Page 74 of Shattered

Mom sighs softly. “We won’t force you to stay if the doctor says you can go home.”

“Fine,” I groan, nodding reluctantly. “But I’m not staying a minute longer once I get the green signal from the doctor.” For now, I go along with my parents, trying to keep them calm. Whether the doctor agrees or not, my mind is made up—I’m getting out of here.

The next few minutes drag by painfully as the doctor comes and checks me.Fortunately, he gives me the go-ahead, saying there’s no reason to keep me in the hospital and instructs the nurse to start the discharge process.

As soon as the doctor steps out with the nurse, Sidharth enters the room and greets my parents. He then turns his attention to me with a look that says he has important news that can’t be shared in the presence of my parents. Giving him a slight nod, I urge my parents to go grab a coffee and possibly handle the discharge formalities.

Once they’re out of the room, Sidharth pulls up a chair next to my bed.“It’s good to see you’re doing well, man,” he says, his voice low. “The news of your accident sure did a number on everyone.”

“Was it really just an accident?” I raise my eyebrows at him, and his jaw clenches.

“No,” he growls, his gaze turning away briefly. “It’s that bastard. He figured hurting you was the best way to get to Kavya.” He shakes his head, and then he meets my eyes again.

“Kavya must be scared out of her mind. I hate that I’m stuck here, unable to get to her sooner,” I admit, running my hand down my face.

“Well, I totally get what you’re going through, man. Kavya was completely devastated when she heard the news. I didn’t see it myself, but Karan told me,” he says quietly.

I pick up the ring from the table, gripping it tightly in my fist. “I fucking hate that she had to go through that without me.”

He gulps hard. “That’s not the only thing she had to face. There’s something more that happened,”

My body tenses. I can tell from his tone that whatever he has to say will hit me hard. Still, I’d rather he rip off the bandage than keep me in the dark.

“Just tell me, Sidharth,” I growl.

“Suman’s body was found near an old mill factory.” My eyes widen at his words, and I stare at him, drawing in a tight breath as he continues. “The coroner is performing an autopsy to determine the cause of death, but from the look of it, she was beaten to death. A clear case of murder,” he states grimly.

“Tell me you didn’t tell Kavya about this!” I demand angrily. My insides churn at the thought of Kavya’s pain, knowing this news would only worsen it. The damage it could cause... Worst of all, I’m not there to hold her and comfort her through this. It fucking hurts to think of her going through this by herself, especially with her being pregnant. I need to be there for her. I have to protect her and our child.

“She overhead Karan talking to me,” he says regretfully.

“Fuck,” Icurse under my breath, feeling my gut twist as I clutch the ring tighter in my hands.

“There’s more,” he says hesitantly.

“What?” I bark, my patience wearing thin. All I want is to get out of here and be with my woman, but I know I need to get through this conversation first.

“Kavya has asked and practically forced Officer Viraj and me to shut down the case. She even insisted on pulling Karan back from guarding her. It seemed irrational on her part, but we had to respect her decision. She was scared that the investigation was putting her sister and everyone else in danger. She begged for us to let it go, for now,” he explains,his tone defensive.

I glare at him, but he lifts his hands in defence. “Before you lose your shit, let me tell you, we haven’t withdrawn our involvement from the case completely. We’re still working on it without her knowledge. The only thing we asked Karan to do was to pull back, but we’ve got cameras set up at her place to keep an eye on her,” he adds, trying to reassure me, but it fucking makes my blood boil.

“Are you kidding me?” I snap, slipping the ring into my pocket. “You asked Karan to stop guarding her?”

He takes a breath. “Reyansh, she needed a little space to breathe and feel at ease. Plus, this is a part of our plan. Whoever this jerk is, I am sure he’s worried about his secret getting out and being caught. That’s why he’s trying to scare Kavya into keeping quiet by targeting her loved ones. With that in mind, we’ve changed our game plan withoutKavya’s knowledge. We’ve spread the wordthat Kavya has found proof that will expose the culprit, and soon she will be revealing it. This should lure the perpetrator out. This way, we can catch him when he tries to attack her, without the presence of Karan scaring him off.”

That’s it. I yank the IV out of my arm, swing my legs off the bed, and grab him by the collar, lifting him right out of the chair. Confusion creases his brow as I pin him with a scorching glare. “Have you lost your bloody mind? Kavya is pregnant with my child, and you’ve put her out there as bait.”

His eyes widen even more.“Pregnant?”

“Yes, pregnant. She’s carrying my child. My child. And you’ve the nerve to put both her life and my child’s at risk,” I growl angrily.

He shakes his head. “I am sorry, man. I didn’t know.”

“If anything happens to her or my child, I’ll make sure you regret it.”

“Nothing will happen to either of them. I’ll have Karan back on duty to guard her.”

“You’d better take care of that right now,” I mutter darkly.“I want her SAFE.”

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