5:45 AM — An Abandoned Church, Mumbai

The church smelled of dust, rain, and forgotten sins.

Meher stood before a woman dressed in black.

Her hands trembled.

“Ammi?”

The woman slowly turned.

Meher's breath caught.

The face she'd mourned for fifteen years stared back at her.

Her mother was alive.

“Meher,” the woman whispered.

Meher slapped her.

“How could you?”

Her mother didn't defend herself.

“You let me believe you were dead! You let me cry over an empty grave!”

Tears filled the older woman's eyes.

“I did it to protect you.”

“Protect me from what?”

A long silence followed.

Then her mother whispered, “Your father.”

Meher stepped backward.

“No. Papa would never hurt me.”

“Your father ordered Zayn's father's murder.”

The words struck like bullets.

“And you?” Meher demanded. “What did you do?”

Her mother closed her eyes.

“I pulled the trigger.”

Meher covered her mouth.

“But the photograph—”

“You were there that night. You were seven. You picked up the gun after I dropped it.”

Meher's knees weakened.

“Did I shoot him?”

“No.” Her mother grabbed her hands. “You tried to save him. You were screaming for someone to help.”

Meher began to cry.

“Then why did everyone lie?”

“Because Armaan saw you. He threatened to kill you if I ever told the truth.”

A sound came from behind the church doors.

Three slow claps.

Viktor Sethi stepped into the light.

“Beautiful family reunion.”

Meher's mother immediately pulled her behind her.

“Stay away from her!”

Viktor smiled.

“After all these years, you're still pretending you're a hero.”

He raised a gun.

“Where is the evidence?”

Her mother said nothing.

Viktor aimed at Meher.

“Perhaps your daughter will be more cooperative.”

A gunshot exploded.

But it wasn't Viktor who fired.

---

6:10 AM — Mirza Mansion

Zayn smashed a glass against the wall.

“Find her!”

His men scattered.

Kabir's phone had finally been traced to an abandoned church.

Zayn grabbed his gun and headed for the door.

Then his phone rang.

An unfamiliar number.

“Zayn Mirza?”

“Who is this?”

“Someone who wants your father’s killer exposed.”

“Talk.”

“The woman you're searching for is at St. Mary's Church. But there's something you need to know.”

“What?”

“Your father wasn't Viktor's only victim.”

The caller paused.

“Your mother is the one who gave Armaan the order to kill him.”

Zayn froze.

Before he could respond, the call ended.

For fifteen years, he'd searched for his missing mother.

Now every road led to her.

And every answer made his world darker.

---

6:25 AM — St. Mary's Church

Zayn burst through the doors.

Meher was kneeling beside her mother.

Blood covered the floor.

Viktor lay motionless near the altar, a gun beside his hand.

Meher looked up.

“Zayn…”

He rushed toward her, dropping to his knees.

“Are you hurt?”

She shook her head, crying.

He pulled her into his arms.

“God, Meher. I thought I'd lost you.”

She clung to him.

“I remembered everything.”

He closed his eyes briefly.

“Then tell me the truth.”

She looked into his face.

“Your father died trying to protect me.”

Zayn went completely still.

“What?”

“My mother was going to confess everything. Your father helped her escape. Armaan found out, and—”

“Stop.”

His voice broke.

“Please, just stop.”

Meher reached for his hand.

“I never wanted to hurt you.”

He looked at her with devastated eyes.

“I know.”

Then he noticed the envelope lying beside her mother.

Written across it were five words:

FROM YOUR MOTHER, WITH LOVE.

Zayn opened it.

Inside was a photograph of his father standing beside a young woman.

His mother.

On the back, a handwritten message read:

My son, if you've discovered the truth, forgive me. I didn't kill your father to save myself.

A second line had been added in different handwriting.

I killed him because he discovered what I had done to you.

Zayn stared at the words.

Meher whispered, “Zayn?”

He slowly lifted his eyes.

For the first time, he looked genuinely terrified.

Because beneath the message was a hospital record dated twenty-nine years earlier.

PATIENT: ZAYN MIRZA.

CAUSE OF ADMISSION: POISONING.

SUSPECTED PERPETRATOR: HIS MOTHER.

Zayn's world collapsed.

His father hadn't been his mother's first victim.

He might not even have been her last.

TO BE CONTINUED…