chapter 4

Chapter ThreeThe Game BeginsThe room was darker than Dev remembered. His eyes too enough time to be used to. Or maybe he was just seeing it differently now—after being watched, tested, and left alone with too many questions and not enough answers.He stepped inside cautiously. The door shut behind him with a soft click. No guards this time. One time before there were guards with immense muscles. They were like real giants.This time it is Just Rani.Again!Sitting at a chessboard. Pieces untouched. All the plays are at thier thier position. Two glasses in front of her.“Whisky?” she asked without looking up.“I’m still bleeding,” he said trying to smile. “So you’ll appreciate the burn.”He approached slowly, eyeing the untouched board. “Do you play?” he asked.She met his gaze. “Only when the other player is worth the game.”Dev smirked. “And what am I?”“A curiosity,” she replied. “Possibly a mistake.”He didn’t sit yet. Just circled behind her, slow and deliberate, testing her patience. He looked at her carefully. Rani is the kind of girl every boy thought in their craziest fantasies. Dev didn't see too much girls as attractive as her. “You didn’t kill me.” he said.“Not yet.”“Why? What stopped you to do that?”She finally moved. Picked up a knight and placed it gently on the board. “Because it’s not your move. It’s mine.”He smiled. “And if I’m bluffing? If everything I told you was a lie?”She glanced up. Calm. Cold. “Then I’ll break you slowly. And make you beg before you vanish.”That should’ve made his pulse spike. It didn’t. Not in fear, anyway.“I told you I came to warn you,” he said, stepping closer. “People in your inner circle are moving against you.”“Names,” she said.“Not yet.”“Then you’re wasting my time.”Dev leaned down, voice low. “I’m risking more than you think. There’s a man—goes by ‘Sircar’. He’s planning something. He’s been moving through your routes. Watching your shipments. He’s not alone.”A flicker in her eyes. Subtle. Real.Rani knew the name. But she said nothing. Nobody can do anything beside her eyes. But still she loved to play. She loved to test the opponent and to know the strength and weakness, and then she did checkmates.“Why should I believe you?” she asked.“You already do,” he said, finally sitting across from her. “Otherwise I’d be in a ditch by now.”A long silence followed. But there was a smile in her lips. They were widened slightly. Dev noticed that.Then, slowly, she pushed a glass toward him.“Drink,” she said.He picked it up. Held it to the light.“What’s in it?” he asked.Her smile curved, slow and unreadable.“Truth. Or poison. Depends on the night.”He drank it anyway.Outside the room, Maya—Rani’s most trusted lieutenant—watched the hallway monitors. Her brow furrowed. She didn’t like this man. Didn’t like the shift in Rani’s eyes when he was near.He was dangerous. Not because of his strength.Because he made Rani curious.And curiosity had always been Rani Saheb’s one weakness.Later, when the glass was empty and the rain had softened to a hush, Rani stood at her window again. Dev leaned against the far wall, silent, observing.“You lost someone,” he said.She didn’t respond.“I can see it. You wear it like a shadow.”She turned slightly. “Don’t project your ghosts onto me, Dev.”He shrugged. “Maybe I just recognize the weight.”“Or maybe,” she said, “you’re trying to get close.”“Isn’t that the whole point?”Her expression shifted. Barely.“Tell me one thing,” she said, voice suddenly quieter. “If you’re right… if someone close to me is plotting my end—why warn me?”He looked at her. Straight. Calm.“Because I don’t like watching powerful women fall.”She didn’t move. Didn’t blink.But in that second, something old and unspoken passed between them.Not trust.But the beginnings of something more dangerous.An understanding.That night, Rani didn’t sleep. Neither did Dev.One stared out the window, planning the next move.The other stared at the ceiling, wondering if he’d just traded his soul to a woman who might already own it.In the dark, only one thing was certain:The game had officially begun.And in this palace of velvet and knives…Only one of them would win.(Nxt)