A week later, the headline hit her like a slap.
STARLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT ON THE VERGE OF BANKRUPTCY — INVESTORS PULL OUT IN MASSES.
MK stared at the screen, rereading the words as if they might rearrange themselves into something else. Something less cruel. Less final. The numbers beneath the headline bled red.
Her chest tightened.
She hadn't seen Shriya in a week.
Her fingers moved before her thoughts caught up.
"Please," MK whispered as the phone rang, her voice breaking around the familiar name, "Shrii… let this not be one of your doing."
The call went unanswered. Straight to voicemail.
"Damn it," MK muttered, dropping the phone onto the couch.
---
Across the city, in a quiet office washed in afternoon light, Shriya stood with a thick folder in her hands. Documents. Transfers. Signatures. Resignations. Her lips curved—not in joy, but in something colder. Sharper.
Her phone buzzed again.
MK.
She watched it vibrate until it stopped.
Then, deliberately, she typed:
> I'll see you tonight.
She sent it before she could second-guess herself.
---
Back in the apartment, MK stared at the message when it came through. It was still early afternoon, yet her body felt frozen, like time had stalled around that single sentence.
Her phone had been buzzing nonstop—emails, unknown numbers, panicked voicemails—but that one message quieted something inside her.
For a moment, she breathed.
Then the phone rang again.
"If this is another board member or investor, I swear—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
Jesse.
"Jesse, thank God," MK said, relief rushing out before she could stop it.
"What is happening, MK?" Jesse's voice was controlled. Too controlled.
"I don't know," MK said carefully. "I was fired, remember?"
A pause.
Then Jesse exploded.
"MK, my family just lost their shares. Your company. Our shares."
MK straightened. "What?"
"Don't play dumb. Everything is collapsing."
"Are you seriously calling to scold me?" MK snapped.
"What else am I supposed to do? You've been too busy making love to that girlfriend of yours to care about your damn job!"
MK froze.low blow.
Then something in her broke cleanly.
"What does Shriya have to do with this?" she shot back. "And for your information, Jesse, your family lost ten percent. I'm losing more than fifty. So you don't get to talk to me like that."
She didn't wait for a reply.
The phone hit the wall.
Plastic shattered.
MK stood there shaking, breathing hard, the echo of Jesse's words ringing in her ears. Jesse—her best friend. The one person she thought would never turn on her.
She wanted—no, she needed—to be held.
---
In the evening.The door opened.
MK turned just in time to see Shriya step inside.
She didn't think. She moved.
Crossing the room in seconds, MK crashed into her, arms locking around Shriya's waist, holding on as if she might disappear if she let go. She clung so tightly that Shriya had to steady them both.
"MK," Shriya murmured, concern threading her voice. "Hey… is everything okay?"
MK didn't answer right away. Her body did instead—rigid, trembling, desperate.
"It's the company," she finally said.she had been watching the news the whole day, waiting, hoping for something to change.
"Oh," Shriya replied. Flat. Careful.
MK felt it immediately.
"Shrii," she called softly, watching Shriya walk past her toward the kitchen. "Shrii."
"Mm?" Shriya lifted her head, eyes meeting MK's.
"You didn't have anything to do with this… did you?"
The question came out like a plea.
Please. Let it not be you. Please. MK was praying internally.
Shriya hesitated for half a second.
"Oh. That?" she said lightly. "I thought they needed a change."
The sound that followed wasn't a reply.
It was a dull thud.
"MK!" Shriya spun around, rushing to her knees. "MK—are you okay?"
MK was on the floor, hands braced against the tiles, tears slipping down unchecked.
"Why?" MK asked hoarsely. "Why, Shrii? Why would you do this to me?"
"I didn't—MK,what did I do?" Shriya was confused,"I would never hurt you," Shriya said, panic seeping in. "Talk to me. Please."
MK lifted her hand and pointed at the screen still flashing the news.
"Why."
Shriya understood and grabbed the folder from the table and pushed it toward her. "Look. I,"
MK didn't open it.
She flung it.
Papers exploded across the room, scattering like fallen feathers.
"Talk to me, MK," Shriya whispered.
MK stood slowly.
"Guess what, Shriya," she said.
That name ,Shriya felt an ache in her chest she had gotten used to MK calling her by the nickname but this felt. Cold. Distant.
"I owned half of that company," MK continued, voice trembling but controlled. "And you destroyed it."
Shriya went still.
"You… what?"
"I'm the founder," MK said. "The 'mysterious owner.' That's why I worked hard. That's why I stayed. Not for them—for me. For us."
Her breath hitched.
"I'm sorry," Shriya said immediately. "I didn't know. MK, I swear, if I had—"
"Just go, Shriya. Leave "
The word cut deeper than any shout.
"Don't do this, MK " Shriya pleaded. "You promised you wouldn't walk away. Let's talk. Please MK,"
"You promised you wouldn't hurt me," MK replied calmly.
That calm terrified her.
Shriya watched MK turn away, recognizing the tone instantly—the one that meant MK was locking everything back inside.
All the progress to help manage her anger. Gone.
"Damn it," Shriya choked out once she was alone. "Why is it always like this? ,why is it so hard?".
---
She didn't remember driving back to the club.
Only the door opening.
Only bodies moving too slowly in her path.
Two people went down before anyone could stop her.
"Shriya—!" Peach stepped forward, braver than Leah. "What happened?" she had seen how happy she was when she left , but now she looked, defeated.
"Not now," Shriya snapped. "Leave me alone."