Entangled Fates
Episode 5: A Ghost from the Inside
The office looked the same, but everything had changed.
From the moment Riya stepped in that morning, nothing felt familiar. The usual warmth of routine had gone cold. The casual banter of her coworkers sounded distant, filtered through a veil she hadn't worn before. She was still walking the same floors, sitting at the same desk, sipping the same burnt coffee. But she was no longer part of the crowd. Something had shifted. No—she had shifted.
She had become the ghost Ryansh spoke of. The kind that watched silently while the world moved on, unaware of the war she'd just signed up for.
That decision, uttered with trembling lips and steady eyes, had already set things in motion.
Her inbox held a new icon. One that wasn't there yesterday.
Subject: [Internal Access Granted]
From: R.S.
She clicked it. A folder opened—a vault of corruption wrapped in innocuous labels. Hidden beneath the company's polished face were files named Blackline, Level 2 – Ethics Suppressed, Operation Mirage. They weren't just projects. They were poison veins running under the skin of the corporation, hidden so deep only a select few could smell the rot.
Her first assignment came wrapped in paper and paranoia. At exactly 11:47 a.m., a man she had never seen before walked by her desk, dropped a sealed envelope into her drawer, and disappeared before she could even turn around. Inside was a file stamped with a single name: Harish Mehra.
Subject: Harish Mehra, Department Head – Training Division
Status: Flagged – Embezzlement Suspected
Mission: Surveillance Only – No confrontation
Note: Don't trust who you think you know.
Harish? That pudgy man with poor fashion sense and even worse jokes? The one who reminded her to refill the pantry milk and ranted about budget cuts every Monday? He was harmless—almost laughably so.
Or maybe that's exactly what he wanted her to believe.
That night, long after most of the building had gone dark, Riya descended two levels below the basement to a part of the office she didn't even know existed until today—Archives. The door required retinal verification, and she wasn't surprised when the scanner blinked green.
Welcome, Riya Agrawal.
Cold air met her like a slap. The room was cavernous and silent, humming only with the quiet breath of machines and the whispers of forgotten secrets. Rows of steel cabinets stretched in both directions like a maze. The files were physical. Dusty. Heavy. As if they had weight not just in paper but in guilt.
She found the cabinet marked Personnel: Training Division and opened it.
And there it was.
A file labeled: Witness Testimony: R.S.
Her stomach flipped.
Ryansh Suryavanshi. Before he became the CEO.
The file held an incident dated eight years ago—an internal audit where Ryansh, then a junior manager, had submitted a whistleblower report involving the very same Training Division. Funds siphoned into shell companies. Fake interns on the payroll. It all sounded too familiar.
Why hadn't this come out before?
Because it had been buried—just like her father's.
Had Ryansh been fighting this war all along?
Her thoughts spiraled until she needed air. She fled to the rooftop. The city stretched endlessly around her, glittering, uncaring. She gripped the cold steel railing, trying to anchor herself to the present, to anything solid.
That's when she heard him.
"You found the archives faster than I expected."
She turned slowly. Ryansh stood behind her, his jacket in one hand, sleeves rolled up, the wind teasing through his usually neat hair. He didn't look like a CEO up here. He looked like something else entirely.
Someone dangerous.
"You left your name in a file. You wanted me to find it," she said quietly.
He offered a small, unreadable smile. "Smart girl."
"Why did you stop? You were a whistleblower once. What happened?"
His jaw clenched. "What always happens. I spoke up. Someone I loved paid the price."
Her breath caught. "Who?"
He hesitated. A war played in his eyes, but he didn't answer. He stepped closer instead, his presence consuming. "Let's just say… you're not the only one haunted by their father's past."
A strange, unspoken understanding passed between them. It wasn't empathy. It was recognition. A mirror of two broken legacies stitched together with silence.
"Why me, Ryansh?" she asked, voice a whisper against the wind. "Why not choose someone else for this insanity?"
He moved closer, until only inches separated them.
"Because you were invisible. Because you saw everything and said nothing. And yet, somehow, your silence made more noise than their screams."
Riya's breath hitched.
His hand hovered near her cheek—not touching, just close enough to feel the heat of his skin.
"And because," he added softly, "when I look at you, I see the part of myself I buried long ago."
She should've stepped back. Should've said something. But she stood there, rooted to the floor, as if drawn not by logic but by gravity.
"You don't need loyalty for this," she said quietly. "You need someone who's already broken."
He nodded. "Exactly."
Her heart pounded. Not with fear. Not entirely. There was something more terrifying inside her—something darker. A part of her that wanted to know how far this war could go. How deep.
---
The next morning arrived like a curse.
She didn't have to wait long for the next blow.
At 9:14 a.m., the company WhatsApp group exploded.
Harish Mehra found dead. Apartment. Bathtub. Fully clothed. No signs of break-in. Suspected suicide.
Riya stared at her screen, ice running through her veins. Her first assignment. Surveillance only. No confrontation. She had followed every instruction.
So how had he ended up dead?
Her phone buzzed. Private call.
She answered. "Hello?"
Ryansh's voice was low. Controlled. But colder than she'd ever heard.
"I told you not to approach him."
"I didn't," she replied, heart racing. "I followed him. I took notes. That's it. I swear."
"Then someone else knew."
Silence thundered between them.
"You think someone's watching me?" she asked.
"I know someone is," he said. "Welcome to the other war, Riya. The one inside our own walls."
Click.
The line went dead.
Her knees buckled slightly as she sat down.
Someone had killed Harish.
And now they knew she had been watching him.
---
That evening, she met Ryansh in his private office. No lights on except the faint glow from his computer and the skyline behind him.
He didn't say hello.
He just gestured toward the window. "You think it was an accident?"
"No."
He turned. "Neither do I."
"I don't think I'm ready for this," she admitted, breath trembling. "I thought I was, but—"
"You're already in it, Riya. The moment you said yes, you walked into something that doesn't have exits. Only layers."
"Then what happens now?" she whispered.
He stepped closer. This time, there was no hesitance in his gaze. No mask of professionalism.
"There are two kinds of people in this world," he said. "The ones who get used. And the ones who learn to use others. Decide who you are."
"And you?" she asked, looking up into his eyes.
"I was the first. Now… I'm learning to be the second."
She should have feared him. Should have walked away. But instead, she asked the question she never thought she would.
"If we fall… if everything crashes… will you burn with me?"
Ryansh leaned in, voice like velvet soaked in poison.
"If we fall… I'll burn first."
---
💌 Author's Note – A Fire Awakens
Riya has crossed the threshold—into a world where betrayal wears suits and love wears masks.
But what happens when power tastes sweeter than peace?
What if the real danger isn't Ryansh… but the person she's becoming?
👀 Who killed Harish?
💔 Should Riya trust her growing feelings or run before it's too late?
Vote, comment, and let the storm unfold.
Love,
Aarya Patil 🖤