This Is For You, Dad
An emotional political thriller by A. K. Khainal
📖 Synopsis
ATS officer Kiara Verma is no stranger to loss. When her father dies in a suspicious car accident, she is told to accept it and move on. But a single misplaced file, a cryptic voicemail, and a shadowy government official change everything.
As Kiara digs deeper, she uncovers a conspiracy that reaches the highest corridors of power. Her father wasn't just a retired professor — he was a witness to something that could destroy careers, families, and even governments. Now, the same system that killed him wants to silence her.
“This Is For You, Dad” is a story of grief turned into a weapon, a daughter's relentless pursuit of truth, and the emotional cost of justice. Set against the gritty backdrop of Delhi's political underbelly, this thriller will keep you turning pages until the final, heartbreaking revelation.
👥 Key Characters
Kiara Verma
Protagonist / ATS Officer
Kiara Verma is one of the ATS’s finest young officers — intelligent, fearless, emotionally controlled, and trained to survive situations most people would run from. But beneath the uniform lives a daughter shaped by abandonment, silence, and unanswered questions.
At nine years old, Kiara lost her father when he never returned home. For years, she grew up believing he had chosen something else over his family. That pain slowly transformed into anger, and that anger became purpose. Instead of running away from fear, she chose to fight it — dedicating her life to protecting others from the same suffering she once endured.
When a mysterious locked box connected to her father arrives years later, Kiara’s life changes completely. What begins as an investigation slowly becomes an emotional war between truth and memory. As secrets unfold, Kiara’s journey transforms from revenge into understanding. Her greatest battle is not against terrorists — it is against the part of herself that still feels like a child waiting for her father to come home.
Relationships: Daughter of Kailash and Kavita Verma; emotionally dependent on Tripti; supported by Rajesh.
Tripti
Kiara's Best Friend / Emotional Anchor
Tripti is Kiara Verma’s closest friend and emotional support system — someone who remained beside her long before the mysteries, conspiracies, and dangerous investigations began. Warm-hearted, playful, and emotionally intelligent, Tripti balances Kiara’s intense personality with humor and humanity.
But beneath her lighthearted personality lies genuine fear. Unlike Kiara, Tripti understands how dangerous obsession can become. As Kiara dives deeper into her father’s hidden past, Tripti slowly realizes that the truth may destroy her best friend emotionally before it destroys her physically.
Their relationship feels less like friendship and more like family — built on loyalty, emotional trust, and years of understanding each other without words.
Relationships: Kiara’s best friend and emotional safe space; helps her investigate clues; constantly fears losing Kiara.
Kailash Verma
Kiara's Father / The Central Mystery
For most of Kiara’s life, Kailash Verma existed only as a memory frozen in time — a father who disappeared before his daughter was old enough to truly understand him. To Kiara, he was never just someone she lost. He was the unanswered question that shaped her entire childhood.
Years after his disappearance, hidden truths begin surfacing through letters, secrets, and fragments of a past someone desperately tried to bury. Slowly, the image of Kailash changes from absence into something far more complicated — a man carrying burdens no one around him fully understood. A father who loved deeply, even from a distance.
His character lives through memory, mystery, and emotional legacy. The more Kiara uncovers about him, the more she realizes that some people disappear physically… but never truly leave the lives they touched behind.
Relationships: Kiara’s father and the emotional center of her journey; his disappearance drives her search for truth.
Rajesh
Guardian / Father Figure
Rajesh becomes one of the quiet emotional pillars in Kiara’s life after her father’s disappearance. Calm, dependable, and deeply caring, he represents the stability that Kiara’s world often lacks. While others see Kiara as fearless and emotionally strong, Rajesh still sees the wounded child hidden behind her strength.
Unlike the larger-than-life figures surrounding the story, Rajesh’s importance comes from something simpler: he stays. He supports Kiara and Kavita not through violence or power, but through loyalty, patience, and care. In a world filled with secrets and emotional scars, Rajesh represents trust.
Relationships: Acts as a guardian and father-like figure after Kailash’s disappearance; shares a protective bond with Kiara.
Kavita Verma
Kiara's Mother
Kavita Verma knows better than anyone what loss can do to a family. After her husband disappeared from their lives, she spent years trying to protect her daughter from carrying the same emotional scars forever. But Kiara inherited more strength than Kavita ever expected — strength that often frightens her as much as it makes her proud.
Kavita’s emotional struggle defines much of her character. She wants Kiara to live a safe, peaceful life… yet she understands why her daughter cannot stop searching for answers. Every dangerous step Kiara takes feels like history repeating itself.
Despite her fear, she never stops loving or supporting her daughter. Her journey is not about fighting enemies — it is about finding the strength to let Kiara become who she was always meant to be.
Relationships: Kiara’s mother and deepest emotional connection; struggles between protecting Kiara and supporting her choices.
📄 Chapter Preview: Prologue
The night he died, it rained.
Not the soft, poetic kind of rain that washes away sins. This was Delhi's angry monsoon – fat drops that hit the asphalt like small bullets. The kind that makes you want to stay indoors, curl up, and pretend the world isn't falling apart.
But Vikram Verma couldn't stay indoors. Not tonight.
He had a file. A thin, unassuming manila folder with coffee stains on the corner. Inside were twelve pages – photocopies, handwritten notes, and a photograph of a building that didn't officially exist.
"They'll kill you for this," his wife had whispered.
"They'll kill me if I don't," he had replied.
That was three hours ago. Now, as he drove through the deserted streets of South Delhi, he checked his rearview mirror for the fourth time. A black sedan. Same one. No license plate.
His phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: "Turn back. Last warning."
Vikram didn't turn back. He pressed the accelerator, swerving onto the Mehrauli road. The black sedan followed.
What happened next would be officially recorded as a "tragic accident." Wet roads. Brake failure. Single vehicle collision.
But Kiara Verma, his daughter, would never believe that.
And she would spend the next six months proving everyone wrong.
— End of Prologue. The full first chapter is available in the sample PDF.
✨ What Makes This Book Different
💔 Emotional Core
It's a thriller that makes you cry before the twist. Grief isn't just backstory – it's the engine of the plot.
🎬 Cinematic Pacing
Written like a Netflix series. Short chapters, visual scenes, and cliffhangers that demand "just one more."
🇮🇳 Authentically Indian
Delhi's politics, culture, and dark underbelly are characters themselves. No Westernized shortcuts.
⚖️ Morally Grey
No pure heroes or villains. Every character has reasons – even the antagonists are human.