chapter 8

Chapter SevenOther Women KnowMaya Kapoor didn’t like unanswered questions.Especially when they came wrapped in soft smiles and half-truths like Dev Raichand.She’d spent the day trailing him through security footage, analyzing his pacing, his timing, the way his eyes followed Rani like he was studying a fault line about to split.Maya wasn’t jealous. Jealousy was for amateurs.She was strategic.And strategy meant stepping into the same storm before it swallowed her queen whole.She found him in the eastern corridor, the one that led nowhere useful — except to Rani’s private music library. A forgotten hallway, usually empty. Maya take a moment to start it. She looked herself in the front camera of her mobile phone. She adjusted her hair. She found herself best. Not as good as Rani Saheba of Course. She is inhumanly beautiful.Dev was standing near a glass cabinet, pretending to study a record sleeve.“You know,” Maya said from behind him, “you’re not as hard to read as you think.”He turned slowly. Raised an eyebrow. Maya liked it when his eyes looked amazed.“And you’re not as quiet as you think.”She stepped closer. Her heels didn’t make a sound, but her presence did. Loud. Confident. Calculated. And maybe seductive also.“I don’t like wildcards,” she said, stopping inches away. “Especially ones that whisper into Rani’s ear before I get to.”Dev smiled, amused. “Then you’ll hate me.”“I already do.” maya smiled back.They stood in silence, tension spinning itself like silk between them.Then she moved—just slightly. Reached past him, brushing his arm as she pulled out a dusty old vinyl.Bollywood classic. Kishore Kumar. Love songs. Maya didn't listen to song at all. All the things she did is hectic she hadn't enough time to listen Rafi or Kishore...She held it up. “Do you think she still listens to these?”Dev shrugged. “You’d know better than me.”“But you’re getting closer,” she said, gaze steady. “Aren’t you? Maybe closer than anybody.”He didn’t answer.So she stepped closer still. Her fingers traced lightly down the fabric of his sleeve.Dev held his breath. And Maya love watching men like this. Maya also love to dominate. To make men in their knees.“She’s unpredictable,” Maya whispered. “She’ll either crown you… or kill you in her sleep.”Dev let out a quiet breath. “You’re trying to warn me?”“No,” she said. “I’m trying to understand you.”Her hand drifted toward his chest, slow, lingering just long enough to feel his heartbeat. Dev didn't stop her. She took it as a permission.“You’re handsome,” she said softly. “Not her type.”His lips twitched. “And yours?”Maya smiled. “I don’t have types. I have suspects. But if you are talking about men I would say I prefer tall and dark men.”She leaned in closer. Almost touching his neck. Dev didn’t move. Until she did.His hand caught her wrist gently, but firmly.“Don’t,” he said quietly.She tilted her head. “Don’t what?”“Don’t pretend this is curiosity.”She laughed under her breath. “You’re scared I’ll kiss you?”“I’m scared you won’t stop playing.”Maya pulled back slowly, her eyes still on his.“Interesting,” she murmured. “So you can resist.”Dev’s voice dropped. “You’re trying to find weakness. Not chemistry.”“And?”“I’m not weak,” he said.She smirked. “Then why are you shaking?”He wasn’t. Not really. But her presence had pulled something tight in his chest — not desire.Doubt.Maya leaned in one last time, brushing past his shoulder with the faintest whisper of perfume.“I’ll be watching you, Raichand,” she murmured. “One wrong move… and I’ll slit your throat myself. Not because I hate you—because I protect her.”Dev watched her walk away, the hallway falling into silence again.And yet… her words stayed behind.Elsewhere, Rani stood at her balcony, wind playing with the end of her black dupatta. She hadn’t spoken to Dev since last night.She didn’t need to.She felt the shift.Something small. But it was there.People around her were moving.Maya.Dev.Sircar.And someone else. Unseen. Unnamed.There was a crack forming in the palace.And Rani Saheb — the Queen of silence, the empress of restraint — felt something she hadn’t in years. Anticipation.In the background, there was still playing Kishore Kumar.“Kal tujhko dekha thaMaine apne angaan meinJaise keh rahi thi tumMujhe bandh lo bandhan mein..”(Nxt)