Chapter 31

The city slept, but Veeresh Raj did not. His penthouse office glowed under the cold light of monitors, files scattered across the table—contracts, intelligence reports, coded messages about trafficking leads. Yet his sharp mind, the one that could break down the most complex business strategy or undercover operation, faltered tonight.

His pen tapped against the desk, his eyes scanning numbers without seeing them. Again and again, his mind returned to the staff room, to the way Poornima’s voice had softened when she said:

“I belong here. Even if no one else thinks I do.”

Those words pierced him more deeply than he expected. Because in them, he heard his own truth—his double life, his secrets, his endless proving to his father that he was worthy.

And then her question, sharp yet calm:

“Why does it matter to you, Mr. Raj?”

His jaw tightened. He had wanted to tell her. To admit it, to let the words spill. But words were dangerous for a man like him. He lived in silence, in secrets, in strategies where emotion had no place. And yet, with her—every glance, every smile, every silence threatened to unravel the control he had built brick by brick.

Leaning back in his chair, Veeresh closed his eyes. The memory of her gaze replayed vividly—the quiet defiance, the softness she didn’t even know she carried. He felt something rare. Something he couldn’t buy, command, or plan for.

It terrified him.

It tempted him.

And for the first time, Professor Veeresh Raj, the empire-builder by day and spy by night, realized his greatest distraction was not his enemies.

It was Poornima Rai.