1:15 AM - Underground Parking Basement, South Delhi

The basement lights flickered weakly overhead.

Luxury cars stood lined in silence while rainwater trickled down concrete pillars in thin streams. The entire place smelled like petrol, wet cement, and tension sharp enough to cut skin.

Kabir stood near the elevator rubbing his temples.

"This meeting is a terrible idea," he muttered.

"No," Shashwat replied coldly, adjusting the cuff of his black shirt. "Letting him think he can touch her without consequences was the terrible idea."

The elevator doors opened.

Raghav Malhotra stepped out smiling.

Wrong move.

He was one of the few people arrogant enough to treat Shashwat like an equal. Old money. Political connections. Too protected for most people to touch.

But tonight, even his bodyguards looked nervous.

Raghav spread his arms casually. "Relax, yaar. Why so serious over one girl?"

Shashwat's face remained unreadable.

"Careful," Kabir warned quietly from the side.

Raghav ignored him completely.

"She writes cringe romance online and suddenly Delhi's biggest ghost loses his mind?" he laughed mockingly. "I mean seriously, what is she? Some middle-class Wattpad princess feeding street dogs and acting innocent?"

The air changed instantly.

Kabir felt it first.

That shift.

That deadly stillness.

Raghav kept talking anyway.

"You know girls like her are the easiest to buy, right? Give them attention, fake devotion, maybe a little money and they'll crawl right into your-"

He never finished the sentence.

Shashwat moved.

Fast enough that nobody processed it properly.

One second he was standing still.

The next-

Raghav crashed violently into the hood of a Mercedes with enough force to shatter the windshield.

The bodyguards reached for weapons instinctively-

Kabir pulled his gun first.

"Don't," he warned coldly. "Unless you want your families crying tonight."

Raghav groaned in pain, blood dripping from his mouth. "You psycho-"

Shashwat grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the car again.

Hard.

The entire vehicle shook.

"You spoke about her," Shashwat said softly.

Raghav tried to laugh through the pain. "What? Your little writer girlfriend?"

Another brutal hit.

Blood splattered across the silver car door.

"She is not," Shashwat said quietly, dangerously, "someone you speak about."

Raghav finally looked afraid.

Actually afraid.

But arrogance still made people stupid.

He spat blood near Shashwat's shoes and sneered weakly.

"What's so special about her anyway? She's just another pretty little girl waiting to-"

CRACK.

The sound echoed through the basement horrifyingly loud.

Shashwat's fist connected with his jaw hard enough to send him collapsing sideways onto the concrete floor.

The bodyguards froze.

Kabir cursed under his breath.

Because Shashwat wasn't stopping.

Raghav tried crawling backward desperately now, blood smearing beneath him.

"W-wait-"

Shashwat caught him by the collar.

Lifted him.

And punched him again.

And again.

And again.

The violence wasn't loud.

That was the worst part.

No screaming rage.

No dramatic shouting.

Just the sickening sound of fists meeting flesh while Shashwat's expression stayed terrifyingly calm.

Raghav's movements weakened.

Then slowed.

Then stopped completely.

Silence swallowed the basement.

One bodyguard whispered shakily, "Oh my God..."

Kabir stepped forward carefully. "Sir."

Shashwat remained crouched beside the motionless body for several seconds.

Breathing steady.

Knuckles covered in blood.

Then finally he looked up.

His eyes were empty.

Cold enough to freeze bone.

"Anyone else," he asked softly, "want to say her name disrespectfully?"

Nobody answered.

Nobody even breathed loudly.

Shashwat stood slowly.

Adjusted his sleeve.

And walked toward the elevator like nothing had happened.

Halfway there, he stopped without turning

around.

"Clean this mess," he said calmly.

Then he disappeared behind the elevator doors.

Leaving behind silence...

And a body that would never speak again.