When The Past Knocks

The night was colder than usual, but Rudra barely felt it. He stood outside the wreckage of his restaurant, his hands clenched into fists. The once-lively place was now nothing but shattered glass, broken furniture, and the faint smell of smoke.

Karan stood beside him, his face dark with anger. “They didn’t just destroy it, Rudra… they made a statement.”

Rudra’s jaw tightened. He had tried to live in peace, to stay away from his family’s legacy. But some ghosts refused to stay buried.

This wasn’t just about a restaurant anymore. They had taken the lives of his staff—people who had nothing to do with this war.

And for that, someone had to pay.

---

Devika sat in her university library, staring at the pages of her book without reading a single word.

Her friends were laughing at another table, but her mind was elsewhere. She had heard about the attack.

No one dared to mention it openly, but she knew her father’s reach extended to every corner of the city. She had seen it happen before—businesses destroyed, people ruined—but this time, she felt something she had never felt before. Guilt.

She hated the feeling. She wasn’t supposed to care.

But Rudra’s face from that night at the restaurant haunted her. The way he had held back. The way he had chosen silence over violence.

And now, that silence had been shattered.

---

Rudra ran a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply. His mind was racing, emotions battling between rage and control.

A soft beep from his phone snapped him out of his thoughts. A message. An unknown number.

"This was just the beginning. Walk away while you still can."

He stared at the screen.

A threat? A warning?

Either way, it was too late. He had already made his choice.

---

Devika scrolled through her messages, hesitating before opening her father’s latest text.

"Stay away from the restaurant incident. It doesn’t concern you."

She swallowed hard. But it did concern her.

Because no matter how much she tried to deny it, something about this felt different.

And she wasn’t sure if she was ready for what came next.

---

That night, Rudra didn’t sleep.

He stood on the rooftop of his apartment, the city stretching before him. Bhopal was a battlefield, whether he liked it or not.

He wasn’t afraid of fighting back. He had been raised in a world where power and strategy were everything. But he had spent years pretending to be someone else, believing he could escape the blood that ran in his veins.

Tonight proved otherwise.

Karan walked up beside him. “What’s the plan?”

Rudra’s gaze remained on the city below. “We rebuild.”

“And after that?”

Rudra’s fingers tightened around the railing. "After that, we remind them who they just made an enemy of."

---

Devika paced in her room, restless.

She had thought about messaging her father—asking him why, asking him if it was necessary.

But she already knew the answer. In his world, there was no place for questions.

Her father had always told her: "Power isn’t given, Devika. It’s taken."

She had grown up believing that. But tonight, for the first time, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be part of this game anymore.

And yet, she was already trapped in it.