The ashes from the warehouse fire still lingered in the city air.

Riaz stood among the ruins, smoke clinging to his clothes, the stench of betrayal thick.

Aryan handed him the burnt remnant of a logo found inside the wreckage.

"It’s not just anyone. It’s Ahan Raichand."

Riaz froze.

Aashika’s head whipped toward Aryan. "That name…"

"We knew him in college," Riaz murmured. "He was always quiet. Obsessed with control. Tried to lure me into one of his business ‘clubs.’ I refused. He hated that."

Aashika remembered too. His strange way of looking at her in class. The way he hovered.

Riaz’s voice was steel. "And now he’s trying to strike through my empire."

Back at the penthouse, Aashika couldn’t sit still.

She walked into their study, running her fingers along the mahogany shelves. On one, she found a leather journal. His.

Curious, she opened it.

Inside: poems.

Some angry. Some soft. All about her.

_"She wore silence like satin, and I— I drowned in the soundless way she smiled.

I wanted to scream her name, But instead, I became the echo in her walk."_

Tears filled her eyes. That was written in their final college week.

He had always loved her, even then. Even silently.

Meanwhile, Riaz was on a rooftop across the city.

Sniper rifle loaded.

Ahan’s associate was making deals on the ground level.

Riaz didn’t blink. One shot. Clean.

Blood on the pavement.

A message sent.

He called Aryan. "Get me Raichand’s exact location. And double the security around Aashika. If he even breathes in her direction, I’ll make sure he never breathes again."

That night, Aashika wrapped herself in one of Riaz’s black shirts and waited for him in bed.

When he walked in, she didn’t speak. Just held up the journal.

His eyes softened. "You read it."

She nodded. "Every word. Every ache."

He climbed into bed, pulling her close.

"You're not just my wife, Aashi. You’re the poem I never finished."

She smiled against his chest. "Then write me till your last breath."

He kissed her forehead, already planning.

Because tomorrow, war would escalate.

But tonight, they had silence.

And each other.