Three days.
Ashish was still alive.
Screaming.
Begging.
Breaking.
But that wasn't what shook S4RKU.
It was Sage.
She had been quieter.
Watching him.
Studying him.
And tonight-
She wasn't in the mansion.
Her phone was off.
Her location disabled.
S4RKU stood in his office, staring at the screen.
"She left campus at 6 PM," one of his men reported.
"No driver. No security."
His jaw tightened.
"She wouldn't run," he said coldly.
Then his phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A video.
He opened it.
Dark warehouse.
Chair.
Rope.
Sage tied to it.
Conscious.
Terrified.
But trying not to show it.
A voice from behind the camera:
"You were busy punishing your traitor...
You forgot to check your blind spots."
The camera moved closer to her face.
She looked directly into it.
Into him.
And even now-
She didn't cry.
That almost killed him.
"Tick tock," the voice continued.
"Bring Ashish alive. Or she bleeds."
The video ended.
The room went silent.
Dead silent.
A guard whispered,
"Sir...?"
S4RKU didn't answer.
His mind was calculating.
Cold.
Precise.
Ashish was leverage.
But Sage-
Sage was something else.
He walked toward the basement.
Each step heavier than the last.
Ashish looked up weakly from the chains.
"They found out?" he smirked through blood.
"You think I didn't have backups?"
S4RKU grabbed him by the collar.
"Who?"
Ashish laughed.
"You kept me close for years... you think I didn't build my own army?"
The realization hit.
Ashish wasn't just jealous.
He was patient.
Calculated.
A parasite.
S4RKU dropped him.
For the first time-
His control cracked.
Not rage.
Not violence.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
Upstairs, he called his men.
"Track every signal within 50 kilometers."
"Lock the borders."
"Burn every warehouse we own if you have to."
His voice lowered.
"But find her."
He stood alone after the orders were given.
Breathing slow.
Controlled.
But inside-
A storm.
He whispered her name under his breath.
And that was the moment he understood something terrifying.
Sage wasn't just his obsession.
She was his weakness.
And the world had finally noticed.
Cut to:
Warehouse.
Sage sits tied.
Hands shaking slightly.
But her eyes?
Sharp.
She studies the room.
Counts guards.
Spots exits.
And slowly...
Very slowly...
She smiles.
Because they think she's just the innocent girl.
They don't know what loving a monster teaches you.