Chapter 3 — Before Sunrise

The road ahead seemed endless.

Aadhira Mehra had lost count of how long she had been walking.

At first, after treating her injuries beside the damaged car, she had convinced herself the highway could not possibly remain empty forever. Someone would eventually pass by. A police vehicle. A truck. A traveler. Anyone.

But the deeper she walked into the isolated stretch of road, the more unreal everything began to feel.

The forest surrounding the highway was unnaturally silent.

Even the wind sounded strange here.

Dry branches shifted occasionally in the darkness while the cold early-morning air brushed against her bruised skin. Her heels had become impossible to walk in nearly an hour ago, forcing her to carry them in one hand while barefoot steps pressed painfully against the rough road.

Every few minutes she checked her phone again.

No signal.

The road ahead seemed endless.

Aadhira Mehra had lost count of how long she had been walking.

At first, after treating her injuries beside the damaged car, she had convinced herself the highway could not possibly remain empty forever. Someone would eventually pass by. A police vehicle. A truck. A traveler. Anyone.

But the deeper she walked into the isolated stretch of road, the more unreal everything began to feel.

The forest surrounding the highway was unnaturally silent.

Even the wind sounded strange here.

Dry branches shifted occasionally in the darkness while the cold early-morning air brushed against her bruised skin. Her heels had become impossible to walk in nearly an hour ago, forcing her to carry them in one hand while barefoot steps pressed painfully against the rough road.

Every few minutes she checked her phone again.

No signal.

She kept walking.

Her forehead injury throbbed continuously beneath the bandage while exhaustion slowly settled deeper into her body. Her formal black trousers were stained with dust from the accident, and several bruises had darkened across her arms.

Still, she forced herself forward.

Because standing still in the middle of nowhere felt worse.

By the time faint grey light began appearing along the horizon, her watch displayed 4:52 AM.

Morning was close.

The darkness had started fading slightly now, enough for her to finally see the outlines of the forest properly.

Tall trees.

Dry land.

Uneven road edges.

No houses.

No villages.

Nothing.

Aadhira stopped briefly beside the roadside railing and closed her eyes for a second.

Think logically.

The accident happened outside Jaipur.

Which meant civilization could not be too far away.

But then why did this area feel abandoned?

And why had the streetlights shut down all at once before the crash?

The questions unsettled her more than she wanted to admit.

A sudden sound interrupted her thoughts.

A scream.

Aadhira’s eyes opened immediately.

The noise came from somewhere deeper inside the forest.

Another scream followed.

Male voices.

Running.

For a brief second, her tired mind immediately imagined wild animals.

Leopards.

Something attacking nearby.

She instinctively stepped backward, listening carefully.

Then suddenly—

A gunshot echoed violently through the forest.

Aadhira froze.

Not fireworks.

Not hunters.

A gun.

The sound was followed by shouting.

Branches snapping.

Footsteps running rapidly.

Before she could properly process what was happening, movement appeared ahead.

Several men burst out from the darker side of the forest road.

They looked terrified.

One of them was injured badly, struggling to run while another kept dragging him forward desperately.

Behind them, black SUVs sped through the rough terrain aggressively, headlights cutting through the fading darkness.

Another gunshot rang out.

One of the running men screamed.

Aadhira’s heartbeat instantly accelerated.

This was not random.

This was organized.

The vehicles moved with terrifying coordination while armed men leaned partially outside the windows.

The entire scene looked less like reality and more like something from a violent political thriller.

Fear immediately pushed Aadhira toward the roadside bushes.

She quickly hid herself behind a large cluster of rocks and dry branches while trying not to make any sound.

The SUVs stopped ahead.

Doors opened.

Armed men stepped out.

Even from a distance, Aadhira could sense the discipline in their movements.

No panic.

No confusion.

Everything looked controlled.

One of the injured men collapsed onto the dirt road while begging desperately.

“Please… please…”

Nobody listened.

he armed men dragged the remaining captives toward the center of the road.

And then another vehicle arrived.

The atmosphere changed immediately.

Even the guards stood straighter.

A tall man stepped out from the SUV wearing dark clothes and a black mask covering part of his face.

Aadhira could not see him clearly.

But somehow his presence alone felt dangerous.

Cold.

Silent.

The injured men looked terrified the moment they saw him.

One of them tried speaking rapidly.

“We can explain—”

The masked man did not respond.

He simply extended his hand.

One of the guards immediately gave him a gun.

The silence that followed felt worse than shouting.

Aadhira’s breathing became shallow.

Then the gun fired.

The sound echoed brutally through the forest.

One body collapsed instantly.

Aadhira covered her mouth before she could gasp aloud.

Her entire body turned cold.

This was murder.

Not self-defense.

Not an accident.

Execution.

The masked man lowered the weapon calmly while another guard approached him quickly.

“Sir, the outer signal failure has been fixed.”

The masked man gave a short nod.

Even the armed guards seemed careful around him.

Aadhira could not see his face clearly because of the darkness and the mask, but his presence alone carried authority.

Cold.

Controlled.

Dangerous.

What she did not know was that the man standing there was not Veeransh Rathore.

He was Veeransh Rathore’s stepbrother.

A man who had spent years living under the shadow of the rightful heir to the Rathore legacy.

And unlike Veeransh, who had been chosen publicly by their father as the future ruler, his stepbrother carried resentment quietly behind power and violence.

The hidden executions inside the restricted red zone were never supposed to reach the outside world.

Especially not the media.

Especially not the authorities.

Because if the truth ever surfaced, the scandal would not only destroy the secret operations hidden inside the forest… it would also stain the Rathore family name itself.

That frightened them more than anything.

And now an outsider had witnessed everything.

That frightened Aadhira more than the gun itself.

Who were these people?

And what kind of place had she entered?

While trying to move slightly backward, her injured foot pressed against a dry branch.

Crack.

The sound instantly shattered the silence.

Every head turned toward the bushes.

Aadhira stopped breathing.

“Who’s there?” one of the guards shouted.

Panic shot through her body.

She quickly lowered herself farther behind the rocks, but her exhausted condition betrayed her. Loose dirt shifted beneath her foot and she slipped hard against the ground.

The noise echoed again.

“Someone’s hiding there!”

Two armed men immediately started moving toward her.

No.

Aadhira forced herself up despite the pain shooting through her legs.

She could not let them catch her.

Not after what she had seen.

Without thinking further, she turned and ran.

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