PREVIOUSLY IN CHAPTER
He looked up.
Finally.
The weight of his gaze slammed into her like a collision she never saw coming.
And then, with the calm of a man who’d already won the game before it began, he said
“Marry me.”
Two words.
Sharp enough to bleed her. Cold enough to burn her alive.
And yet, she stood frozen – because for the first time, silence wasn’t the most terrifying thing in the room.
He was.
✨
Bilqish POV
Is he crazy?
How can he say something serious so casually?
"Do you even realise what you're saying? You've kidnapped me? I'm not here for vacation that you're proposing to me? I don't even know a thing about you apart from that you're a murder." I literally screamed at him.
"I think you're forgetting your place, Princess. Don't ever use that tone with me. Understand?" He was so close to me that I could feel his breath on my face.
Goodness. The audacity. This guy is insane. Is he even hearing himself. He should see a doctor. How can he even think that I'll say yes to marrying him after he has been keeping me captive for more than 2 months?
Stepping back from him I just chuckled at his face because it's so clear to me now, I can't escape it. Either way he is keeping me here so why should I even say yes to marry him? I'm not insane like him.
"I'll not marry you. Did you get that?"
"Let's see, who wins? In the next two weeks you'll be signing our Nikah papers."
Wtf! I can't stand him. Why's nobody found me yet? Is he someone with power? Will I die here? It's so confusing... He is confusing.
All these times he had never talked to me and now the first time he did. He wants to marry?
Knowing that I'm not winning this verbal fight, I retreated back to my room. Locking the door gives me a sense of peace but you cannot always be sure. It's his house, he can have a master key or something.
As soon as I locked the door, my chest rose and fell like I had just run a race I never signed up for. My fingers trembled on the cold knob, refusing to let go as if the wood of the door was the only barrier between me and his madness.
Marriage.
How could he even speak about marriage with me? He is my kidnapper. A murderer. Someone who stole my freedom and destroyed my sense of safety. And now he stands there, throwing around a word that should mean choice, love, and family… but in his mouth, it sounds like a punishment.
I hugged my arms around myself and let out a shaky laugh that broke halfway. He must be insane. If I said yes, what would it even change? I would still be his prisoner. If I said no, would he kill me?
The clock ticked against the silence. My dinner never came that night. Usually a maid would leave a tray outside, knock softly, and vanish before I even opened the door. But not today. My stomach growled in protest, but hunger was nothing compared to the storm inside my head. I curled up on the bed, clutching the blanket tight, and forced my eyes shut.
Sleep came like a thief, dragging me into the memory I hated most.
The nightmare began in the same place.
Taking a shortcut, I found myself walking into a narrow alley. It stretched endlessly, darker with each step, as though the walls were closing in on me. My chest tightened, my breath shallow, but I kept moving, telling myself it was nothing. Deep down, I knew it wasn’t.
Shadows shifted ahead, and then I saw him. A man crouched over another body, his movements slow, deliberate, almost ritualistic. The air grew thick, metallic, choking me with the smell of blood. My ears filled with screams, high, animal-like wails that echoed too loud, bouncing off invisible walls until I wanted to tear my own skin to escape the sound.
I tried to move, but my legs had vanished, melted into the ground. My fingers trembled against my lips, struggling to hold back the sob crawling up my throat.
Then his hand moved, and a silver blade caught the dim light. In one clean stroke, he cut across the man’s throat. The sound wasn’t just a gurgle, it was a river spilling out, endless, spreading across the alley until it rushed toward my feet.
A broken gasp slipped from me. It didn’t even sound like mine. And in that instant, every head turned.
The man with grey eyes looked at me. His gaze pinned me where I stood, sharp as a hook sinking into flesh. If it weren’t for the blood dripping from his hands, I might have thought he was beautiful, too beautiful to belong in this nightmare. His muscles strained, his jaw clenched, a vein pulsing like a warning. He was fury made flesh.
My mind screamed run, fight, do anything. But my body betrayed me, frozen, spellbound. His stormy grey eyes swallowed me whole, dragging me deeper into something I couldn’t escape.
A sudden sting tore into my arm. I looked down, confused, the world tilting violently around me. The alley warped, walls bending, screams stretching like broken echoes. My vision smeared, colors bleeding together.
Before the blackness consumed me, I saw him kneel beside me. His hand brushed against my head, soft, almost tender.
No, that couldn’t be real. That was the trick of a nightmare.
And then everything collapsed into darkness.
I woke up choking on air, my throat raw from a scream that never left my lips. My body jerked upright, drenched in sweat, hair clinging to my face. The room was still dark, the night lamp casting long shadows against the wall. My heartbeat refused to calm down.
I pressed my palms against my face. “It’s just a dream,” I whispered to myself, but deep inside I knew it wasn’t. It was memory, replaying over and over.
The next morning I dragged myself to the dining room. The maids had already laid out breakfast. The smell of fresh parathas and tea filled the air, but food tasted like dust in my mouth. I sat stiffly, trying to keep my hands steady as I lifted a cup.
Then he came.
His footsteps were slow, measured, heavy enough to silence the room. Every maid froze in place as soon as he appeared in the doorway. Within seconds they lowered their heads and rushed out, as if being in the same room with him was forbidden. And then it was only him and me.
I swallowed hard, the cup rattling slightly against the saucer. His eyes landed on me, sharp and unblinking, and for a moment I forgot how to breathe.
“You look pale,” he said, his voice carrying the calm cruelty that made my skin crawl. “Nightmares?”
I looked away. My silence was answer enough.
He pulled out the chair opposite me and sat down, every move deliberate, like a predator stretching its claws.
“I will not waste time, Bilqish.” His tone was smooth, but each word slid like a knife. “I want you to marry me.”
My chest tightened. “And I already told you no,” I whispered.
A faint smile touched his lips, but it was the kind that never reached the eyes. “You think no is an answer I accept? You will learn otherwise.”
I clenched the edge of the table until my knuckles turned white.
He leaned forward. “You will never leave here. I can keep you locked inside these walls for as long as I wish. Years, if I decide. And if one day I grow tired of this little game, I could kill you, and no one would know where you went.” His voice was cold enough to freeze the blood in my veins.
My pulse hammered, but before I could speak he continued.
“However, if you agree… you gain privileges.” His eyes searched mine with a dangerous gleam. “I can allow you to meet your best friend Ifra once a month. If you behave, I will even let you go out occasionally. Perhaps invite her here. You could have a sliver of the life you miss so much.”
The mention of Ifra made my blood run cold. My fork slipped against the plate, the clang loud in the silence. He knows about her. He knows about my best friend. If he knows that, then he surely knows about her foster parents too.
My lips parted, but no words came.
He tilted his head. “But if you deny me, eventually… then I cannot guarantee Ifra’s safety. Nor the safety of her foster family.”
My heart plummeted. Images of Ifra flashed in my head — her smile, her laughter, her trust. The thought of her in danger because of me was unbearable.
“You…” My voice cracked. “You wouldn’t.”
His eyes gleamed darker. “Do not test me.”
Silence weighed between us, broken only by the tick of the clock on the wall.
Finally he leaned back in his chair, as if the conversation bored him already. “You have two days to decide. Marry me, and keep your friend safe. Refuse… and watch how fragile safety truly is.”
He stood, his presence towering over me even from a distance. Without waiting for a reply, he walked away, leaving behind the faint trace of his cologne and the echo of his threat.
I sat frozen, my chest rising and falling like it carried the weight of the world. For the first time, the choice was no longer about me. It was about Ifra.
And that was the scariest part of all.
I know I said on insta that I'll give a double update but please forgive me for not fulfilling my promise but I'll give another update this week.. For sure.
Till then read, enjoy, comment your thoughts about this and please do vote and if you want then follow me too.
And I've decided to write in a third person POV from now on.. I can't balance dual pov🥲
Life update: I'm just waiting for my results and my first year will be completed 💅🥳
For more updates and random reel prompt/short stories and spoiler follow me on insta with @malfie_narrates. Link is in bio!!
Happy Reading!!✨
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