A cold knot formed in my stomach. “But what… ” The words stuck in my throat.
“Excuse me, Sir,” Dhruv cut me off before I could say anything more and quickly walked out of the room.
“What the hell is this?” I whispered, my chest pounding with shock and disbelief.
Kavya Singh? Why would she do this to me? Why would she file a false report? I hadn’t even touched her. I had only tried to help her and in return, she was destroying me. This was the same Kavya who had been crying last night. The same Kavya whose silence I had mistaken for weakness. The same sweet, innocent Kavya who barely ever raised her voice.
I pressed my fingers into my temples, trying to make sense of it.
“She wouldn’t,” I muttered. “She can’t. This is fake.”
I rushed back to the papers and scanned them again, slower this time, desperately searching for a mistake. A wrong seal. A forged signature. Anything. But the stamp was real. The signatures were real. The complaint was horrifyingly real.
She really did this.
My hands trembled as I grabbed my phone. I was about to call Kavya, to demand an explanation, to force her to say this was some twisted misunderstanding…
But the door burst open. My father stormed inside like a caged animal finally set free. His face was red, jaw clenched so tightly the muscles twitched. His eyes locked onto me, burning with fury and something even worse…disgust.
“Saurav, what is this?” he demanded through gritted teeth, pointing toward the papers.
My father was a man of reputation, power, and image. A man whose approval could build you and whose anger could erase you. “Answer me!”
I had never seen him this angry before. His face was rigid, his entire body trembling with restrained violence.
“Dad…”
The slap came out of nowhere.
My head snapped to the side, the sting exploding across my cheek.
“How dare you do such a thing!” he thundered.
“Dad, listen to me…”
“Shut up!” he roared and didn’t give me a chance to explain. “You have stained our family’s name. How dare you touch a girl and think this would stay hidden?”
“I didn’t!” I shot back, my teeth clenched, my chest heaving. “It’s a lie. I didn’t do anything. How could you even believe this?”
“Because I know you, Saurav,” he said tightly. “I know how women have always been your weakness. How you move fromone to another without thinking. Do you have any idea what this has done to us? To my company?” His eyes narrowed. “Somewhere, I always knew this day would come. The day my son would face these kinds of charges.”
“That girl is lying,” I said hoarsely. “How can you not believe me?”
He stepped closer, invading my space, his voice dropping into something lethal.
“The police came to our house last night when you weren’t here. Reporters are already sniffing around.” His lips curled. “Do you know what that means for a family like ours? Do you have any idea what this does to your so-called reputed job?”
That was when it truly hit me. My throat went dry and my heartbeat thundered in my ears.
“You could lose your dream job forever,” he continued coldly. “And I could lose my position in the market if this case is not handled cleverly.” His gaze hardened into something merciless. “If this girl does not take back her complaint… I will forget that I ever had a son.”
I stared at him, disbelief crashing into something close to horror.
“You will fix this,” he said, pointing at me. “Or I will make sure you never step into my life again.”
And then he turned and walked out. The door shut behind him, leaving me standing there alone in the silence, my cheek burning, my hands shaking, my mind drowning in shame and a terror I had never known before.
The next moment, I grabbed my car keys and drove straight to Kavya’s house. I needed answers. Why did she do this? Had I attempted to rape her? Fuck. The thought alone made my stomach twist. I should never have helped her. Never invited her into my house. What if this had all been planned?