Prologue
The air in the interrogation room was cold. Aakriti Mishra sat perfectly still. She was fifty-three years old, the CEO of a multi-million dollar textile empire- The Mish's, but in this light, she looked like a ghost draped in midnight-blue silk.
A single tear tracked a slow, glistening path down her cheek. She didn't bother to wipe it away.
DSP Vikrant Dash.
To the officers outside the glass, he was the elite investigator who had just taken over the city’s most high-profile murder case.
Let's be clear, Miss Mishra," Vikrant said, his voice a low, gravelly rasp that vibrated in the small room. "The forensics don't lie. The witnesses don't lie. And Arjun Singhania didn't just decide to fly off his balcony at ten o'clock at night."
He leaned forward, his shadow swallowing her. "You hated him. You had a very strong reason. You had the means. You had the access".
Aakriti’s lip trembled, but her voice held a jagged edge of iron. "I didn't go there to kill him, Sir. I went there to find the truth that the law was too blind to see".
"I did it for my son. Aditya deserved a world that didn't frame him. He deserved a mother who fought for him. This wasn't about murder... it was a call for justice."
Vikrant stared at her. For a heartbeat, the mask of the DSP flickered. His knuckles whitened against the table. He didn't speak. He didn't move.
Then, he sat back and exhaled—a long, agonizingly deep breath.
