The King's Ruin
The De Cruz manor felt like a tomb. Aditya stood on the balcony of his study, staring out at the grey morning mist. His knuckles were bruised from punching the stone wall, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the hollow ache in his chest. For the first time in thirty years, the world didn't matter. His company, his legacy, his secret powers—it was all ash.
"I would let her kill me," he whispered to the empty air. "I would hand her the blade myself if she would just look at me with something other than hate."
Samuel entered, his face tight with worry. "Aditya, enough. You went to her apartment like a common drunk. You made yourself vulnerable. You know the rules—she doesn't understand her own power yet. She could strip you of everything if she wanted to. You must stay away."
Aditya turned, his eyes glowing with a faint, dangerous violet light. "Stay away? Samuel, I can't breathe without her in the same city. What is the point of having the power to stop time if I'm just spending that time in agony? I don't care about the rules anymore. She is mine, even if she doesn't know it yet."
The Arrival of Isabella
Samuel sighed, realizing he couldn't reach the man he had served for decades. He pulled out his phone and made a call he had been avoiding for years.
"Isabella? It's Samuel. He's falling apart. He's obsessed with a girl who will be his undoing. We need you here. Now."
Isabella—the daughter of Aditya's father's closest friend—had waited years for this call. She had loved Aditya with a cold, sharp ambition since they were children. To her, Aditya wasn't a man; he was a throne she intended to sit on. If a "common girl" like Nandini was the obstacle, Isabella was more than ready to remove her.
The Decision of Despair
Across the city, Nandini sat on the floor of her kitchen, the taste of Aditya's whiskey-laced kiss still burning on her lips. She felt like a traitor.
How could I? she screamed at herself. Amit has been gone for a month. He's settled in Mumbai. He hasn't called, hasn't messaged... but that doesn't mean I can fall for a monster like Aditya.
She convinced herself that Aditya didn't love her. To him, she was just a model, a toy to be conquered. Rich men didn't love; they possessed. The fear of being used and discarded was stronger than the heat she felt when he touched her.
With trembling hands, she picked up her phone and called her mother.
"Ma?" Nandini's voice was hollow. "Tell the boy... tell his family I agree. I'll marry him. Let's do the ceremony as soon as possible. I want to settle down. I want to be done with all of this."
The Trap is Set
Her mother's cry of joy on the other end felt like a funeral bell. By agreeing to this marriage, Nandini thought she was escaping Aditya. She thought she was staying "loyal" to the idea of a simple life.
She stood up and looked in the mirror. The red-eyed shadow was gone for now, but a different kind of darkness was settling over her. She had just declared war on the one man who could protect her from the spirits—and the one man who would rather destroy the world than let her walk down the aisle with someone else.
Two days passed she ignored every calls of Aditya, refuse to meet..
As she began to pack a small bag to go stay with her mother, a sleek black car pulled up outside her building. It wasn't Aditya's car.
A woman with perfectly coiffed hair and eyes like sharpened diamonds stepped out. Isabella had arrived.