Page 51 of Mrs. Rathore

I pulled out my own phone and searched for my sent messages. Nothing. That message didn’t exist in my outbox. It had been sent and immediately deleted.

Then it hit me.

Rhea?

Avni?

Oh, shit. Avni.

I scrolled back to check the date and time. The same day I had taken Avni for her checkup, the same day I left my phone on the bench outside the room.

Was it really her?

I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t. My heart fought the thought, but deep down, I knew. I didn’t know what I was going to do if it turned out to be true.

For a moment, I actually thought she was a good person. I thought she had a heart. That she cared. But now… it felt like I had been baited by a beautiful face and blinded by the illusion of kindness.

I forgot what she was capable of.

She came between me and Ira. She tore us apart.

And now she had finished what she started.

Why? Why the hell would she do that to Ira? What had Ira ever done to deserve that kind of cruelty? She had never beenanything but kind. Even when it hurt her, she chose peace. Choose silence.

But not anymore. Not with me.

If Avni wanted to see the worst in people, she was about to meet it.

She messed with the wrong man.

I might’ve had a heart of gold once but that heart had learned to bleed, to burn, and now, it knew how to break others too.

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Chapter 19

AVNI

I breathed deeply, but it did little to calm the storm inside me. My chest felt tight like I was suffocating beneath a mountain of guilt. Every breath rattled as fear gripped my core and squeezed mercilessly. Rhea and Mrs. Rathore had gone to the hospital to check on Ira. They had left an hour ago, but it was Rhea’s trembling voice and choked with emotion that haunted me now.

She had told me everything and that felt like a knife being slowly twisted in my gut.

Ira's condition was worse than I had imagined. Broken ribs. Multiple leg fractures. Internal bleeding. They had managed to stabilize her, and the doctors said she was out of immediate danger but that did nothing to ease the suffocating weight in my chest. She might survive, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t suffered.

And all of it was because of me.

It didn’t matter that I wasn’t the one behind the wheel, that I wasn’t the one who struck her down. It was still my fault. I had pushed her into that fragile state of mind. I had been the trigger. My actions were reckless, and thoughtless that had led her to this.

How could I ever forgive myself?

How could anyone?

A soft, metallic taste coated my tongue. I winced, only then realizing that I had bitten down hard on my lip so hard it bled. I ran a shaky hand over my face, dragging it down my cheeks in frustration. The sting of self-hatred felt like acid beneath my skin.

I hated myself.

I had hurt an innocent person, someone who didn’t deserve this pain, this suffering. Ira had endured so much already… and I had only added to it.