“Let’s call off the engagement.”

A man and a woman sat across from each other inside one of Mumbai’s most luxurious restaurants. The entire place had been booked privately for them, making it look like a romantic celebration between an engaged couple.

But despite the warm lights, soft music, and elegant atmosphere, the woman’s eyes were cold.

“...Maya, what?” the man across from her asked, struggling to process her words.

Maya Chauhan watched him silently for a moment, lightly tapping her red-painted nails against her lap. Sitting in front of her was her fiancé, Shashank Malhotra.

The man she had loved with all her heart.

“I’m ending this engagement, Shashank,” she repeated calmly. “And I don’t think I need to explain why.”

She slid a brown envelope toward him.

Shashank frowned before opening it, only for his face to lose all color.

Photographs.

Messages.

Hotel bookings.

Proof of every affair he had hidden behind her back during the first two years of their engagement.

“Maya… listen to me, this was all in the past,” he said quickly, panic evident in his voice. “You said you forgave me for this already. So why are you suddenly—”

A quiet laugh escaped her lips.

Not warm.

Cruel.

“Did you really think I was the kind of woman who forgives?” Maya tilted her head slightly, amusement flickering in her cold eyes. “You cheated on me for two years, Shashank. I simply ignored it because I hadn’t caught you myself.”

Her lips curled faintly.

“But then I did.”

Shashank stared at her speechlessly.

“I am not someone who gives second chances,” she continued smoothly. “Did you really think I became some soft, dependent woman who would stay beside you no matter what?”

Maya laughed softly and shook her head.

“My God, Shashank… you really are pathetic, aren’t you?” she mocked. “You couldn’t love me for who I truly am, but the moment I changed myself into someone easier to control, you suddenly fell in love.”

“Maya…”

“You don’t deserve me.”

Maya’s gaze sharpened.

Maya Chauhan was known everywhere in elite circles — beautiful, intelligent, elegant, and untouchable. Meanwhile, Shashank Malhotra was every family’s ideal son-in-law: charming, successful, gentle, and handsome.

Their engagement had been arranged years ago by their families.

At first, neither of them loved each other romantically. But because their families wanted this marriage, they tried to make things work peacefully.

And somewhere along the way, Maya fell in love.

Shashank was attentive, kind, patient, and warm.

So naturally, Maya opened her heart to him.

Until she discovered the truth.

During the second year of their engagement, Maya caught Shashank kissing another woman.

Although rumors about his affairs had circulated for years, Maya never paid attention to them. Not because she believed or disbelieved them.

But because, in her mind, if she didn’t see it herself, then it didn’t matter.

Until one day, she did.

But instead of creating a scandal or confronting him publicly, Maya quietly went home and cried herself to sleep.

And that same night, she planned her revenge.

Not by ruining his reputation.

Not by cheating on him with another man.

No

Maya decided she would love Shashank so completely that he would become incapable of living without her.

And then…

She would leave him.

Now, after two years of pretending to be the perfect fiancée, she finally got the revenge she wanted.

“Will you tell your family yourself?” Maya asked as Shashank lowered his head silently. “Or should I do it for you?”

He remained speechless.

“I’ll speak to my father myself,” she continued calmly. “Don’t worry. I won’t mention the real reason for the breakup. My family would be disappointed to know that the perfect Shashank Malhotra isn’t actually so perfect.”

Maya stood gracefully from her seat.

Before leaving, she placed cash on the table for dinner.

“Let’s stay in touch, Shashank,” she said with a smirk. “I’d still like us to remain friends.”

As if deliberately trying to hurt him further, she smiled one last time before walking away without looking back.

The moment Maya entered her car, her composure shattered.

Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as she struggled to breathe.

That was the revenge she had wanted for years.

So why did it hurt this much?

“He deserves it,” she muttered repeatedly through clenched teeth, tightening her grip even more. “He deserves it.”

But as she repeated those words like a prayer, memories of the past two years replayed in her mind.

His smile.

Their late-night drives.

The warmth in his voice whenever he called her name.

And one by one, those memories shattered like glass.

“He deserves—”

Her breath hitched painfully as tears rolled down her cheeks.

A broken sound escaped her throat as she hit her fist weakly against her chest.

It hurt.

Her heart hurt so badly she could barely breathe.

This wasn’t how she imagined she would feel after leaving him.

Only then did Maya realize something terrifying.

Her revenge hadn’t just destroyed Shashank.

It destroyed her too.

Because despite everything…

She still loved him.

No matter how disgusting his betrayal was, a part of her heart still wanted him. But she also understood something cruel.

Shashank only loved the softer version of her.

A version that wasn’t truly Maya Chauhan.

And that…

She could never become.

She refused to destroy herself just to fit someone else’s idea of love.

That night, Maya drove home carrying the remains of her broken heart.

And that was the night Maya Chauhan ended—

And the cold-hearted villainess of The Devil’s Den was born.

✦ ✦ ✦

“Hic…”

A weak sniffle echoed inside a quiet hospital room.

A young woman wiped her tears angrily while staring at the final page on her phone.

“Maya…” she whispered emotionally. “You deserved so much better.”

The woman’s name was Kashvi Yadav.

And she had just finished reading the side story of her second favorite character from The Devil’s Den — a chapter released almost a year after the novel had officially ended.

Unlike most villainesses in romance stories, Maya Chauhan never lost her dignity over love.

She wasn’t obsessed with the male lead.

She didn’t ruin lives out of jealousy.

Maya simply enjoyed chaos.

She loved manipulating situations, creating trouble, and watching people react. Somehow, instead of hating her, readers ended up loving her even more because of it.

Some fans even joked that Maya accidentally helped the hero and heroine fall deeper in love.

And despite being a villainess, countless readers wished Maya had received her own happy ending.

But instead, the author gave readers this side story—

A glimpse into the heartbreak that turned Maya into the woman she became.

“Seriously… I hate this author sometimes,” Kashvi grumbled tearfully while staring at the hospital ceiling. “Why give every traumatized character the saddest ending possible?”

Her voice weakened into a sigh.

“First Raghvendra Rathore dies after finally getting redemption… then Maya gets this backstory…” she complained softly. “Does this author enjoy making people suffer?”

Kashvi had loved The Devil’s Den for three whole years.

She laughed with the characters.

Cried over them.

Waited through painful hiatuses.

And somewhere along the way, the story became a part of her life.

Especially one character.

Raghvendra Rathore.

The feared heir of the Rathore family.

Cruel. Dangerous. Ruthless.

And somehow, the most tragic character in the entire novel.

“If this story were real…” Kashvi murmured weakly, staring blankly at the ceiling above her hospital bed, “I’d change everything.”

Her pale lips curled into a faint smile.

"I’d save all of them.”

Especially him.

Her eyelids slowly became heavier.

Breathing had always been painful for Kashvi, so she barely noticed the tightness in her chest worsening.

She was already used to suffering.

And without realizing it…

Kashvi Yadav closed her eyes for the very last time.