Pa straightened. “You will go to the police station. You will file the complaint. And after that,” he said calmly, “we will make him pay to erase it.”
"I. Will. Not. Do. This!" I shouted.
“If you don’t agree with us then we’ll make you.” Pa gestured Nitin.
My step brother walked toward me. Something in his eyes made my stomach drop. He sneered and suddenly his hands were on me.
I struggled, screamed and clawed at him, but he was stronger. He tore at my clothes while Pa watched without blinking.
Every rip sounded like something inside me breaking. I fought until my body trembled, until my voice was gone, until there was nothing left but shock. After that, everything happened too fast. He dragged me out into the street and a moment later we were in the police station.
My clothes were torn, I had bruises on my face and arms but I was unable to tell officers the truth. My father and step brother would kill Kirti if I raised a voice against them.
“Sign.”
My hands shook as they forced a pen into them. I couldn’t think, breathe and even cry anymore. And so, with a body that no longer felt like mine, I filed a complaint against the only man who had ever looked at me without cruelty. Against Saurav Chauhan.
______
Chapter 4
SAURAV
I was sprawled on the couch, playing video games, when someone knocked on the door.
“Come in,” I said, shoving popcorn into my mouth, eyes glued to my laptop screen.
“Sir… ”
I snapped my head up the moment I recognized the voice. It was my father’s secretary. His secretary? He almost never came himself.
“What’s wrong, Uncle Dhruv?” I asked, immediately abandoning the game and getting to my feet. I ran a hand through my hair and tugged my T-shirt into place, suddenly aware of how careless I must have looked.
He stepped inside, immaculate as ever in crisp suit, perfect tie, hair styled exactly the way my father preferred. Everything about him was controlled and professional except his face.
“Sir… there is a legal notice,” he said carefully, extending a brown envelope.
The look on him made my stomach tighten. He looked like he was about to pass out or worse.
“Legal notice? For what?” I snatched the envelope from his hand and tore it open. The first thing my eyes landed on was a name. Kavya Singh. For a second, my brain refused to process it. It felt wrong and unreal as if my mind simply rejected the letters in front of me.
Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it was someone else with the same name.I read it again and again, but the name didn’t change. My fingers tightened around the paper as I scanned further.
Complaint.
Harassment.
Attempt to rape.
The words blurred, but their weight slammed straight into my chest. “This is fake.” A short, hollow laugh escaped me as I flung the papers away like they were contaminated. “What the fuck is this? Are you kidding me?”
I glared at Dhruv, waiting for him to say something, to correct it, to laugh, to tell me it was some ridiculous misunderstanding. But he didn’t. His gaze stayed fixed on the floor, stiff and guilty, as if he were the one who had filed the complaint.
I dragged a hand through my hair, breathing hard. The words replayed in my head, over and over, each time louder. Legal notice. Complaint. Harassment. Attempt to rape.
“Bullshit!” I hissed, my fist cutting through the air. My heart hammered violently, anger and disbelief twisting together in my gut. This was insane, disgusting and impossible.
“Senior Sir wants to have a word with you, Sir,” Dhruv said slowly, almost reluctantly. “He’ll be here in a few minutes.”