Chapter 1 – The Fall Before The Rise
The night the empire shook, no one dared to breathe.
The city lights glittered like stars fallen to earth, but inside the grand hall of the Deshmukh mansion, darkness ruled. Power had always lived within these walls. Decisions that shaped thousands of lives were made here, behind closed doors and silent smiles.
And tonight… that power was slipping.
Aarav Deshmukh stood alone near the balcony, his jaw tight, eyes burning with rage he refused to show. Son of the most powerful political leader in the state, raised to rule, trained to dominate — failure was never a word he was allowed to understand.
But the election results flashing on the television screen said otherwise.
"Breaking News: Deshmukh Party Loses Majority…"
The words echoed louder than gunshots.
Inside the hall, party workers whispered nervously. Some avoided eye contact. Some were already calculating their escape.
Politics was never about loyalty. It was about survival.
Aarav's father, Vikram Deshmukh, still stood tall in the center of the room, face calm, as if defeat was just another strategy. But Aarav knew better. He had seen the storm in his father's eyes before.
Someone had betrayed them.
And Aarav intended to find out who.
Across the city, in a small apartment far away from luxury and chandeliers, Meera sat in front of her laptop, watching the same news.
A slow smile appeared on her lips.
"This is just the beginning," she whispered.
Unlike Aarav, Meera had grown up watching power crush ordinary people. Her father had once been a loyal party worker for the Deshmukhs. Loyal… until he became inconvenient.
A false accusation. A ruined reputation. A broken family.
And the Deshmukh empire had never looked back.
Meera had.
For years, she studied. Law. Politics. Media. She learned one thing very clearly — empires don't fall from outside attacks.
They fall from cracks within.
And she had just created the first crack.
Back at the mansion, Aarav's phone buzzed.
Unknown Number.
He answered without speaking.
A calm female voice spoke from the other side.
"Power feels different when it starts slipping, doesn't it?"
Aarav's grip tightened on the phone.
"Who is this?"
A soft laugh.
"Just someone who knows your secrets."
The call disconnected.
For the first time that night, Aarav felt something unfamiliar.
Not anger.
Not fear.
Curiosity.
Who dared to challenge him at his weakest moment?
The next morning, headlines exploded with corruption files leaked against the Deshmukh Party. Signed documents. Secret transactions. Internal recordings.
This wasn't coincidence.
This was war.
Vikram Deshmukh called Aarav into his private study.
"Trust no one," his father said quietly. "Not even those who smile the most."
Aarav nodded.
But in his mind, the mysterious voice echoed again.
Power feels different when it starts slipping…
He didn't know yet that the voice belonged to the one person who would either destroy him completely—
Or become the reason he would rise stronger than ever.
Outside the political battlefield, destiny was preparing something far more dangerous than revenge.
It was preparing love.
And love, in a world built on power and betrayal, was the most unpredictable weapon of all.
This was not the end of the Deshmukh empire.
This was only…
The Fall Before The Rise.