Underworld's Forbidden Love (Mafia's Love Story)

Chapter 6: Secrets and Vulnerabilities

The confrontation had been intense, leaving Jasmin emotionally drained. She had flung accusations, calling Vikram cold, heartless, and incapable of caring for anyone but himself. She expected him to lash out, but instead, he just stood there, his face unreadable, his silence cutting deeper than any words.

That night, after hours of pacing alone in their bedroom, she decided to confront him again, to get answers. She found him in the dimly lit study, sitting with a glass of whiskey in hand, his eyes distant as he stared into the dark. She hesitated at the door, the air thick with a tension she couldn’t quite name.

“Couldn’t resist another fight?” he murmured, noticing her presence without turning around.

“Why don’t you ever defend yourself, Vikram?” she asked, folding her arms, her voice softer than she intended. “You let me hurl words at you, push you away… but you never fight back. Why?”

He sighed, a small, sad smile touching his lips as he swirled his drink. “You think I’m some heartless monster, Jasmin. So what’s the point of defending myself?”

Her gaze softened as she stepped closer, her frustration melting into something she hadn’t felt before—curiosity. “Maybe… maybe I don’t know you as well as I thought,” she admitted.

He looked up at her, his eyes heavy with an exhaustion she’d never seen. “This isn’t the life I imagined either, Jasmin. A marriage without love… It wasn’t what I wanted. But here we are, bound by obligations and expectations.” He paused, his voice a touch bitter. “And you think I enjoy this?”

The vulnerability in his tone took her by surprise. She expected his usual calm defiance, his unshakable exterior. But tonight, there was something else—an ache, a weariness that made her chest tighten.

“Then why did you agree to marry me?” she asked quietly, sitting down beside him.

He looked away, his jaw tense. “I had my reasons, but they weren’t as selfish as you think.” He sighed, taking another sip. “When I look at you, I see someone who’s lost just as much as I have. I thought… maybe we could find some peace together.”

Jasmin felt her defenses start to waver. She had always seen Vikram as the villain, someone who forced her into this life. But now, sitting beside him in the stillness of the night, she saw something else—a man with his own burdens, his own scars.

“Vikram…” she whispered, unsure of what to say, caught between anger and empathy.

He chuckled bitterly, shaking his head. “Don’t look at me with pity, Jasmin. I don’t deserve it.” His voice softened, almost breaking. “But sometimes… sometimes I wish we could be more than two people bound by duty. I wish we could at least be friends, maybe even…” His voice trailed off, leaving the unspoken words hanging between them.

Her heart skipped a beat, surprised by his honesty. “I didn’t know you felt that way,” she admitted, her voice barely audible.

He looked at her, his gaze intense, vulnerable. “You never asked.”

They sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, the tension between them shifting into something else—something softer, yet charged with a feeling neither could ignore. For the first time, Jasmin didn’t feel the need to fight him, to push him away. She realized, with a strange, unexpected ache, that beneath his ruthless exterior, he was a man carrying as much hurt and disappointment as she was.