“For Meera, days no longer passed—they attacked.”
The next day came rushing toward her before she could even process the last one. With her heart already heavy and her mind drowning in fear for her brother, she walked into the restaurant unaware that this day would shatter what little hope she still held.
The restaurant was crowded-laughter, clinking glasses, and quiet business deals filling the air.
Elegant people sat with their partners, while waiters moved swiftly,serving food and drinks with practiced smiles.
Everything was perfect until the sound of shattering plates froze the room.
All eyes turned to a young waiter— Meera standing in shock as broken plates lay scattered at her feet.Before she could even speak, the manager grabbed her by the hair and dragged her outside.
And she was begging on her knees all the time.
Those people were pitying her but at the same time they were just seeing this scene-
“Get out bitch, you’re good for nothing” the middle aged man yelled at the girl.
“S-sir please sir o-one chance sir, it won’t happen again sir please.. My brother is in hospital sir please” Meera kept pleading and holding his leg for some mercy, but the stone-hearted man moved his feet from her with a jerk and walked away.
Meera was crying continuously not knowing what to do in her misery.
She had no other chance, heart Broken she came out of the restaurant.
She started walking on the road.. she saw an alley, and sat down there..
She looked up at the moon as a tear rolled down her face“…your little girl, your princess, she’s totally helpless.”
The cold night blurred, and for a moment, the alley disappeared.Her mind drifted back—to a time when the house felt warm.When laughter lived in the walls.
Flashback
She was little again.
Barefoot.
Coming down the stairs too fast, her small feet skipping steps as excitement bubbled in her chest.
“Mumma!”
“Papa!”
Aarav followed behind her, giggling as he tried to copy her speed—too small, too careless.
“Slow down,” Meera had laughed, reaching back without even looking.
And then—
His foot slipped.
A sharp gasp.
Aarav’s body tilted forward, fear flashing across his tiny face as gravity pulled him down.
Meera reacted before she could think.
She grabbed his hand.
Hard.
The pull yanked her off balance.
She fell with him, both of them tumbling onto the floor at the bottom of the stairs—bruised, breathless, but together.
Their cries echoed through the house.
Footsteps thundered.
“What happened?”
“Are you hurt?”
Their parents came running, panic written all over their faces as they knelt beside them, hands everywhere—checking arms, knees, faces.
“Does anything hurt?” her mother asked, voice trembling.
Meera shook her head quickly, even though her elbow burned.
Her mother pulled Aarav closer, checking him carefully for injuries.
“Are you fine, betu?” her mother asked first, cupping Aarav’s cheeks. “Why did you run like that? How many times have I told you not to run on the stairs?”
Aarav sniffed, eyes filling again.
“I’m sorry, mumma,” he whispered.
Her mother softened instantly, pulling him into her arms.
“It’s okay, betu,” she said gently. “But don’t do that again. See—if Princess hadn’t caught your hand at the right time, you could’ve fallen and gotten hurt.”
Her father exhaled shakily, then cupped Meera’s face.
“See, he’s fine, princess. Stop crying,” he said softly. “Nothing happened to Aarav.”
Meera shook her head quickly.
“Mumma, don’t scold Aaru like that,” she said, her voice small but firm. “It’s my fault. I was running first. If I hadn’t done that, he wouldn’t have copied me.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I’m sorry, mumma. I won’t run like that again.”
Aarav immediately shook his head, clutching Meera’s hand.
“No, mumma,” he said earnestly. “It’s not Meeru’s fault. I should have been careful.”
Their parents looked at each other and smiled—soft, proud smiles, the kind filled with quiet relief.
Her father brushed Meera’s hair back gently.
“You protected him, princess,” he said softly.
Then he looked at both of them.
“Always protect each other like this,” he said softly. “Be each other’s strength.”
Aarav nodded seriously.
“I promise.”
Meera smiled too.
“Me too.”
To lighten the moment, her mother wiped their tears and laughed softly.
“Alright,” she said, “now tell me—why were you both running like that?”
Meera’s face lit up instantly.
“We wanted to show you something!”
Aarav wriggled free and ran—not to the stairs this time, but to the table—grabbing their papers.
“Our drawings!” they said together.
Later, they sat on the floor, showing their parents messy drawings—stick figures holding hands, crayon suns too big for the page.
Their parents praised them like it was art worth framing.
Love had been easy then.
Safe.
Real.
Present
The memory shattered.
Meera blinked as the cold air of the alley rushed back in, her knees pulled to her chest, the moon still watching her suffer in silence.
Aarav was no longer a giggling child behind her—he was lying on a hospital bed, and she had failed him tonight.
Now she had lost all her hope to get her brother treatment. How would she arrange the money for his brother's surgery? The doctor already told her if she would delay the surgery the treatment could be more serious.
How can this world be so harsh on a girl when she herself never wishes harm to anyone, all she wants is love and comfort.
But she had that love and comfort in her life, when her parents were with her but an accident destroyed everything.
And both her parents died on the same day, only her father took the promise from her that she would always take care of her younger brother.
And she does, with all her heart..
After the funeral of both, She and his brother were taken by her aunt.
At such a young age she had to do work to take care of her brother. She did many part time jobs aside from her main job as a waiter in a restaurant and from that she used to get a good salary..
But being only 21 years old and wanting to complete her further studies, she could not concentrate on work, her salary decreased.
She worked in that restaurant for 6 years and completed her studies and also took care of her little brother and his expenses.
One day the hotel was bought by someone else and the owner was very rude, but he did a favor by hiring some men from the old workers’, of which Meera was one.
She was working and living happily in her own little world with his brother, as the allowed them to live on the restaurant’s quarter but in a few days she came to know that her brother has a cancer, that’s why she was working overtime to earn money but the new owner fired her because of one mistake, in her haste she broke a plate..
The death of her parents was a nightmare in her life and her brother’s health put her under more tension and now the owner fired her from his job..
“why didn’t i die with you mom, dad” she whispered and kept sobbing..
And thinking about how much her life has changed in these 7 years.
She’s fighting for her life every day, wanting to live, wanting to feel loved, wanting comfort, how much will she crave for it?
“I’m so helpless, Is there no one in this world who can accept me as I am?” She was crying about her vulnerability but all of a sudden the sound of a gunshot broke her thoughts, she could hear someone scream and beg..
The sound was coming from down that alley, she went with trembling steps, and the scene in front shocked her.
Meanwhile, the man was writhing in pain, he had a bullet wound on one of his legs, which had formed a pool of blood..
He was just suffering the fruits of his bad deeds. He knows very well how cruel the night world is but still he thought of messing with the most cruel man who was now standing in front of him with a smirk on his Greek-like features.
He took out a small box from his pocket, it was a box of cigarettes. He took a cigarette and put it between his lips, and one of his guards lit it up.
He took a slow puff and released the smoke on the man’s face, he closed his eyes as the smokey breath filled his nostrils.
The man could see his own death in his eyes, his deep black greyish eyes, which were cold and emotionless.
His tanned skin and his glares, everything was spreading fears in his veins.
“p-please sir, leave me, spare me.. i will n-never betray you again” he begged, his voice weak with all the beatings of his men.
He was begging all the time for his mercy but words got stuck on his throat when he saw the man pointing a gun on his chest.
His smirk disappeared, he looked at him with his cold deep black eyes, the cigarette was still stuck on his lips as he spoke-
“Mr. James, you know that I had trusted you.. But after you gave my information to the opposing team and smuggled all the drugs to them, betraying me after eating all my money, do you think I’ll ever trust you again?” He said calmly in his husky voice which is very calm to hear, but the world does not know how much psychopathy is hidden in this voice..
“S-sir, p-please.. I.. I-i will return your all money” Mr. James said but he just chuckled.
“How will you be when you have been robbed by those who caused you trouble with me? because of whom you betrayed me?” He spoke, his eyebrows raised with sarcasm.
“I want my money back now” he said, glaring at him, but he knew that at this time he’s broke. He can’t give his money back so soon..
“Sir.. S-sir.. give me sometimes sir.. p-ple-”
“That’s it, BRING MY WHIP”
He didn’t even wait for him to complete his words, he grabbed the leather whipper which had thorns, he whipped it on him and a loud scream left his mouth as when those thorns pierced his body.
He whipped him again and again causing his breath to stick in his throat.
The guards were terrified by his actions.
“AHHH.. A-AHHH.. QHHH.. L-LEAVE.. L-LEAVE MEE..” he kept yelling, and after some time he stopped whipping him.
“F-forgive m-me.. I-i-”
Before he completed his words, he shot him with a bang sound and just his lifeless, blood soaked body was laying on the ground.
“I hope you go straight to hell Mr. James, whoever is gonna betray me will die on the spot.. there is no way out of my hell, don’t even think of mercy..” He whispered to himself.
“Take him to the basement and take out his organs, now he is dead, useless! his organs will pay back my money” guards trembled after hearing his voice..
Powerful, was all he was feeling, he was not born like this but the world made him like this, cold but cool, addicted yet so dangerous.
He is the Asia number one biggest most powerful feared mafia leader “Leo”.
Meera was watching all this from behind the wall.
She started trembling with fear by this terrible view that she just witnessed.
She got so traumatized she couldn’t even move.
Suddenly she saw them coming towards her direction, her eyes widened as she quickly tried to run away from there but then she tripped and she fell, and it was the biggest regret of her life.
She saw some guards coming running towards her when she started to get up but before running they caught her.
Her breath hitched as one of them caught her arm and grab her hair from behind hard, shivers ran down from her spine as they started asking her-
“Tell us who you are” they asked and she was so shocked and so afraid that she passed out due to fear..
“Sir, This girl was watching everything from behind this wall.. what should we do with her?” The guard asked him, he came closer while smoking and slid Meera’s long hair from her face with his gun, still puffing his cigarette.
She was already unconscious due to fear, he noticed her face and took a deep breath.
Perfection is all he could see on her, perfect big round nose and thin small rosy lips, her features were so pretty with those big eyelashes.
He bent down to match her level while observing every detail of her features, which warmed his heart.
“I want all her information in 1 hour and take her with us, tie her up in the basement..” he said to his assistant and got up from there, he went towards his car and sat inside, undoing his blazer he took a deep breath.
He closed his eyes and sighed when the driver started the car, his face frowned when her face came into his vision before his eyes.
“What happened to me all of a sudden?”
He was disappointed with himself.
His guards took Meera inside the car and started going towards the mansion.
As soon as he set foot inside the mansion, he started going towards his room, but someone caught his attention.
“Bhai, did he give the money back?”
“No Kabir, he didn’t, how can he when he also got betrayed so I killed him, now his organs gonna pay us back. Anyways, I'm so tired to talk to you later” he nodded and went to his room.
Kabir was his adopted younger brother who is 2 years old younger than him, but he takes care of him like his real brother.
Kabir and his best friend Shiddarth—who was also his assistant—had been with him since childhood. He was the eldest son of the powerful Thakur mafia family, while Shiddarth was the son of his father’s closest friend.
Kabir and Shiddarth are the only persons in his life to whom he gives the most priority in his life and give explanations to their questions.
After all they were the brightest light of his life’s darkness. If they weren't there he didn't know what he would do.
After his mother died his father adopted another boy who was Kabir. Riaan loved him like his own blood, and Kabir also loved him as much as he loved him.
They were 20 when their father, ‘Avinash Thakur’ died during a mission. Then Kabir was traumatized, but Riaan took all the responsibility on his shoulders and hardened his heart, he was burning with the thought of taking revenge.
In the age where boys live their lives, he had become a mafia and the CEO of BlackCrest Industries Company.
He had Shiddarth as his assistant, Shiddarth supported him in both work, in the underworld and in the office.
But Riaan's goal is only one, to punish his father’s murderers.
“I will take my revenge dad” he whispered to himself.
After a refreshing bath he came out in his casuals, “bhai, let’s have dinner” Kabir came to his room to call him for dinner only to see he was fixing his revolver and loading it with bullets and discussing something to Shiddarth.
“I’m going to the basement, I have to deal with someone, you eat and check the records of the smugglers from whom we have to take the remaining money” he said to Kabir as Kabir looked at him with confused eyes, and he went to the basement without wasting a second, followed by Shiddarth.”
✦ ─────── ✦
Author’s Note:
This chapter was heavy.
Painful.
And necessary.
Meera’s world has completely shattered here—her dignity, her safety, her hope.
And in the same shadows where she breaks… Leo enters.
This alley is where two broken lives cross paths—
one ruled by cruelty,
the other crushed by it.
The flashback wasn’t just nostalgia.
It was a reminder of who Meera was… and why she won’t stop fighting, even when the world keeps pushing her to her knees.
Things will only get darker from here.
Dangerous.
Unpredictable.
So tell me—
💔 Did Meera’s pain break you?
🔥 Did Leo’s entrance scare you… or intrigue you?
👀 Are you ready for what happens in the basement?
Your comments mean more than you know.
Thank you for reading and feeling this story with me 🖤
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