"I can do that," Malhotra said. His voice had shifted — the politician's register coming back, the operational thinking. Then he looked at his daughter again. "You're safe."
"Not yet," Arjun said. "When Rohit Kapoor realises the investigation is beginning — and he will realise, within hours of us filing — the threat level escalates. Until he's in custody or his access to resources is frozen, she is in active danger." He paused. "I need her in a different location. Somewhere secure, where only the people in this room know the address."
"I have a guest property in Noida," Malhotra said. "Very small, very private. Only my personal aide knows—"
"Your personal aide," Arjun said. "How long has he been with you?"
A pause. "Six years." A longer pause. "He was introduced by the Kapoor family's network."
The silence that followed was the specific silence of a piece of information arriving at exactly the moment to change the picture of something. All three of them arrived at the same point simultaneously.
"He knows everything that happens in this house," Priya said quietly. "He would have known about the security assessments. The decisions about my protection—"
"Don't tell your aide anything," Arjun said. To Malhotra. "Not about the ED filing, not about Priya's location, not about this meeting. As of now, the only people who know about the investigation are in this room and two others I trust completely. We keep it there until the filing is made." He stood. "We need to move her today."
