The black Rolls-Royce slowly disappeared beyond the gates of the Acharya Mansion.
Mia stood there without moving.
Mayank slept peacefully in her arms, his tiny face resting against her shoulder, completely unaware that the man who had just walked away...
...was his father.
A cool evening breeze brushed against her face.
Yet she felt nothing.
Her eyes remained fixed on the empty road where Leo's car had vanished.
For a long moment...
Silence surrounded her.
Then, without warning...
The tears she had been holding back finally escaped.
One tear.
Then another.
Soon, they wouldn't stop.
She hugged Mayank closer as if he were the only thing keeping her standing.
"I'm sorry..." she whispered, her voice breaking.
"I'm so sorry..."
The mansion door opened quietly behind her.
Her father stepped outside.
He had watched everything from the balcony.
He had seen Leo carry Mayank with such care.
He had seen the pain hidden behind Leo's calm smile.
And he had seen his daughter trying not to fall apart.
He slowly walked toward her.
"Mia..."
She didn't answer.
He stood beside her, looking at the empty road.
After a long silence, he finally spoke.
"How long are you going to punish yourself?"
She closed her eyes.
"And how long are you going to punish him?"
Those words broke the last wall around her heart.
She looked at her father with tear-filled eyes.
"You saw him today, didn't you?"
"I did."
"He still loves you."
"I know."
"And you still love him."
Mia smiled sadly.
"There hasn't been a single day when I stopped."
Her father sighed deeply.
"Then why?"
"Why are both of you suffering like this?"
Mia lowered her head, gently stroking Mayank's hair.
Her fingers trembled.
"You weren't there that day, Papa..."
Her voice became almost a whisper.
"You didn't see what I saw."
Images she had buried for four years returned with painful clarity.
White snow.
Blood scattered across the ground.
A man lying motionless.
His body soaked in crimson.
"I still remember everything..."
She closed her eyes tightly.
"They brought him into the operating room."
"There was blood everywhere."
"His pulse kept dropping."
"Se... seven...."
"Seven.... bullets."
"He had been shot seven times, Papa..."
Her voice cracked completely.
"Seven..."
"Do you know what it felt like?"
"I was stitching his wounds while praying he wouldn't stop breathing."
"My hands were covered in his blood."
"I kept telling him..."
'Stay with me...'
'Please don't leave...'
"I wasn't even sure he'd survive until morning."
Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.
"My heart..."
"...broke into pieces while saving him."
She looked toward the road again.
"And today..."
"When I saw him standing in front of me..."
"All I could remember..."
"...was that hospital."
"That blood."
"Those bullets."
"What if next time..."
"...there are eight?"
"What if next time..."
"...I'm too late?"
Her father remained silent.
"I can survive my own heartbreak."
"But I can't survive watching him die."
"And I definitely can't let Mayank go through that."
She looked down at her sleeping son.
"My son deserves peace."
"He deserves bedtime stories."
"School trips."
"Birthday parties."
"A normal life."
"Not bodyguards..."
"Not guns..."
"Not waiting every night wondering whether someone will call and say..."
'He's gone.'
She hugged Mayank even tighter.
"I won't let my son grow up fearing every phone call."
"I won't."
Her father gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Mia..."
"What if Leo never forgets you?"
She smiled through her tears.
"He will."
"Maybe not today."
"Maybe not next year."
"But one day..."
"He'll meet someone."
"Someone who can stay beside him."
"Someone strong enough to live in his world."
"He deserves that."
"He deserves happiness."
Her father looked at her sadly.
"And you?"
Mia looked down at the little boy sleeping peacefully in her arms.
A gentle smile finally appeared.
This time...
It was real.
She softly kissed Mayank's forehead.
"I already have him."
"My cutest little version of Leo."
She gently wiped away another tear.
"I don't need anyone else."
"As long as I have this little troublemaker..."
"I have enough love for an entire lifetime."
Her father watched his daughter quietly.
His heart ached.
Because he knew...
She wasn't choosing happiness.
She was choosing sacrifice.
For the man she loved.
For the son they created together.
And as night slowly covered the city...
Three hearts loved each other deeply.
One father...
Who didn't know his son.
One mother...
Who carried the weight of two broken hearts.
And one little boy...
Who wished only for his Iron Man Friend to come back someday.
None of them knew...
That fate had separated them once.
But fate...
Had not written their final chapter yet.