The room felt suffocatingly silent as Jayant stood beside the locked glass case, his fingers grazing its surface. His smirk never faded, but his eyes gleamed with something far more dangerous than amusement—control.
Satya's pulse thundered in his ears. The journal—Veer Meghawal's journal—was right there, inches from them. The answers they had been chasing for so long, the truth buried beneath centuries of silence, were within reach.
But so was the man who had orchestrated everything to keep it hidden.
Jayant exhaled slowly, tapping the glass case. "You're clever, Satya. I'll give you that." His gaze swept over Saanvi, Aryan, and Virendra. "And persistent. But persistence can be a dangerous thing."
Saanvi took a step forward, her voice steady despite the tension. "If you knew we were coming, why let us get this far?"
Jayant chuckled, shaking his head. "Because I wanted to see if you'd be foolish enough to walk straight into the lion's den." He gestured to the guards flanking the room. "And here you are."
Satya's fists clenched. "You killed that man in the archives. He was your pawn, wasn't he?"
Jayant raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you still think so small. That man wasn't my pawn." He leaned forward slightly. "He was a loose end."
A cold realization settled over them.
Jayant had wanted him dead.
Virendra's jaw tightened. "You've been covering up the truth about Veer's death. But why? What are you so afraid of?"
Jayant sighed, almost disappointed. "You still don't understand, do you? This isn't about fear. It's about power."
Satya's nails dug into his palms. "Then let's see how much power you still have when the truth comes out."
Jayant smiled darkly. "And what truth is that?" He tapped the glass case again. "You think this journal holds the answers? That Veer Meghawal wrote down his final moments, his betrayal, his death?" He chuckled. "If only it were that simple."
A flick of his wrist, and one of his guards stepped forward, unlocking the case.
The old, fragile pages of Veer's journal were exposed.
Jayant reached inside, carefully pulling it free. He turned it in his hands, as if inspecting an artifact of little consequence, before glancing at Satya. "You want it?"
He extended the journal toward them.
Satya's breath hitched. Was this a trick?
Saanvi's fingers brushed his arm, a silent warning.
Jayant's smirk deepened. "Go on. Read it."
Satya hesitated only a moment before stepping forward. He took the journal, the leather cover rough and aged beneath his fingertips. Carefully, he turned the first brittle page.
The handwriting was unmistakable. Veer's.
He flipped through entries—dates, sketches, fleeting thoughts—until he reached the last written page.
The final entry.
Satya's eyes scanned the words, his breath slowing, his heart pounding with each line.
And then he froze.
The ink had faded, but the words burned through him like fire.
"If you are reading this, you have already followed the path I once walked. But be warned—the truth I died for is not what you think. What I sought to protect... was never meant to be uncovered. Not by them. And not by you."
A chill ran through him.
Saanvi's voice was barely a whisper. "What does it say?"
Satya lifted his eyes to Jayant.
Jayant smiled. "Now do you see?"
The room seemed to shrink, the weight of centuries pressing in.
Veer hadn't just been killed. He had left behind a warning.
And Satya had just stepped into the same fate.