Siya’s Flat, Safdarjung. 12:03 AM

Siya stared at the notification.

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T messaged you:* _You write him wrong._

No hi. No “love your story”. Just that.

Her thumb hovered. Block? Delete? Aaru would say “Reply with a meme and assert dominance”. Kanha Ji would probably say “Don’t talk to strangers at midnight”.

Siya did neither. She was a writer. And writers were curious to a fault.

*@RadheWrites*: _Excuse me?_

Three dots. Instantly. Like he’d been waiting.

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _Rudra. You make him soft. He isn’t. Not after what he’s seen._

Siya’s breath caught. How did this random account know Rudra’s name without her saying it?

*@RadheWrites*: _He’s fictional. I can make him whatever I want 😤_

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _Fiction is just truth wearing a mask, Meera._

Meera. Not Siya.

Her heart slammed against her ribs.

*@RadheWrites*: _How do you know that name??_

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _I read. I watch. I notice the way you write about his hands. Like you’re scared of them. Like you want them._

Siya dropped her phone. It clattered on the floor, screen glowing up at her like an accusation.

Because he was right.

_Shashwat’s Penthouse, 12:47 AM_

He hadn’t planned to message her.

The plan was simple: watch, learn, destroy. Use her to get to Vikram.

The plan did not include reading 42 chapters of her heart and feeling _seen_.

It did not include getting angry that she thought men like him could be saved.

*@RadheWrites*: _Who ARE you?

Shashwat’s thumb brushed the photo on his desk. Siya, laughing at India Gate. No makeup. Paint on her shirt.

He should say _Your father’s executioner_.

He should say _The reason you’ll stop believing in God_.

Instead, he typed:

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _Someone who knows what it’s like to bury your mother on your birthday._

Silence for five minutes. Then:

*@RadheWrites*: _…Rudra?_

His jaw locked. Stupid. Reckless. _Dangerous._

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _No. But I could have been._

*@RadheWrites*: _Why are you telling me this?

Because your words kept me up tonight and I haven’t slept through 11:47 PM in eighteen years.

Because you write about monsters like they can be loved and it makes me want to tear the world apart.

Because you don’t know you’re talking to the man who came to Delhi to ruin you.

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _Because no one should write about hell if they’ve never burned._

He threw his phone across the room. It cracked against the wall.

Veer knocked. “Sir? Everything okay?”

“No,” Shashwat said to the dark. His voice was wrecked. “She’s not what I expected.”

“Should we—”

“Double the security around her. No one touches her. No one even looks at her.” His eyes were wild. “If she gets a paper cut, I’ll skin the city.”

Veer blinked. “...Sir, isn’t she the target?”

Shashwat picked up Siya’s photo. Her smile felt like a knife now.

“She was.”

_Next Morning. 9:00 AM_

“You REPLIED to him?!” Aaru was shaking Siya by the shoulders, her own chai forgotten. “Siya Oberoi, daughter of a billionaire, talking to strange men online at midnight? What happened to ‘stranger danger’??”

“He knew about Rudra’s mother,” Siya whispered, hugging a pillow. Her laptop was open. 3 new DMs from @H_Y_A_L_E_T. She hadn’t opened them. “He said... he said fiction is truth wearing a mask.”

Aaru’s eyes went wide. Then she grinned. “Okay, that’s hot. Creepy, but hot. Like your Rudra walked off the page.”

“It’s not funny!” But Siya was blushing. Traitorous, stupid cheeks. “What if he’s some stalker?”

“Then he’s a stalker with excellent literary taste,” Aaru said, stealing the laptop. “Let’s see.”

She clicked.

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _Your Chapter 42. The necklace scene. You hesitated when you wrote it._

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _Why?_

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _Do you wear one too, Meera?_

Siya’s hand flew to her Kanha Ji pendant.

“Okay, now it’s creepy,” Aaru breathed. “But also... kind of accurate? You DID rewrite that scene four times.”

Siya grabbed the laptop back. Her fingers shook as she typed.

*@RadheWrites*: _You don’t get to psychoanalyze me._

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _I don’t need to. Your words do it for you._

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _Post the next chapter. I want to see if you let him burn._

Meanwhile, her Wattpad comments were exploding.

*@MafiaGirl_22*: _RADHE WHO IS @H_Y_A_L_E_T ??? HE COMMENTED AND DISAPPEARED LIKE A GHOST?? IS HE REAL??_

*@BookishKrishna*: _The way he said ‘Let him burn. Or make her burn with him’... I HAVE CHILLS. NEW CHARACTER???_

*@DelhiReads*: _Pls tell me this is a PR stunt for a new book boyfriend 😭 My delulu heart can’t take it._

*@Anonymous*: _He sounds dangerous. Meera should run._

Siya stared at that last one. Then at her phone. Then at Aaru.

“I think,” she said slowly, “I just met my villain in real life.”

And she wasn’t sure if she wanted to run.

Or write him.

*[Author’s Note from RadheWrites]*

I... don’t know what to say 😳_

_To @H_Y_A_L_E_T: You’re either my biggest fan or my biggest problem._

_To everyone else: Chapter 43 will be late. I have to figure out if I’m writing fiction anymore._

_Vote still open: ❤️ = REDEMPTION | 💔 = BURN IT ALL_

— Radhe (currently questioning all her life choices)_

*Top Comments on Author’s Note:*

*@KanhaKiDeewani*: _DIDI HE CALLED YOU MEERA I’M SCREAMING. IS THIS REAL???_

*@SharmaJiKaBeta*: _I told you Meera’s dad was the villain. @H_Y_A_L_E_T is confirming my theories and I’m SCARED._

*@FictionOverReality*: _The tension? The mystery? The fact that he knows about her necklace?? This is better than the book._

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _Burn it all, Radhe. Fire cleanses._

Shashwat hit post, then looked out at Delhi. Somewhere in this city, his enemy’s daughter was reading his words.

Revenge brought him to her DMs.

Obsession made him stay.

And love?

Love wasn’t part of the plan.

But neither was she.

*To be continued...*