Chapter 35: Convincing Her

The sun had set some time ago, and the clock had struck midnight. She was alone in the

house, wrapped tightly in her blanket on the bed. She didn't know whether she was trying

to protect herself from the cold outside or the gnawing fear and unease growing inside her.

Ahmed was at the hospital. He would be there all night, which meant that she could have a

peaceful night's sleep. But alas, sleep had become a distant relative ever since he had come

into her life. She would have to find her way through yet another dark, sleepless evening.

Just like any other night, sleep was far away from her once again. And the reason?

Shehryaar. No matter how much she tried to escape him, no matter how much she tried, she

could not escape him—not even in her own mind.

The doors were locked. The windows were shut, and she was cocooned in her blanket. She

should feel safe, but she could not. The silence in the house was thick—not a sound to

disturb her—but it was her own racing thoughts that kept her awake.

She couldn’t shake the anxiety that crept into every corner of her mind, the anxiety that

crept into her lungs and heart and suffocated her. She hated how his mere thought could do

this to her. She didn't know when she fainted or what she was saying to Hannan on the

phone. She couldn't remember anything. She could just remember one thing, and that was

her last interaction.

He had dared her not to cut the call, but she had defied him, and now she could feel the

dread of the consequences settling in her bones.

If only he would dismiss it as a mere momentary mistake. She knew now just how much he

was capable of. Whatever he had done to her before, he had called it just a fraction of what

he was capable of. And that terrified her. She had no desire to unleash his full extent.

She just wanted to stay hidden, away from the devil that had somehow found a home in her

life.

Her gaze was fixed blankly on the wall when a sudden flashback hit her mind.

Flashback:

Her body was on fire. A mix of pain and pleasure hit her simultaneously. She was caught in a

storm she couldn’t escape, pinned helplessly beneath him, each movement reminding her

just how little control she had left. Shehryaar wasn’t finished with her—not even close.

She felt as if he wasn't satisfied enough with her, so he penetrated deeper and deeper,

making her whimper with pain. She wanted the night to end, for him to finally leave her in

peace. But this was just the beginning; he had just started, and this was nothing close to the

end.

Just a few minutes ago, he had her on her knees, and he asked her to give him pleasure. He

didn't have a shred of consideration for her feelings or dignity. He was a man with no

feelings. Simply hollow.

After he was finished putting her through that ordeal, he had laid her across the table,

roughly pulling away her undergarments.

She had tried to close her legs instinctively, to protect whatever little shred of autonomy

and rights over her own body she felt she had. But just one piercing gaze from him was

enough. He controlled her body now. The fear she had for him controlled her body now. Just

one gaze was enough for her muscles to do whatever he said.

She didn't want any of this. It disgusted her. Every inch of her body shuddered in disgust

every time he touched her. But for him, this was a pleasure. Every shudder of her body,

whether from fear or something else, satisfied something primal inside of him.

Tonight was not about her. There was no her tonight. It was all about him. Only him.

Her body wasn’t her own tonight. She had surrendered herself to him, selling her body for

one night, and she feared that she had sold it for the rest of her life.

Making her stand, he cornered her against the wall and wrapped her legs around his waist.

It was against that wall where she lost her virginity to him.

Her trance broke, and she was oblivious to the fact that tears had already filled her eyes.

"Why me?"

She recalled what she could have done to deserve this when her mind hit a certain incident,

making her realize maybe it happened because of that.

Maybe it was the result of her own sins?

She thought.

Her hands were also tainted.

But she was jolted back to the present by the faint sound of someone at the front door. Her

heart raced as fear took over. She jumped up, her mind in survival mode, as she stumbled

toward the kitchen, desperate to find something, anything, that could protect her.

A knife—yes, a knife would protect her.

On her way to the kitchen, a cold hand gripped her arm, stopping her from moving forward.

Her head snapped around, and as soon as she saw him, every trace of color drained from

her face.

There he stood. Her worst nightmare was that she could not escape while asleep, and she

could not escape while awake.

He stood there. The man she had begun to fear the most. He stood there with his dark eyes

gleaming with a chilling satisfaction. Shehryaar.

He didn’t loosen his grip. In fact, he pulled her closer, bringing his face inches from hers, a

cruel smile playing on his lips. “Let’s convince you to come to the company tomorrow, shall

we?” His voice was cold and smooth, but she could sense the dark mocking in his tone.

Every fiber of her being screamed at her to escape, and somehow, she managed to wrench

her arm from his hold, bolting up the stairs to her bedroom.

Then it sunk in. She had defied him twice.

What had she ended up doing?