9 years ago

I hear the first gunshot before I even know what it is.

It cracks through the air like thunder, sharp and unnatural, cutting through the evening quiet outside Nani's house. I freeze where I am—on the floor, braiding my doll's hair, the scent of ghee and cardamom still clinging to my clothes from dinner.

The second shot comes fast.

Then another.

Then screaming.

"Inaya, inside! Stay inside!" Mohit Bhaiya yells from the hallway.

I drop the doll and run to the balcony before anyone can stop me. My hands grip the rail so tight my knuckles turn white. I see it all—black cars lined up outside the gate, headlights blazing like the eyes of monsters. Men in dark clothes. Guns in their hands. Fire at their backs.

And him.

Veer Singhania.

I know him from photos, whispered arguments, warnings I wasn't meant to hear. He's the son of our father's enemy. Dangerous. Heartless. A monster in a tailored suit.

He doesn't look like a monster.

But he doesn't look human either.

Just... cold.

Too calm.

Mohit Bhaiya drags me back inside, slams the balcony doors shut. "Stay with Jagriti," he snaps, pushing me into the room. My sister pulls me into her arms. She's shaking.

My heart pounds in my chest like it's trying to escape. "What's happening?"

Jagriti didi doesn't answer. She just hugs me tighter, her cheek pressed to the top of my head.

We hear footsteps on the stairs. A voice shouting.

Then the front gate explodes.

The floor trembles beneath us.

I scream.

We all do.

My ears ring. I can't tell if the screaming is coming from outside or from me anymore.

Mohit Bhaiya runs out again—yelling something about drawing them away. I follow him to the stairs even though I'm not supposed to. Even though Jagriti is screaming at me to stay back.

I reach the window just in time to see them corner him by the car.

There's a flash of silver.

A pause.

A gunshot.

I watch Veer raise the gun himself. No hesitation. No blink. Mohit collapses to the pavement, his blood soaking into the earth.

Jagriti rushes back to me, "Inaya, I told you to stay in your room." She yells at me, "Come on, we need to leave. We'll take the car by the back door."

She takes my hand in hers, while I look up at her with wet eyes, "Why did they kill Mohit Bhaiya?"

"They are very bad men, Inaya. Monster, that Veer Singhania." Jagriti says in a hushed whisper as she leads us both to the back gate, a silver Honda City parked near the gate.

"Come on, get in the car little bird." She opens the back door for me, "Lay flat on the seat. Don't let them see you."

Jagriti didi gets into the driver's seat and we're about to drive away when a gunshot rings again.

And again.

The glass shatters like a scream. Someone shoots directly into the driver's seat. Blood splatters everywhere as one of the bullet hits Jagriti.

She doesn't move.

She never moves again.

I can't feel my legs. My voice is gone. I'm frozen in the back seat, a tiny girl in a nightgown, watching her entire world fall apart. My throat burns from the inside out as I peek through the window as a group of tall men clad in black clothes approach the car. Among them is him.

Veer Singhania.

The monster my sister warned me about. And looks every bit of it right now with blood covering his face and hands.

His men are scattering, but he doesn't move. He looks up at me—right into my eyes. There's no mask of pity. No guilt. Nothing.

Just eyes like a still lake.

Emotionless.

Dead.

I don't think. I just scream his name.

"VEER!"

It breaks out of me like something feral, all sharp edges and shattered glass. My voice cracks, but I don't care. I scream again, until my throat feels like it's bleeding.

"You killed them!" I shriek. "You killed Jagriti! You killed my bhaiya!"

He doesn't flinch.

He doesn't speak.

He just walks forward, slow and measured, like time itself bends around him. He stops at the door. Just outside the car. I don't realize I've stepped outside until the cold wind slaps my face. I'm trembling from head to toe, but I don't stop. I won't.

"Why me?" I sob, fists clenched against the rail. "Why am I still alive?! Kill me too, you monster!"

He looks up again.

This time, he speaks.

"To give them a message. Tell them what happens when you mess with us."

Just that. Nothing else.

He turns his back to me, walks away into the smoke and screams like it's any ordinary night.

And I—I stand there until someone pulls me back inside the house.

Until the world falls quiet.

Until the bodies are covered.

Until the little girl who once played with dolls on the floor disappears, and all that's left in her place is a girl made of grief and fire and hate.

flashback ends

I snap back to reality, my breath coming in shallow gasps as the memory hits like a tidal wave. That night is always with me—etched into my skin, into my soul. It's the reason I'm here tonight, standing in front of a man who has no right to even breathe the same air as me. And yet, here I am, being forced to marry him.

The taste of bile rises in my throat as I look at him across the room, his expression unreadable, his eyes holding something close to satisfaction. He doesn't even know the depth of the hatred I carry for him. He doesn't understand that he's not marrying me for peace.

He's marrying me for war.

And I will make him regret every second of it.

I will make Veer Singhania pay for the death of my family. My brother and sister. The only people who were even close to siblings to me.

They think it the truce that will save both the families but I will burn their empire to ground until the name Singhania is nothing but a memory. Every single member of their family will pay for every drop of blood spilled from mine.

Veer looks at me with an odd expression from across the room, trying to asses me no doubt. His brain never stops calculating, never stops formulating new plans to bring his enemies on their knees.

I feel the weight of the mangalsutra he just ties around my neck, the sindoor he put in my hair. All things reminding me that I now, belonged to the man I hated. And yet, nothing on Veer Singhania shows that he's tied to me aswell.

Maybe because he isn't.

They never are, are they?

I grew up hating men in our circles, the one who just paraded around their women without showing them an ounce of care. To them, a women from an affluent family was a status symbol, a commodity they owned, nothing more.

I never thought I would be one. Although my family had been persistent in telling me that I would be traded off like cattle one day.

Just didn't knew that day would be this soon.

According to my mother, it was already too late. I was 22 afterall. If it was upto her, she would have married me off t 18 to any rich guy willing to pay the price. It was my father who held her back. Not because he cared for me, but because he was saving me for a better opportunity.

And when that opportunity presented itself, he didn't think for a second before throwing me to the wolves.

His only command, "Behave. Obey your family. And try not to get killed."

What a sweet, endearing father. He should be awarded father of the year, truly.

One would think Ranvijay Raichand would care about his only daughter but that was far from the case. The only thing he cared about was power. And my older brother, to some extend. He was the heir to his empire afterall.

My brother, Aryan, was 12 years older than me, the apple of my mother's eyes. Her golden son. I, on the other hand, was a mistake. An accident. Something she didn't plan on, so she made sure I was aware of just how unwanted I was.

My mother wasn't evil, particularly. Just cold and distant. Uncaring. Like most parents in the mafia.

My cousins from my materal side were the only siblings I had known. Jagriti and Mohit meant more to me than my own brother did. While Aryan always pretended I didn't exist, they showed me what a sibling relationship felt like, what it felt like to be loved and cared for.

Only for it to be snatched away from me in a split second.

By this man.

Veer Singhania.

The monster I was forced to marry.