The rain in Mumbai that night was merciless, as if the sky itself wanted to wash away every sin.
Aarohi Verma stood on the edge of the cliffside mansion’s terrace, her white saree completely drenched, clinging to her body like a second skin. The wind howled around her, carrying the salty scent of the Arabian Sea crashing violently against the rocks far below.
In front of her, on his knees in the pouring rain, was the man she had spent six years hating with every breath she took.
Reyansh Malhotra.
The Devil of Mumbai. The man who had destroyed her family. The man whose ring now sat heavy on her finger like a chain.
“Get up,” she whispered, voice shaking. “I don’t want to see you like this.”
Reyansh didn’t move. Water streamed down his face, mixing with something that looked dangerously like blood from a cut on his forehead. His expensive black shirt was torn at the shoulder. For the first time since she had met him, the ruthless billionaire looked completely broken.
“I killed her,” he said, voice raw and hoarse. “That’s what you’ve always believed, isn’t it? That I murdered your sister on the night of our engagement.”
Aarohi’s heart twisted painfully. Tears burned in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
“Wasn’t it you?” she screamed over the thunder. “You forced her into that engagement. You trapped her just like you trapped me. And then she was found dead at the bottom of these same cliffs. Tell me it wasn’t you, Reyansh. Look me in the eyes and say it!”
Reyansh slowly rose to his feet. Even on his knees, he had looked powerful. Standing, he looked like a fallen god — terrifying and devastatingly beautiful.
“I didn’t kill her,” he said, stepping closer. “But I am responsible for her death.”
Aarohi’s breath hitched. The confession hung between them like a blade.
She had married this man thirty days ago under a forced contract. She had smiled for the cameras, slept in his bed, and played the perfect wife while secretly searching for evidence to destroy him. Every touch, every heated kiss, every night she spent in his arms had been part of her revenge.
And now… everything was crumbling.
Reyansh reached out and cupped her wet face with both hands, his thumbs brushing her cheeks with surprising gentleness.
“I know who you are, Aarohi,” he whispered. “I’ve known since the first day you walked into my office pretending to be someone else. I knew you came here to ruin me. To make me pay for your sister’s death.”
Aarohi’s entire body went cold.
“You… knew?”
A dark, painful smile touched his lips.
“I knew. And I still made you sign that contract. I still married you. Do you want to know why?”
Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating his sharp features. He looked like sin and salvation wrapped in one dangerous package.
“Because the moment you spilled that glass of wine on me in my office, I saw the same fire in your eyes that your sister had. The same hatred. The same pain. And for the first time in six years, I felt something other than emptiness.”
He pressed his forehead against hers, rain pouring between them.
“I let you come close so I could watch you. Break you. Punish you for trying to destroy me. But somewhere between forcing you to wear my ring and watching you sleep in my bed… I became the one who was ruined.”
Aarohi tried to push him away, but her hands fisted in his wet shirt instead.
“I hate you,” she sobbed. “I hate you for what you did to my family. I hate you for making me feel this way.”
“Then hate me,” he said, voice low and rough. “Hate me while you’re under me. Hate me while you scream my name. Hate me for the rest of your life, Aarohi. But don’t leave. Because if you walk away now, I will burn everything down — including myself.”
He pulled back slightly, his dark eyes burning into hers with terrifying intensity.
“The contract is over in sixty days. But I’m offering you a new one. Stay with me. Not as my prisoner. Not for revenge. Stay as my wife. Help me find who really killed your sister. Because it wasn’t me, Aarohi. Someone used her death to destroy both of us.”
Aarohi stared at him, heart hammering wildly. Six years of planning, of pain, of loneliness… and now the man she came to destroy was offering her the truth on his knees.
“Why should I believe you?” she whispered.
Reyansh’s grip on her face tightened possessively.
“Because if I had wanted your sister dead, she would have disappeared without a trace. I don’t leave bodies for people to find. I erase them completely.”
His words sent a chill down her spine.
He leaned in until his lips brushed against her ear.
“And because the man who actually killed her… is still out there. Watching us. Waiting for you to make a mistake.”
Thunder cracked overhead as Reyansh captured her lips in a desperate, punishing kiss. It tasted of rain, blood, pain, and something far more dangerous — obsession.
When he pulled back, both of them were breathing heavily.
“Choose, Aarohi,” he said against her mouth. “Ruin me like you planned… or stay and let me ruin you instead.”
Aarohi looked into the eyes of the devil she had married.
And for the first time, she didn’t know if she wanted revenge anymore.
Or if she had already fallen into something far more poisonous.
