The night had settled over the Chauhan mansion like a velvet blanket, dark and heavy, dotted with a million stars that blinked down from the clear sky. The air was cool, carrying the scent of jasmine from the garden where Sitara had spent the afternoon, learning about a woman she had never met but whose pain she now carried in her chest like a second heartbeat.

Kabir's black jeep pulled up to the entrance, its headlights cutting through the darkness. He sat in the driver's seat, his hands gripping the steering wheel, his jaw tight. He had been waiting for this moment all day—the moment when he would take her back, bring her home, keep her where he could watch over her.