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Aayansh stands at the edge, looking down into the void, the chain still warm from his grip and blood. He doesn't breathe hard. He doesn't look satisfied. He just looks... hell himself.
Those four struggle, their blurred vision snagging on every surface. This place... a mirror cage from ceiling to floor, nothing but their pitiful reflections and the suffocating dark
And they cannot hide from their own reflections, their battered bodies, pitiful gasps.
|Please note: This whole part of the chapter is available on scroll stack as It was sensitive|
That instant- Aaina's helpless, desperate pleas echo in his thoughts, the way she had once looked to him for protection and the safety of a
'husband' who never even tried to save her. The tears of guilt and unspent helplessness gather in his eyes, blurring his own pain.
'I could have saved her. My wife. When she fought to protect her dignity, I just... watched.' His dying subconscious mind curses him.
His unfocused gaze drifts across the mirrored ceiling and walls, each reflection a thousand versions of himself being ripped apart.
It isn't just terror... It is soul-breaking.
Their screams, pleas, pain, all rebound off the glass, echoing in every corner, then twisting back into them.
Aayansh casually leans against the wall, eyes shut, exhaling a slow plume of cigar smoke.
The agony around him, desperate cries of his father, grandfather, uncle, and Vidyut drip into his ears like a dark, intoxicating symphony.
.. one he has longed to hear for years. Satisfaction settles like ice along his sharp features.
And for the first time in years, he sees her again... Aaina's smile.
He crushes the burning cigar in his palm, eyes still closed, as a slow, haunting whistle drifts past his lips, smoke curling like a dark wisp around his fingers.
Here, Hriday's ravaged body writhes under relentless s------------, and only now does his soul awaken to the weight of its own sins.
.. not for himself, but for the torment he inflicted on the one he should have protected.
His daughter. Somewhere, he surrenders to the truth- he deserves every shred of this.
Vidyut and Rithvik, however, feel the part of them in those sins crushing them. And then... one by one, their resistance fades...
Their so-called masculinity, bleeding in a way no one-no one-could even imagine...
The eu---- steps back, leaving them to their final gasps, their last breaths hanging in the air as they silently exits the place.
After a heartbeat, Aayansh turns toward them.
Vidyut is already gone, lifeless on the floor.
Rithvik clinging to the last thread of life.
Hriday and Aaryan? They're still alive, barely.
.. shredded clothes clinging to their torn bodies, the space between their th- is a bleeding ruin, raw and unceasing.
The reminder of what they've survived...
Hriday's dim, flickering gaze meets his own reflection in the ceiling mirror... what stares back is a twisted mosaic of torn, bleeding fl--- a grotesque echo of the man he once was.
Footsteps shuffle across the blood-slicked floor.
Aashika, Arsh, and Tara appear... and the sheer sight of the mangled men pins them in place with nothing but pure horror.
Especially Tara. She's never witnessed anything so horrifying. Her stomach churns, and for the first time, it steals the ground from beneath her.
Yet, Aashika's gaze is a furnace of hurt and rage, now locked onto Aayansh, who hasn't even spared them a glance. The sight before reminds her of the years she spent waiting, the life she had devoted to revenge... now snatched away with a single act of cruelty.
But then-
Without breaking his gaze, Aayansh extends something toward her. Her hands move almost instinctively, catching it before her mind even has time to process.
She looks down... and sees it. A lighter.
"You have every right to end what I began." Aayansh says, his words cold, final.
Aashika freezes, her eyes locked on Aayansh...
a silent reckoning passing between them.
Then, like a shadow closing in on its prey, she moves toward Hriday.
Aayansh just watches her... she hasn't stepped in when he was hunting, not even once, now, he isn't stepping back when she's ending.
Aashika halts near Hriday, her presence suffocating, her stare piercing. Hriday's lips moves into a hollow smile, a whisper of acceptance... he knows what she will do, and he can't stop it. He isn't afraid, because he's dead in every way that matters.
The lighter sparks to life in her hand. Her smile is small, almost innocent... but in an instant, it warps into something feral, a searing hatred that could scorch the air around her.
"Boht dard hoga aapko... hona bhi chahiye," she murmurs, voice low, almost tender. "We will never cross paths again, Nanu. Not in this life... not any other." Her eyes linger on him a second too long, cold and unflinching, before she steps back and hurls the lighter onto him.
The flames creep along his body, consuming limb by limb. His movements grow frantic, desperate, but the fire shows no mercy. The sickening scent of charred flesh fills the air.
The fire paints Aashika's face in trembling gold and crimson, her eyes alive, as if she's breathing after years of suffocation. Aayansh's shadow forms looming behind, touched by the same hellish glow, two monsters staring into the chaos they'd always starved.
But Aayansh hasn't finished.
Not yet!
All the while, he keeps his gaze tethered to Aaryan, whose lungs are fighting for air under the weight of his stare. Because for his sin... this was barely enough.
For a fleeting moment, all is still... just the roar of the burning fire.
Aayansh's fist and knee dripped blood, his hair matted, eyes rimming with red, and face streaked with gore.
He tilts his head, agonizingly slow, the instant his gaze meets Tara's, a cold shiver crawls up her spine, freezing her in place. Her fingers clamp onto Arsh's arm like a lifeline.
Aayansh lifts his arm, beckoning her closer. His expression stays hauntingly still, knowing she's horrified of him, yet she cannot look away.
Locked in each other's stare, neither he nor she blinks. The silence between them is almost...
Tara's instincts scream at her to stay back... far away from this man... but her feet don't listen. It's as if something far darker than fear is pulling her forward.
Her body edges closer, that's when Arsh's hand clamps down on her arm. His glare sears toward Aayansh... because no sane brother would ever want his sister standing beside the demon like him.
For a second-just a second-she almost gives in, almost lets Arsh pull her away...
Aayansh doesn't even spare Arsh a glance, his stare locked on Tara... as if silently testing whether she'll choose him, even like this.
But then, Tara's gaze drifts back to Aayansh... and something inside her settles. Not fear. Not safety. But something that feels like there's no going back from him.
"Please..." She murmurs, letting go of Arsh's grip, and takes a trembling step toward Aayansh.
She could have been the purest soul alive, yet never untouched by his sins.
A step closer.
Another.
Seconds crawl, yet each movement feels like an eternity, Aayansh's stare pin her as if he's reading her soul.
Finally, she edges nearer to him.
Strangely, her body relaxes.
Almost expecting an embrace when his grip snaps around her wrist, dragging her close against his chest... right before Hriday's burning body and Aaryan still writhing in agony.
The horror hits harder this time.
Her heart thrums at the suddenness, lips parting in a shaky, breathless whisper. "Aah... yansh-"
"Shh." He silences her off, lips hovering at her ear. His gaze stays on Aaryan's ruined body before dropping to hers. He kisses her earlobe.
The heat of his body burns against Tara's bare back, the scent of blood merging with him in the tight press of their bodies.
Aayansh's bleeding hand drifts to the most intimate curve of her body, her womb, ensuring no other's filthy blood on him taints her skin, just his.
The warmth, stickiness of his blood stains her exposed skin through the cutaway of her gown, coating her stomach, a shocking, intimate weight against her skin.
Amid the fear that grips her, an unfamiliar heat twists in her belly.
But what comes next steals her breath entirely... he has pressed the cold weight of a gun into her delicate hands.
Tears gather in Tara's eyes, her hands trembling... not from the gun, but from him... from the way he's making her hold it.
"Aayansh... what-what are you doing?" she murmurs, her voice fragile, as his hand encloses her shaking fingers, lifting the gun higher, his other hand still anchored against her stomach.
"We-" Aayansh's breath ghosts against her lobe, his voice dropping to a whisper. "are ending the last stain on 'our' bloodline." His gaze never strays to Aaryan... locked on Tara the entire time. Darkly Intense.
Before her lungs can fill again, Aayansh pushes her soft fingers around the trigger-
Bang!
Her eyes widen as the bullet finds its mark, burying itself between Aaryan's eyes, the heat of Aayansh's gaze still pinning her in place as Aaryan's faint scream breaks the silence.
One more pull.
Bang!
The second shot slams into Aaryan's spine, his body snapping forward under the brutal impact.
But then, Aayansh slowly loosens his hold on her fingers... letting her pull the trigger on her own.
Two more shots tear into Aaryan's chest.
His breath stops... permanently.
Tara stares at his body, frozen. It's the first time in her life she's killed someone... and her mind cannot comprehend it.
Aashika just watches, her expression blank... because there's nothing left to feel now that it's over.
Arsh's jaw tightens, something bitter churning inside him... Tara chose this. And with that, he understands... His princess is no longer untouched by Aayansh's darkness.
Blood drips from Aayansh's chin as he stands in the wreckage of his own making. He exhales again Tara's skin, slow and steady... like he hasn't just buried an era.
Like he hasn't ended his own bloodline.
The one that created him.
Knowing from now on, this legacy will carry only one name, his name.
With a firm motion, he takes the gun from her hands, flings it aside, Then, without a word, he turns her toward him.
Tara lifts her head... only for her vision to tunnel, the world narrowing into a pinprick of heat and sound.
And then she goes limp, collapsing entirely against him, her body surrendering to the dread she's witnessed all the while.
Aayansh's arm snags around her waist.
For a moment, silence reigns. The echoes of screams, gunfire, and the carnage around them fade into nothing.
She is small, trembling, yet completely entwined with the darkness that defines him.
Arsh and Aashika spring forward, their eyes fixed on Tara.
But their movements stop when Aayansh lifts his gaze on them, icy, unreadable.
While Aashika feels a straight attack on her pride, Arsh's cold gaze narrows at Aayansh.
Ignoring their offended faces, Aayansh scoops Tara into his arms in one fluid motion and makes his way out.
?
The darkness outside Rome eases, yet the clouds weigh down. Every whisper of wind carrying the hint of rain, draping the city in a quiet, charged longing that feels almost... tender.
Tara lies back on the car seat, eyes fluttering open. For a moment, she gazes silently around, and memories of everything that just happened wash over her.
Uneasiness claws at her again. She pushes herself up abruptly and moves out of the car, the cold wind lashing across her skin.
Only for her body to lock in place the instant her gaze meets Aayansh, just ahead.
Her fists curl, and the rain begins to fall on them, uninvited and sudden.
He closes the distance, and she staggers back, murmuring, "You... you're heartless. You're not human."
Aayansh just watches her, advancing another step near when she hisses. "Don't come near me."
Water running down him, his black shirt soaked and blood-smeared, outlining his broad frame, hair tangled over his forehead.
"Aayansh... I said-"
Her protest dies in her throat as he comes near her.
As the rain pounds around her, Tara's chest rises and falls with its rhythm, her fragile grip on reason keeping her from him.
For a heartbeat, all that exists between them is the relentless drum of raindrops pounding around them... and silence.
But then, before she can stop herself, her hands clutch Aayansh's shirt, pulling him just enough-just enough-to crash her lips against his.
She nearly topples, but his arm closes around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest, immovable. The downpour hammers around them, yet all she feels is the heat of him against her.
Her lids press shut, but Aayansh's intense gaze devours her flushed face, the trembling of her thick lashes, the way her cheeks burn... without even blinking.
She's consuming him like there's no tomorrow, like the world is ending and they stand at the centre of it, utterly lost in each other.
She murmurs against him, breathless, "I love you so much... Do you understand?" not pulling away from the kiss, moving her mouth against his with desperate insistence.
The relentless rain washes the blood from Aayansh's skin and clothes... but not the darkness in his eyes.
He lets her pour every ounce of passion, every trembling confession of love into the kiss, his eyes drinking her in.... yet he hasn't moved to kiss her back... not yet.
From her face, Aayansh's eyes drop to her body, lingering there in a way that feels sinful. Almost too sinful. Even after the storm lashes around them, his blood staining her skin never fades, clinging like marking her soul. Just barely, his mouth tilts against hers.
And at that moment, they look forbidden.
Yet, twistedly divine.
Like an angel kissing a demon who just dragged her into his hell.
Breathless, undone, Tara tries to pull back, but Aayansh's hand clamps around the nape of her neck, tilting it as he finally starts devouring her mouth back.
She gasps, arching against him, heart hammering, yet there's no fight left in her... only surrender.
Her eyes flutter open, but this time... Aayansh's eyes are closed, lost in the taste of her, consuming her, devouring her, as if nothing else exists but this moment.
And then...
Something in Aayansh Oberoi truly stirs.
?
Aashika, umbrella in hand, had barely left the estate when her gaze lands on them... and she freezes. In the pouring rain, they're eating each other in the open, a sight she can't tear her eyes from.
She takes a step back, and finds Arsh also reaching there with every sense alert.
"Stop there." She snaps at Arsh before she even has a chance to breathe.
He halts, his cold eyes locked on her.
He cocks a brow. "What?"
She exhales, letting the words spill without hesitation. "You don't want to see my brother and your sister eating each other out here... boldly" A curious, dangerous smile plays on her face. "Or... do you?"
His mind seizes between disbelief and shock.
?
Every beginning is meant to end. And every end carries a new beginning. What I closed today is something I abandoned long ago. Something born from my mother. Women are not always the ones to be shielded from wars, sometimes, they're the war itself. Just as she was.
From the day I saw her lifeless form to now-she breathes within me-inevitably.
So pure that even in her last words to me, she forbade me from chasing the ones who broke her world.
Innocent.
Too innocent.
I never intended to chase anyone.
Not then, not now.
Not the younger me who killed his own mentor, simply as my mother's tears had fallen because of him.
But I certainly made them chase me. He (Hriday) starved for power his whole life, so I gathered it beneath my feet.
It took years.
Endless patience.
Every second was worth ensuring she received what she deserved. Justice.
Trembling people, bowed heads, blood and tears of others... I've always fed on it as easily as breathing.
But the blood on me now does more than just satisfy, it feeds my demons.
That's how wars end.
And gods fall.
As here, the woman birthed me is god.
And the woman in my arms, the most delicate thing I've ever known, now corrupted and etched into my darkness.
And this is-inescapable.
Her womb stained with my blood, this is the legacy I've marked for the life she carries within.