(Ayesha’s POV)

The door closed softly behind him, but to Ayesha, the sound felt like a gunshot. The truth was out — the truth she had prayed for years he would see — but now that it was here, it tasted bitter, not sweet.

She sat on the bed, her hands resting over her belly, the baby inside her a reminder of every beautiful and painful thing tying her to Rudra Thakur.

Her mind raced back to the past — to a younger Rudra, the one who used to sneak into her window at night, who kissed her under the stars, who once promised her that no one would ever hurt her as long as he was alive.

And yet, he had become the one who broke her the most.

A sob tore out of her throat before she could stop it. She pressed her hand over her mouth, trying to stay silent — because crying felt like weakness. And she was so tired of being weak.

But her body betrayed her. Tears flooded down her face, her shoulders shook, and the weight of three years of pain, humiliation, forced submission, and shattered love came crashing down all at once.

Flashbacks hit like waves:

His hand around her neck on their wedding night, voice dripping with venom. “My wife — bought and paid for.”

The nights he took her body without care, her tears ignored.

His cold words every time she begged for him to believe her.

And the softer moments, too — when he thought she was asleep, when his hand would rest protectively over her stomach, and he’d whisper I hate you like a man trying to convince himself.

The memories blurred into one endless nightmare, and yet — her heart still loved him.

That was the cruelest part of all.

Ayesha dragged herself to her desk, her legs weak beneath her. She pulled out a piece of paper, her hands trembling as she began to write.

Dear Rudra, I don’t know if you will ever read this, or if I’ll have the courage to give it to you. But if something happens to me — if this child grows up without a mother — I want them to know the truth.

I loved you. I loved you so much, I gave up my own happiness to protect yours. I walked away, not because I wanted to, but because I wanted you to live.

And you repaid that love with hate. With pain. With hands that once held me gently turned into weapons that broke me.

I don’t know if I can ever forgive you. Not because I don’t want to — but because I don’t know how to forgive without losing the last piece of myself I have left.

But no matter what you believe, know this: I never stopped loving you. Even when you made me hate you.

- Ayesha

She folded the letter and placed it inside her bedside drawer. Her fingers brushed the ultrasound photo beside it — the only proof of the life growing inside her.

Her body felt so fragile these days — between the stress, the pregnancy, the weight of secrets and fear — but her soul? That felt shattered beyond repair.

She lay down, curling into herself, her hands protectively over her stomach. “It’s just us now,” she whispered to the baby. “I’ll protect you, no matter what.”

But in the back of her mind, she knew the truth.

No one could protect her from Rudra Thakur — not even herself.

End of Chapter 25