The Bride they burned

*"She tried to forget the past. But her past wrote letters in blood."

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**NYRA**

The envelope was soft with age. Slightly yellowed, edges curled, but her name—or rather, Aarav's name—was written in bold, in *his* handwriting.

**"To Aarav – On the Day You Learn Who I Am."**

My fingers trembled. I hadn't seen that handwriting in years. Not since the day he locked me in the wine cellar and threw away the key because I refused to beg.

> "Why now?" I whispered.

Kai stood behind me, stone-faced. Celeste leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, watching like a storm waiting to break.

> "You should open it," she said, voice unusually soft. "You need to know what he wanted to say."

I didn't want to know. Not really.

But I owed it to my son.

I opened it.

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**THE LETTER**

*Aarav,*

*If you're reading this, it means someone failed to erase me properly. Good. That means you're stronger than I was.*

*I never wanted a son. Not in the beginning. Your mother was a prize. A game. A girl I married to win a bet.*

*But you? You weren't part of the plan.*

*You were the glitch in my cruelty.*

*You smiled like her. You cried when she cried. And the day she tried to kill herself and you crawled to her—barely two years old—I realized something horrifying:*

*You loved her more than I could ever own her.*

*That made you dangerous.*

*I planned to erase her. But I could never erase you.*

*So if you ever find her, protect her in the ways I never did. And if she tells you who I really was... believe her.*

*You were the only good thing I ever did by mistake.*

—R

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**NYRA**

Tears slipped down my cheeks silently. Not because I believed his words.

But because he finally admitted it.

> "He knew what he did," I murmured.

Celeste came over and gently folded the letter.

> "And yet you still rose. Without his guilt. Without his help."

I met her eyes.

> "He left Aarav thinking he was unwanted. I won't let that happen again."

Kai cleared his throat.

> "There's something else. A lead. A security ping from a station near Pune. A boy matching Aarav's age bought a ticket using Ravian's old emergency account."

My heart dropped.

> "He ran away."

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**AARAV – NIGHT, RAIN, UNKNOWN CITY**

The bus was late. I huddled under a broken shelter, sketchbook hugged to my chest.

I drew her again. Eyes closed. Her smile soft, like a lullaby I couldn't remember but felt anyway.

> "Excuse me, kid. You lost?"

A tall man in a black coat appeared. His voice deep, but calm. Too calm.

I nodded slowly.

> "I'm looking for someone."

> "Who?"

I showed him the sketch.

He looked at it. Eyes unreadable.

> "Beautiful. Looks like someone worth burning a city for."

He handed me a packet of chips.

> "You're lucky I found you. The world's not kind to runaways."

> "What's your name, sir?"

> "Call me... Kray."

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**TO BE CONTINUED...**