However, the record of betrayal by Mr. Anderson had clearly paved the way for all these incidences. He had stolen everything from Varya’s family and had made her come to me, in this house, to this marriage that we have, it is not a marriage of convenience now though it started as one, it is something else, something we both never expected.I thought back to the night I had proposed the contract. I was so blinded by the organizational requirements including the financial side I did not look at the emotional consequences.I had convinced myself that it was just a means to an end—that by getting married to Varya, I would be securing my position and she would be getting the money she wanted. But now when I take a look at what has happened, I have to admit that I was wrong.But the issue was not merely the money one. Money was never the main focus of it all. Somehow, fate had conspired to throw us in each other’s path and I had not been smart enough to notice.Slowly I rise up from my chai
THEO’S POVAs I slammed the door of my car, I felt like collapsing under the weight of today. It seemed like everything was falling apart faster than I could cope.The Cassian Group had caught us off-guard and no matter how many times I tried to manage the damage it was irreversible; shareholders were slipping through my fingers. Anger welled up within me while walking into the house because I already knew what awaited me.When I entered the living room, his presence enveloped me—waiting for me like a lion about to pounce on its prey."Theo." His voice was sharp, dripping with disappointment. I hadn't even taken two steps before his barrage began."Are you this incompetent, Theo?"I froze. My father was standing by the fireplace, his back turned to me, but his words cut like daggers."Look at our stock! Have you seen it? Our shares are plummeting, and you can’t even control the crisis!" He yelled.“Do you know how much it cost me? What I had to fight to bring that company to this poin
It didn’t stop the haunting echo of my father’s voice or the constant reminder that Kylo had become everything I was supposed to be.I hated him. Every fiber of my being loathed the man who had somehow slipped into my life and taken everything that should have been mine. Varya, the company, my father’s respect—all of it.And the worst part was, I couldn’t stop comparing myself to him, couldn’t stop hearing my father’s voice praising Kylo for his accomplishments.The room started spinning as I drained my glass once more, slamming it onto the counter with a bit too much force. I pushed myself off the stool, my legs unsteady beneath me as I staggered out of the bar and into the cold night.I was not sure where I was headed, but I didn’t mind – the fact that I was walking was enough for me. Nowhere was preferable to the fact that I was slowly unraveling and that there was nothing anyone could do to stop that process.My movements were uncoordinated, the physical environment becoming a fog
Varya’s PovThe creaking and slamming of the door echoed through the thick darkness, yanking me from my sleep. My body ached from the hours spent lying stiff on the old iron bed. The cold, rough metal dug into my wrists where the ropes bound me, leaving deep, stinging welts.I winced as I tried to adjust my position, willing my body to move slowly to avoid jarring my sore muscles. I needed rest, and more strength to endure this hell.I had been here for weeks—weeks of waiting, wondering if this nightmare would ever end. Tia had made this place her playground. She’d come when she was bored, the malicious glint in her eyes giving away her pleasure in my suffering.But the torture wasn’t just physical; it was the waiting, the not knowing when she’d next appear. And now… this.The silence hung heavy in the air, unnerving. Tia was always loud, her heels clacking on the wooden floor before she even reached the door. But tonight, there was no such sound. The silence was broken only by the oc
I tried to shout, to cry, but nothing would come out of my lungs and I understood that it would be the worst thing that I could do.Nobody was listening to me out here In this house which was neither home to anybody that would care to know where I was being confined. Finally, I could hardly see from the tears that filled my eyes, and my body heaved with the terror that engulfed me.Theo tried to comfort me and physically wiped a tear from my cheek; amid all the chaos he was almost tender but this did not settle my storm in any way; he looked at me, then let out a huge breath before moving away but kept staring at me.“I never planned for it to be like this”, he whispered, his voice boring into the guilt lane.“But you pushed me to it, Varya,” he said, “You made me do this.”I wished to scream at him and let him know that it was his actions that destroyed any possibilities for us. But the words were on my lips and I choked because of the intensity of the feeling that seized me.He then
Kylo’s POVThere was a calm that pervaded the night and died off sounds that I had rewound the security tape player that had spent years in the dusty bin. I felt the gradual burden of time as the images came through in black and white on the screen amped up.In one way or another, I never could have guessed that the events of what I was soon to witness would turn around the perception I once had about the night Varya’s father died.When the camera was running the shadows of the subjects being recorded on the tape started to appear. It was old certainly from the time before using digital systems instead of analog ones and the quality was rather low.But it was enough. I could make out the silhouette of the truck – the very same truck that was involved in the fatal accident that took Varya’s father’s life.The same truck had shown me burning and its steel exterior merrily melting down under the inferno. At that time, however, What I did not realize was who was pulling the strings at the
Theo's POVI couldn’t believe my eyes, but I had to admit that I had flinched. He was getting too close! My heart was racing so fast in my chest. Every keystroke or any noise from outside my door made me even more apprehensive. He was on to us. He had to be.The evidence of Varya's disappearance was bound to surface. Kylo was never one to let anything slip through his fingers. And Varya—she wasn’t just anybody. She was his wife, and before that, she was mine.I slammed my fist against the desk, the force of it echoing in the cold room. How had it come to this? How had I allowed everything to spin so wildly out of control? Varya—my beautiful Varya—locked up because of me.And Tia, with her venomous eyes, looked at me like I was some puppet on strings. She loathed Varya for the hold she still had over me, over Kylo, over everything."She's ruining everything," Tia hissed, pacing back and forth, her heels clicking against the floor in an irritating rhythm."If Kylo gets his hands on her—
She was hoping to keep me calm, to be the good Indian husband, and to do what needed to be done for our benefit.But how could I remain cool and collected when all the efforts and preparations that I have been dedicating all these years were on the verge of falling down the drain?Tia didn’t understand. She never would. This was not the power and the money fight for me, it was Varya. and if Kylo found her… if he took her from me again…As usual, the streak of anger swelled in me again, and I distinctly clutched my fists. Absolutely not, I would not let him. I couldn’t.As the days went by, I found myself losing my grip on reality more and more. The walls just seemed to slowly come in and grow darker and even more oppressive.Any sound, even the whisper made me start, and my paranoia went further into my head.Kylo was out there, somewhere, looking for her. He was getting closer I was sensing it. And with each passing day, the threat was mounting, the sense of the potential exposure of