Hostage to Love

Sometimes the most dangerous hostage situation is the one between two people who stopped listening.Inspector Vanya Sharma built her career on facts.Facts don't lie.Facts don't change.Facts don't break your heart.Six months ago, one fact ended her engagement: she saw her fiancé, Murli Nair, with another woman in his apartment.She never stayed long enough to hear the explanation.Now an armed bank robbery has turned into a citywide crisis, and Vanya is assigned as lead negotiator.There is just one problem.Murli is trapped inside.While frightened hostages struggle to stay calm and four desperate robbers lose control of their carefully planned crime, Murli becomes the unlikely center of the room—using paper airplanes, terrible tea, and stubborn optimism to keep panic from turning deadly.Outside, Vanya is forced to listen to the man she spent six months trying to forget.Inside, Murli is finally running out of chances to tell the truth.As old wounds reopen, social media turns tragedy into entertainment, and a woman from their past unexpectedly reappears, both of them must face a difficult question:How much of a life can be destroyed by seeing only half the story?Filled with humor, heart, unforgettable side characters, and a slow-burn second-chance romance, Hostage to Love is a moving novella about forgiveness, trust, and the people who keep showing up for us—even when we make it difficult.