Chapter Sixty Nine.
~??~
"I was a nobody back then.." Samar continued. "A weak, pathetic boy anyone could trample on. A victim perpetually tormented by his own excuse of a fucking father." He gritted his teeth so tightly as he glared at the empty space before him.
Ira's brows knitted together, a small frown crossing her face.
Despite her hatred for him, the torment in his voice was undeniable.
"Why would you say something so terrible about your own father?" she asked quietly.
Samar snapped his head up, his gaze locking onto hers with a sudden, furious intensity.
Without a word, he raised a trembling hand and pointed directly to the jagged scar that tore vertically through his eye, the dead eye that carried no sight.
"Because he did this!" he sneered.
Ira gasped, her hand instinctively flying to her mouth as she recoiled an inch.
"I grew up in an absolute hellhole, raised by a violently abusive monster of a father and a treacherous, shameless whore of a mother.
." he spat, painting a grotesque picture of his youth.
"My father would beat her half to death every single time she failed to bring home money.
And he did the exact same to me. Beating after beating.
A never-ending cycle of pain, bruises, and utter degradation. "
He paused, his chest heaving as the ghosts of his past bled into the present.
"I came home from college one afternoon and found him tearing into her with a broken glass bottle.
I knew she never cared about me..she was too busy selling herself.
.but I couldn't just stand by and watch.
I tried to intervene, and he transferred all that psychotic rage onto me.
I was too weak to fight back. And he left me with.
.. this." He tapped the hollow, scarred flesh of his blinded eye.
For a second, the mask of Ira's hostility slipped.
A quiet ache of pity settled in her chest. She hated him, yes! she feared him, but as a human being, she couldn't completely close her heart to the horrific trauma of a child raised in a house of blood.
Samar watched her closely, his eyes narrowing as he tracked the shifting emotions on her face.
"Pity.." he whispered, a breathless smile breaking through his anger as he stared at her. "That is the exact look on your face right now, Ira. Pity. And do you know what is truly ironic, Ira? You are the only person in this entire godforsaken world who has ever looked at me that way."
Ira's features nearly twisted into an expression of disgust. Almost.
But she caught herself just in time, swallowing the revulsion rising in her throat and clearing it softly to maintain her mask.
"Does it... still hurt?" she murmured..
"Back then, it felt like my entire world was burning.
" Samar said, "I spent a week in a sterile hospital bed.
I made sure my father was arrested for it, I thought the law would protect me.
But he was released almost immediately. That was the day I discovered he was entangled with a few highly influential, dangerous people. After that, the abuse only escalated."
Samar's expression suddenly hardened, the skin over his cheekbones tightening.
"He would leave me with open, gaping wounds, letting me bleed out until I lost consciousness.
My mother never lifted a finger to help me.
I was treated like filth, Ira. At college, people whispered vile names behind my back because of who my father was, and they shrank away from me in horror because of this hideous scar.
" His fist clenched so tightly that his knuckles cracked in the silence.
"That was when I decided I wanted my father dead.
But I was a coward. I was too terrified to act. .. until I crossed paths with Devraj."
Ira held her breath, her eyes tracking every muscle in his face.
"I stumbled across Devraj in a secluded corner of the campus.
He was entirely alone.." Samar recounted.
"He saw me, and instead of walking away like the others, he actually approached me.
He already knew exactly who my father was.
He looked at my face and gave me a single piece of advice.
..Become strong and stand up for yourself, because no one is coming to save you. "
Samar's eye suddenly darkened..
"At the time, I had absolutely no idea how immense Devraj's power truly was, I mean we are just students, until his name started dominating the headlines.
After that, I became obsessed with getting closer to him.
I convinced myself that if I could just exist in his orbit, I might finally fit in.
I wanted to follow in his footsteps, to mirror his ruthlessness, what made him who he was, and build my own strength-"
Samar paused, the silence was heavy, as Ira stared at him, her heart beating.
Then, a bitter chuckle escaped his lips.
"Do you know what Devraj told me when I finally gathered the courage to ask to be part of his circle?
" Samar said, his voice cracking with a decade's worth of suppressed humiliation.
"He called me weak! He told me I was utterly worthless and that I carried a permanent, dark stain because of my father's wretched connections to the underworld!
" He gritted his teeth so fiercely that a vein pulsed against his temple.
"The exact same words my fucked-up father used to beat into me every single day! That i was weak and worthless!"
Ira's chest suddenly felt incredibly heavy, a cold knot of dread tightening in her stomach.
"I just wanted a bit of that power so I could rid myself of my father! To finally escape his shadow!" Samar spat, his chest heaving. "But Devraj stepped on me instead. He crushed me when I was already on my knees."
Ira swallowed the lump in her throat, forcing her voice to remain steady.
"Perhaps... perhaps he saw straight through your motives, Samar. He knew you only wanted to use him as a weapon, so he... he pushed you away."
Samar snapped his head toward her, his eye flashing with an unstable, dangerous fire as an ironic, humorless chuckle tore from his throat.
"You just have to fucking defend him at every turn, don't you?" he gritted out. "Even now, you take his side."
Ira didn't back down, she glared back at him..
"Despite the humiliation, I was still desperate to prove him wrong.
I wanted to show Devraj Singh Rathore that I was neither weak nor worthless.
." Samar murmured, his tone shifting into something eerily detached.
"That obsession consumed my mind so completely that I.
.. I turned to the streets. I started trafficking drugs.
" He smirked, a twisted, proud expression that made a shiver race down Ira's spine.
Without warning, Samar slid off the mattress, stepping down onto the floor. Ira's survival instincts flared, she felt intensely uncomfortable with his sudden movement.
She shifted her weight, preparing to slide off the opposite edge of the bed to put distance between them, but she froze.
"I convinced myself that as long as it brought me power, it didn't matter how dirty the hands were.." Samar soliloquized. "Power meant control. It meant I could finally force my father to suffer the way he made me suffer."
As he spoke, slowly, his fingers wrapped around the chain he had unlocked from Ira's wrist moments ago.
With a terrifying slowness, he began to coil the cold metal links tightly around his palm.
"I descended deeper, and deeper, and deeper into that abyss, until the day came when the tables finally turned.
." Samar murmured. "I will never forget the terror in my father's eyes when I stood over him, pressing the blade right against his face.
Right after chopping off his tongue, and slitting his throat. "
Without warning, he gave the chain a savage yank. The force of the strike rattled the heavy wooden headboard, the frame groaning under the pressure.
Ira gasped, as she scrambled entirely off the bed, her bare feet hitting the cold floor.
"It was the most satisfying look I have ever witnessed.." he whispered, delivering one final, brutal tug.
The anchor bolt snapped, breaking completely loose from the wood with a splintering crack. Samar didn't even flinch, he merely finished wrapping the metal coils securely around his palm.
"Y-you killed him?" Ira breathed, her voice trembling as the horrific reality settled in. "Your own father?"
Samar turned his gaze to her, deliberately tossing the broken chain onto the floor. The metal clattered loudly against the floor.
"What is the matter, Ira? Are you suddenly terrified of me now?" His features were twisting into a deeply rooted rage.
"It wasn't my fault!" he suddenly yelled, his composure shattering as he marched around the perimeter of the bed, invading her space.
His bare chest heaved with every breath.
"I begged Devraj for a lifeline! I asked him for help, and he turned his back on me!"
He stopped inches from her..
"And then, that arrogant bastard had the absolute audacity to look down his nose at me and say.
. You are pathetic, Samar. He mocked me for taking a criminal route to acquire power, the very power he refused to lend me!
He told me to my face that I was turning into an exact replica of my father! "
Ira flinched at his tone, but before she could retreat, Samar's hands shot out. He clamped his fingers onto her shoulders with a bruising grip, violently jerking her flush against his chest.
"I made a vow that day.." he growled, against her face, his eyes wild with madness.
"I swore I would build an empire larger, darker, and more ruthless than anything Devraj Singh Rathore could ever dream of.
I will grow powerful enough to step on his throat the way he stepped on mine.
If he wants to claim we take different routes to power, fine!
But I will make sure to bleed him dry. I am going to hurt him so deeply that he will finally look at me and know. .. I am not weak."
"Are you completely insane?!" Ira shouted, "Devraj did absolutely nothing wrong, he simply told you the truth!
You didn't actually want his help, Samar.
You were just looking for a convenient excuse, someone to blame for unlocking the rotten, vicious monster that was already festering inside of you, Caused by your Father! " She glared up at him.
Samar stared down at her, he utterly despised the fact that even now, she was still taking Devraj's Side.
"I know Devraj is a...dangerous man not to cross part with.
." Ira pressed on "But he operates with a brilliant mind and very selective when it comes to his circle.
He is always two or three steps ahead of everyone else.
I know for a fact that he must have looked at you back then and seen exactly-"
"Enough!" he sneered.. his fingers digging into her shoulders, Ira hissed in pain, her jaw tightening as the pressure bruised her skin.
"You claimed you wanted to understand my past, yet every single word out of your mouth is a defense of him!" Samar growled, his eyes boring deep into hers, searching for the warmth he had felt just moments prior. "You don't look at me with pity anymore. You've stripped it all away."
"Y-you are hurting me!" Ira cried out, twisting against his strong grip. "Let go!"
"And you think I am not bleeding too?!" he fired back, desperation tearing through his voice. "You think my soul isn't twisted in agony?!!"
He pulled her even closer, his breath against her skin, his composure entirely unravelling.
"I was utterly serious when I planned this, Ira.
I fully intended to slaughter you just to watch Devraj burn.
But... I can't do it anymore. I don't know what kind of spell you've cast over me, the very first day we met, but.
.. I feel a strange peace when you are just here. With me. In my world."
He spoke breathlessly, his gaze entirely intoxicated by her proximity. Ira merely glared back, her hatred solidifying.
"Let go of me, Samar!" she screamed.
"Why?!" Samar demanded in desperation. "Why can't you just look at me like I'm human, Ira? I am drowning in an overwhelming chaos I cannot even name! I just want to understand it... with you. Around you, I am an absolute ruin."
Disregarding the bruising pressure on her shoulders, she shifted her weight, brought her knee up and drove it directly into his thigh.
Samar hissed in pain, his grip faltering as he instinctively let her go.
Ira backed away immediately, her muscles aching and raw where his fingers had dug in, she fixed him with a glare.
"Samar, I am not a specimen for you to test your malfunctioning emotions on!"
"You are so much more than that.." Samar whispered, his gaze tracking her every breath.
"I just want you, Ira. Focus on me. Only me. I want to be the sole orbit of your world, just as you have completely upended mine!"
"You... you need help.." Ira stammered,as the depth of his psychosis became clear.
"No. I just need you.." he countered flatly. He clenched his fists, closing his eyes for a second as if trying to steady the storm in his mind.
When he opened them, the darkness within them had solidified.
"I've been thinking.. I want to build a life with you. I want a family with you, Ira. The mere thought of it... it was the most beautiful thing I have ever imagined-"
Slap!
Her palm connecting with his cheek cut him off mid-sentence. Even with her bruised, aching arm, Ira had poured every ounce of her remaining strength into the strike.
Samar's face tilted to the side, his dark hair falling across his eyes.
"You make me sick.." Ira sneered in disgust as she glared at him. "I will never, under any circumstance, build a life or have a family with a monster like you. Not in this lifetime, not in the next, and not in any universe that exists. It will never happen."
Samar remained frozen for a long beat, his face still turned away.
Then, slowly, he turned his head back to look at her. A dark twisted smile pulled at the corners of his lips.
"What if we become one, Ira?" Samar murmured, his voice laced with an unstable, terrifying cadence.
He was completely detached from reality, his mind fracturing under the weight of her rejection.
"If I make you mine, you will finally erase Devraj from your mind. You will learn to want me too... right?"
He began to advance toward her, looking entirely possessed by his dark desires.
Panic seized Ira. She was completely cornered, With no other escape route, she scrambled onto the mattress, trying desperately to claw her way to the opposite side of the bed.
Samar's hand shot out and clamped around her ankle. With a jerk, he pulled her back, causing her to collapse heavily onto the sheets.
Before she could recover, Samar lunged, flipping her body over until her back was pinned flat against the mattress.
Ira looked up, her heart beating scared against her ribs, only to see him smiling down at her.
He grabbed her already bruised wrists and slammed them over her head, pinning them over her head. Ira hissed as the pressure flared through her raw muscles.
"Let go of me!" she screamed, twisting beneath his weight.
"So you can run straight back into Devraj's arms?" Samar countered,"Give me a single chance, Ira! That is all I have ever asked of you!"
Ignoring her struggles, he leaned his weight entirely over her, burying his face into the curve of her neck and hair. He inhaled deeply, drawing in her scent as if trying to possess her very essence.
"I should have been the one to find you first.." he whispered against her skin, his voice cracked and breathless.
Ira gritted her teeth, irritation and disgust washing over her as she tried to pull away from his touch.
"If I had found you first, you would be looking at me the way you look at him."
"I don't think I will ever look your way." Ira mumbled.
He raised his head slowly, his gaze heavy and darkened as it drifted down to fixate entirely on her lips.
He began to lean in. Ira's eyes widened in horror. She struggled under him..
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Samar froze, a growl ripping from the depths of his throat.
"Sir! We have an emergency, you need to see this immediately!" The man's muffled voice urgently penetrated the door.
Samar gritted his teeth, as he glared over his shoulder at the door. His gaze slowly drifted back down to Ira, his chest still heaving with shallow breaths.
"I will be right back." he whispered..
He finally shifted his weight and got off her. The moment the pressure of his body lifted, relief washed over Ira, and she let out a shuddering breath.
Samar walked toward the door, his bare back muscles tense as he reached for the handle.
But right before throwing the door open, he paused and cast one final glance back into the room.
Ira had already pulled herself up, sitting upright against the headboard. Her eyes burning with hatred, yet to his fractured mind, she had never looked more breathtaking.
I will make her mine.. he vowed silently, the obsession hardening into concrete reality. No matter what it takes.
He stepped out into the corridor, pulling the door shut behind him.
Ira let out a shaky, trembling exhale, her entire frame vibrating with delayed panic. She was terrified.
The fragile wall of her defiance was crumbling, she knew with absolute certainty that it was only a matter of time before he returned to finish what he started.
"Ira, you have limited time. Think!" she whispered fiercely to herself, forcing her racing mind to steady.
Her eyes frantically swept the room until they abruptly fell on the floor.
The chain Samar had yanked from the headboard and discarded.
She slid off the edge of the mattress, as she hurried over to kneel beside it.
As her fingers wrapped around the cold links, a sensation washed over her, making her wrist feel as though it were still bound by the cuff.
She tightened her grip on the metal, as her gaze locked onto the door.
"If I stay in this room any longer, I fear the worse." she murmured, her voice hardening as she clenched the chain like a lifeline.
Taking one final breath, she walked towards the door.
??????