Entangled Fates
Episode 6: Beneath the Masks We Wear
The city was the same.
But Riya wasn't.
Something inside her had begun to rot—not with decay, but with change. The kind that creeps in through your veins, infecting you slowly until you can no longer remember who you were before the poison. She looked out the window of her apartment, the glass cold against her forehead. Her reflection was blurry, distorted. Not because of the glass, but because she no longer recognized the girl staring back.
Harish Mehra was dead. Her first assignment. Her first ghost.
And she hadn't even touched him.
She turned away from the window, every step echoing through the silence of her flat. Her apartment used to feel like a refuge. Now it felt like a holding cell. Riya opened her closet and pulled out the file. Still sealed. Still untouched. Ryansh had given her another target last night, one whose name she hadn't dared read yet.
She ripped it open.
Subject: Avantika Rao
Position: Executive Manager, CSR Division
Status: Red Alert – Insider Breach Suspected
Mission: Intercept, Monitor, Eliminate Threat
This time, there was no "Surveillance Only" disclaimer. No passive instructions. This was a test—one with a blade hidden inside a handshake.
Riya exhaled slowly. Avantika had mentored her once, offered her quiet support when the other department heads ignored her. The woman wore expensive sarees and smiled with the weight of a thousand secrets. Was she guilty? Or just another pawn like Harish?
She left her apartment before the questions could chain her down.
---
By noon, she was in the cafeteria, seated two tables away from Avantika. She watched her stir sugar into her tea. Methodical. Graceful. Everything about her screamed innocence. But Harish had too. Until the bathtub said otherwise.
"Are you spying on me, or just shy these days?"
Riya blinked.
Avantika stood behind her, smiling, a tray in hand.
Riya faked a laugh. "Neither. Just hungry."
Avantika sat beside her. Too close. Too fast.
"We haven't spoken in a while," she said casually. "How's the new division treating you?"
"Challenging."
Avantika tilted her head, eyes sharp beneath her smile. "You know, challenging isn't always a bad thing. It means you're being noticed. And noticed means you're a threat."
Riya froze.
That word.
Threat.
"Excuse me?"
Avantika leaned in. "Just a friendly reminder. This place eats soft hearts. Harden up. Or get swallowed."
Then she stood, adjusted her pallu, and walked away like a queen leaving behind a burning kingdom.
---
That night, Riya sat at her desk, flipping through internal reports. Avantika had access to projects that went way beyond CSR. Unusual authorizations. Last-minute fund transfers. Charity campaigns that existed only on paper.
The more Riya dug, the darker it became.
She compiled the evidence, encrypted the files, and prepared to send them to Ryansh. Her finger hovered over the send button.
Then she paused.
Something wasn't right.
There were two files she hadn't opened yet. Both locked with biometric access.
Her gut screamed.
She used the scanner.
File 1: Operation White Petal – Surveillance Targets
Name: Riya Agrawal Status: Active Surveillance Monitored by: Avantika Rao
Her heart stopped.
File 2: Audio Clip
She clicked play.
> "Ryansh thinks she's just another broken girl he can use. I say let him. Once he falls, we bury them both."
Avantika's voice.
Riya barely made it to the bathroom before throwing up.
---
The next day, she walked into Ryansh's office without knocking. He looked up, eyebrows raised.
"We need to talk."
"Clearly," he replied, shutting his laptop. "You're shaking."
She slammed the flash drive on his desk. "Play the clip."
He did.
His expression didn't change, but something in his eyes went feral.
"How long have you known?" she asked.
"Three weeks."
Her jaw dropped. "And you didn't tell me?"
"Because I needed to see what you'd do with power. And because Avantika wasn't working alone."
Riya backed away. "You used me as bait."
"No. I revealed the battlefield. You chose your weapon."
She slapped him.
Silence.
He turned his face back, slowly. "Feel better?"
"Screw you."
"You already did when you opened that file. Welcome to your new reality, Riya. Now either finish what you started or walk out. But if you stay, there's no going back."
Her hand trembled. Not from rage. From choice.
She picked up the flash drive.
"What's our move?"
He smiled. This time, it wasn't unreadable. It was wicked.
---
That night, Operation Medusa began.
Riya staged a staged data leak—one that pointed directly to Avantika. Enough to draw the board's attention, but not enough to make it traceable to her or Ryansh.
Three days later, Avantika was suspended.
Five days later, she disappeared.
Not resigned.
Vanished.
No notice. No calls. No digital trace.
Gone.
---
Riya sat beside Ryansh at the rooftop, their usual battlefield of truths.
"Do you think she was silenced?" she asked.
He nodded. "Or she ran before someone else did."
Riya hugged her knees. "I should feel victorious. I don't."
"Because you've lost something too."
"What?"
"The illusion of safety."
She looked at him. "And you? What did you lose?"
He didn't hesitate. "The last piece of my soul."
They sat in silence as the city blinked below.
Finally, she asked, "What now?"
He turned to her, voice low. "Now we dig deeper. There's someone else. Above Avantika. Someone who orchestrates the rot. We find them."
"What if it's someone at the top? The board? Your own bloodline?"
He met her gaze. "Then we pull them down too. Even if it means destroying everything."
She reached out. Their fingers met. Not a romantic gesture. A war pact.
Together.
Until the very end.
---
💬 Author's Note – The Deeper You Dig
Hey readers,
Riya and Ryansh are no longer just players in a corporate game. They're the fire underneath the system—the rot burning its own skin. This episode changed everything: alliances, stakes, and the battlefield itself.
Avantika wasn't the final boss. She was just the curtain.
Now, the shadows beyond that curtain have begun to shift.
Was she a villain? Or just another trapped piece?
And what has Riya become?
Let me know your thoughts. Drop your theories. Who do YOU think is pulling the real strings?
With love and secrets,
Aarya Patil ✨