Author pov:-

           The night after Ruchika’s visit, the mansion felt like a cage bracing for an earthquake. Ishani sat on the bed, her heart still aching from the way Ruchika’s fingers had slipped from hers, the hug cut short by Ekansh’s looming shadow. Every whispered promise of freedom had shattered at the slam of that door.

Sleep eluded her. Every time her eyes drifted shut, she saw Ekansh’s face in the dark—the burning in his eyes, the vow he had made to never force her again. But vows, Ishani had learned, meant nothing when spoken by a man who believed she belonged to him. His silence since that day was worse than his words. He had been pacing his study endlessly, his footsteps echoing through the house like the ticking of a time bomb. Something was brewing. Something dangerous.

She clutched the bedsheet tight, whispering to herself. “Stay calm. Don’t break. You’ll find a way.”

But her resolve shattered the moment the door opened at midnight.

Ekansh entered, his tall figure casting a long shadow across the room. His face was unreadable, carved into stone, but his eyes carried that same storm she dreaded. Ishani instinctively backed away until her shoulders pressed against the wall.

“What are you planning?” she asked, her voice trembling though she tried to steady it.

He closed the door with deliberate calm, locking it. His gaze didn’t waver. “They will come again. My sister. Your brother. They think they can take you away from me.”

Her heart leapt at the mention of them. Hope and fear tangled inside her. “They should. Because I don’t belong here.”

His jaw tightened. For a long moment, he said nothing. Then, slowly, a dangerous calm washed over him, like a predator deciding its next move. “You’re right. You don’t belong here as a prisoner.”

Her brows furrowed, confusion flickering through her fear.

He took a step closer, his voice steady now, terrifyingly certain. “You belong here as my wife.”

The words struck her harder than any chain. Her lips parted in shock, breath leaving her lungs. “What?”

“Marriage, Ishani.” His voice was low, commanding, final. “If you become my wife, no one—not Ruchika, not your brother, not even my family—can question it. No one will be able to take you from me. You will be bound to me by law, by vows, by society.”

"But..bu-t I am oN-ly 19" she said Whispers.

"I don't care"

Her legs weakened, and she staggered back. “That’s not marriage. That’s chains dressed as vows.”

But he only stepped closer, his gaze burning with obsession and twisted tenderness. “Call it whatever you want. But once you wear my name, once you stand with me before the world, no one will dare interfere. You’ll be mine in a way no one can break.”

Tears stung her eyes, spilling hot and fast. “I will never say yes.”

His expression softened—not in kindness, but in a way that chilled her more than anger. He reached out, brushing his thumb across her cheek, smearing away a tear. “You don’t need to. The ceremony will happen. And when you are mine in the eyes of the world, no one can undo it. Not even you.”

She jerked away violently, her voice raw. “You promised not to force me again.”

Ekansh’s eyes darkened, his jaw working as though he was biting back his temper. “I promised not to take your body by force. But your name? Your place by my side? That I will take. Because I can’t lose you, Ishani. Not to Ruchika. Not to your brother. Not to anyone.”

Her knees threatened to buckle. The weight of his words felt heavier than any locked door. Marriage was worse than captivity—it was permanent. Her future, her identity, her very existence stolen and branded as his.

She forced herself to stand tall, to meet his gaze despite the tremor in her voice. “Why? Why are you doing this to me?”

For the first time that night, his mask cracked. His voice was hoarse, his eyes shining with something like despair.

“Because without you, I am nothing. Every moment without you feels like death. And I’d rather chain you to me forever than watch you walk away.”

Her heart twisted painfully. For a terrifying moment, she saw not just the monster, but the broken man beneath—the loneliness, the desperation. But she shoved the thought away. She couldn’t pity him. Not when he was stealing her life.

She straightened, her hands clenched at her sides. “Then I will fight. Even if I have to burn every vow you try to force on me, I will fight.”

His gaze hardened again, but there was pain in it too. A flicker of something human, drowned in obsession. He stepped closer, his voice a whisper laced with finality. “The wedding will be in two weeks.”

The words echoed through the room like a sentence passed by a judge. Two weeks. Fourteen days before her world was sealed away forever.

---

The following days blurred into a nightmare. The mansion buzzed with preparations. Servants hurried in and out with fabrics, flowers, gold ornaments. Ishani watched them through hollow eyes, every stitch and garland another shackle being woven around her.

She tried to reach the maid who had once shown kindness, slipping whispered pleas into hurried exchanges. But the maid’s eyes darted nervously toward the guards who now doubled at every corner. “I can’t,” she mouthed once, before fleeing the room.

Ekansh had tightened his control. He wasn’t going to risk another attempt at escape.

At night, Ishani sat by the window, staring at the moon. Her mind churned with desperate plans. Could she slip poison into the wedding food? Could she set fire to her bridal veil? Every thought ended in fear—of Ekansh’s wrath, of the guards, of failure.

But one thought refused to leave her mind: Ruchika.

Her best friend had promised she would come back. Ishani clung to that promise like a lifeline. Maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t have to face the altar alone.

---

On the seventh night, Ekansh came again. This time, he wasn’t cold. He wasn’t angry. He was almost gentle. He brought her a necklace, delicate gold with a ruby pendant, and held it up with a strange, hopeful smile.

“Wear this,” he murmured. “It’s a family heirloom. My mother wore it at her wedding. I want you to wear it at ours.”

Ishani stared at the jewel, her stomach turning. It glittered like a collar. She didn’t reach for it. She didn’t move at all.

His smile faltered. “You hate me for this.”

She swallowed hard, her voice shaking but steady. “I don’t just hate you, Ekansh. I fear you. And one day, that fear will turn into something stronger. Courage. And when it does, I’ll leave, vows or not.”

For a moment, silence. Then his jaw tightened, and he set the necklace gently on the table. “You can fight me all you want, Ishani. But when the world sees you as mine, even your courage won’t set you free.”

He turned and left, the door locking behind him. Ishani sat there trembling, staring at the necklace that gleamed in the candlelight like blood.

---

Two weeks. That was all the time she had left. Two weeks before she lost everything.

But Ishani whispered to herself that night, gripping her fists so hard her nails cut into her skin: “I won’t let it happen. I swear, I won’t.”

Even as fear consumed her, a flicker of fire burned inside. She would not walk willingly to her own chains.

---

Author Note 💌

🔥 Ekansh just revealed his darkest plan yet—he’s forcing a marriage in two weeks! His obsession has now taken the form of vows, and he believes marriage will make Ishani his forever.

💔 Ishani is terrified but stronger than ever. Her fear is slowly transforming into determination. She knows once she’s tied to him publicly, escape will be nearly impossible. The clock is ticking.

👉 Question for you: Should Ishani secretly try to escape before the wedding, or should Ruchika and her brother crash the ceremony to stop it?

Vote Team Escape (💔 Ishani breaks free before vows) or Team Crash (🔥 dramatic rescue at the wedding altar!).

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