Aditya was left alone, smashing the glass decanters on his desk in a fit of rage. He hated that she still thought of Amit. But as an hour passed, the rage turned into a hollow ache. He decided to go to her, to ask why his touch made her hate him so much.
When he reached the elevators, his usual lift was broken. "Take the other one," he told his assistant. "And get the mechanic to fix that one immediately."
Downstairs, the mechanic looked pale. "Sir... someone is trapped in the 3rd-floor lift. The cameras are out."
Aditya's heart stopped. He remembered Arka mentioning Nandini had claustrophobia. He didn't wait. He ran to the 3rd floor and, with a strength that bordered on the supernatural, he tore at the metal grill and forced the heavy doors open with his bare hands.
The Broken Butterfly
Inside, the scene was a nightmare. Nandini was senseless on the floor. Her hand was bleeding—deep cuts, as if a shadow had tried to drain her. Aditya scooped her into his arms, his heart breaking into a million pieces.
"Don't leave me," he choked out, his voice cracking as he rushed her to the most expensive hospital in the city. "I love you. I know it now. Just stay with me so I can show you..."
Arka and Samuel arrived shortly after, finding Aditya pacing like a caged animal, his clothes stained with her blood. Arka confronted him, but Aditya couldn't even speak. He stayed outside her room all night, listening to her breathing through the door, too ashamed to face the girl he had almost lost.
After she woke up, she didn't remember the shadow—only the fear. She left the hospital and went to her parents' house, leaving Aditya in a silent villa, haunted by a love that he now realized could devour him whole.