The golden chandeliers still glimmered overhead, and the aroma of fresh coffee wafted from cafés even as chaos began brewing under the glossy floors of Red Vortex Mall.
Tara Iyer pressed a thick gauze to Kiaan's bleeding shoulder, her brows furrowed as she tied it tight with a strip of cloth torn from her scarf. Blood soaked through, but Kiaan didn't flinch—his jaw was clenched, eyes sharp as ever.
> "You should be in a hospital," she hissed.
> "Not until I finish this," Kiaan muttered, his voice gravelly.
His hand gripped the wireless tight as he stood to his feet and nodded toward Dev Malik and Rehaan Sethi.
> "Move in. Sweep the entire place. Floor to roof. Don't leave even a mop room unchecked."
They moved like a wave—half the team spreading across the mall with guns drawn, flashing their IDs and barking orders.
> "Police Department. Step aside. This premises is under immediate search."
Customers screamed and scattered. The staff froze in confusion. Within minutes, the mall's glittering glamor dissolved into tension and panic. The mall director, dressed in an overpriced suit and holding a trembling cup of espresso, rushed forward with a security head beside him.
> "You can't just barge in here! This is a privately owned—"
> "Shut up," Kiaan barked, stepping forward, blood dripping down his forearm.
"This mall is a front. You want to talk about ownership? The building's involved in illegal arms smuggling, drug circulation, and fake documentation. You try to stop me, I'll arrest every damn one of you for obstruction of justice."
The director went pale.
Dev shoved past with a sneer.
> "You better cooperate. Or you'll be explaining to the court how a shopping mall turned into a cartel storage house."
Tara, meanwhile, pulled out a device and ran a heat scan on a locked basement-level wall. She gave Kiaan a sharp look.
> "There's a false panel. Behind the food court."
Rehaan and another officer cracked it open—and that's when hell opened up.
Stacks of weapons. Crates of packaged drugs.
Files. Blueprints. Documents marked with foreign syndicate logos.
A stunned silence filled the mall. Dev picked up a file and held it up to the mall director.
> "Say to your precious building owner—'Forget about this mall.' Because starting today, this whole place is sealed."
More agents rushed in, bagging evidence. The customers had been moved out, the staff herded into a corner, terrified, handcuffed.
Everything went exactly how Kiaan expected.
But he didn't speak.
His vision blurred. His breath grew shallow. The blood loss, masked behind sheer grit, finally caught up.
> "Kiaan?" Tara's voice echoed as she turned—
THUMP.
Kiaan's body hit the marble floor. His head bounced once. Rehaan and Dev ran over instantly.
> "Kai!" Dev dropped to his knees, trying to wake him.
> "Tara, get the med kit, now!"
Blood pooled around his arm, the makeshift bandage now soaked through.
> "Stretcher in! We need an ambulance—NOW!" Tara shouted into the comms.
As officers secured the perimeter and cuffed the last of the staff, the youngest leader of the CBI unit—the boy who carried the fire of vengeance—lay unconscious, body exhausted, heart still chasing a ghost from the past.
And far away… across the ocean in England…
Reyan "Rex" Malhotra was pouring himself a drink, smirking coldly as a message beeped on his burner phone:
> "Red Vortex – busted. Rudhra caught. Building sealed."
He exhaled slowly, flicking ashes into the whiskey glass.
> "The boy moves faster than expected…"
He poured another drink, eyes glinting.
> "Let the game begin."