Rain battered the mansion's glass walls like a warning.
Thunder cracked the sky above them. But inside, it was the silence that screamed.
Ananya stood in front of Rael, her hands clenched at her sides. The air between them pulsed — heavy with everything they hadn't said.
"You haven't touched me," she said finally.
Rael looked up from the edge of the couch, his brows tightening.
"You haven't laid a finger on me since the night you forced this marriage."
She stepped closer, her voice low, trembling not from fear — but fury.
"You broke me. You caged me. You declared me yours in front of no one. You've controlled every breath I take. And yet… you won't even look at me like a woman."
Rael's jaw tensed. "This isn't about that."
"Then what is it about?" Her voice cracked. "Am I not enough? Or are you afraid?"
He stood slowly.
The storm outside cast flickers of light across his face. He looked both regal and haunted.
"I didn't take you to hurt you that way," he said.
"You already hurt me," she snapped. "Every day since you stole me from my life. And yet when it comes to intimacy — you act like I'm fragile."
"I'm not fragile, Rael. I'm fire. I'm fury. I've followed you. I've suffocated for you. I've become this version of me for you."
He stepped forward.
"I didn't touch you because I don't want to take you without your consent," he said tightly. "Even if everything else I did was twisted — that line I wouldn't cross."
She laughed — but it wasn't joy. It was pain.
"That line?" she repeated. "You crossed every line already. You think denying me this somehow makes you noble?"
His hands curled into fists.
"I've seen the way you look at me," she said, voice dropping to a whisper. "I've seen the hunger you try to hide. So why hold back now? What are you so scared of?"
He looked her dead in the eye.
"Because if I touch you like that… I'll never let you go."
Her breath caught.
"And I think some part of me still wants to be the man you could love — not the man you'll hate for eternity."
Silence.
She turned away from him — but he grabbed her wrist.
"You don't understand," he whispered. "You make me want to be better and worse at the same time. It's chaos. And I'm barely holding it together."
She yanked her hand back.
"You're not the only one falling apart, Rael. I wanted you to see me — to want me. Not because you stole me, but because you couldn't resist me."
He moved toward her again.
"I've always wanted you. Even now."
"Then prove it," she challenged.
He leaned in, their breath mingling, their hatred and need blurring into something impossible to name.
"I'll never be gentle," he warned.
"Good," she hissed. "Because I don't want gentle."
---