𝙎𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙮𝙖𝙣 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙡𝙮𝙖 and 𝘼𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙫𝙞 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙𝙞, business rivals and family friends, are forced into an arranged marriage. Bound by family duty, they must uncover hidden truths while navigating their explosive chemistry. Will their...
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I ended the call, but my hand stayed frozen, fingers tightening around the phone as if it could give me a reason to stop thinking about her. But it couldn't. The weight of her silence pressed harder than any words we'd exchanged. It was deafening, suffocating, as though in that single, quiet moment, she'd built another wall between us-one I wasn't sure I could tear down.
Something about the way she cut me off, so abrupt, like she was slamming a door on us, made me want to ruin the world. The rage simmered beneath the surface, an undercurrent to the chaos she stirred inside me. I leaned back, trying to steady myself, but my gaze fell to the skyline from the window of my office. Cold, unfeeling lights blinked back at me, offering no solace. They mirrored the emptiness that always followed when she left-whether it was in person or over the phone, she always left me aching for more.
But all I could think about was her.
The way she felt in my arms, how she melted against me even when she fought to keep that distance. The way she acted like we were just a transaction-a contract she had to fulfill. A deal. I almost laughed at how blind she was to what we really were. To what I felt.
She was running. I could see it, feel it, in every calculated word she chose to use, in every hesitation before she spoke. And for the first time in years, I didn't know why I cared so damn much. I shouldn't have.
But I did.
I could hear everything she wasn't saying. Every unspoken thought clung to the silence between us. She was scared-confused by the fire between us, scared of losing herself in it. In me. She was determined, fiercely so, to uphold her family's legacy, to bury herself in it like it was the only thing she had left. But I could sense the way it was suffocating her, the way it weighed her down. The future we were meant to share terrified her, the intensity between us even more so. And still... she felt it, the undeniable spark every time we were near each other.
She just didn't want to admit it.
She's too scared to break her walls, too scared of losing control. But I'm not. I'm willing to let everything go up in flames if it means pulling her closer.
She's a storm. My chaos. A force I never expected, tearing through the perfectly ordered life I'd built. And for once, I didn't care if I lost control. For once, I didn't care if I got pulled into the wreckage.
My fingers drummed against the desk, impatience thrumming through my veins. She thought she could hide behind those walls, that she could push me away and keep me at arm's length. But she had no idea what she was dealing with. No idea the depth of what I felt, what I was capable of. I wasn't about to let her walk away from this-away from us.
"You're not running this time, Aashvi," I whispered under my breath, the weight of that promise settling like a stone in my chest.
I wasn't used to chasing anyone, least of all her. I'd never had to. But there wasn't a rule I hadn't broken for her already. And this... this was no different. Whatever was between us-it was messy, tangled, dangerous. It threatened to consume everything I'd ever known, but I couldn't turn away from it. Couldn't ignore the pull that had me breaking every boundary I'd ever set for myself.
