A twisted smile spread across his face as he leaned in closer, his hot, alcohol-laced breath over her. He pressed his nose to her neck, inhaling deeply before pulling back slightly to growl in her ear, "You can't run away anymore." he slurred, his...
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Her POV
As she stood alone in the room, the door closing softly behind her, the silence pressed down on her. It wasn't unfamiliar-it was the same silence she had lived with for the past six months. Her thoughts wandered aimlessly until they were interrupted by the faint sound of laughter echoing from downstairs. His laughter. His family's voices.
The noise tugged at memories she had tried so hard to bury. Suddenly, it felt like she was back in his house in Mumbai, in the same room where she had spent countless days locked away with him. It was a strange kind of imprisonment, where her freedom was taken but her heart had felt full. Back then, even in her lowest moments, she had been happy. Truly happy. She had been isolated, suffocated by loneliness, yet her heart had always been full because he was there.
Because he was her family, a first since she knew the world. A family to hold on to. A family to comeback to.
It was in that room she had placed all her trust, her love, her devotion into his hands. Blindly. Desperately. She had clung to him like a lifeline, believing he was the only one who cared, the only one who saw her, an orphan who had never been anyone's priority. He had made her feel loved without asking for anything in return. She had thought she finally had someone to call her own, someone who could be her family.
And so, she gave him all of her. Every ounce of devotion, every piece of trust. She handed it over willingly, without hesitation, in the hand of a man who was using her a ragdoll.
She still remembered the day Devraj threw the papers at her which contained the truth of man standing in front of her, She didn't believed those words. the cruel words laid bare in black and white, The man she had built her entire world around couldn't have been using her. He couldn't have been lying to her.
But when she looked into his eyes, the guilt in his eyes, the silence on his lips were not a lie. The harsh words were true. Those treacherous, mocking words which had sealed her fate were true.
He didn't love her.
To him, she wasn't family, wasn't someone special. She was a pawn, a ragdoll he used for his mission. A fool, caught in his web of lies, believing in a dream that was never real.
She didn't scream or cry in front of him-she didn't know how. Instead, she walked away. she did the only thing she could. She left. She didn't know how to stay, how to keep looking at him and hurting herself more. She didn't know how to stop loving him, but she knew she couldn't stay and watch him live his life without her. So she disappeared. She disappeared from his life as if she had never existed, vowing never to see him again.
Even when her heart still ached for him. Even when she still loved him.
In Kolkata, she found herself in a tiny, suffocating one-room apartment. It was too small to live in, yet it felt too big for the emptiness she carried. And just when she thought her life couldn't feel more empty, the heavens played their cruelest trick yet.
Three months after leaving him, she found out she was pregnant.
She had cried that day, not just for herself but for the child she carried-the child of a man who had betrayed her. But alongside the pain, there was a glimmer of something else. A fragile, trembling hope. For the first time in her life, she had the chance to have a family, This child would be her family. Something to hold onto, something to love. A piece of him, yes, but also something that was entirely hers.
But even that fragile happiness was tested. When the call came asking her to be a witness in Devraj's case, she wanted to refuse. She wanted nothing to do with him, with his world, with the man who had betrayed her. But then they sent her the files-the stories of the people who had been saved because of the operation, because of the role he had played, because of the little deceptive game he had played.
She hated herself for it, but she felt proud. Proud of him. Proud of the work he had done, even if it had destroyed her in the process.
It killed her to admit it, but she couldn't say no. She agreed to be a witness, not for him-never for him. Not even for herself. She did it for the people in those files, for the lives that had been spared because of this twisted, cruel game he had played.
And as much as it broke her to admit it, a part of her wanted to see him one last time. To see the satisfaction in his eyes, to know that he was doing what he loved-even if it had come at the cost of her shattered life. Because somewhere, buried under the pain and betrayal, her heart still ached for him. It always would.
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On the day of the hearing, when she saw him standing in the rain, everything inside her froze. He was just standing there, getting soaked, looking at her like he hadn't seen her in forever. and for that split second, she forgot how to breathe. She hadn't even seen his face in months, didn't even have one picture of him to hold on to. His face was starting to fade from her memory, becoming blurry, and it hurt more than she could bear. How could she be so bad at remembering his face?
But when he was really there, standing in front of her after all those months, she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye.
She couldn't look at him. She was afraid that if she did, even for a second, she would break down. Her heart was pounding in her chest, so hard and fast she thought it might shatter. The rush of emotions felt like a weight on her chest, the anxiety spreading through her body, threatening to drown her. It wasn't good for her-not good for the little life she carried. So she looked away, reminding herself, over and over, that he wasn't there for her. She didn't matter to him.
But later, after the hearing, when she saw him again in the parking lot, it wasn't the man she remembered. it was like a different person had taken over him. His eyes were wild, full of anger, as he dragged her out of her colleague's car, treating her like nothing more than something to control. He didn't care about her. He didn't care what she wanted. As if everything was normal, as if he hadn't betrayed her.
He pretended like he cared, like he was still the man who once loved her, but she saw through it. It was all a lie. All an act for his family. She wasn't even sure if this was really his house or just another part of the game he was playing with her life. Another plan to use her, to make her feel like she mattered, only to throw her away again when he was done.
Now, she was stuck in this strange room, alone again. Was this really the life she was meant to have?
