Page 123 of Since You Stole My Heart

He went completely still. ‘What kind of pictures?’

‘The kind that would ruin my life,’ she whispered.

The implication hit him hard and fast, making him desperately hope it hadn’t gone that far.

‘Who would do something like that?’ he asked, barely containing his rage.

‘A monster.’

‘What do you mean, Kashvi?’ he asked, urgency sharpening in his voice.

Kashvi chuckled bitterly, clumsily shoving her phone towards him. She tapped the screen impatiently. ‘You don’t believe me? Look for yourself.’

Dhruv instantly grabbed the phone, and when the message thread opened, a cold knot formed in his gut.

The messages from the unknown number stretched back weeks, only growing more invasive, more erratic, and more unhinged. Then a grey box appeared in the middle of it, marked as a deleted image by the sender.

Though he couldn’t see the image, too many possibilities struck him at once, each one vile enough to make his pulse pound against his temple.

He knew with a suffocating kind of certainty that whatever had been sent there was what had pushed Kashvi into this spiralling, unravelled version of herself. The realisation tore through him with such brutal force that, for one savage second, he wanted to cave this man’s skull in and make him regret ever learning her name.

The recent texts were bolder, openly lewd and threatening. Every word he read only fed the fury clawing up his spine, and his shoulders went rigid as the next message slid into view.

I’ll tell you who I am if you promise to fuck me.

The tendons in his wrist stood out as he gripped the phone so hard the edge bit into his palm. A cold, heavy weight settled in his chest. Someone out there thought he could terrorise Kashvi, and Dhruv wouldn’t stop until there was blood.

No one got to hurt his sisters. He’d make sure of it.

‘Do you know who this is?’

Kashvi gave a grim nod.

‘Who is it? Tell me his name.’

‘Viraj.’

He frowned at the unfamiliar name. ‘Who the fuck is Viraj?’

‘My brother-in-law.’

Dhruv cursed under his breath. Swayam was an only child, which meant Viraj was his cousin.

‘When did he talk to you?’

‘Last night. Swayam and I went to his cousin’s house for a party, and by then I’d had enough of these sick messages. I called the number, and that’s when Viraj cornered me.’

Dhruv’s jaw tightened. ‘Talk to me. What did he say?’

Kashvi swallowed hard. ‘Just seeing my pictures on his phone was enough. I didn’t need him to tell me what he could do with them, but he did anyway. He said he’d ruin me first by leaking my pictures and then drag the rest of the family down with me.’

A sharp, violent heat burned through his chest. ‘What does he want?’

She scoffed weakly. ‘Who knows? He started by forcing me to leave Swayam and send him to his engagement. Now that I’ve done it, Viraj will decide what he wants next.’

Dhruv placed a hand on her elbow, and she jerked away with a yelp of pain. The broken sound made his heart race, and he caught the dark bruise at her elbow peeking beneath her rolled-up sleeve.

His restraint snapped and Dhruv’s voice rose as he clasped her arm carefully. ‘He touched you?’