The party became unbearable after midnight.

Too many fake smiles.
Too many hands brushing her skin too comfortably.
Too many men mistaking Sia Malhotra’s silence for softness.

Yuvraj Vardhan had spent the last twenty minutes speaking about power while staring at her mouth like he already imagined ownership.

Sia wanted to slit his throat with the champagne glass.

Instead, she smiled beautifully.

Because monsters survived longer when underestimated.

“You’re quiet tonight,” Yuvraj observed while adjusting the cuff of his expensive suit.

“Maybe your company exhausts me.”

He laughed loudly.

Arrogant enough to mistake insult for chemistry.

The orchestra music swelled softly across the ballroom while rain battered the towering glass windows overlooking Mumbai’s storm-lit skyline. Lightning flashed somewhere distant, briefly illuminating crystal chandeliers like hanging blades.

Sia suddenly felt trapped.

Not emotionally.

Physically.

The ballroom air felt heavier with every passing second.

Her pulse became uneven.
Her skin prickled strangely.

Like someone was watching her.

No—

waiting.

The sensation crawled slowly beneath her spine.

Familiar.

Dangerous.

“Excuse me,” she said abruptly before Yuvraj could continue talking.

He frowned slightly.
“Where are you going?”

Sia’s lips curved faintly.

“Away from you.”

Then she walked off before he could respond.

Good.

Let him chase.

Men like Yuvraj always chased what slipped away from them.

The farther she moved from the ballroom, the quieter the hotel became. Music faded behind marble walls while dimly lit corridors replaced the noise of wealth and politics.

This wing of the hotel housed private antique exhibitions for elite guests tonight.

Rare sculptures.
Temple relics.
Ancient jewels trapped behind glass.

The irony almost made her laugh.

Powerful men loved stealing history.

Sia walked slowly past the displays, her blood-red gown flowing behind her like spilled wine across marble floors. Lightning flashed intermittently through the tall arched windows beside her, painting silver shadows across her skin.

And then—

she stopped walking.

Because suddenly the corridor no longer felt empty.

The silence changed.

Not louder.

Sharper.

Someone else was here.

Sia slowly turned her head.

Nothing.

Only shadows stretching along the gallery walls.

Still—

that feeling remained.

Her fingers instinctively slipped beneath the slit of her gown where the cold metal of her hidden blade rested against her thigh.

Then—

a voice emerged softly from the darkness behind her.

“You carry weapons to charity events?”

Sia spun instantly.

The blade flashed silver between her fingers.

And that was when she saw him.

Or rather—

parts of him.

Tall.

Dressed entirely in black.

Standing near the far end of the corridor where shadows swallowed most of his features completely. The dim gold lighting revealed almost nothing except:

1. broad shoulders

2. silver rings glinting faintly against masculine hands

3. rainwater dripping slowly from one sleeve

And his eyes.

God.

His eyes.

Storm-grey.

Cold enough to destroy kingdoms.

Yet looking at her with something dangerously close to grief.

Sia’s breath caught unexpectedly.

Not attraction.

Recognition.

Something deep inside her reacted violently to those eyes before her mind could understand why.

The stranger noticed her staring.

“You’re shaking,” he said quietly.

Sia tightened her grip around the blade instantly.

“I’m deciding whether to stab you.”

A faint pause.

Then—

“Fair.”

His voice was low. Smooth. Controlled.

The kind of voice that belonged to men used to being obeyed.

Thunder cracked loudly outside.

For one suspended second lightning illuminated the corridor—

—and Sia almost saw his face.

Almost.

But darkness swallowed him again immediately.

Frustrating.

Intentional.

“Who are you?” she asked sharply.

Silence lingered briefly.

Then:

“No one you should trust.”

Something about the answer unsettled her more than a lie would have.

Most dangerous men introduced themselves proudly.

This one sounded tired.

Like he already knew exactly what he was capable of becoming around her.

Sia slowly lowered the blade slightly but didn’t put it away.

“You’ve been watching me.”

Not a question.

The stranger tilted his head slightly.

“So have you.”

Her jaw tightened.

“You followed me here.”

“No.”

Another lightning flash.

Those storm-grey eyes never left her face.

“You walked exactly where I knew you would.”

The words slid beneath her skin strangely.

Too intimate.

Too certain.

Sia hated it immediately.

“Do we know each other?”

For the first time—

the stranger went completely still.

Rain hammered violently against the windows.

Somewhere distant, ballroom music continued faintly.

But here—

inside this strange corridor—

everything felt suspended.

Then finally he answered softly:

“No.”

Lie.

This time she felt it instantly.

Not because of the words.

Because of his eyes.

People lied with their mouths all the time.

Eyes were harder to control.

And his looked at her like remembering hurt.

A sharp pain suddenly exploded behind Sia’s temple.

Flash.

Blood running across masculine skin.

Her own trembling fingers.

The carved shape of an S.

A deep voice whispering near her ear:

“Look at me while you do it.”

Sia inhaled sharply.

The vision vanished instantly.

The stranger took one step forward instinctively.

Concern.

Real concern.

“Easy,” he murmured.

The word hit her strangely hard.

Like she’d heard him say it before.

Too many times.

Sia’s pulse thundered violently now.

“What did you do to me?”

The question escaped before she could stop it.

The stranger froze.

Then something almost broken crossed his expression briefly beneath the shadows.

“I tried to save you.”

The words barely sounded human.

Too honest.

Too heavy.

Sia stared at him, heart pounding painfully against her ribs.

Save her from what?

Before she could ask—

another flash split through her mind violently.

Rain.

Screaming.

Storm-grey eyes staring down at her while blood covered both their hands.

The pain became unbearable.

Sia squeezed her eyes shut instinctively—

—and suddenly warm fingers closed carefully around her wrist.

Not rough.

Not controlling.

Familiar.

The touch shot through her body like lightning.

Memory crashed violently against her skull.

A masculine heartbeat beneath her cheek.
Silver rings tangled in her hair.
Someone whispering:

“Mine.”

Sia gasped sharply and yanked her eyes open.

Empty corridor.

Silence.

The stranger was gone.

Completely.

No footsteps.
No movement.
Nothing.

Only rain remained.

Her breathing turned uneven instantly.

“What the hell…”

Hallucination.

It had to be.

Another episode.

Another fractured nightmare invading reality again.

Sia pressed trembling fingers against her temple and forced herself to breathe slowly.

Then—

something metallic glinted near her feet.

She frowned.

Bent down slowly.

And picked up an antique lighter.

Heavy.

Silver.

Old enough to be expensive.

A strange symbol was engraved along its edges while one single initial rested at the center.

P.

Sia stared at it silently while thunder rolled outside again.

The metal still felt warm.

As if it had only just left someone’s hand.