The fall felt like it lasted forever. The wind rushed past my ears, loud and angry. Then, the black water hit me like a solid wall of ice.
All the air left my lungs in one painful rush. The cold was so sharp it felt like thousands of needles piercing my skin. I sank fast. My heavy wet sweater pulled me down into the deep, dark ocean. I opened my eyes, but there was only blackness.
The sound of the storm was gone. Down here, there was only a heavy, roaring silence.
I didn't try to swim. I didn't fight. I just let the dark water take me. For the first time since my father sold me to the devil, I felt free. There were no more guards. There was no more cage. There was no Rudra, and there was no Maya. Just quiet. My lungs burned for air, screaming for me to breathe, but I kept my mouth closed tightly. I was ready to let go. I was ready to sleep.
But the monster didn't know how to let go.
A loud splash broke the water above me. Even in the dark, I could feel the ocean shift. Someone was swimming toward me. Fast.
Before I could even think, large, strong hands grabbed my arms. I tried to push him away. I hit his chest weakly in the water, but my body was too numb from the cold. Rudra didn't care about my weak fighting. He pulled me hard against his chest. His thick arm wrapped around my waist like an iron band, trapping me against him.
He kicked his powerful legs, fighting the heavy waves and the drag of our wet clothes. We shot upward.
We broke the surface of the water together. The violent storm hit me again. The rain, the howling wind, the loud thunder—it all came rushing back. I opened my mouth and gasped, but I ended up swallowing salty seawater. I started coughing wildly, choking on the water.
"Breathe!" Rudra yelled. His voice was raw, loud, and full of panic. I had never heard him sound so scared.
He swam with one arm, holding my head above the crashing waves with the other. The water was rough, tossing us around like broken toys, but Rudra's grip on me was like a vice. He swam us toward a small, rocky beach near the edge of the shipping yard.
When his boots hit the ground underwater, he didn't stop. He carried me out of the freezing ocean and fell to his knees on the hard, wet stones.
He dropped me onto the rocks. I rolled onto my side, coughing violently. I threw up seawater, my chest burning with every breath. My whole body was shaking so hard my teeth clicked together. I was so cold I couldn't even feel my fingers.
Rudra hovered over me. He was breathing heavily, his chest moving up and down fast. He didn't care about his expensive clothes, now soaked and ruined. He didn't care about the sharp rocks under his knees.
He grabbed my face with both hands. His fingers were shaking. The powerful, untouchable billionaire was actually trembling.
"Look at me," he ordered. His voice broke. It wasn't a request. It was a desperate command. "Open your eyes and look at me right now!"
I slowly forced my eyes open. Water dripped from my eyelashes.
Rudra looked wild. His dark hair was plastered to his forehead. His eyes were red, filled with anger, fear, and a dark madness that made my heart beat faster. He was staring at me like I was the only thing keeping him alive in this storm.
"Why did you do that?" he roared. The sound was louder than the thunder above us. "Why did you jump?"
I couldn't speak. I just lay there on the wet stones, shivering, staring at the man who had just jumped into a stormy sea to catch me.
"Did you think I would let you die?" Rudra whispered. The anger in his voice cracked, showing the deep pain hiding underneath.
He pulled me up from the wet stones and crushed me against his hard chest. He held me so tight my ribs actually hurt. He buried his face in my wet neck, taking deep, shaky breaths. His hot breath against my freezing skin sent a weird shiver down my spine.
"Did you really think dying would get you away from me?" he asked against my skin.
I rested my heavy head on his wet shoulder. I was too tired to fight him anymore. The cold had drained all my energy.
"You don't love me," I whispered. My voice was weak and scratchy. "You have Maya. You found her. Go back to her."
Rudra pulled back just enough to look at my face again. His jaw tightened. He looked angry that I even said her name right now.
"Maya is my past," Rudra said, his voice turning hard and cold again. "I owe her my life. I spent five years feeling guilty for what happened to her. I will protect her. I will make sure Kabir never touches her again."
He moved his hands down to grip my shoulders. His fingers pressed hard into my skin, making sure I was listening to every single word.
"But you," Rudra growled, stepping closer until our noses almost touched. "You are my wife. You are my present and my future. You are the one who drives me crazy. You are the one I want to kill and kiss at the exact same time."
I stared at him, my breathing shallow.
"If you jump, I jump," Rudra vowed. His eyes locked onto mine. "If you try to run, I will hunt you down. If you die, I will burn this whole world to ashes and follow you straight to hell just to bring you back. Do you understand me? You don't get to leave me."
A fresh tear slipped down my cold cheek, mixing with the rain.
He was crazy. He was dark, possessive, and broken. He wanted to lock me in his golden cage forever, and he was willing to drown in the ocean just to keep the key.
"Sir!" A loud voice shouted from the top of the rocks.
I looked up weakly. A group of Rudra's armed guards was running down the steep path toward us. They had flashlights cutting through the dark rain.
"Bring the car here. Now!" Rudra yelled back at them without taking his eyes off me.
"Sir, what about the other woman?" the head guard asked nervously, pointing his flashlight back toward the shipping containers where Maya was. "She is asking for you. She is very scared."
Rudra didn't even look back at the shipping yard. He didn't look at the place where his first love was waiting for him. His eyes stayed completely focused on my shivering, wet body.
"Tell my medical team to take her to the safe house," Rudra ordered his men coldly. "Make sure she is safe. But no one else gets in my car."
He bent down and slid one arm under my knees, the other around my back. He lifted me effortlessly off the wet stones, holding me tightly against his chest. I felt so small in his arms.
"You are freezing," he murmured, his voice softening just for me. He started walking up the rocky path toward the headlights of his black SUV.
I closed my eyes and rested my head against his beating heart. I was trapped. I had jumped into the ocean to escape him, but all I did was prove a dark, scary truth. I couldn't escape him. He would never let me go. And the most terrifying part of it all? As he carried me through the cold rain, holding me like I was his most precious treasure, a small, twisted part of
my broken heart was glad he came after me.