Location: Palace Basement Vault – Emergency Lockdown Mode
Time: 7:49 PM
The air was thick with dust and silence.
Vashti pressed her palm against the sealed door. "Manual override's fried."
Shabd crouched near the vault panel. "The explosion wasn't random. Someone knew we were here."
A robotic voice echoed through the speakers:
"Protocol Z-Alpha: Unauthorized entry. Two suspects locked. Gas leak initiated in 10 minutes."
"Gas?" Vashti snapped. "Arya said this was a clean mission!"
Shabd glanced at her. "Someone's compromised the plan."
---
Suddenly—
A small beep.
A flicker on the screen.
A message popped up.
> "You never should've come looking for Project Mirage, Vashti Dhiman. Your father paid the price. Now it's your turn."
She froze.
Her breath hitched.
"My… father?"
Shabd grabbed her arm gently. "Vashti. What is this?"
She backed up, blinking fast. "I thought he died in a lab fire. But what if he was murdered… for what he knew?"
Shabd didn't ask more. He just pulled her into a brief, grounding hug. "We'll find the truth. Together."
Suddenly—
A crash.
One of the side walls detonated inward.
Out stepped Arya—covered in smoke, pistol drawn. "Move! Someone ratted. We need to disappear now."
---
5 Minutes Later – Speeding Away in a Tactical Van
Vashti sat silently beside Shabd, still in her wedding attire, the ivory stained with smoke and blood.
Her fingers curled around her ring.
Shabd watched her.
"Was anything about tonight real to you?" he asked quietly.
She looked at him. "The way you kissed me during the vows…"
Pause.
"…that was real."
He smiled faintly.
She added, "And the part where we nearly died. That was definitely real too."
They both laughed, just for a moment.
But the truth lingered:
They were no longer running from the past.
They were now running toward the secrets it buried alive.
And Vashti's father…
may not have been the man she thought he was.
---