1. HIS RULES
AAROHI:
The ring still felt warm on my finger. I kept my eyes on it as the warehouse door slammed shut behind us.
The bright light inside faded, leaving only the dim yellow glow of the outside lamp. It flickered like it was struggling to stay alive, exactly how I felt.
The night wind brushed the side of my face as Veeransh started walking, and the two men fell into step behind him. I was pushed from the back-politely, almost gently, but enough to remind me I had no control over my feet anymore. They belonged to him now. Everything did.
The graveled ground crunched beneath my shoes, each step sharp in my ears. My body was moving, but my mind lagged behind, stuck in the warehouse, stuck on his voice, echoing over and over:
Sign it... or she dies. My stomach heaved.
The car waited just a few feet away, black, glossy, tinted windows so dark they swallowed reflections. The back door clicked open.
I didn't want to step inside, but my legs trembled and folded on instinct, as if fear had already trained me to obey. I slid into the back seat. Cold leather brushed the bare skin of my arms, and I shivered.
The door shut behind me with a soft thud. I flinched as the lock snapped down. That sound traveled through my ribs like a nail.
Veeransh entered from the other side. No hurry. No emotion. He simply sat down next to me as if this was a scheduled appointment, and I was nothing more than paperwork.
He didn't look at me. He didn't need to.His presence filled every inch of air between us. The car began to move. Smooth. Silent. Like a predator gliding.
I pressed my palm into my skirt, trying to stop the trembling in my hands. My fingers dug into the fabric, breath caught in my throat with every inhale, sharp enough to hurt.
Ask, I told myself. Ask about Maa. Say something.
"M-Ma..." The word snapped inside my throat, breaking into pieces. Veeransh didn't turn his head. I swallowed, forcing my tongue to move.
"M-my mother... is she... is..." My voice disappeared on the last word, swallowed by the dark interior. I stared at him, waiting.
Even the passing streetlights outside reflected off his profile like he was carved from polished stone.
The man in the passenger seat adjusted the rearview mirror. His eyes met mine for a second, assessing, before he looked away as though observing prey too broken to bother with.
I tried again. "P-please... c-can I j-just... j-just know if she-"
"She's alive," he said suddenly. My body sagged with relief so intense it hurt.
"For now."
The relief died instantly. A cold wave slid from my scalp down my spine. My hands went numb. The engine hummed softly, too softly.
Veeransh's gaze stayed forward, never acknowledging the destruction he'd caused in one breath. "If you behave," he said, "she stays alive. If you don't-" He tapped his watch lightly with a single finger.
"Time is never on your side." My eyes slid to the window. Udaipur's familiar streets were passing by: the bookstore with faded posters, the street dog that slept near the temple.
All the places I knew were thinning out, fading behind us. I felt myself fading with them. My fingers inched toward the door handle. I didn't even know why. I wasn't brave. I wasn't someone who fought. But the handle was right there. Just a touch away.
If the car slowed at a traffic light... If I pushed hard enough... If I ran fast...
My hand brushed the cold metal. "Don't," Veeransh said quietly.
I jerked back as if burned. He still hadn't looked at me. That somehow made it worse. The way he could sense even the smallest movement.
"There is nowhere you can run where I can't find you," he said.
His voice wasn't threatening. Just stating a fact. My lungs shrank until I felt hollow.Outside, rain began to fall-light at first, then heavier.
Droplets slid down the window, blurring the city lights. Each streak looked like a tear I couldn't afford to shed.
The driver turned onto a broader road, leaving the familiar chaos behind. No more honking scooters or crowded sidewalks. Just long stretches of empty road, lined with expensive houses I'd only ever walked past from a distance.
I wrapped my arms around myself, the seatbelt digging into my shoulder. A question rose in my throat, fragile and small.
"Why... m-me?" The last word tripped over my tongue, quiet and broken.
Veeransh's jaw flexed once. "I needed someone who had nothing," he said. "Thia makes easier for me."
My heart cracked. Not loudly. Not dramatically. Just a thin, quiet split. Clean. He thought destroying my life was clean. I lowered my eyes, afraid they would betray the shaking inside me.
Something inside the car beeped softly. A message notification on his phone. He ignored it, but the brief glow lit his face, carving sharp angles with the light. For a second-just a second-I saw something else there.
Not kindness. No regret. Nothing soft. Just... emptiness.
A hollow kind of silence behind his eyes. It scared me more than anything. The city disappeared entirely. The road narrowed. Tall trees rose on both sides.
The car slowed. I sat up straighter without meaning to. Through the rain smeared glass, I saw lights in the distance. Not streetlights. Not houses.
Something bigger. Brighter. Colder. The car's tires crunched over gravel. The men in the front exchanged a quick glance. My chest tightened. We were arriving.
The world outside the window shifted into something enormous... dangerous. My pulse stopped for half a second.
A gate. A massive one..
The car rolled forward, slowing to a crawl as the iron gates loomed closer. I pressed my hand lightly to the window, breath trembling against the glass. This wasn't a home. It was the entrance to a life that became cruel as hell in the future.
The car finally halted, rain tapping against the roof like impatient fingers. One of the guards stepped forward with an umbrella, peering inside the tinted window.
I stared at him. He stared at me.
And then his eyes widened just slightly, as if realizing something scandalous. Before I could parse it, the guard stepped back and signaled. The iron gates groaned as they began to open.
Slowly. Painfully. Like every second was sealing my fate further. My breath hitched. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. And the car crept forward, deeper toward the lights, deeper into his world...
Deeper into the place I wasn't sure I would ever escape. The iron gates clanged shut behind us.
The trees thickened around the winding driveway. The headlights swept across manicured hedges, stone fountains, statues that looked too ancient and too expensive.
It felt like the kind of place where even the shadows obeyed someone. The car pulled into a wide circular drive, stopping before a mansion so large I couldn't see where it ended. Pillars. Balconies.
Windows lit in warm gold that somehow felt colder than the rain outside. I swallowed hard, fingers twisting into each other. The door opened before I even reached for it.
A man in a dark uniform stood there, rigid posture, expression blank. Not surprised. Not curious. Like he was trained not to react at all. He held an umbrella over the doorway, but his eyes barely flicked toward me.
"Madam," he said stiffly.
The word didn't feel like it belonged to me. My legs hesitated before moving. The stone steps glistened with rain, each one lit from below like a stage.
The air smelled luxurious, expensive cologne, and something sterile like polished floors and rules.
As I stepped out, more figures emerged from the shadows, guards positioned along the driveway, lining the entrance. They weren't just standing. They were watching. Alert.
More security than anyone needed. For a girl like me. My throat tightened. I heard the soft click of a door. Veeransh exited the car. Every guard immediately straightened. Heads bowed. Bodies tensed.
He didn't acknowledge a single one of them. His hand brushed past me-not touching, just close enough to be felt, and he walked forward. I followed because my feet wouldn't dare stay behind.
Inside the mansion, the entrance hall stretched wide and silent, marble floors gleaming under high chandeliers. A staircase spiraled upward. Staff members lined the walls, maids, servants, security, someone who looked like an indoor manager. Their eyes slid over me quickly.
Not kindly.
Not cruelly.
Just... silently judging.
I lowered my gaze. A faint echo followed us down the long corridor, my footsteps struggled to keep up with Veeransh's controlled stride. The silence was suffocating, heavy enough to press against my ribs.
I opened my mouth once. To ask where I was going. To ask if Maa was really safe. To ask anything.
But the words stuck like poison in my throat.
We reached a smaller hallway. The lights dimmed here, shadows collecting in corners. The staff didn't follow us past this point. Even the security paused near the entrance like they weren't allowed beyond.
My breathing tightened. Veeransh walked. I followed. We stopped at a door at the very end of the corridor. He opened it. Not with impatience. Not with gentleness.
Just... intent.
"Go inside," he said.
His voice didn't need to rise. It didn't need to force me. My feet moved on their own, carrying me into a quiet room. A bedroom. But not like one I'd ever seen. Large but empty. Elegant but lifeless.
A bed, a wardrobe, a small side table. Curtains drawn tightly shut. Air conditioning humming softly. Too quiet. A room meant for containment, not comfort. The door closed behind me.
Veeransh didn't stay near it. He walked two steps into the room, enough to trap me between the walls and his presence.
He didn't sit. He didn't remove his coat. He didn't soften.
"We have rules," he said. I froze. Rules. My fingers curled involuntarily. He looked at me then, his first direct look since the warehouse. It felt like a blade pressed against my skin.
"These rules are not suggestions," he continued.
"They are conditions for your mother's continued safety. And for yours."
My heartbeat thudded, unsteady and loud. He raised one hand slightly, listing them with calm precision.
Rule 1: A "You do not leave this room unless I call for you." A tremor ran through me.
A cage. A gilded prison.
Rule 2: "You do not speak unless spoken to." My lips parted in reflex, but no sound came. Maybe that counted as obedience.
Rule 3: "You do not ask questions." The floor seemed to tilt under me.
Rule 4: "You do not touch anything in this house without permission." His eyes flicked once to my hands, as if expecting them to disobey already.
Rule 5: "You do not step near the windows." A cold shiver crawled across my arms.
Rule 6: "You do not attempt to communicate with anyone else in this house."
I swallowed hard. Not even the maids... Not even the guards... Completely isolated.
Rule 7: "You will be presentable at all times when I summon you." The way he said it made my stomach twist.
Rule 8: "You will not remove the ring." My finger pulsed around the ring like it had fused with bone.
Rule 9: "You will sleep here. Eat here. Stay here." My breath hitched painfully. He didn't blink.
Rule 10: "If you disobey even one rule, the punishment will be immediate."
I didn't breathe. I didn't blink. I stood utterly still because my body didn't trust itself anymore. Punishment. Immediate.
No mercy. No hesitation.
His face remained expressionless as if he were reading from a contract instead of dictating the terms of my existence. He turned slightly toward the door, his voice dropping lower.
"You don't have to like these rules," he said. "You only have to follow them if you want your mother alive tomorrow."
My knees weakened. He took one step closer, not touching me, but closing the air around me until I felt pinned against the quiet walls.
"And you will follow them." It wasn't an order. It was a certainty.
He turned away before I could find air again.
The door opened. A sliver of light from the hallway stretched across the carpet. He walked out. The door shut with a soft click. The lock slid into place. I stared at it. Not daring to breathe too loudly.
Not daring to move. Not daring to exist.
The room was silent. I was alone. But his rules lingered in the air like invisible chains tightening around my throat.