe house.
The door was open. The lights were off. Rohan was gone.
His screens were dark. His equipment was smashed. On the wall, written in what looked like blood, a message waited for her.
I found you, Architect. Now I find the rest.
Her phone buzzed. An unknown number.
Your friend is alive. For now. Come to the Raichand Medical Institute. Alone. Or he dies.
She should call Kabir. She should call Arjun. She should call anyone.
There was no time.
She put on her mask. She activated her modulator. She drove to the hospital.
The oncology ward was dark.
Aarohi moved through the corridors with silent footsteps. Her eyes scanned for threats. The hunter had chosen this place for a reason. Familiar ground. Emotional weight. The site of his first attack.
She found him in Anjali's room.
He was tall and broad-shouldered, dressed in black. His back faced her. His hands were clasped behind his back. His head was tilted as if he listened to something only he could hear.
Rohan was tied to a chair in the corner. His mouth was taped. His eyes blazed with fury. He was alive.
"Let him go," Aarohi said. The modulator flattened her voice into something cold and unrecognizable.
The hunter turned.
She had expected a stranger. A monster. Someone she had never seen before.
The face that looked back at her belonged to Vikram Mehta.
Kabir's lawyer. The man who made problems disappear. The man who had smiled at her across dinner tables. The man who had helped Kabir build his empire.
"You," she breathed.
Vikram smiled. It was not the smile of the affable lawyer. It was the smile of a predator who had finally cornered his prey.
"Hello, Architect," he said. "Or should I say, Mrs. Raichand?"
The world stopped.
He knew. He knew who she was. He had known all along.
"How?" she asked.
"I have known your father for thirty years. I taught him everything he knew. When he died, I watched you follow in his footsteps." He stepped closer. "I have been watching you for a very long time, Aarohi."
He stopped a few feet away. His smile was sharp.
"You are going to help me destroy the Council. Or your friend dies. Your mother dies. Your husband dies." He tilted his head. "Choose."
Aarohi looked at Rohan. His blazing eyes. The blood on his face. She looked at Vikram. The man who had been hiding in plain sight. The hunter who had finally caught his prey.
She made her choice.
"No."
Vikram's smile faltered. "No?"
"I do not negotiate with terrorists. I do not make deals with monsters." She reached up and removed her mask. She let him see her face. The face of the woman he had underestimated. "I do not let anyone threaten the people I love."
She moved.
The fight was short and brutal. Vikram was trained. He was experienced. He was dangerous. But he had never fought The Architect in her own territory. He had never seen her move when she had nothing left to lose.
She had him on the ground in thirty seconds. His arm twisted behind his back. His face pressed to the floor.
"You made a mistake," she said. Her voice was her own now. Raw and fierce. "You thought I was alone. You thought I was weak. You thought I would break."
She leaned closer. Her lips near his ear.
"I am not my father," she whispered. "I am worse."
She knocked him unconscious. She freed Rohan. She pulled the tape from his mouth.
"Are you hurt?" she asked.
"I will live." He rubbed his wrists. "How did you know he was lying?"
"I did not. I just knew I could not let him win."
She looked down at Vikram's unconscious body. The man who had been hunting her for sixteen years. The monster who had worn a familiar face.
She pulled out her phone and called Kabir.
He answered on the first ring.
"I need you," she said. "At the hospital. Now."
"I am on my way."
She waited for her husband to arrive.