I couldn’t take it anymore. I stepped forward. "Tanya!" My voice was sharp, bitter, and painful. "What the hell are you doing with my husband?"
Her smile vanished. She looked at me as if I were the same snake Saurav had saved her from years ago. Straightening her posture like a model, she stayed silent, refusing to dignify my accusation.
"Stay away from my husband!" I hissed, grabbing her arm and pushing her away.
"Kavya, what the hell are you doing?" Saurav’s brows furrowed as he shot out his hand, grasping me roughly. "Stay away from her!"
"No!" My anger flared, words tumbling out raw. "You sit here laughing with her while I… while I’m alone, terrified in that room! Do you even care about me?" My voice shook, but my eyes burned with fury. "You forgot it’s our first night."
Tanya lowered her gaze, lips pressed tight, saying nothing. "She's taking my place!" I pointed angrily at her.
Saurav rose abruptly, his jaw clenched. "Enough." His voice was cold, slicing through the night air. He grabbed my wrist, his grip firm, and dragged me back toward the villa.
I stumbled, my protests echoing in the hallway. "Let me go! Why are you defending her? Why do you always make me feel like this?"
He shoved the door open, pulling me inside. His face was dark with anger, his voice rising. "Do you even hear yourself? You embarrassed me in front of Tanya! You act like a child. Wasn’t it enough what you had already done to me? Now you’re playing another dirty game?"
My chest heaved, tears stinging my eyes. "I’m scared of you, Saurav. Do you even realize that? I’m scared every time you look at me like I’m nothing."
"Yes, you’re absolutely nothing to me, Kavya." He snarled. "You’re poison in my life, making everything toxic. What did you just say?" He stepped closer, glaring at me. "It’s our first night, huh?" He sneered, moving in until his minty breath fanned across my face. He grasped my chin, forcing me to meet his furious eyes.
"You want to officially become my wife?" He pulled me closer, his mouth near mine, and a shiver ran down my spine. I gasped when he began unhooking my blouse. "Let’s do this, okay. I expect you won’t be filing a complaint against me this time."
My heartbeat thundered in my chest as his fingers slid down my back. I sucked in a sharp breath when he stripped it away in one stroke. I tried to cover my breasts, but he shoved my hands aside.
"Don’t… " he warned, his voice low, before moving to my saree. He removed it slowly, deliberately, with an edge of anger. His eyes burned into my skin, making me want to crawl under the bed. Those eyes told me how worthless I was compared to Tanya.
The air in the room grew heavy, suffocating under the weight of his furious gaze. Saurav looked at me like a judge inspecting evidence he found utterly revolting.
I stood trembling, my hands hovering uselessly at my sides. The silence was louder than his shouting had been.
"Look at you," he whispered as he circled me like a predator who had already won. "You screamed at Tanya? You actually had the audacity to compare yourself to her?"
"Saurav, please… " My voice was small, broken.
"Tanya is graceful. She is disciplined," he said, stopping in front of me. His finger trailed mockingly over the curve of my waist before pinching the soft flesh with a sneer. "And you? You’re just… soft. Unrefined. You take up so much space, Kavya, yet you have no presence."
He stepped back, his eyes raking over me with slow, deliberate cruelty.
"Did you think the wine would give you courage? Or make you more appealing?" He let out a dry, humorless laugh. "All it did was make you bloated and loud. You look at these dark walls, this stylish room, and you think you belong here?"
The tears spilled over, hot and blurred my vision. His words struck like blows, stripping away the last shred of dignity I had clung to.
"You want your ‘first night’?" He stepped into my space again, his face inches from mine. I could see the disdain etched into his jaw. "I look at you and feel nothing but obligation. It is an obligation I wish I could vomit out. You’re not a woman to me. You’re a chore. A heavy, clumsy chore I’ve been forced to bear my entire life."
He gripped my chin, forcing me to face the long, dark-tinted mirror across the room.
"Look at us," he commanded.
In the reflection, he looked like a god carved from obsidian—sharp, lean, perfect. Beside him, I looked broken, pale, myposture slumped, my body feeling twice its size under the weight of his judgment.
"Do you honestly think," he hissed into my ear, "that I could ever want this? That I could ever choose this over someone like her? You’re a child playing dress-up in a woman’s body, and frankly, it’s pathetic."
He released my face with a flick of his wrist, as if he’d touched something oily. Turning his back, he walked toward the closet, his voice terrifyingly calm. "Cover yourself up. You’re an eyesore."
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Chapter 12