Kiaan

******

Enzo had informed me there were attackers out there, some trained goons with weapons, trying to breach the entrance from both front and backside. Even though my security was tight, the armed men were in huge numbers. Two of my guards were already killed, which wasn't good news. I wasn’t expecting that. Not that I underestimated my enemies, but attacking me in broad daylight was never done by any enemy I have. It could be possible that the marriage news fueled someone enough to plan this attack, yet I knew the people who would be affected by this news would never plan an immature attack like that. The back entrance was secured enough, and since the front entrance had more goons in number, I headed there first.

There were almost seven men whom I could see putting up a fight with my security, but the firing was done from a distance as well, so it was apparent there were more. Before heading out, I checked for the live footage of the recorded area on my phone. There were some devices installed on top of some trees, hidden well from the naked eye. Those devices served a multi-purpose. They could record the view upto large distance, and their recording was synced with my phone so I could access them anytime. Also, they were harmful because they had bullets installed in them, as those devices could be used for firing, too. It just needed to be accessed remotely.

When I checked the footage, I could see my hidden targets. There were many moving close to my house. I had one device aimed at a man hiding behind bushes and pressed the button on my phone. The devices had a silencer installed, too, so no noise was made while I kept targeting the hidden enemies. There was a rush of panic among them as they started hurling curses and firing aimlessly, not knowing where the bullets were being fired from. In that attempt, two of the devices got hit.

Shit! That was not right.

I had one device left now, and I needed to be strategic before targeting the rest of the goons hiding. I had noticed Enzo hidden away from enemies’ eyes, so it was safe for me to call him without having him get distracted. He picked up the call instantly as if he awaited my further orders.

“Enzo, clear the path for up to three hundred meters and hide closer to the entrance block. Make sure everyone is following my orders.”

“Got it, Sir.”

The entrance block was a small room, compact, enclosed, and the perfect hiding spot for my team. I wanted the goons to believe the path was clear. Once they moved in, Enzo would deploy the grenade, and I would take out the ones still hidden, using the one device that was left intact and wasn’t destroyed yet.

“They should be gone in one blow, Enzo.”

“They will be,” he assured me.

As planned, my team cleared the path, making the goons believe they had killed them. I was already targeting the hidden goons. They moved ahead, ruggedly, arrogantly, and they were going to pay the price for it. When I started aiming at the hidden goons, Enzo deployed the grenade. In one blow they were almost out except for two who decided to run away because they were low in numbers. Enzo chased them. Now, instead of following them, I headed to the back entrance. There were no devices installed in the back entrance, as that path was not known to outsiders, yet the enemies had found out about its existence somehow.

As I headed towards the back entrance, I had thought everything would have been handled by my team already, but the scene in front of me alarmed me more than the front entrance did. Three of my men were lying dead there. It boiled my blood to see the bloodshed of my men and not my enemies. The fence's barbed wire was burned. Two of my men struggled to block the path of one gigantic man.

Something was not right.

How could one single man be capable of all that?

Not everyone was like me, who was capable of doing that.

There had to be a catch I was missing.

The back entrance was a path that led to the nearby forest. Since there were no devices, I could not get a view of the real scene. Putting myself out there without being aware of the threat was a fool’s play, and I could not waste time, for I didn’t want to lose any more of my men. I needed to know the threat, and I could only think of one solution. A drone.

I rushed to the room where I had kept such devices. I took out the drone and had it flown with a small device attached to it, making sure it wasn't visible. I flew the drone in a way so that it was hidden behind the tall trees. Though I knew its sound could make the goons alert, that's why I needed to hurry. The live stream of the drone was received on my phone, and there I got a clear view of what was happening. One armed man was fighting, while there were three more hiding behind a van parked at a distance. The van was meticulously hidden. When I moved the drone closer, I saw the van was filled with all kinds of weapons, and that was how they were leading there.

Once the drone was close to the vehicle, I had the device drop, which was basically a small explosive device. When the device fell on the top of the van, there was an explosion, causing the van to catch fire. One of the men out of three died, the second was severely injured, and the third was injured too, but not enough. From where I stood hiding, I could easily shoot the nearest camouflaged water tank, making a hole in it. The water started gushing out, calming the fire that erupted because of the explosion, and it made the path slippery and muddy. I had multiple camouflaged water tanks placed for scenarios like these. Never knew I would ever have to use them. I was still in the room where the drones and explosives were kept, and from where I could get a clear view. It had a large window where I operated from, but now it was time to be in the arena.

I rushed out, but I hid behind the trunk of this huge tree. The man who was severely injured had crawled to where the one man was fighting with my team. I aimed at him and fired. My bullet went straight through his head, tearing his skull, and he lay on the ground lifeless. The third man, who was less injured, had not come out of his hiding spot, and the gigantic goon got distracted, too, seeing his buddy lifeless beside him.

He started backing off, was about to run away, so I chased him. He slipped in the mud before I could reach him. Before he could get up, I grabbed his hair and hit his head on the muddy path.

“Who sent you?” I roared.

I had that asshole turn to me, still holding his hair. He tried buckling me down, holding my right leg, but I kicked him with my other leg hard in his stomach. I punched his face, once, twice, thrice, until I could see his eyes turning black, blood oozing out of his skin.

He started laughing, though, infuriating me more and more. His laugh was a fuel to my rage. I grabbed his shirt, pulled him up in one move, and thrashed his body to the nearest tree trunk. His body slumped on the floor again with the force, and he coughed up blood now. I did not let him get even a moment to breathe or recover as I took three long strides to get closer to him and put my foot on his throat. He clawed at my foot with both of his hands, struggling and trying to push me away. His breaths shallow, eyes rolled back for a second before snapping forward again, wide and bloodshot.

I knew he saw me as his grim reaper, about to collect his soul, but before that, I needed to know who had sent him.

“I asked, WHO SENT YOU?” I bellowed, finally easing the pressure on his throat just enough for him to speak.

He coughed violently.

Then again.

Blood spilled from his mouth, splattering onto the black, polished leather of my shoes.

I didn’t move.

Didn’t flinch.

I just stared down at him, waiting.

He stayed silent.

But there was one person he couldn’t stop looking at, someone from his team who was still alive.

The third man, the one who wasn’t badly injured, was hiding close behind the bushes. I had noticed him watching us in fear, and the one I was about to kill also kept glancing in his direction.

Their faces were too similar to be a coincidence.

And the way his gaze kept returning to him, despite the pain, despite the blood, made it obvious. They were brothers.

He was not ready to talk, but he sure was going to when I held his weakness on my gunpoint. That’s exactly what I did.

“Tell me, or I'll shoot….” I pointed my gun in the direction his brother was hiding and said,“...Him…”

The fear in his eyes was something that could make even a devil cave in and surrender. His face had turned ashen, and it was time he spoke.

I expected a name. Instead, he delivered me my destruction.

“Better….better watch out for….for your wife….”

And then it hit me. It was not about me. They weren’t there for me.

Tara.

I eyed my team, giving them a silent order to take over, and I ran…. because my whole world was at stake.

When I burst inside the room where the secret passage was, it felt like the earth beneath me slipped away. My breath stopped for a moment. It felt like my gruesome past replayed in front of me. The only difference was that before it was someone else as the perpetrator, and this time…. it was Shayla.

And she was holding a gun, aimed straight at my wife.

******

Simran

******

“PUT THE GUN AWAY, SHAYLA.”

I had never known that one day there would come a time when I would crave nothing more than to just hug my husband. And for the first time in years, the source of my hope was none other than him. I smiled, almost, tears spilled now as I looked at him. He stood there, alive. His state wasn’t fine, though. There were blood stains on his clothes mixed with mud. His knuckles were bleeding; those red droplets created a stream right where he stood. I wanted to run to him, to soak myself in his presence. I wanted to hold him tight with no intention of letting him go ever, but I was held at gunpoint by none other than Shayla, our housestaff head.

This would not have happened if I had just listened to my husband and left just like he had told me.

But how could I have left him behind?

I did not leave.

I knew I was not going to leave right when he told me more than once that I must leave after an hour passed while I waited for him. I had hope that he would come to me. He had promised he would be fine and he would find me, but when Shayla came to the hiding spot and said Kiaan was shot, I…I lost my mind. It felt like someone carved my heart out and squeezed the life out of it. I left everything behind and rushed out. I did not care about the gun, the bag, or anything except that I needed to be with Kiaan, that I needed to save him.

But it was all a plot, and I found myself to be a target.

It was all my fault, but how could I not run to the one man my heart still beat for? Yes, the moment of threat made me realize my heart never stopped beating for him. My feelings for him never caved; they were just hiding. They were hiding behind the cloak of my pain, which I thought was hatred. But the truth was, I never actually hated Kiaan. And I knew that I never will.

Kiaan stood only a few feet apart, but it felt like miles to cover. Shayla, standing between us, didn’t seem like just a woman keeping us apart, rather she appeared like a timeline in years. The more I stood there helpless, the more pain I felt for the man who just fought a war to get to me. My lips quivered as I choked on a sob. That very moment, I saw fear flashing in his eyes, spreading across his features. He did not hide it behind his poker face, unlike always.

Kiaan Chauhan never gets scared but he did when back in our room he mentioned that forgetting me was never an option, which I didn’t understand what he meant by that. And now the gun pointed at me had his face pale. This was not normal.

“You lied to me,” Shayla said to him, looking dejected as if Kiaan betrayed her in any way or maybe broke her trust.

Kiaan didn’t look at her, didn’t pay attention to her at all. His eyes stayed on me. A fearful smile appeared on his face to assure me that everything was fine, that he would make everything alright. He put his hand over his chest, assuring me. As if he was saying, ‘I am here for you.’

I felt each unsaid word of his, and that had me sob again. It affected him more. I saw his expression change, and he looked angrier now. He looked at Shayla. She looked scared of him, as if she saw her death awaiting, yet she didn’t move an inch, like she was ready to accept death, but only after killing me.

“Shayla, I said, put that fucking gun down.” His voice was gentle and calm, and he was moving closer to me, cautiously, making sure it did not appear that way. He was slow and calculated with every step. I was scared for him, but I trusted him. I knew he was smart, and he knew what he was doing. When at Dhruv Bhaiya’s reception, the venue was attacked by some goons, he was the one who saved me and took me to a safe spot. He didn’t let even a breath of harsh air touch me then, when I was nobody to him, so how could he let anyone hurt me now when I am his wife?

“She does not deserve to live,” Shayla yelled, staring at me with rage-filled eyes. I was clueless all this time that Shayla harbored that much hate for me. But I guess people are so good at hiding nowadays that they conceal their true feelings. Just like how I hid from even myself that I still cared for Kiaan, that I still had feelings for him.

Shayla kept shouting about how I was a monster and how I should never have been born. But the more she spoke, the more I could feel my husband’s rage building and emanating from him, closing in on us. This anger of his was threatening, predatory. It seemed as if she offended him by daring to say I did not deserve to live. His finger slid over the trigger of the gun he was holding.

Was he going to shoot her?

I shivered at the mere thought of it.

“Let her go. Think of your family.”

Kiaan was closer now. I wished to take a leap of faith and just loosen myself in his arms.

“Everything is ruined already, what more there is left?”

Kiaan was really close, and I didn’t want Shayla to focus more on him, so I tried distracting her.

“Shayla, we can talk, okay. Tell me what I did… Why do you hate me so much?”

“No…” She shouted and shot the vase nearby, shattering it into pieces. I screamed, covering my ears. The gunshot sound was scarier and clearer. The pieces of the broken vase stuck in my arm and my feet, and I lost my balance. I did not know how, but when I fell, I did not touch the ground. I did fall, but in my husband’s arms. He was holding me securely, sitting on the floor.

“I have got you.” He chanted. It didn’t feel like he was assuring me, but rather himself. And when he hugged me tighter than ever, I could hear his throbbing heartbeat vibrating through his chest. It felt like it would explode any moment.

I held him so tight as if I was moulding into his arms.

“I am sorry….I am so sorry…” I cried in his arms as I breathed into his scent.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, sweetheart. You were so brave, you are so brave.” While still staying in the same position, he aimed his gun at Shayla.

“You dare threaten my wife with that gun? My wife?” His rage simmered like lava from a volcano. I felt that warmth as his body was heated up.

“I will make you regret being alive, Shayla. What happened to you was bad, but I am capable of doing worse. If I can give you a life, then I can take it back from you as well.”

“I…I didn’t have a choice.” Shayla fumbled in fear. I couldn’t understand any of the conversation happening, and I was still scared. Shayla still had a gun, and I just wanted her to give up on whatever her mission was.

“You had a choice. But you chose to ruin it, didn’t you? I did give you a choice, but you chose your death.”

Before Kiaan took any major steps, I tried stopping him.

“No. Kiaan, no. Please….” I pleaded, shaking my head. I did not want him to kill her. I did not know Shayla much, but it was obvious she was under some kind of influence. I did not want him to cover his hands with more blood than it was already covered with.

“She's that monster’s daughter. She is evil just like her mother,” she yelled, crying.

I froze.

My mother? What did she mean by my mother?

The determined, angry gaze of Shayla bore holes into me, and all I could think of was how she knew my mother and what she had to do anything with Shayla.

Before I could grasp the situation or even ask her what she meant, another bullet was fired.

Kiaan had shot her. He did not kill her but shot at her wrist, causing her grip to loosen on the gun, which fell. I knew Kiaan would have killed her, but for some reason, he didn’t, and that reason was clear when he said, “I would have emptied all my bullets in you if not for my wife.”

At that moment, Enzo and three other men came running inside.

“Take her away, Enzo. You know what you have to do.” Enzo nodded at Kiaan’s order, held Shayla’s arm, taking her away.

Once they were gone, Kiaan cupped my cheeks, after keeping his gun aside and wiping my tears with his thumb. He didn’t say anything, just stared at me like he was memorizing every inch of my face. But then, for a moment, I saw his face pale, looking behind me. In just another second, he switched our positions, covering me completely, making sure I was cocooned in his arms, and then I heard another shot.

My heart stopped.

Someone had shot in our direction from outside the window.

Nothing passed through me, but the sound was so loud it appeared it did. It’s just that I did not become the target. Kiaan was holding me tight. And the way I could see holding was not the right term to use, but shielding. He put himself between me and the bullet without giving it a thought. Red came out of his body. I could see nothing but red, breathe nothing but red, feel nothing but red, and my hands were covered with my husband’s blood.

******

“No, no, no, no ….” I hiccuped, struggling to breathe.

“I am fine…” He grunted. He struggled to speak. Blood oozed out of his body, and I felt my body shaking. I didn’t want to lose him. I knew I would not survive if something ever happened to him.

“You are…are hurt….” I heaved for breath. I had to do something, anything to make him better.

“I am fine. It’s fine.”

“Hel…help…” I tried speaking, but my voice broke and came out in bits. It was not loud enough.

“Help…” I tried yelling, shouting, but my voice had become so weak, and my throat ached.

“Someone please help…” I shouted on top of my lungs, and my eyes got blurry.

I kept screaming. Enzo and the three men from the security team came back running inside.

“I….I need to find it….find something….I…” I tried getting up, trying to find something to stop the blood flow, but Kiaan held me tighter and screamed, ”Tara….”

“I am fine. The bullet passed through me. It was a graze.” I jolted out of shock. The bullet didn’t go inside of me but touch his arm, but it could have. And I could have lost him forever. I shook in fear as I cried, and I hugged him so tight, sobbing like a child.

“It’s okay, baby. Everything is okay,” he cooed to me throughout until I was calm enough to move; until I was assured he was fine, alive, and breathing.

******

Kiaan

******

The cops were there. I had thought I would handle the mess without anyone getting involved, but some stupid reporters who had been hiding closer to my mansion after the wedding news heard the gunshots and called the cops. Glad that it was Jai who came with his team. I had to call Xavier, too, because if I had not, my wife would have taken me to a hospital instead.

Honestly, I would have handled my wound, but my wife didn't let me. She was so cautious, scared, and worried about it that she had been watching every step Xavier took, from cleaning the wound to bandaging it.

“It’s done now. It’s just a scratch, so it will heal in a few days,” Xavier said, giving her a small smile.

“See, just a scratch,” I murmured to her.

“What about the medicines?” She asked Xavier.

“It was just a scratch,” I said, but she didn’t pay heed to that; rather stared at Xavier with hope.

“Oh, he needs to take a hell lot of them. Here is the list.”

Xavier wrote a long list of medicines just to grate my nerves, of course.

Fucker!

He was enjoying my state. And why wouldn’t he? Not every day one gets to witness Kiaan Chauhan injured and being treated like a baby by his wife.

“What about her wounds?” I asked this time. The pieces of broken vase had made small cuts into her arm and feet. Though I had treated them before he even arrived, I needed to be sure she was fine.

“It’s much better than yours. Give it a day, and it will heal. Besides, you already fixed it. I mean, why even bother to call me when you love playing a doctor?”

God! Now was not the time to sulk, but he was acting like a child because I treated my wife’s wound. How could I have let her sit with pain? So I made sure she was treated the moment she got calm in my arms.

Jai and the other cops asked us some questions. I knew Jai would wrap this case, and it was all for formality, but I needed to handle reporters now who had made this shootout a headline on their channels. I had started receiving their calls, but I didn’t pick up. I was talking to Jai about how he was going to wrap this case, and my wife was cuddled close to me on the couch, almost sleepy and holding me tight, when I heard a familiar voice.

“Simran…” I looked up to find my mother staring at us with teary eyes. She wasn’t alone. Everyone from the family was there, even Arjun and Hredhaan had rushed to my place.

“Mom…” She whispered, acknowledging my mother as hers too. Simran got up from the couch, and my mother rushed to her and hugged her.

“Oh, thank God, you’re fine. It’s okay, beta. It’s alright now.” Simran cried, while Mom cajoled her the way she would soothe her own daughter.

Dhruv, Namit, Arjun, and Hredhaan came to me.

“Turned into some blood bath,” Arjun commented while looking at the blood splattered around.

“Who did it?” Dhruv asked.

“Shayla,” I replied. I didn’t want to share many details, even when I knew Shayla alone could not have pulled that stunt. She was just a weapon used by someone.

“Your staff?” Namit queried, shocked and angry.

“She has some mental issues. They took her to a mental hospital first.” I didn’t want Shayla in jail because she was just a puppet, and whoever was behind it would definitely try to kill her, so I secured her in a mental asylum and had some guards appointed there for her safety.

“Trying to save your staff? That’s so not like you.” Hredhaan remarked, knowing well that I pull the trigger first and then find out the real culprit. I was not a messiah of mercy, so my act of putting her in an asylum was obviously a little shocking for them.

“It would be so fun to discover what you are hiding,” Arjun remarked. They all grasped already that it wasn’t just a mere shootout. While everyone stayed silent, Arjun teased me enough to rile me up. I knew these men would try to find out the truth behind it, but I didn’t want any of them involved, not until I wanted them in. So I tried to warn them off with a threat.

“Try meddling in my business, any of you, and I will make sure you guys are starved for months.”

“Scary jibe…” Dhruv commented with a smirk on his face while I rolled my eyes at him.

“You are bothering him?” Saavi stood there with Dhriti, looking at their husbands angrily. They were teary. The last thing I ever wanted was for them to cry because of me.

“I……muffin, I would never.” Dhruv panicked because even he could not see her in that state. Both Dhriti and Saavi then sat on either side of me on the couch.

“Are you okay?” Saavi asked, staring at the bandage on my arm.

“It’s just a scratch,” I shrugged, smiling.

“Does not look like it.” My sister sniffled.

“Not you two now. I am fine. Seriously.” Before I knew it, the girls were crying, hugging me like two little girls.

I hated it when either of them cried. I would have covered things up if not for those reporters. Now, I have an anxious family around me to deal with. But I guess it was better that they were there, because Simran needed them. Mom, Dad, and even Grandpa, who was against my marriage, were trying to cheer her up, and at that moment, she needed that.

******

Simran

******

We were at Grandpa’s place now. Di and Saavi also decide to stay there with us for a few days. Since the mansion became a crime site it had to be inspected thoroughly, and we could not live there, so Kiaan and I moved to Grandpa's place with some of our stuff.

I had taken a quick shower and changed into fresh pajamas. No one left me alone even for a moment. Even while I was showering, Di, Saavi, and Maasi stayed in the room.

We were now seated on the cushioned carpet in the garden, basking under the warm sunlight of the setting sun. Grandpa had recently picked up a hobby of growing vegetables, and he had plucked some of them. He was excitedly showing me everything he’d grown in the garden, like a proud kid.

Not only that, he announced that he would cook dinner.

Maasi immediately started teasing him, saying he was old and shouldn’t act like a young man. Grandpa rolled his eyes at her and then started discussing very seriously that he would cook drumsticks.

Saavi seemed fine with the idea. Di and Maasi, on the other hand, made weird faces, clearly not liking it.

“You know what,” Grandpa said, “the drumsticks would taste better with potatoes.”

“Nooo…” Di and Maasi’s eyes widened in shock as they shook their heads vigorously.

“I didn’t ask you guys….”

Then Grandpa turned to me. “Simmi, beta, do you like them?”

“I like it only in sambhar,” I replied honestly, a sincere smile on my lips.

“Then we’re having sambhar tonight,” Grandpa announced excitedly.

He looked at Saavi. “Saavi, honey, up for it?”

“Always, Grandpa,” she said, matching his excitement.

Di and Maasi narrowed their eyes at Grandpa, but he only scoffed and said, “You both like sambhar too, so stop sulking now.”

Di and Maasi burst into laughter, enjoying every second of annoying him.

******

Everyone around me was not acting cautiously, but none of them talked about what happened. They did not show pity either. It felt like a normal day, with my family, my people. But every loud hit, every echo, alarmed me, froze me.

And I was pretending.

Pretending I was fine.
Pretending the loud voices weren’t crawling through my veins.
Pretending the gunshots weren’t still echoing in my head.
Pretending I wasn’t terrified that I would lose my husband.

My husband? Yes, him….the man I pretended to hate…The man whose eyes were burning holes in me from where he sat a few feet ago. He was watching me consistently, without blinking, as if scared I would vanish. I was scared too, scared for the man I claimed to hate that he would vanish.

The evening went on like that, and soon it was time for dinner.

The dinner was loud.

The plates clinked with the cutlery, the laughs overlapped, every scrap of the chair felt like someone’s hand on the trigger. Every sound of plates touching the table felt like a bang sound in the distance.

This family loved me a lot. They were talking to me, trying to make me feel at ease, making me laugh. I was doing all of that, listening, talking, laughing, but… I was slipping away. It was getting difficult to breathe. Something in me was having its hold on my throat.

All of a sudden, I pushed myself off the chair. I could not take it anymore. Everyone’s facade broke. Now they all looked at me like I was vulnerable, someone to be pitied.

“I…I need to check up on Popcorn and Biscuit,” I lied and walked away. Every step felt heavy, every move felt forced, and when I was back into the room, I closed the door behind me, but didn’t lock it. And as I took a few more steps, I fell to the ground, on my knees, asphyxiating, gasping for air.

I didn’t hear the door creak open, but I knew he was there. My back was turned to the door. I could not see him, but could feel him close. He always came for me. Every time the darkness tried to pull me into its realm, he was always there. It’s just that I started noticing it now.

“I can’t…I can’t…breathe…” I struggled to speak.

He took one stride, and he was there, crouching in front of me. Anger was visible on his face, his eyes red, but it was not for me.

“I am going to touch you,” he said. He did not simply touch me but held me and pulled me closer.

“The plates… the… voices… everything…” I heaved, struggling to tell him how all of it made me feel.

“Gunshots…” he finished.

He knew, even before I said it, that I kept hearing those gunshots.

My breath quickened, and his jaw tightened.

“You are not slipping away. I am not letting that happen.” He was resolute as he held me steady in his arms.

I gripped his T-shirt tighter with my fingers, like it was my anchor.

“I thought you were…” I couldn’t tell him how terrified I was that he would vanish, but his expression told me he understood.

He understood everything.

He took my hand and pressed it to his chest, where I could feel his heartbeat against my palm.

“Listen to it, loud and clear. I am alive. I am here with you… No one is taking me away from you…”

Tears blurred my vision. I wasn’t weak, but this incident changed something. It was as if it had awakened a vulnerable part of me, one that had been hiding without me even realising it.

“Look at me.”

I followed his command and looked up at him, my eyes still burning with tears.

“Breathe with me… for me…”

“I can’t.” I shook my head, struggling.

“Yes, you can,” he said, unyielding.

“Because I won’t let you drown.”

“In,” he said.

I inhaled shakily.

“Out.”

I exhaled, broken.

Again.
Again.
And again.

“I am not letting you go, firefly. Not this time.”

It wasn’t a cute promise of love.

It was a vow. Dark. Possessive. Obsessive.

Somehow, my breathing began to steady: slower, calmer. My body felt too weak, and I rested my head against his shoulder. One of my hands was still on his heart, anchoring me, grounding me.

He froze for a moment, then pulled an arm around me and held me tighter, as if his earlier hold hadn’t been enough.

“Still hate me?” he whispered, brushing a strand of hair away from my ear before pressing a soft kiss there.

I shivered in his arms as I replied, “I don’t know.”

I lied, though.

I didn’t hate him.

“You should.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s real. Honest.”

I looked at him with sincerity as I said, “I can be honest and real without hating you, can’t I?”

His eyes darkened.

“Careful, firefly,” he said softly. “Once you step onto that path, you’ll drown.”

“You won’t save me then?”

He paused, then brought his face closer.

“No,” he said.

Then, quieter, darker, he added, “I will drown with you instead.”

Our eyes met as we sat that close in each other’s arms, willingly. Our faces were only inches apart, our breaths mingling. His tap on my wrist had me gasping, as if he was putting life into me.

I stared at his lips, then back at his eyes.

His finger dug into my back as he pulled me closer. Now it wasn’t an inch left between us, but...

And there it was again.

The loud voices. The thud of a door somewhere far away, breaking the moment.

I flinched.

He tightened his hold on my wrist.

“I will sit with you through every nightmare,” he promised, “chasing and killing those monsters away.”

He tapped my pulse again as he said, “This will never stop.”

“And if someone dares to hurt you again…”

He didn’t finish.

He didn’t have to.

Because I knew he would eliminate anyone who ever tried to hurt me, and it wouldn’t be a surprise or a shock.

That’s how my husband functioned.

“You scare me.”

“Good.”

“Will you ever stop scaring me?”

“Are you sure this is fear you feel about me?” he asked quietly.

“And not a thrill you’ve never experienced?”

He had the last word, and I was left speechless. I didn’t answer. But I knew what it was I felt. If it had been fear, I would have hide myself from him.

It was never fear; it was the thrill of what came next.

******

Hi Lovelies,

I hope you all are doing well. 🤗

Did you guys ever doubt Shayla? 🤔

But what did Simran's mother have to do anything with Shayla? Wait! Not Simran's mother, but Tara's. 😉

What do you all think would happen now? 🤔

I can't reveal much, except that the romance part officially starts from here. 🎊🎺💃🕺

Do share your views about the chapter. It would mean a lot to me. ❤️

Thanks,

Shrishtee