And there it was....

A salacious headline.

“ARJUN MALHOTRA’S SECRET AFFAIR?”

“WHO IS THE MYSTERY WOMAN?”

I blinked.

Once.

Twice.

But the words didn’t go away.

They screamed at me — bold, merciless, humiliating.

I shouldn’t have scrolled.

But I did.

And then I saw the comments.

“Ohh look at her — face full of innocence but her doings? Disgusting. Total gold digger.”

“How much she charged him? For the baby? Or just the nights?”

“I heard she was rescued from a brothel or something… explains a lot.

My shoulders didn’t drop. The ache didn’t fade.

But my mind was razor sharp now.

They declared war.

And they were about to learn —

Arjun Malhotra doesn’t fight fair..

.

.

His fingers brushed the back of my neck, and I forgot how to breathe.

“You’re not supposed to be the one covering people,” he said quietly, so close now that his breath grazed my hair. “You’re the one who needs protecting right now.”