Page 11 of Forged By Fate

“Fuck. You,” she hissed, as her chest rose up and down rapidly.

Her long, wavy hair was all over the place, and her eyes were wild as she glared at me in the mirror. That’s my girl, I thought admiringly. She would never back down from a fight.

I shot her a feral grin that made her even more furious.

“Do you want to?” I asked, and she froze in place.

She licked her lips nervously, and I followed the movement in the mirror, wishing I could do the same.

“What?” she stammered.

“Do you want to fuck me?”

She let out a bitter laugh.

“For how long?”

“For as long as you want,” I replied, nipping at her ear lobe.

She shivered in response but didn’t let her gaze drop.

“And what if I want forever?” she asked bleakly.

Her words had the desired effect, and I let go of her and took a step back.

It was as if she’d doused me with a bucket of icy cold water. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and reminded myself why I didn’t believe in forever. When I opened my eyes, I had regained the legendary control I was known for. Sunaina was still watching me like a hawk in the mirror.

I gave her a thin, mirthless smile.

“Good night, Sunaina,” I said as I took another step back and left her enough space to walk away.

She held herself ramrod straight as she stepped away from the mirror. When she was about to walk past me, she stopped and looked me straight in the eyes. It took all my control not to flinch at the sharpness of her gaze.

“Coward,” she murmured.

CHAPTER 7

SUNAINA

Iforced myself to go up the stairs calmly, aware of Viren’s gaze burning a hole in my back. I refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he had hurt me.

Until now, I had always thought he was a deeply decent man. But now I knew better. He was a raging asshole! An entitled bastard who thought I was okay to fuck around with but not worth the promise of forever. He hadn’t even taken the time to think about it. The minute I mentioned the dreaded f-word, he had backed away in horror as if even touching me would give him syphilis.

But I had known that would happen when I said it. That’s exactly why I used that word. Sufi was wrong about this dress being my secret weapon. It was the f-word that had the power to make Viren go nuclear. And that’s why I said it. To bring him to his senses.

I knew Viren didn’t really want me. He was just being territorial over me because he didn’t like to share his belongings. And that’s exactly what I was. A thing. Not a person with feelings. Dhruv had somehow triggered the Neanderthal inside Viren, and he had reacted accordingly.

He would do anything to make sure I didn’t shame the Chaudhry family name in public. Even fuck his unwanted wife to keep her away from what he considered her boy toy. But I knew that if I gave in to the temptation he offered, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.

I wanted a relationship with Viren. I wanted love. Not a throwaway angry fuck that would leave me even more frustrated. Besides, it would just muddy the divorce. We had kept it very clean until now, and we were almost close to the finish line. I couldn’t risk messing up our clean break just because Viren threw a temper tantrum over nothing.

Because itwasnothing. I had just spent a very enjoyable evening with my friends. Dhruv was a very handsome and successful man, and more importantly, he was very kind. So why did he not make my heart pound with desire like Viren? Did I have a grumpy fetish? Maybe I couldn’t get turned on until I had been growled at and scowled at six times before breakfast, I thought wryly.

I entered my room and shut the door softly, leaning against the door as I allowed my stoic mask to break down completely. I had held it together all evening, smiling and laughing with my friends as if I didn’t have a care in the world, but not any more.

I threw off my heels and slid down to the ground as tears ran down my face. Viren had proved beyond doubt that he would never love me. The sooner we got divorced, the better it would be for both of us because if we kept sniping at each other, we’d find ourselves screeching at each other across the courtroom insteadof signing the papers like the dignified couple we were supposed to be.

I threw off my clothes and headed straight into the shower to scrub all the gunk off my face. I only wished I could scrub the memories of being in Viren’s arms from my brain as easily. I stood under the hot shower, tears streaming down my face as I relived those magical moments during the fireworks display. After a while, I dried my eyes firmly and turned off the shower. I wrapped myself in a towel and stood in front of the mirror, slathering my night serum and moisturiser on. Even if my heart was breaking, Sufi would murder me if I neglected the strict skincare routine he had drawn up for me.

---