CHAPTER 22 #4
“Why?” My eyes widen as I stare at him. “Why are you doing this to me?” I whisper in disbelief.
“You came here to help me, and look at what are you doing instead, RK? Just because Samarjeet provoked you… you’re turning this into a challenge?
” I shake my head slightly. “No… This is not right. This is your ego talking. Your pride. Your need to win. That’s all this is for you, isn’t it?
But you cannot turn this into some ego war and ruin my life in the process. ”
My heart starts pounding harder as my frustration spills over.
“And if you are doing this to protect me… if you truly believe Samarjeet and the others won’t come after me if you marry me, then you are completely wrong.
I don’t need this kind of protection from you.
I never asked for it. I can look after myself. ”
Instead of responding to me, Raghav turns towards the priest, totally ignoring me.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you,” I snap, catching his jaw and turning his face back towards me, forcing him to meet my eyes.
Now he loses it. He grabs my wrist, the one holding his jaw, and shoves it away from him.
“One more word from your mouth, and you’ll find out exactly what I’m capable of, Siya.
You’re testing the last thread of patience I have left tonight.
So stop fighting me. Because every second you resist…
you’re only making things more difficult for your mother. ”
The ruthlessness in his gaze steals the remaining fight from my body. This is not the same Raghav I met at RK Estate. Not the man who silently watched me at the vineyard. Not the man who stood behind me and taught me how to play pool. Not the man who took a bullet for me.
This version of him feels terrifyingly darker, colder.
Like the Dark Prince the underworld whispers about.
The kind who doesn’t care about a woman’s consent for a decision as monumental as marriage.
I can keep fighting tooth and nail until my last breath to stop this marriage from happening, but I can’t ignore what Raghav just threatened…
of never letting me see Mom if I choose to resist.
My mom is my weakness. And he has used her against me. Hatred burns inside me as I look at him.
“I thought you were different,” I say, swallowing painfully.
“I thought you had finally left the underworld for good… that you had redeemed yourself from the man you used to be. But I was wrong. Men like you don’t change.
” I mutter angrily, wiping the lone tear from the corner of my eye.
“I’ll make you regret this, Raghav Kundra.
One day you will regret forcing Siya Vardhaan to becoming your wife.
And when that day comes, I’ll make sure you remember this moment. ”
The only reaction I get is the brief tick of a muscle in his jaw.
But he still doesn’t look at me. Slowly, angrily, I turn away from him and look towards the sacred fire instead.
Not because I want this marriage. But because it’s inevitable now.
My heart aches, and tears cloud my vision, yet I sit with my spine straight and chin lifted high, despite the storm tearing through me. I refuse to let him see me break.
My fingers curl tightly into the folds of my lehenga as the rituals continue one after another.
Every mantra feels like another chain locking around my throat.
I was supposed to escape this underworld tonight…
not get married in the middle of it to the very monster who just reclaimed his throne as the Dark Prince before everyone.
If Raghav thinks I will bow down quietly because he cornered me tonight, then he clearly does not know me well enough.
When the priest finally signals for the pheras, he closes his hand around my arm and helps me to my feet.
The sacred fire crackles between us as we begin to circle it.
His hand doesn’t leave mine. Not once. I stumble slightly during the third phera, but he pulls me forward by my arm, firm enough that I have no choice but to move with him again.
After completing the seven pheras, the moment I have been dreading finally arrives. The tying of the mangalsutra.
My pulse stutters as the priest hands it to Raghav.
I keep my gaze fixed ahead, refusing to give him any reaction.
But when his fingers brush against the back of my neck while moving my hair aside, a sharp shiver runs through me before I can stop it.
I hate my body for betraying my emotions, and I hate even more that he notices it.
I feel the warmth of his breath against the side of my neck as he leans closer while tying the mangalsutra around me.
And suddenly, against my will, memories of Shivtara Mata temple flashes into my mind.
That night. That first kiss.
But the man who gave me that memory is also the same man sitting beside me now, forcing me into a marriage I never agreed to, in front of the entire underworld.
Raghav Kundra has ruined every good feeling attached to that kiss forever.
By the time I recover from this thought, he has already filled the parting of my hair with sindoor. I fall dead silent again, because now there is no undoing this. According to every ritual, every law, every god standing witness tonight, I’m officially his wife.
The second the terrified priest declares the marriage complete, Raghav rises impatiently, as if he is done waiting.
He grabs my wrist firmly and pulls me upright beside him.
Then he turns towards the exit. Not once does he look back at Parag, who lies unconscious on the grass after losing too much blood.
Not once does he acknowledge Samarjeet, who stands there with a murderous look in his bloodshot eyes.
Raghav simply starts walking away with me beside him as if the entire underworld behind him no longer matters. Because he already got what he came here for.
Me.