The rain had finally stopped, but the air in Delhi still felt heavy.
Meher sat on the edge of her hotel bed, the envelope from Rishan lying open beside her. Papers were scattered across the table.
Lists of names.
Emails.
Notes about the International Writing Fellowship.
Her eyes moved slowly across the page until one name made her stop.
Her breath caught.
Reyaan Malhotra.
"No… this can't be," she whispered.
Reyaan had been her mentor once. The person who encouraged her to apply for the fellowship in the first place.
Why would his name appear in a file about people who might be sabotaging her?
Her phone suddenly buzzed.
It was Aarav again.
She stared at the screen for a long moment before answering.
"Meher," Aarav said the moment she picked up. "You've been distant for two days. What's going on?"
"Nothing," she replied quickly.
Silence.
Aarav sighed softly.
"You know you're terrible at lying, right?"
Her chest tightened.
For a moment she almost told him everything—the envelope, the warnings, the strange messages.
But something stopped her.
"I'm just tired," she said quietly.
"Meher… if something is wrong, tell me."
"I will," she promised.
But even she knew that promise wasn't completely true.
Later that night, she called Rishan.
"I saw the files," she said.
"And?" he asked.
"Why is Reyaan's name there?"
There was a long pause on the other end.
Finally Rishan spoke.
"Because Reyaan isn't just a mentor in this program."
Meher's heart pounded.
"Then what is he?"
Rishan's voice lowered.
"He's on the committee that decides who succeeds… and who quietly disappears from the fellowship."
Meher's hands trembled.
"You think he's trying to remove me?"
"I don't think," Rishan said seriously.
"I know."
That night Meher couldn't sleep.
Too many thoughts raced through her mind.
Reyaan…
The fellowship…
The mysterious messages signed with R.
And one terrifying question.
What if Reyaan was the one who sent the first letter?
Outside the window, dark clouds slowly returned to the sky.
Another storm was coming.
And Meher had a feeling that the truth hiding behind it would change everything.