Ch 17Bound by Trust, Guarded by Fire
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Trigger Warning: This chapter contains scenes that may be disturbing or triggering for some readers. Please proceed at your own discretion.
If anything happened to Rivanya today, Rudraksh would never forgive himself.
Rudraksh Vardhan - a man who wouldn't blink even if death stood before him - had fear burning in his eyes for the first time.
No matter how much he argued with her, fought her, or proclaimed to the world that Rivanya was not his wife...
the truth was undeniable. As her husband, her safety was his responsibility. It was a truth he could never escape.
Rudraksh was not someone who lost control easily. He was a man who observed every angle, understood the situation, and then made his move. It was this cold, sharp intelligence that made him the head of the Vardhan family. From the youngest to the oldest-no decision was taken without his consent.
But today-for the first time-his mind froze. The moment he saw danger circle around Rivanya, every calculation, every strategy vanished.
Chaos broke out on the ghat, but it wasn't loud... because the attacker was smart. He knew weapons like guns would be risky near Ganga ghat, and firing in a crowd could go wrong. That's why he chose an arrow-a silent, precise weapon.
When the arrow struck Rivanya's saree pallu, her entire family panicked and cried out her name. But Rudraksh's guards stopped them immediately under his strict orders. If they rushed forward, they too could get caught in the attack.
Fear flickered openly in Rudraksh's eyes as he sprinted toward her.
Rivanya stood frozen, shocked beyond words. Her mind couldn't grasp what was happening-attack, arrow, chaos-it was all too sudden.
And then... the second arrow was released.
This time, the attacker aimed directly at her heart.
Just a breath before the arrow could touch her, Rudraksh grabbed a large trishul that was resting near the sacred tree and hurled it with deadly accuracy.
The trishul sliced through the air like lightning.
It struck the arrow mid-flight, shattering it into pieces.
The attacker realized he was exposed and immediately tried to escape. But Rudraksh's guards were already chasing him.
Everything happened so fast that Rivanya couldn't process it. But when she saw Rudraksh standing there, the trishul still in his hand, a single image filled her mind-
Mahadev.
Mahadev, who is the symbol of peace...
but the destroyer when his wife is threatened.
The fire in Rudraksh's eyes was something she had never seen before. Even her family, who had seen him earlier, were stunned now. This was not the calm, reserved Rudraksh they met. This was a storm wrapped in human form.
Rudraksh reached her in seconds and held her by the shoulders, his voice trembling with fear he didn't bother to hide.
"Rivanya! Are you okay? Did you get hurt anywhere?"
Rivanya just stared at him, unable to speak.
For the first time, her heart was thundering because of how close he was... and because he had saved her without thinking twice.
Seeing her silent, Rudraksh's panic grew.
"Why are you quiet? Tell me-are you hurt? Let's go to the hospital. You might have gotten injured."
She gently held his hands.
"I'm fine... nothing happened."
He searched her face again.
"Are you sure? Truly sure?"
Rivanya gave a small smile.
"How could anything happen to me when you're here? You saved me... Rudra."
The moment the name left her lips, Rudraksh froze.
She had never said it like that before-soft, trusting, close.
"Still... we should go to the hospital-" he began.
She stepped closer and whispered,
"Calm down...
Nothing happened to me. You didn't let anything happen.
Rudra..."
Hearing his name from her filled him with a strange warmth-surprise, relief, and something deeper he couldn't name. His breath steadied a little.
Just then, his guards approached.
"Boss, we caught the man. He wasn't alone-there were seven of them. We managed to capture six, but one escaped."
Rudraksh's eyes turned dark-burning with such fierce anger that even his own guards stepped back.
The heat of his rage was so intense that everyone around could feel it in the air.
This was no longer just an attack.
This was personal.
Someone had dared to touch his wife-and for that, Rudraksh Vardhan would burn the world if he had to.
Rudraksh’s voice was low but sharp enough to slice through the air.
“Where are they?”
One of his guards swallowed hard before answering.
“S-sir… there’s too much crowd here. So we’ve kept them in the back alley.”
Rudraksh bent down, picked up the trishul lying near him, and spoke with a coldness that made even the bravest guard shiver.
“Until I return, her safety and her family’s is your responsibility. Not a single mistake.”
With that, he strode away, fury burning in every step.
Rivanya wanted to stop him, to tell him not to go alone… but one look at the storm on his face stole her courage. His rage felt like fire untouchable, unstoppable.
As soon as he left, her entire family rushed to her.
Mami ji grabbed her shoulders, tears trembling in her eyes.
“Rivanya, beta… are you okay? You didn’t get hurt, right?”
Seeing everyone so frightened, Rivanya forced a soft smile, her voice glowing with new-found faith.
“No, Mami. Nothing happened to me. My husband didn’t let anything happen.”
The moment she said “my husband,” a different kind of radiance lit up her face as if a new belief had taken root in her heart… a belief she had been denying all this time.
When Rivanya tried to move toward the direction Rudraksh had gone, the guards stepped forward and blocked her path.
“We’re very sorry, ma’am,” one said respectfully, his head bowed. “You can’t go there. Sir has given strict orders. No one is allowed near that area.”
Everyone around her lowered their heads to show respect but no one dared disobey Rudraksh.
Rivanya’s voice trembled with worry.
“Fine… but if you’re all here guarding me, then who is protecting Rudra?”
A faint smile tugged at one guard’s lips.
“Ma’am, there is no need to worry about Sir. Danger isn’t waiting for him danger is waiting for the men who dared to attack you. Rudraksh Sir is equal to a hundred men. He doesn’t need us.”
His confidence stunned Rivanya.
But her heart was a wife’s heart how could she not worry for her husband?
As evening deepened, the ghat began preparing for the Ganga Aarti. The sound of damroos echoed, bells chimed, flames were lit; the sacred river shimmered under the twilight sky.
Nanu placed a gentle hand on Rivanya’s head.
“Come, beta. Let’s take Ganga Maiya’s blessings. By Her grace, our child escaped danger today.”
Rivanya didn’t want to go. Her eyes kept searching for Rudraksh but she couldn’t refuse Nanu. So she walked toward the ghat with hesitant steps.
As she joined her hands before the holy river, she whispered with devotion trembling in her voice,
“Ganga Maiya… I pray to you the same way I pray to Gauri Maa please protect my husband. Keep him safe, Maa.”
Meanwhile, a very different storm was rising in the back alley.
The entire area trembled with the beat of damroos symbolizing the wrathful tandav of Mahadev…
because Rudraksh was walking in his Rudra roop.
The trishul in his hand.
Rage burning in his eyes.
A fierce aura radiating from him so sharp, so divine that he looked like he was walking with Mahadev’s blessing blazing around him.
The six men who had attacked Rivanya were tied to poles, trembling.
Every criminal in the underworld knew the truth:
When Rudraksh Vardhan punished someone, he didn’t give death.
He gave something far worse.
And today…
they had touched his wife.
No one would escape alive.
One man tried to speak, but his voice cracked.
“P-please… listen ”
Rudraksh didn’t let him finish.
He grabbed the man by the hair, yanking his head back with brutal force.
“Whose men are you?”
His voice was low… deadly.
Silence.
The man’s breath shuddered, sweat running down his temples.
But another man suddenly spat out,
“We will die… but we won’t take the name.”
A slow, terrifying smile curved on Rudraksh’s lips.
Even his guards, who had seen him kill without blinking, stepped back.
That smile never meant mercy.
Never.
Rudraksh glanced at the trishul in his hand just once and without another second of warning, he rammed the sharp end straight into the man’s eye.
The scream that tore through the alley wasn’t human.
The man thrashed, blood pouring down his face, his voice ripping apart as if his vocal cords were tearing from the inside.
The remaining men turned pale, their knees shaking.
But Rudraksh was just getting started.
He walked to the next man expression unreadable and stabbed the trishul straight through his chest.
One clean strike.
The man collapsed instantly.
Fear spread like poison through the remaining attackers. Their eyes widened, breaths quickened… because they finally understood:
This was not punishment.
This was annihilation.
Rudraksh wiped the blood from the trishul and spoke in a voice colder than the Ganga.
“I’ll let you die with your bodies intact… but only if you speak.
Give me a name, and your death will be quick.
Stay silent… and you will beg God for death, and still not receive it.”
Even after witnessing two brutal deaths, they hesitated.
Fear and stubbornness fought inside them.
Rudraksh signaled his guard.
The guard returned with a small packet of white powder.
Salt.
Without hesitation, he poured the salt into the open, bleeding eye of the injured attacker.
The man shrieked a sound of pure agony.
The kind of scream that echoed in bones.
The remaining men finally broke.
One of them cried out,