UNWILLINGLY HIS

One more betrayal

Samaira lay in bed, her body screaming for rest, but her mind refused to cooperate. Every time she closed her eyes, images of Advait and his men flashed before her, each one more vivid and terrifying than the last. Her heart raced, and the unease that gnawed at her insides wouldn’t let go. Despite the soft comfort of the bed, despite the quiet hum of the building around her, sleep seemed like a distant luxury.

Her eyes were heavy, and yet, sleep evaded her grasp. Every creak of the building, every faint sound in the hallway, made her body tense, waiting for the inevitable, for Advait’s arrival. The walls, thick with security and coldness, seemed to press in on her, suffocating her with the weight of her thoughts. Was this really a safe place? Was Aarav really her ally, or had she walked into yet another trap?

The sound of footsteps outside her door stirred her from her restless thoughts. She sat up, her pulse quickening. It was only the faintest echo, but it sent a chill down her spine. The silence that followed felt too still, too perfect. Something was wrong.

The next afternoon, Samaira and Aarav were sitting in the lounge area of the building, the sunlight streaming through the large windows. The room, usually filled with an eerie calm, now felt suffocating. She couldn’t shake the feeling that everything was about to change.

Aarav sat across from her, his expression unreadable as he flipped through a few documents, but Samaira couldn’t focus. Her mind was elsewhere, her senses on high alert. Every sound in the building seemed amplified—the rustling of papers, the soft click of a distant door, the almost imperceptible hum of the air conditioning.

Then it happened. The atmosphere in the room shifted. Samaira’s breath caught in her throat as she felt the tension settle into the air like a thick fog. She instinctively straightened, her eyes darting around the room. It was subtle at first, but then she noticed the small changes: the slight shift in Aarav’s posture, the way he stopped fidgeting with the papers in his hands. Something was happening. Something was wrong.

The door opened.

Samaira froze.

A man entered, his figure tall and imposing, dressed in a dark suit that seemed to swallow the light around him. His presence filled the room in an instant. Aarav stood up slowly, his movements precise, controlled. He didn’t speak, but there was something in his eyes—something that made Samaira’s blood run cold.

The man nodded once, then spoke, his voice low but cutting through the tense silence. “Mr. Shikhawat is here.”

Samaira's heart skipped a beat. Mr. Shikhawat? The name rang a bell, but she couldn’t place it. Her eyes flicked to Aarav, but he was already moving, his face blank, his demeanor cold. It wasn’t until they both turned toward the door that she noticed something strange: the absence of guards. The building was always crawling with security, always buzzing with the quiet hum of vigilance. But now, there was nothing.

How could he be here so soon?

The question echoed in Samaira’s mind, a bitter taste forming in the back of her throat. Before she could make sense of it, a familiar chill slid down her spine. Advait’s name flitted across her mind like a whisper, but she couldn’t let herself believe it—not yet.

But her doubts were short-lived.

The door to the building suddenly flew open with a force that rattled the walls. In an instant, Advait’s figure appeared in the doorway, framed by the sunlight that sliced through the shadows. The cold, calculating eyes of the man she feared most locked with hers.

Samaira’s heart leapt into her throat as panic gripped her chest. How? How could he have found her here? Her legs felt like jelly, and for a moment, the room spun around her. She stood up abruptly, unable to believe what she was seeing. Her thoughts were a tangled mess of confusion and disbelief. How did he find this place? How did he get past all the security?

Before she could voice her questions, Aarav’s voice broke through her whirlwind of thoughts.

“Because I told him.”

Samaira’s world crashed in that instant.

Her mind screamed in protest, but no words escaped her lips. She turned to Aarav, her eyes wide with shock and betrayal. “What… what did you say?”

But there was no answer. Aarav didn’t need to say another word. The smirk on his face—the one she had mistaken for reassurance—was now a cruel twist of fate. In the blink of an eye, Aarav’s hand shot into his pocket, and before Samaira could react, the cold steel of a gun was pointed straight at her.

Her breath caught in her throat, her heart pounding in her chest as the reality of the situation hit her with the force of a freight train. Aarav? The man she had trusted, the man who had seemed to be her only ally, was now her enemy. He had been the one to betray her all along.

Samaira’s thoughts spiraled into chaos. The gun felt like a weight on her chest, pressing down on her, suffocating her. She wanted to move, to run, but her legs were frozen in place. The sting of betrayal burned through her veins, sharper than the barrel of the gun pointing at her.

Aarav’s eyes were dark now, his expression unreadable. “Don’t move,” he ordered coldly, his voice like ice.

Samaira stood there, stunned and powerless. Her gaze flickered to Advait, who was standing just behind Aarav. His cold gaze never left her as he stepped into the room, the confident swagger in his step making her insides twist with fear.

He was here. He had found her. And it was all because of Aarav.

Samaira could feel the heat of Advait’s presence, like a shadow that was closing in on her. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her ears that she couldn’t hear anything else. She had trusted Aarav. She had thought he was helping her, but now the truth was clear. She was trapped again, and this time, it was worse than ever.

Samaira’s eyes burned with rage, but the gun in Aarav’s hand kept her rooted in place. Her mind raced, trying to come up with a plan, trying to find a way out. But there was nothing. No escape. No help. Just the cold, unfeeling faces of the men who had trapped her in this nightmare.

And then Advait spoke, his voice a quiet threat, but it held the power to shatter everything she had believed.

“I gave you time to think, Samaira. Time to make your choice. But now, it’s over.”