Chapter 67 — Smoke and Silence

Veeresh returned to the penthouse without speaking a single word to anyone.

The moment the door closed behind him, the silence felt heavier than the chaos outside.

He loosened his collar, walked straight to the balcony, and lit a cigarette.

One drag.

Then another.

But it didn’t calm him.

It never did anymore.

Because his mind wasn’t in the present.

It was still back at the restaurant.

Poornima’s voice.

Her trembling hands.

That slap.

The way she looked at him like he was a stranger who had betrayed her in the deepest possible way.

“You broke it.”

That sentence kept repeating in his head.

Veeresh exhaled smoke slowly, watching it dissolve into the night air.

For the first time in a long time, Salvatore Dreewan didn’t feel in control of anything.

Not enemies.

Not truth.

Not even her.

He leaned back against the railing, jaw tight.

“She doesn’t even remember properly…” he muttered to himself.

That part hurt more than anger.

Because she wasn’t just walking away.

She was losing pieces of herself while doing it.

And every time she forgot—

she became more unreachable.

Veeresh closed his eyes for a moment.

He remembered her asleep in his arms.

Calm.

Safe.

The way she held his shirt like it was the only anchor she had.

And now—

that same girl was telling him to disappear from her life.

His grip tightened around the cigarette until it almost burned his fingers.

But he didn’t move.

Because anger had nowhere to go anymore.

Not at Mr. Rathore.

Not at the past.

Not even at himself.

Only one thought stayed clear in his mind now—

She is slipping away… and I don’t know how to hold her without hurting her more.

Veeresh opened his eyes again, staring into the dark city below.

For the first time, Salvatore Dreewan wasn’t planning revenge.

He was planning how to reach someone who was forgetting how to stay.