64| Calm before the chaos.
When you're before the devil you cannot escape
Get on your knees and pray~
Blood.
Blood everywhere.
That's all I can see.
Screams. Cries.
Then nothing but a hollow ringing in my ears as darkness closes in. I don't understand where it ends and I begin searching for someone, anyone.
Aayansh.
I try to scream, to call his name, but my throat gives me nothing.
Terror seizes me as I gasp for air.
And that's when my eyes catch on a shard of broken glass, my own reflection staring back at me.
I look like a mess... hair disheveled, face pale, my red saree dusted and torn... It feels like I'm standing before my own ruination, and I can't even run away from this.
My gaze drops to my stomach.
The blood staining over there, dark, fresh... as if it isn't just spilled, but carries the vengeance of generations.
My hand trembles as I touch it, panic crawling through my spine.
This blood isn't mine.
Yet it doesn't feel distant. It's here like it has always belonged to me.
I force myself to breathe through it when suddenly a pair of strong arms cages my waist from behind.
My head tilts as his mouth hovers at the curve of my neck. Goosebumps rising on my skin from the chills of his presence as I breathe out. "Aayansh... this blood-"
He cuts me off in a whisper.
"Shh- it's not the end."
He drags me back against him as if there's no world for us without each other. "Death is not our end, amour."
My eyes flutter open, and for a heartbeat, the world doesn't make sense.
The low hum of the engine fills my ears, and I realise I'm still in the jet's restroom.
So it was all a dream?
... That felt far too real, as if I had lived every suffocating second of it.
Sweat drops trickle my temple even in this cold weather. I take a deep, long breath to steady myself.
It was just a nightmare.
It will never be real.
Not until Aayansh's here... with me.
He must be in the cabinet.
My eyes feel heavy with the medicinal effects, more disoriented by the horror still clinging to my mind.
I lie back, my lids shutting before I even realise.
Moments later, we're in the car.
Seventeen minutes since the jet delivered us to Qatar. Maybe Rome was never the first destination. I don't know what's happening or what's going to happen. Whatever is waiting for us there is something Aayansh has been walking toward all along.
And now, I'm beside him... or maybe I'm being carried. That still doesn't make me anyone's puppet, not even his.
One thing is certain... I trust him.
Yet, a part of me screams caution.
At least for now... everything's fine.
Exhaling, I turn toward him, bored of staring outside.
He's absorbed in his iPad, his face carved into that usual cold, emotionless calm of his.
For a moment, I just stare at him.
Even in his stillness, he's unbearably handsome.
Why isn't he saying anything?
Wait, is he ignoring me?!
I frown at the thought.
Just because he has a dick... doesn't mean he has to act like one.
But what is wrong with me?
Why am I suddenly frustrated... for no real reason?
Ugh!
Before I can stop myself, I reach out and settle onto his lap.
Aayansh's arm bands around my waist, pressing me back against him, his focus unchanged.
The heat of his body encloses me.
I glance up at him, puppy eyes as I whisper in accusation. "You're ignoring me."
Slowly, he bends down until his mouth is right at my ear "If you feel ignored," he murmurs, his voice hoarse, seductive. "Handle it your way."
I frown. "My way?"
Then-
A slow, mischievous smile touches my mouth. I shift, letting my hips roll against his crotch, daring him to take control.
He smirks, his mouth still angled near my ear. "My wife is getting bolder."
My breath hitches when he drags me against his thigh, his fingers closing around my wrist as he presses my hand downwards... over his clothed bulge.
My eyes widen.
I meet his devilish smirk, heat flooding my face at the hardness beneath my palm.
What the fuck did I just start?
"And she knows she doesn't need these little seductive moves to get me hard," Aayansh traps my earlobe between his teeth, making me gasp as he whispers darkly, "She does that just by breathing."
I pull my eyes away, heart hammering. "Let... let go of my hand" I mutter, caught between embarrassment and the heat of Him. "I don't like touching anyone's... private parts"
My voice falters. "Like you."
Lie.
There's nothing I love more than his dick inside me.
Aayansh's smirk darkens, and just like that... my goddamn boldness crumbles.
Unexpectedly, he lets go of my hand.
I exhale in relief.
But before I can calm down -
He lifts my hair off my back, draping them over my other shoulder as his teeth sink into the delicate strap of my dress. I shiver.
"Because you love taking it" He murmurs, nipping at the strap sensually "-feeling it inside you."
How did he know I said the same thing in my mind?
His actions are unhurried, predatory.
The thought of him tearing my dress without any warning makes me grip him tightly.
My eyes squeeze shut in dread.
A moment passes.
Another.
When I feel his thumb dragging over the softness of my heated cheek, my eyes stir open, only to find him staring at me, his gaze severe and intense all at once.
He says nothing, just leans down and pecks my lips.
Butterflies!
Before consciousness can fully settle, I bury my face in his chest, his scent grounding me as I curl closer.
Aayansh just drags me more into him, fitting me comfortably against him.
As I shut my eyes again, that nightmare re-surfaces out of nowhere, and I cling to him even tighter.
That blood-
Whose blood was that?
Me... in that condition-
Everything felt lost, beyond my control.
I shouldn't think about all this.
I never asked him about his past. Even when Aashika told me everything, I stayed silent... because I didn't want to touch his scars.
My man has lost enough in his life.
I want to be the peace he was denied, the softness he lost with his mother.
"Aayansh..." I whisper, my voice hesitant, so many questions clawing at my mind as I make slow circles over his chest, careful with my words.
"Did you..." I trail off, unsure if I should speak. Then I force it out, "Did you really-" my voice drops, "kill your grandfather... at just eight?"
Okay I know I shouldn't have asked.
But I need to know.
Because I have the right.
My eyes meet his, searching for a hint.. guilt, hesitation, anything.
But nothing shifts. That same unfazed calm... like the world, the blood, the pain... meant nothing to him.
He tilts his head, his eyes drinking in every flicker of my expression. When his fingers catch a stray strand of hair and tuck it behind my ear, my pulse stumbles under the weight of his attention.
"'Killed'" He says-"In the world's eyes."
The way he didn't even flinch while saying this makes my chest tighten.
He was a child when he did this sin.
Too young to understand mercy. Too young to hesitate.
Earlier, I told myself it was on impulse. Rage. A boy reacting to his mother's pain. But now?!
Yet, loving him doesn't feel like a choice... it's something that keeps me sane in the depths of his darkness.
Somehow, I just can't take my eyes off him, even if he haunts me.
"You're so..." I murmur, swallowing the truth before it can escape as I rest my head against his shoulder.
Silence lingers between us.
My fingers brush against the buttons of his shirt, his one hand rests on my thigh and the other closes around my waist. But my curiosity breaks the fragile calm.
"Do... you miss your mom?" I whisper, my voice barely audible as I bite my inner cheek in anticipation.
This time, I didn't look up to catch his expressions. Somewhere, I know he does, who wouldn't?
"You know..." I tell him without thinking twice, my voice softer "I never saw my real mother, she was killed the day I was born.
And mom, (Diva jindal) she left us in a car accident.
I was just thirteen. After that, I was the only one left in my father's and bro's life.
They... they poured everything they had on me, as if there was no world for them without me. "
A small smile curves my lips, remembering those days, "Life felt like a fairytale. I never knew the world outside existed..." I glance up at him from under my lashes, "... Evil people like you exist too."
My lips part again-
But wait-
What did I just say?
Fuck me.
His gaze pinned to me the same way, studying me.
"I mean..." I mutter, trying to sound casual, but my voice trembles anyway, "you endured so much pain..."
My throat feels heavy.
A strange lump forms, as if I'm feeling something he doesn't.
"You were just a kid... you must miss her-"
"Jise jana tha wo gaya." Aayansh cuts in, leaning down until his nose touches mine for a moment.
Unhurried, he pulls out a cigar from his pocket, pressing it between his lips, lighting it up before he looks deeper into my eyes and I forget to blink.
"I don't miss anyone."
His voice is unbothered, emotionless like always. Smoke curls around him as I try to search his eyes.
How casually he tossed those words out?
I blink at him in disbelief.
Once.
Twice.
"Lie." I bite out, though a part of me knows it wasn't.
He never lies.
The realisation stirs something achingly tender inside me, and before logic can interfere, I pull him into my arms, clinging to him like love is the only language left.
This moment doesn't need any confessions... or even words. We're perfect like this. Where I'm his and he's mine.
Aayansh's arm tightens around my waist. He discards the cigar aside, nestling his face into my hair, breathing me in.
After a long, unspoken moment...
"Do you remember when you said you didn't need any family, that you only wanted me in your life?" I murmur, lost in the essence of him.
"I will never leave you, Aayansh. Never."
Where her heart lies bare, a dark shadow crosses Aayansh's eyes.
'Leave.' The word doesn't exist here.
She can't escape him. Even if she'll ever want to. Even if the world begs her to... and they both know it.
While she's lost in him.
He isn't.
Aayansh's eyes slide to the rear-view mirror... the car behind them moving with calculated patience. Trailing them.
For a brief moment, he only observes the car's movements.
That's when his phone on the seat suddenly rings.
Tara pulls out her face, his unreadable gaze already on her and without a word, she grabs the phone and answers, switching it to speaker.
"Why did you-" Arsh's calm, serious voice crackles through the speaker.
Tara's face lights up hearing his voice as she interrupts "Hello, Bro?"
Arsh exhales on the other end, his voice softening. "Princess, where are you right now?"
"I..." Tara's eyes shift to Aayansh, his face is icy, thumb tracing the delicate curve of Tara's neck. "I'm with Aayansh. We are..."
Her voice chokes as his thumb trails down, pressing to her pulse point just above her visible cleavage. Her heartbeat stumbles beneath his touch. His thumb stills there, feeling her racing pulse, a dark intensity on his face.
Tara bites back a gasp, the phone trembling in her hand as her eyes lock with his.
"Hello, princess, you there?"
Before Tara can respond or anything can settle, Aayansh's cold, menacing voice cuts through the tension.
"Stop the car and get out."
His eyes stay locked on Tara.
The car comes to a halt immediately, the driver exiting without a word, barely daring to breathe
Confusion knots tighter in Tara's stomach as Arsh's voice cuts through the line again, stripped of all calm.
"Tara, listen to me. The man with you is NOT Aayansh."
"Helloo?"
"Tara-"
The voice doesn't come from the phone.
Unfazed by the world, Aayansh exits the car. His hand closes around Tara's wrist, firm and inescapable, pulling her out with quiet authority.
The car behind them halts abruptly. Three masked figures... two men, one woman... approach with intent. They're Hriday's people.
"Bravado, Lucifer." The dominus among them greets, his tone low, measured, almost amused.
Tara's gaze flicks between them and Aayansh, panic rising. "Aayansh... who are they?" Her voice is desperate, laced with frustration.
He doesn't spare her a glance. Icy. Untouchable.
Leaning against the bonnet, cigar perched between his fingers, he inhales slowly, as if the chaos around him doesn't exist.
"Here's the Queen-" He states, voice bored, tilting his head towards Tara. "Go ahead."
With his words, realisation settles in her bones. She steps away from him, fists clenching and eyes burning.
And watching her move, a devilish smirk slowly curls Aayansh's lips.
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