She storms in like the fucking hurricane she is.

The door slams so hard the glass shakes in its frame, thunder crashing a second later like even the sky is taking her side. Rain clings to her skin, sliding down her arms, soaking into the fabric of her clothes. Her hair is a mess, wild and sticking to her face, mascara smudged under her eyes.

And still… she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever ruined.

Something in my chest tightens. Not sharp. Not sudden. Just slow and crushing, like it’s been building for days and finally decided to make itself known. I don’t let myself feel things like this. I never have. But this… this isn’t something I can shut off.

“Baby—”

“Don’t.” Her voice cuts through the room instantly. Sharp. Clean. No hesitation. Her voice shakes just enough to make something ugly twist inside me.

“Don’t call me that,” she says, looking straight at me like she wants to burn every part of me down. “Don’t say it like it means something when you’ve been lying to me this whole time.”

My jaw locks. The instinct is immediate. Deny it. Twist it into something else. Give her a version of the truth  that sounds clean enough to survive.

That’s what I always do. That’s what I’ve always been good at. But standing here, looking at her like this… there’s nothing clean left.

“I didn’t lie,” I say, my voice is rougher than I expected. “Not this time.”

The second it leaves my mouth, I fucking hate it. Because it sounds like every other excuse I’ve ever given her.

She lets out a laugh, and it hits harder than anything else. I hate that sound. Because it’s not her laugh. Not the one that used to slip out of her when she wasn’t thinking, the one that made me forget what I was doing, what I was saying, or even why I was there in the first place.

This one is broken. Bitter. Like she’s forcing it out just to stop herself from crying.

“You always say that,” she whispers. “Every single time. Do you even hear yourself anymore, or do the lies just come out automatically?”

Each step she takes toward me feels deliberate. Like she’s holding herself together with nothing but anger. Her heels hit the marble, the sound echoing in the silence between us, and I just stand there. I don’t move. I don’t step back.

Because if I do… I might actually do the one thing I haven’t done yet.

Tell her the truth.

She stops right in front of me. Close enough that I can see the way her lashes stick together from the rain. Close enough that I can see the exact moment her breathing falters.

“You could’ve told me,” she says, quieter now. “At any point. Any day. Just once you could’ve been honest with me.”

That lands. That one actually  lands. Because she’s right. Because I had so many chances.

The first day I met her. The second I realized she wasn’t just going to be another job. The night she fell asleep next to me like she trusted me without even thinking about it. I could’ve told her then.  I could’ve told her before I started needing her like oxygen. I should have. But I didn’t.

“And then what?” I ask, my voice lower now. “You would’ve walked away before I even got a chance to…” I stop.

To what?

To finish the job? To destroy her  reputation properly? To make sure her dad lost everything?

The words sit in my throat, disgusting and real.

Her face flickers for a second. Something softer. Hurt in a way that isn’t angry yet. Then it’s gone.

“So that’s what this is?” she says. “You kept lying just so you could keep me around? God, that’s sick, Veeransh.”

Yeah. I know.

“You think this is a game?” I step closer now, because I can’t not. “You think I’ve been fucking playing  with you?”

“You were hired,” she cuts in, and her voice breaks on the last word, and that—fuck—that does something ugly to my chest. “You were fucking paid  to get close to me.”

There it is.

Out in the open.

The reality I’ve been avoiding. The truth I buried under every touch, every night, every moment I let myself forget why I started this— now sitting between us like something rotten.

I feel it settle in my ribs like poison.

Because she’s right. Every part of it.

I took the deal. I took the money. I walked into her life knowing exactly what I was supposed to do.

Make her trust me. Make her fall in love with me. Use her. Break her. Destroy her image, her name, everything tied to her father.

And I did. God, I actually did it.

Even if I didn’t leak those pictures myself, I set everything in motion. I put her in a position where she could be destroyed. I made her vulnerable.

And now she’s standing here, looking at me like I’m the worst thing that ever happened to her.

She’s not wrong.

“Say it,” she whispers, stepping closer, her voice barely holding together. “Say none of it meant anything. Say I imagined everything. That I was just... a part of the job. Just say it.”

I look at her. Really look at her.

At the girl who walked into my life like chaos and somehow made it feel like something real. The girl who didn’t even try to be soft but still managed to break through every wall I had.

And all I can think is how badly I fucked this up. How I took something that could’ve been real and twisted it into something ugly.

And now I’ve lost her.

“It meant... everything,” I say. My voice is quiet, but it doesn’t shake because it’s the most honest thing I’ve ever said to her.

Her hand comes out of nowhere. The slap echoes in the room, sharp and loud. My head turns with it. Not because it hurts.

Because I deserve it.

I don’t touch my face. Don’t react. I just stand there and take it, letting the sting settle into my skin like it belongs there.

She’s breathing hard now. Her hand still slightly raised, like she didn’t expect herself to do it. And for a second… just a second… she looks like she regrets it.

That almost breaks me. So I grab her. I don’t think. I don’t stop to consider anything. I just pull her into me, hard, like if I don’t hold onto her right now, she’s going to disappear.

Her fists hit my chest immediately. Once. Twice. Again.

I let her. I don’t block it. Don’t stop her because I deserve every single one.

“Let me g-go!” she snaps, but her voice cracks halfway through.

“No.” It comes out instantly. Because I can’t. If I let go, she walks out that door and this time she won’t come back. And I don’t think I will survive that.

“I hate you,” she says, her voice shaking, her fists still hitting me but weaker now. “I hate you for this. I hate you for making me feel like I mattered when I didn’t. I hate you for making me fall in love with you when it was all just—”

Her voice breaks. She can’t even finish it.

Something inside me twists so hard it almost feels physical.

“Yeah,” I say quietly, my throat tight. “You should. You should fucking hate me, baby.”

Because if she doesn’t… if there’s even a part of her that still feels something else… I will never let her go.

Her hands slow down, but they don’t leave me. Her fingers clutch at my shirt now instead of hitting, like she doesn’t know what else to do with them.

Her eyes lift to mine. Red. Wet. Furious. Completely wrecked.

“You ruined me,” she whispers. “Do you even understand that? My name… my reputation… people are talking about me like I’m some… some cheap scandal.”

Something cold moves through me.

“I didn’t leak those pictures,” I say immediately. It’s the truth. But it doesn’t fix anything.

Her laugh comes out sharp. “Of course you didn’t. You just put me in a position where it could happen. That’s so much better, right?”

I don’t have an answer for that. Because she’s right again.

“I didn’t know it would go that far,” I say, quieter now.

“That’s not an excuse!”

“I know.” I run a hand through my hair, frustrated, angry, mostly at myself. “I know, alright? I know I fucked up. I know I should’ve told you. I know I should’ve walked away before it got to this point.”

“Then why didn’t you?” she demands.

That question strips everything down.

Why didn’t I?

Because I’m selfish. Because I wanted both. The truth about Raika… and her.

“I didn’t want to lose you,” I admit. The words sound pathetic even to me.

Her expression hardens instantly. “You didn’t want to destroy your fragile male ego.”

“No,” I shake my head, stepping closer again. “You.”

My voice drops. “Just you.”

She goes still. Just for a second.

“I fell in love with you,” I say, the words rough, dragged out of somewhere I don’t usually go. “Somewhere in the middle of all of this, I forgot it was supposed to be a job. I forgot what I was supposed to do. I just… needed you.”

Her face crumples slightly before she forces it back together. “Stop,” she whispers. “Just stop. You don’t get to say that now.”

“I should’ve said it earlier,” I agree. “I should’ve told you everything before it got this bad. But I didn’t. And I hate myself for that every second now.”

“You don’t hate yourself,” she says bitterly. “You’re just scared you got caught.”

That hits. Because part of it is true. But not all of it.

“I’m scared of losing you,” I say.

And that… that is the truth that scares me the most.

Her eyes fill again, but this time she doesn’t look away. “You already lost me, Veeransh Raichand.”

The words are quiet. But they land like a gunshot.

And for the first time in a very long time… I don’t know what to do.

──── ᥫ᭡ ────

The truth is, destruction never starts the day everything falls apart.

It begins much earlier. In small choices. In silences. In the things we convince ourselves don’t matter.

This story doesn’t start with betrayal. It starts with a girl who never trusted anyone… and a man who was never supposed to love her.

What you just saw? That’s not the end of them. That’s the moment everything begins to break.

And this is how it all started.

Chapter 1 will be out on April 23rd.

Stay thirsty, loves. You won’t want to miss what’s next.