His fingers felt like bands of steel against my jaw. I gasped, my hands instinctively coming up to grip his wrists, but trying to move him was like trying to move a mountain. The scent of his expensive cologne—a mix of cedarwood and something dangerously dark—wrapped around me, suffocating me.
"Please," my voice trembled, barely louder than a whisper. "Rudra... I don't understand. Why are you doing this?"
A harsh, bitter laugh escaped his lips. The sound held absolutely no humor, only a chilling emptiness. "You don't understand?" He leaned in closer, his breath fanning my cheek. Every muscle in my body froze. "Your father played a very dirty game to secure this alliance. He thought selling his precious daughter to me would erase his debts and his sins. But he made one fatal mistake."
He jerked away from me suddenly, as if touching me disgusted him. I stumbled, gasping for air as the cold marble wall scraped against my back.
"He thought I was a man who forgave," Rudra said, pacing the length of the luxurious room like a caged panther. "I don't forgive. And I never forget."
He stopped at the edge of the massive, silk-draped bed—the bed that was supposed to be our marital bed—and looked at it with pure revulsion.
"Listen to me very carefully, because I will not repeat myself," his voice turned icy, carrying the weight of an absolute command. "You are my wife in name only. Outside these walls, you will smile, and you will play the perfect, obedient bride for the cameras and the high-society vultures. But inside this house, you are nothing. You have no rights, no voice, and absolutely no place in my life."
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, but I bit the inside of my cheek, refusing to let them fall. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me break on the very first night. "If you hate me so much," I managed to say, my voice shaking but holding a sliver of defiance, "then why did you agree to marry me?"
Rudra stopped pacing. He turned his head slowly, his eyes locking onto mine with a gaze so lethal it made my heart stutter.
"Because keeping you close is the best way to destroy your family piece by piece," he whispered dangerously. "You are my collateral. My prisoner."
He walked towards the heavy oak door, not sparing me another glance. Pausing with his hand on the brass handle, he delivered his final blow.
"The guest room down the dark hallway is yours. Don't ever let me catch you in my personal space. And don't wait up."
The door clicked shut behind him. The sound echoed in the massive room, finalizing my doom. I sank to the floor, the heavy red bridal dress pooling around me like blood. My wedding night. My happily ever after. It was all a meticulously planned trap, and I was the bait.