“I found duplicate surveys, false death certificates and payments made to government officers. I confronted my father.”
Her eyes moved toward Devika.
“My mother begged me to stay quiet.”
“I begged you to protect the family,” Devika said.
“No. You begged me to protect the men.”
Anamika’s voice trembled for the first time.
“I planned to deliver the records to a journalist. On the road to Delhi, my car went through a barrier and fell into a ravine.”
Arjun stared at her scar.
“We saw the vehicle.”
“You saw a burned vehicle.”
“The police found a body.”
“A woman from a government morgue whose family had not claimed her.”
Devika covered her mouth.
Anamika looked at her.
“You knew.”
Tears filled Devika’s eyes.
“I was told you would be safe.”
“Safe?”
The word escaped Anamika like broken glass.
“I woke inside a private psychiatric institution in Himachal Pradesh under another name. They told the staff I suffered delusions and had attacked my family.”
She touched the scar above her eyebrow.
“For eight years, every time I said I was Anamika Malhotra, they increased the medication.”
My mother began crying beside me.
Anamika’s voice remained steady.
“A nurse finally checked the name I kept repeating. She found an old article about my death. She helped me contact a legal charity.”
Rajiv looked toward the officers.
“This woman is mentally ill. You have heard her admit it.”
Anamika smiled.
“That is why I brought hospital payment records.”
The advocate behind her opened a file.
“Monthly transfers to the institution came from Kesariya Consulting Private Limited,” he announced. “The company is controlled by Rajiv Malhotra through two intermediaries.”
Rajiv’s lawyer whispered urgently in his ear.
Devika sat down as though her legs had failed.
I looked at Anamika.
“Why wait until today?”
“I did not.”
She took out copies of letters.
“I approached investigators nine months ago. They needed evidence connecting the original fraud to current transactions. That connection was you.”
My stomach tightened.
“You let them forge my signatures.”
Her expression changed.
“I tried to warn you.”
“An unknown message on my wedding day is not a warning. It is an explosion.”
“I sent earlier emails.”
“I received nothing.”
Arjun looked suddenly nervous.
Anamika saw it.
“You intercepted them.”
He said nothing.
She stepped toward him.
“You had access to her accounts because you installed the family security system on her phone.”
I remembered the evening he insisted on setting it up.
“For wedding safety,” he had said.
I felt sick.
Anamika faced me again.
“The message reached you today because I sent it through a system he did not control.”
“And the warning beneath the file?” I asked. “The one telling me not to trust you?”
For the first time, she looked confused.
“What warning?”
I showed her.
**She wants your place in the Malhotra family.**
Anamika read it.
Then she looked toward Devika.
Her mother’s face betrayed her.
“You added it,” Anamika said.
Devika lifted her chin.
“I wanted Aanya to understand what you are.”
“And what am I?”
“A jealous daughter who could not tolerate her brother inheriting what was his.”
Anamika’s calm finally shattered.
“What was his?”
She pointed at herself.
“My shares were transferred after you declared me dead. My board seat went to him. My trust became his expansion fund.”
Arjun’s mouth opened.
“Maa said you had signed the transfer before the accident.”
“I signed nothing.”
Everyone turned toward Devika.
Arjun looked at his mother as if seeing her for the first time.
“You told me she wanted me to have it.”
“I did what was necessary.”
“You told me my sister was dead.”
“She was gone!”
“No,” Anamika screamed. “I was inconvenient!”
The baby photographs prepared for the wedding slideshow disappeared from the screen.
In their place appeared scanned records.
Land deeds.
Bank transfers.
Forged signatures.
My name appeared again and again.
AANYA SHARMA — LEGAL WITNESS.
AANYA SHARMA — COMPLIANCE COUNSEL.
AANYA SHARMA — AUTHORISED SIGNATORY.
My father stared at the screen.
“You never signed these?”
“No, Papa.”
Rajiv stepped toward him.
“Control your daughter.”
My father looked at the man who had financed parts of my wedding and threatened my career.
Then he removed the ceremonial shawl the Malhotras had placed around his shoulders.
He dropped it at Rajiv’s feet.
“My daughter does not require controlling.”
The words nearly broke me.
Arjun came toward me.
“Aanya, listen. I did not know everything.”
“You knew enough.”
“I knew Kesariya had legal problems. I did not know about Anamika.”
“You knew my signatures were forged.”
He lowered his voice.
“I was going to correct the papers after the wedding.”
“How?”
“By having you sign new ones.”
“So the crime would become real.”
“I was protecting both families.”
I looked at the beach video frozen behind him.
