Page 135 of Entangled Vows
“You don’t need anything except my company. You were always mine, Mahika.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Panic sharpened her words.
“You. Were. Mine.” He spat each word like a verdict. “Everyone saw it back in college. Only you never realised it. You forgot.”
“No.” Her voice cracked. “We were never like that, and you know it.”
“Yes, we were.” Karan’s words were slow, like a predator circling its prey. “You were too naïve to understand. But now… now you’ll admit it. Your love belongs to me, my doll.”
“What about Priya?” she whispered.
A low, sinister laugh rumbled from him. “Priya? She meant nothing. She was a fleeting distraction… just someone to amuse myself with until I found you again.”
Mahika’s chest constricted. Her breath hitched, disbelief and shock twisting inside her.
“Don’t tell me you’re jealous,” he murmured, his voice sharp as a blade. “No one… no one can take your place in my life. Just as no one can ever take mine in yours.” His gaze locked onto hers, and what she saw in it made her insides shake in pure terror.
Her hands were clammy. A paralysing realisation crept into her bones that this wasn’t a mere misunderstanding. He really was crazy, delusional. He was mentally unstable. The boy she’d once trusted was gone.
How had she missed the signs? She cursed herself for getting into this car, for mistaking familiarity for safety.
Her hand inched towards the door handle, then froze when the smell inside the car hit her again. It was rancid now, sharp and rotten, coiling through her nostrils until she gagged. The air felt thick, suffocating, impossible to escape.
“This stench. It’s making me want to puke. I don’t feel good at all,” she muttered, nausea clawing at her throat. Herpalms flew to her mouth as she shuddered, slick with cold sweat, fighting the urge to vomit on the car floor.
“Stop making such a big deal about it. It’s just some old takeout containers and a few beer cans,” he said dismissively, as though her revulsion were absurd.
She twisted in her seat, and her eyes widened. The backseat was a disaster. A pile of crumpled clothes spilled out of an open bag, half-eaten food sat in greasy containers, and empty beer cans rolled around like they belonged there. A thin layer of dried food crusted a part of the car floor, and a mouldy, half-eaten sandwich was squished under a bundle of papers.
It was garbage. Literal garbage.
What the hell? Was he living out of his car?
Her pulse thundered in her ears as her eyes met his for a fraction of a second. That crooked smile on his face was so calm, so psychotic that it told her everything she needed to know.
This wasn’t anger. It wasn’t confusion.
This was a living nightmare, and she couldn’t wrap her head around how the fuck she’d landed in this situation again. She was in real danger.
A knot of dread coiled in her stomach. And then it struck her.
She was pregnant.
This wasn’t just about her anymore. For the first time in her life, Mahika understood the meaning of pure, unfiltered fear.
If something happened to her now, it wouldn’t just end her. It would end the tiny life growing inside her. Her baby. The thought cut through her panic like a bolt of lightning.
She instinctively wrapped her arms around her stomach, as if she could shield the baby from the world, from him, from everything. Terror surged up her spine, but something strongerrose with it. It was a fierce, protective, motherly instinct. She couldn’t afford to panic. Not now. She had to stay alive. She had to get out.
Her voice was calm despite her fear. “If you don’t turn around right now, I’ll scream.”
He looked at her, irritated. “There’s no one around to hear you, babydoll.”
Her heart thundered. The car slowed as it reached a bend. Ahead, the road dipped into a rough patch of gravel, and the car slowed down. She froze as, all of a sudden, it started raining heavily.
A crumbling temple rose through the downpour, half-swallowed by moss and shadow. The sky was shrouded in black clouds as rain poured relentlessly, the jungle dense and untamed around them. Thunder ripped through the trees, its roar almost deafening. Mahika’s pulse raced, matching the frantic drumbeat in her ears.
“W-what is this place?” she gasped, her voice trembling.
