(Rudra’s POV)

Rudra sat in his office, a cigarette burning between his fingers, untouched. The room was dark, the only light coming from the large screen in front of him. Security footage from three years ago played — grainy but clear enough to see Ayesha walking into a small café.

She wasn’t alone.

The man beside her… Rudra’s jaw clenched. He’d seen those photos before, the ones that destroyed him, the ones that made him believe she’d sold her body and heart to someone richer.

He hit play again, faster this time, looking for something — anything. And there it was.

The man’s face turned toward the camera. Older than Rudra remembered. Ayesha wasn’t leaning into him the way a lover would — she was crying. Her hands were shaking. The man held her shoulders, like a brother comforting a sister.

Because that’s exactly what he was.

Ayesha’s cousin.

The realization hit him like a bullet to the chest. His heart pounded in his ears as he sifted through file after file, connecting the pieces.

The anonymous letters threatening Ayesha if she didn’t leave Rudra. The fake bank transfers making it look like she used Rudra for money. The doctored photos sent directly to him by his enemies, the Rathores — his father’s old rivals.

Everything was a setup.

She never betrayed him. She never wanted his money. She left to protect him, thinking if she disappeared, they would leave him alone.

And in return, Rudra had destroyed her.

His hand trembled as he put out the cigarette, rage boiling under his skin. Not at her. At himself. At the man he became — the monster who married her at gunpoint, stripped her of dignity, forced her body, humiliated her, broke her into silence and obedience — all for a lie.

He stood abruptly, shoving his desk so hard the glass top cracked. His reflection stared back at him — a man covered in blood that wasn’t even hers to pay.

---

He found her in their bedroom, asleep again. Pregnancy exhaustion had taken over her body, and now, her face was soft, almost peaceful — but under her eyes were bruises from sleepless nights, and her lips were bitten raw from nerves.

My doing. All my doing.

He sat beside her, watching her breathe, guilt cutting through his chest sharper than any knife. His hand hovered over her stomach, but for the first time, he didn’t touch. He didn’t deserve to.

Her phone lay on the bedside table, screen lit from a recent text. He glanced down, curiosity winning — and saw her unsent message to him.

“I’m scared. I still love you, even when you make me hate you.”

Rudra’s throat closed, his vision blurring with anger — at himself. How had he missed it? How had he turned blind rage into blind cruelty?

He couldn’t stay. Not now. Not when every breath he took near her felt like suffocation under the weight of his own sins.

So he walked out. No words. No touch. Just the cold silence between them stretching wider.

---

The next day

Rudra spent the morning in the old warehouse — the place where they first kissed when they were teenagers, where she used to sneak to meet him, back when he was just a boy with blood on his knuckles, not his soul.

He smashed a bottle against the wall. Then another. Until his hands bled and his heart felt nothing. But the ache wouldn’t leave. Because now, the truth was out, but the damage was done.

He couldn’t undo the nights he forced himself on her. He couldn’t erase the cruel words, the punishments, the fear in her eyes every time he touched her. He couldn’t give her back the girl she was before he broke her.

But he could do one thing.

He could give her the truth — no matter what it cost him. Even if it meant losing her forever.

---

That night, Rudra returned home — quieter than a ghost. He found Ayesha standing on the balcony, her hands resting over her small bump, talking softly to the baby inside her.

He stood in the doorway, afraid to break the moment. Afraid she’d see through him.

“Do you still talk to her?” His voice cut through the air.

Ayesha froze before turning slowly. “Who?”

“The girl you used to be.” His tone was softer than she expected. “Do you still talk to her at night, when you think I’m asleep?”

Ayesha’s eyes filled with tears, but she didn’t answer.

Rudra stepped closer. “I found out, Ayesha.”

Her breath caught. “What… what do you mean?”

“I know the truth.” His voice cracked slightly, but he forced himself to go on. “I know why you left. I know who that man was. I know… I know everything.”

Her face crumpled with emotion, relief and pain crashing together. “It took you three years to finally believe me?”

He reached for her hand, but she pulled back. “Don’t,” she whispered. “You don’t get to touch me with the same hands that destroyed me.”

Rudra’s heart shattered, but he nodded. “You’re right.”

She stepped back, her guard fully up now. “Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because I need you to know,” he said softly. “That all the hate… all the revenge… was built on a lie. I need you to know that I was wrong.”

“And?” Her voice trembled. “What now, Rudra? You expect forgiveness? You think truth erases bruises? Do you think saying ‘I’m sorry’ can unbreak everything you shattered inside me?”

“No,” he whispered. “But I swear, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to fix what I broke — even if you never love me again.”

Her tears fell freely now, but she didn’t step toward him. “You think love is my problem? Love was never the problem, Rudra.”

He frowned. “Then what is?”

She placed his hand over her stomach, forcing him to feel the fluttering movement inside. “Trust. I loved you enough to sacrifice everything for you. But you never trusted me enough to believe I could love you without a price.”

Rudra’s chest ached like someone had taken a blade straight through his heart. “Can you ever trust me again?”

She didn’t answer. She didn’t know how.

But for the first time in three months, she didn’t pull away when he touched her. And for now, that was the only hope Rudra had.

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End of Chapter 24