"Why the hell would you try to invade my privacy?" The mysterious guy asked her while gritting his teeth. He grabbed her jaw tight enough to scare her.
"I...don't know about this all" She said while trembling, eyes teary due to fear.
"I didn't do it for anyone," she said, her voice trembling—but not breaking."I did it because someone had to."
His fingers curled around her throat applying just enough pressure to frighten her more. Finally a cry left her lips.
"You're not stupid," he said quietly."So I'll ask once."
A pause.
"Who are you working for?"
."Pleasee (cries) I am with no one, really no one sir. I...I'll tell you why I did that" She took a deep breath when finally The man left her throat. "H..he dated me, played with me, in a desire to ruin me because of his issues...If it was only me, I'd have moved on. But it was a never-ending array. Many girls destroyed by him...I wanted to expose him. T...That's all" She looked down suppressing her sob.
He pulled her face up harshly, as if searching any deceit on her face. Finding none he released an approving hum. "Hmm, no threat then."
And then—he removed the mask.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
As if he wanted her to see.
The shadows shifted across his face—
And recognition struck.
Not fear.
Not confusion.
Shock.
"You…" her voice broke."You're—"
Vivaan Malhotra
The man from the wedding.The calm voice.The one who silenced the room.
And now—
The man in the video.
Kruthi's eyes widened, she felt a deep wave of shock. All the questions started to revolve in her mind at once.
Why was he doing this?
Why did he save the video?
Why was the video in Rushaan's phone?
If he's Rushaan's cousin brother than he is also Ceo of the company she worked in...
He turned around looking at his men.
"No threat" he said to them and untied her. "Don't do something stupid that I'll be forced to paint my hands red" He threatened her while untying the ropes binding her.
"So, since you know my reality now, what should I do?" he held her chin with mock sweetness, his voice dripping with danger.
"Should I kill you? no, you got courage to expose my cousin. Then should I use you for...! No, it would be too cruel for someone like you." Suddenly he remembered.
"What's your name?"
"K…Kruthi…"
He repeated it slowly.
"Kruthi."
As if testing how it felt.
Then he turned away, thinking.
Silent.
Calculating.
And when he looked back—
The decision was already made.
"Marry me."
"What?"
"It's not a proposal," he said calmly."It's an arrangement."
"I need a wife. For the family. For inheritance. For control."
A small pause.
"And you… need to stay alive."
The gun lifted.
Not rushed.
Not dramatic.
Just… certain.
"So let's not pretend this is a choice."
As soon as Kruthi saw the gun pointed at her, she nodded eagerly. She was too afraid, too much in fear.
"Good girl" he smirked. Suddenly someone entered the room with a contract and handed it to him.
Vivaan stepped closer to her and fixed her hair calmly, with a hidden threat that any refusal strategy would not be accepted. "Sign my wife-to-be." He said to her with a smirk on his face. A cruel dark aura surrounding him.
She realised now why the CEO of Svidevzalia never met anyone unless extremely urgent. Almost the majority of company only knew his name, not his face, not even the fact that he was related to Rushaan. They called that it could lead threats to his life, but no one ever realised that he himself was no less than a threat.
She took the pen and signed the contract with trembling hands. Right at the moment she felt a warm hand around hers.
The pen felt heavier than it should.
Her fingers trembled.
Not because she didn't understand—
But because she understood too well.
This wasn't marriage.
This was captivity—with a title.
"Sign properly" he growled low in his throat.
After she signed, he held the contract in his hands, checking if all the formalities were done. With a nod he handed the contract back to the man who brought it.
"This relationship is strictly professional. I provide you money, wealth, name, fame, respect, protection. You provide me the act of being my wife in front of everyone." He said to her. "Go back to your home little bird. My man will pick you up from your place tomorrow, whether you like it or not." He said in a cold, manipulative voice and left from the basement, leaving a guard to accompany her out of the horrifying place.
The guard, drove her to her home. Throughout the ride she was just wondering, how did her life take such a huge turn. Moments back she was enjoying her victory of exposing Rushaan, and at the present, she was kidnapped, threatened and worst of all- married to a man she got afraid of, by a contract. Suddenly something snapped in her, she didn't check the duration of the contract. She would be ashamed to meet her family, saying that she is married. And worse, he won't let her speak the truth. Even her family won't help her.
Her life wasn't good though.
Born in a family where female child was called burden. She was the eldest granddaughter, a girl. Her parents weren't bond by love, but by force. It was an arranged marriage, but not certainly happy.
When she was born, her father refused to accept her. However finally after the DNA test of the newborn, was she qualified enough to bear the name of the family she was born in.
It was only her grandfathers who loved her. Her grandmothers often called her a sin born, said it would have been better if she died. Years passed, she grew elder, and witnessed more of her parent's fights.
It was wild, often leaving her in tears. When late night, her father would beat her mother mercilessly. With stick, broom, metal pipes...a never-ending list. However the man made sure that her mother's arms and area above neck was fine, he can't get himself exposed ofcourse.
She remembered the day vividly, when it was her high school exam. The percentage mattered to her, because it could get her scholarship, and the stream she wanted to choose. Exact 6 in the morning, the man arrived, beated her mother because she didn't open the door while asleep. She got in between to stop the fight. Just like she did when she was ten year young and her father slapped the child so harshly that she landed on floor, her head got a mild injury, it bleeded.
This time, he again slapped her. Her head hit the wall, her specs broken. She was crying but finally the fight, the violence reduced. She still gave the exam which was at 9 Am (reaching centre at 9, exam at 10). It was her science exam.
She scored 87 in that thankfully and finally managed to score overall 90%, earning a scholarship of 7000 INR from her school. She chose PCM despite her family and father's diapproval which went to the extent that her father considered her dead when she was in 11th.
And since then the little Kruthi, who was not even 18, promised herself to never marry, never suffer, never limit herself.
World is enough to hurt me, to stop me.
I don't have the right to tear apart my own wings, to kill the dreams of the small Kruthi- she always reminded herself.
She believed in love, infact the very word. She was a devotee of Radha Krishna. Though not die heart one, but yes, she couldn't imagine her life without them. She promised herself to be in relationship only when she truly meant it. She didn't want thrill or any excitement, worse, the term exploring.
But here her life took a turn,
She was forced to marry a man whom she never even knew, love was a way too foreign thing.
But there was no choice.
She had to do it.
The next day
At 5 in the morning, she felt loud knocks on the door of her apartment.
Getting louder every second.
She stood in fear, but soon realised who this would be.
And as she expected it was......
Vivaan.
He looked at her and rolled his eyes away taking in the surroundings. Near the sofa was the bag she must have packed last night. He signalled his guards to take the bag and in no time lifted her in his arms.
"The f**k" She screamed and hit his back continuously. Her sleepy eyes widened due to shock.
"At our first night baby, or whenever you give consent" He responded to her casually with a smirk.
When they went downstairs the apartment she looked around, still in his arms to ask for help. But how can she? The guard was at gunpoint himself.
He placed her inside the car respectfully. Despite his anger, despite his cruelty, he knew his boundaries, his manners, his ethics. But ofcourse he loved to see people fear in front of him.
The only human he would never dare to harm, were children. There was a soft spot in him for the small humans, growing in innocence in this cruel world.
He adjusted her dupatta before stepping back.
A small gesture.
Unexpected.
Almost… respectful.
And that made it worse.
"Welcome," he said, his voice low—
"to a life you don't get to walk away from, Mrs. Kruthi Vivaan Malhotra."