In the Car – Parked Beside Velvet Crown Hotel | 5:12 AM
The soft purr of the car engine was the only sound as Kiaan climbed back into the SUV, his coat flaring slightly from the morning wind. His eyes were burning with determination as he threw a red-sealed file onto the backseat.Tara, Rehaan, and Dev looked at it — and then at him — like he had just brought in a live grenade. "No way..." Rehaan whispered. "You actually did it?"
"That's the search warrant," Tara said slowly, disbelief wide in her voice.Dev leaned forward from the passenger seat, grabbing the file."No one's ever touched that hotel. Not even media. How the hell did you convince Bansal to sign this?"Kiaan didn't look at any of them. "I didn't convince him. I cornered him."He pulled out his Glock, checking the safety, then tucked it back into his holster. "We're going in. Today. And we're not coming out until we've cracked their shield open."Rehaan gave a dry chuckle, tension still thick. "And here I was hoping for a normal Thursday." "Nothing's normal when you walk into hell," Kiaan muttered.
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Velvet Crown Hotel – Front Gate | 6:03 AM
The black SUV rolled to a stop right before the lavishly guarded gate. Armed guards in tailored black suits approached immediately, hands near their weapons, eyes alert.One stepped forward, scanning the plates."You're not on the guest list."Kiaan stepped out without waiting. His voice was cold steel.
"We're not here to stay."He held up the sealed warrant, letting the morning light catch the red government stamp. "CBI. We have a High-Level Search Warrant for Velvet Crown Hotel. Signed by Director Arvind Bansal himself. Step aside."The guards exchanged uneasy looks, but didn't move. One whispered into his earpiece. Within seconds, three members of the hotel's in-house legal team emerged through the towering golden doors, dressed like politicians but eyes sharp as blades. "This hotel is protected under multiple international contracts and hosting immunities," the lead lawyer started, tone laced with artificial politeness. "No search operation can proceed without—"
"Shut it," Kiaan interrupted, snapping the warrant into his hand. "This is not a raid. It's a legal search under national interest. If you obstruct this investigation — any of you — you'll be arrested. Yes, even if you wear a suit."He stepped forward, brushing past them like they were nothing more than dust in his way. "Your immunity ends now."
The legal team didn't stop them.
They couldn't.
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Inside Velvet Crown Hotel – Lobby | 6:15 AM
As the team entered the luxurious lobby, it felt like walking into a palace wrapped in secrets. Gold-veined marble floors gleamed under a crystal chandelier that looked like it belonged in a royal museum. Velvet drapes, perfumed air, flawless smiles from the staff — it was elegance hiding something monstrous.But Kiaan's eyes weren't admiring anything.He turned to his team with calm intensity. "We're not here to feel luxury. Tara, question the staff. Ask them about the network signals and locate the security control room. Don't stop digging until you know how they're jamming the drones and signals from outside." "On it," Tara nodded, already moving."Rehaan, take the left wing — floors one to three. Look for locked doors, unauthorized entries, anything odd in room logs.""Dev, you cover the right — especially basements and utility access. Look for any sign of human activity not on the official hotel register."Kiaan held up a finger before any of them could respond. "Important: No one answers any hotel phones. Not front desk, not hallway lines. I don't care if it's the Prime Minister calling — ignore it. Also, don't touch your personal phones. Don't even look at a message. Until this search is complete — we're ghosts. Clear?" "Clear," they all echoed.Kiaan's voice dropped one last instruction:"Every corner. Every floor. Every mirror and vent. We're not leaving until the truth screams."And with that, they scattered — four shadows against velvet and gold, slipping deep into the poisoned lungs of the Velvet Crown.
York, England – 5:47 AM
In a dimly lit, soundproofed office lined with blinking servers and data-monitoring walls, Arav Mehra leaned forward, eyes narrowed. The network lines from Velvet Crown Hotel, Swindon blinked on one of his side monitors — until a strange shift caught his attention.
"What the hell…" he murmured.Four new signals. Not just passive observers — these were live, mobile, moving through the internal hotel grid. The signals were cleverly cloaked but not enough to fool him.He sat straighter. "Someone's breached inside."His fingers moved in a blur. Firewalls roared up around the four devices. Arav pulled the plug on every single open port and switched the masterline routing key — effectively locking down the entire hotel's network from remote access. No phones. No internal cameras. Not even admin access.He looked at the screen now showing one message:ALL CONNECTIONS TERMINATED. AUTHORITY: ARAV.Then he picked up his phone.
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Sunderland, England – 5:58 AM
Zayed, assistant to Rex — the man behind the Velvet Crown operations — was already up when his phone buzzed."Yeah?"
Arav's voice was brisk. "Four agents inside the hotel. Someone from law enforcement — likely undercover or intel-linked. I've sealed the network. No one's accessing anything now, not even your hotel staff. Everything's locked.Zayed exhaled heavily. "Legal team already informed me. They said some officer with a bloody warrant is inside. How the hell did they even get that signed?""Doesn't matter. You better inform Rex. Things are spiraling."Zayed was already dialing.
"This is going to blow into fire if they find what I think they might."
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Swindon – Velvet Crown Hotel, Ground Level | 6:42 AM
Inside the Velvet Crown, Tara stared at her laptop's screen, her brows furrowing. The system she'd just decrypted minutes ago was now a fortress. It had been rewritten mid-search, blocked under encryption more advanced than anything she'd seen even in classified agencies. "No way… who the hell did this?" she whispered, typing furiously.
She tried backdoors, probes, bypass ports — all denied. The system laughed in her face with each failed attempt. "Someone's already watching us," she muttered. "And they're ten steps ahead."
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Upper Floor – Rehaan & Dev | 6:55 AM
Rehaan and Dev moved slowly through the opulent corridors, stunned by the eerie quietness of the VIP wing. Velvet walls. Gold inlays. Chandeliers from Venice. It looked like a palace.But something felt wrong. Very wrong.They pushed open Room 510 — the stench hit first.Inside, two unconscious girls, barely clothed, lay sprawled across a sofa. Champagne bottles. Syringes. Perfumes. Camera lights still on.Rehaan moved first.
"No VIPs here. Only predators."Dev nodded grimly."This place is a trap dressed in gold."
They heard footsteps. Kiaan entered, eyes scanning the room with steel calmness.
"Take the girls to the hospital. Quietly. Full medical check. No media, no leaks. Names of VIP clients stay sealed. We are not starting a war with the ministers, not yet." "But these men—" Rehaan started. "We are not their judge," Kiaan interrupted. "But we'll make sure the girls survive. That's our priority."
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Ground Floor – Backside Hall | 7:10 AM
Kiaan walked alone through the lower hallway near the laundry chute, where an odd hollow clang beneath his boot made him pause.He stilled.He tapped his foot twice. Hollow. "Dev," he said into the comms. "Get to my location. Ground level, back corridor."
Within minutes, Dev was there. Kiaan knelt, pulling back a rug. There — an iron trapdoor, cleverly masked to look like the floor design.
Kiaan opened it.Darkness. A metal ladder leading down.
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Underground Basement – Velvet Crown | 7:16 AM
The two descended slowly. The air was musty. Cold. There was no light — until Dev flicked on his torch.And the beam landed on a row of shivering girls huddled in a corner. Some were semi-conscious, others clutched each other in sheer terror. Ripped clothes. Bruised faces. One of them cried out at the sight of light."Dear God…" Dev whispered, stepping back.Kiaan's jaw clenched. He turned away, fists trembling."Nineteen of them," Dev counted quietly.Kiaan didn't speak. He pulled out his radio. "Tara. Get down to the basement. Bring blankets. Clothes. Water. And call every damn ambulance in this district. Now." "On it!" Tara replied instantly.When she arrived moments later, her expression crumbled. "I need medics—immediately," she said, pulling off her jacket and covering the nearest girl. "I need stretchers and IVs — now."As Tara moved into action, comforting the victims with a soft voice, Kiaan and Dev stood outside, both staring at the closed trapdoor.
"You think the legal team knew?" Dev asked.
"They didn't just know," Kiaan replied coldly. "They protected it."He looked up at the hotel's grand ceiling. "We just opened the gates of hell."
Sunderland, England – Rex Corporation Meeting Room | 7:42 AM
The atmosphere inside the sleek glass-walled boardroom was heavy with luxury and silence. Rex, dressed in tailored black, sat at the head of a long mahogany table, flanked by regional heads and elite executives mid-presentation. Just as the lights dimmed for a project demo, his personal line buzzed. One glance at the caller ID — Zayed — and Rex lifted his hand."Pause the meeting."
All screens froze. His men stepped back as Rex took the call, his expression calm but sharp "Speak."Zayed's voice was taut.
"They're inside. The Velvet Crown Hotel in Swindon. Kiaan didn't back off — he got a warrant. Nineteen girls found in the basement. Media not alerted, but we're expecting leaks soon."Silence.
Then a slow smile curled Rex's lips. "So... the broken boy dares to crawl again."
He rose from his chair, pacing slowly to the window overlooking the city."I thought I shattered him the night we burned his soul." His voice dipped like silk over a blade. "Seems like I only caged the beast... not killed it."Then his tone darkened."Why didn't Zid inform us? He's embedded inside that damn team. That was his only job — to be my eyes. Call that bastard now. I want him on this line in five. And if he doesn't have a good answer, I'll remind him what betrayal smells like."
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Swindon, England – Velvet Crown Hotel | 8:03 AM
The hotel's front lobby — once a place of luxury, now a scene of raw reckoning.
Outside, ambulances lined the pavement. Each of the nineteen girls was carried out one by one — broken, bruised, silent. Tara directed medical teams, her eyes rimmed with fury and exhaustion. Rehaan helped steady the last girl, while Dev coordinated with the hospital's dispatch.
Inside, Kiaan stood motionless in the center of the grand atrium, his eyes hard as iron. He glared at the staff, the guards, and especially the legal team, who still had the audacity to wear smug expressions. "Tell your owner this," Kiaan said, his voice low but thunderous. "This hotel isn't just a crime scene — it's a war declaration. And I'm not leaving. Not now. Not until I turn every gold-plated lie inside out."The head of the hotel's legal team — a sleek man in a grey suit with a diamond tie pin — stepped forward, smiling with venom. "Officer Kiaan…" he chuckled mockingly, "you truly think this raid gives you power? Even now? The law might be with you today… but the system is not. And no victim will speak. Not one. You'll never get a testimony — and you'll never touch this empire again."Kiaan's eyes narrowed.The man glanced down.And then — his smirk widened.His gaze had landed on the tattoo on Kiaan's wrist — a name inked into his skin like a scar that never healed: Reyaan Malhotra.The legal head leaned in, his voice turning to a whisper laced with venom. "You already met the lion, didn't you?" he said softly. "And now you've dared to poke him again."He took a step back, smile dark and dangerous. "Save yourself, Officer. Save your team. Because if you think today was war... wait till you feel the Devil's warmth."Kiaan didn't flinch. But something inside him flickered. Rage. Memory. Burnt pain.He clenched his fists, forcing the storm inside him to stay behind his silence. "Tell your lion," he growled, "I don't run anymore."
Then he turned to his team. "Dev. Rehaan. Tara. Get every file. Every server. If it breathes, scan it. If it hides, uncover it. And if anyone tries to stop us—" he turned back to the legal team, "—arrest them.As they moved deeper into the gilded halls, Tara glanced at Kiaan, her voice tight with confusion. "Who's… Reyaan Malhotra?"
Kiaan didn't answer.But inside, memories stirred — of a night soaked in ash, betrayal, and blood. Of a name once whispered in reverence… now spoken in nightmares.