The lamp threw light across his face, catching the shadows under his eyes, the tightness in his jaw. The feeling of loss.
She saw it. Refused to feel it.
“You have the nerve,” she snapped, “to come here and hold me as if I matter to you? As if I’m precious?”
He stood frozen, the shock of seeing her alive yet to settle into him. His hand rose on instinct.
“Don’t.” She moved back at once.
His mouth parted.
“When were you planning to tell me?” Her voice dropped, low and dangerous. “After the wedding? Or did you want me to read another family’s name outside Anand Mahal myself?”
Confusion crossed his face. “What are you talking about?”
A bitter laugh escaped her. “You signed it.”
His forehead creased.
“You sat with Rajveer Singh Sisodia and signed everything away.”
Abhinav froze.
She turned from him and began pacing. The space felt too small to contain the force tearing through her chest.
“How does that even happen?” Her hands rose, then fell. “How do you hold me as if I’m your whole world…” Her voice cracked. “And sell my home?”
He took a step toward her.
“No.”
The word stopped him cold.
“You don’t get to speak yet.”
His chest rose once, sharply.
She pressed her hand to her forehead, trying to hold herself together.
“You took me into the sky.” Her body shook with anger. “You asked me to belong to you forever.” Tears burned in her eyes. “Was that before or after you decided Anand Mahal meant nothing to you?”
“Meera…”
“Answer me.” Her voice struck the walls.
“Which came first?” Her breath caught. “The decision to make me yours… or the decision to destroy everything I belong to?”
Pain crossed his face.
She barely noticed it.
“I believed you.” Her hand flattened against her chest as if she could physically hold herself together. “Every touch. Every word. Every morning in those courtyards. Every moment you spent walking through these walls with me…” Her voice broke again before she forced it back. “I thought you were choosing this place too.”
“Meera, listen to me…”
“Do you even understand what you signed?” Her voice rose again.
“This isn’t property to me.” Tears slipped down her face, one after another. “I cannot separate myself from these walls. I grew up here. Every corridor carries my family. My childhood. My prayers. This place is not where I live. It is who I am.”
