Chapter 13: The Meeting in the Mirror
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I've always believed there's a kind of clarity that comes just before the plunge.
It's that split-second between leaning in and falling — where your brain finally shuts up and your heart whispers, Let go.
Standing in front of the mirrored elevator doors of the glossy Apex Tower in Gurgaon, I realized I was mid-plunge.
Everything I thought I knew had unraveled in the past 48 hours: Isha was missing, her code was weaponized, and we'd just traced a breach of our encrypted backup to the building we were now infiltrating.
All while half of me was falling, undeniably, for the guy who once rejected my very mediocre flirt attempt over broken coffee.
The mirrored doors opened with a ding.
Rohan looked at me. "You ready?"
No.
"Yes."
---
The 28th floor was sleek. Sterile. The kind of minimalism that screams money you can't trace.
Matte black walls. A waterfall fountain nobody looked at. Reception desk with no receptionist.
We'd made an appointment using a fake company alias: IntelliForm Ventures. Rohan even wore his old founder T-shirt for authenticity.
A man stepped out from the corridor. Mid-40s. Balding. Grey suit. Smile like a snake.
"Mr. Mehra?" he asked, glancing at Rohan.
"Mr. Malhotra," Rohan corrected, extending a hand. "This is Ms. Kapoor, our data consultant."
Snake-man nodded. "Pleasure. I'm Viraj. Strategic lead for Apex Private Tech."
Strategic lead. Translation: Liaison for the secret stuff.
We followed him down the hall. Cameras followed us, too.
Viraj led us into a glass conference room. One wall showed a holographic display of data charts that I swear blinked when I stared at them too long.
"So," he said, sliding into a chair. "Tell me what IntelliForm is looking for."
Rohan didn't miss a beat. "Predictive behavior tech. Consent-based, of course. Your company came highly recommended."
Viraj smiled. "We do offer solutions for that space. Curious — what drew you to us?"
Rohan met his gaze. "One of your early prototypes. Project NUDGE."
Silence.
Then Viraj tilted his head.
"I wasn't aware that was public knowledge."
"It isn't," I said.
He turned to me.
There it was — a flicker of surprise.
Not much, but enough.
"You two are not here to license software," he said, tone dropping.
I leaned forward. "We're here to find out what happened to Isha Mehra."
He didn't flinch.
Didn't blink.
But his next words made my heart stop.
"You're too late."
---
For a second, the room felt colder.
Rohan stood up. "What do you mean?"
Viraj folded his hands.
"Isha Mehra was brilliant. But she didn't understand partnership. She believed innovation had to be ethical. Controlled. That's why she was removed."
Removed.
The word echoed like a gunshot.
"Where is she?" I demanded.
Viraj smiled politely. "Somewhere quiet."
"You had her killed," Rohan said quietly.
"No," Viraj said smoothly. "She chose silence over compliance. That was her decision. We simply… encouraged it."
"You stole her code," I snapped.
"We optimized it. She built the foundation. We constructed the tower."
Rohan slammed his hand on the table. "You corrupted everything she stood for."
"Perspective, Mr. Malhotra," Viraj said. "You call it corruption. I call it influence."
My blood boiled.
I stood. "You're going to be exposed."
He actually laughed. "By whom? Two nobodies with a laptop and a moral compass?"
"We already have the files," Rohan said. "We've backed it all up. Distributed. If anything happens to us, it goes live."
That shut him up for a second.
I could almost hear gears turning.
"You've made powerful enemies," he said finally.
"Good," I said. "We're tired of weak ones."
---
We walked out.
No one stopped us.
But we knew — every step we took was now under surveillance.
And then, at the elevator, something unexpected happened.
The mirrored doors opened again… and someone stepped out.
Someone I recognized.
Isha's ex-boyfriend.
Karan.
---
I froze.
He did too.
Then he gave a short, shocked laugh. "Aanya? Is that you?"
Rohan stepped slightly in front of me.
Karan raised both hands. "Hey. I'm not… whatever this looks like."
"What are you doing here?" I asked coldly.
He hesitated.
Then: "You should leave. Now. This place isn't safe."
"We know," Rohan said. "That's kind of the point."
Karan glanced over his shoulder. "You have no idea what you're getting into."
"Then explain it," I snapped. "Explain what happened to Isha."
His face twisted with something like guilt.
"I didn't know," he said. "Not at first. They approached her with funding. She was excited — thought it was finally her chance to scale. But then the NDA came. She showed me one page, Aanya. Just one. And it chilled me."
"What did it say?"
Karan lowered his voice. "That the code was no longer her intellectual property. That any attempt to replicate or recover it would be treated as theft of national security assets."
Rohan cursed under his breath.
"They said it was standard language," Karan went on. "But I saw the way she stopped sleeping. Stopped talking. Then one night, she just disappeared."
"You didn't try to find her?" I asked.
He looked stricken. "I tried. But the cops weren't interested. Her apartment was cleared out. Her data was gone. And then I got a warning at work — to let it go or I'd be next."
"And now you work here?" Rohan asked bitterly.
"No," Karan said. "I'm undercover."
---
We blinked.
"Come again?" I said.
"I got picked up by a private watchdog group six months after she vanished. They'd been tracking Apex Seven for years. Funding black ops, behavioral AI, all off-record. They brought me in because of Isha. They thought I could be the inside guy."
"And you agreed?" Rohan asked.
"I owed her that much," Karan said. "She was more than just a coder. She was…" He faltered. "She was trying to change the world. And now they're using her tools to control it."
I studied him.
There was grief in his voice.
But also resolve.
"Then help us," I said. "Tell us where she is."
He hesitated. "I don't know exactly. But I've heard them talk about an off-site facility. Remote. No signal. They call it The Mirror."
"The Mirror?" Rohan echoed.
"It's where they send problematic assets. Ones too valuable to kill."
My heart twisted.
"If she's alive…"
"She is," Karan said. "I'd bet everything on that."
---
Back at the safehouse, everything felt different.
Not just because we knew Isha might still be alive.
But because we were finally getting somewhere.
We were no longer searching in the dark.
We were heading into the lion's den.
I watched Rohan work — hair a mess, brows furrowed, hands flying over the keyboard — and felt a strange mix of terror and gratitude.
This wasn't just a story anymore.
This was our story.
And we were writing it with fire.
---
Later, we sat on the floor eating cold aloo parathas and oversteeped tea, watching the rain smear the window glass.
"Do you think she'll forgive us?" I asked softly.
"For what?"
"For not finding her sooner."
Rohan looked at me.
"I think," he said gently, "she'd be proud you never stopped looking."
I leaned against his shoulder.
"I'm glad it was you," I whispered.
He smiled.
"Likewise."
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End of Chapter 13
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Teaser for Chapter 14:
A hidden facility called The Mirror
Secrets buried in plain sight
And a reunion they never saw coming