Shiddat

Chapter 34

Adiraj sat alone in his dimly lit office, the only source of light a single desk lamp casting long, jagged shadows across the room. The hum of the city outside filtered faintly through the thick windows, but inside, the air was heavy with silence. It was the kind of silence that carried the weight of unspoken thoughts, of regrets too painful to voice. 

He stared at the glass of whiskey in his hand, the amber liquid swirling as his grip tightened, his knuckles going white. Control—it had always been his. Over his empire, his power, his reputation. Yet now, it all felt fragile. Uncertain. And it had started the moment she came back into his life.

Ananya Sharma

The name crashed into him like a wave, a fresh surge of anger, longing, and bitterness twisting his insides until it was almost unbearable. The first time he saw her again, standing in the Rathore office, it had felt as though someone had driven a knife into his chest and twisted it. Ananya. The woman who had once been his anchor in a world of chaos, the only person who had ever managed to break through the walls he had spent years building around himself. Now, she was working for the man he loathed with every fiber of his being. She wasn't just working for Rathore Enterprises. She was married to him. 

Arjun Rathore

Adiraj's grip tightened on the glass, the edge biting into his palm, but he didn't care. It wasn't just that Arjun was his enemy. It was that Arjun had her. The thought burned hotter than any flame, scorching through his veins, making his chest tighten with an ache so raw it was almost physical. How could she be with someone like him? Arjun was everything Ananya once claimed to hate—ruthless, cold, a man who lived by power, manipulation, and a set of rules that no one else could understand. And yet, she had chosen him.

The memories clawed at him, sharp and relentless.

He tipped the glass to his lips, letting the whiskey burn its way down his throat, the heat searing his insides. But it wasn't enough to drown out the memories. They came unbidden, vivid, and cruel, like an endless loop he couldn't escape.

He remembered the first time he'd seen her, back in college. Adiraj, already infamous for his name and the power that came with it, had been surrounded by a sea of admirers, whispers of his legacy hanging in the air like a fog. He was untouchable. The son of a man who had built his empire on blood, and the rumors of his own future as the heir of it all swirled around him.

She had been his junior, walking across the campus with her head held high, her books clutched to her chest. She wasn't like the others. She didn't try to avoid his gaze out of fear, nor did she seek his attention like so many others did. She simply existed, unbothered by his presence. It was that quiet defiance, that purity in her eyes, that had drawn him to her like a moth to a flame. She was an anomaly. She didn't need him to notice her, and yet something about that defiance made him unable to look away.

The memories pressed closer, suffocating him, like shadows thickening around him, filling the space he'd carved out in his mind for thoughts of power and control. He could almost feel the brush of her hand against his as they passed in the hallway, the way her laughter had been soft yet unshakably genuine, as if the world didn't faze her. She'd been his secret rebellion against the darkness he carried—a glimpse of something pure, something he could never fully hold.

But they hadn't been a couple. Not officially, not in words or labels, but in a way that went beyond them. There had been a silent understanding between them, something deeper than mere attraction. She had understood him, seen through the darkness he carried, and somehow managed to find the slivers of light within him. The unspoken connection between them existed on borrowed time, and perhaps they both knew it. He had been too entrenched in his world of blood and shadows, and she—she had been light. A light that couldn't survive in his darkness.