Page 124 of Since You Stole My Heart

Kashvi looked away, slipping her arm out of his hold. ‘He did everything he could to show me exactly how he could hurt me and destroy my life.’

Dhruv tried to gently tug her arm back, trying to get a closer look at the angry purple bruise. ‘Kashvi, just let me see your elbow once.’

‘Just stop it, Dhruv,’ Kashvi warned, snatching her arm away. She grabbed the Scotch, pouring it into what she thought was a vodka martini. ‘Mixing it like this will make a killer combination.’

Dhruv caught her wrist. ‘Don’t. Why are you so hell-bent on drinking more? You can barely sit straight as it is.’

A sharp wail broke out of her, and she pressed a palm to her chest. ‘Because it still hurts here. Swayam is everything to me. How do I survive letting him go?’

Dread curled low in his stomach, and he couldn’t bear to watch her fall apart. ‘You won’t have to. We’ll figure out whatever it takes to get you out of this. I won’t let that bastard get away with it.’

‘Why?’ she snapped, her voice guttural. ‘Why do you care all of a sudden?’

He frowned at the sudden shift in her. ‘Of course I care about you. You’re my sister.’

Kashvi let out a hollow, derisive laugh. ‘Oh yeah? Since when?’

Her mockery pinched at something sore inside him, and he looked away. ‘I get it, you’re drunk, so…’

She shook her head, glaring at him. ‘I might be drunk, but I remember exactly what you said to me that night. Should I remind you?’

A flicker of unease slid through him, and something told him he wasn’t going to like where this was headed. He reached for her hesitantly.

‘Don’t touch me,’ she shouted, shoving him away.

The sudden movement knocked her sunglasses off, and he finally saw just how wrecked she was.

The raw agony in her swollen, bloodshot eyes locked onto his without flinching.

‘Five years ago, the night I realised someone had taken those pictures of me at a party, I came to you for help.’

‘Kashvi, I don’t…’

‘You shut the door in my face after telling me you weren’t my real brother, so why should you waste your time on me?’ she spat.

The words hit him like a punch, and the memory came rushing back all at once.

Dhruv remembered the fear in her face now. At the time, he hadn’t recognised it for what it was.

Blinded by the anger he carried towards their father, he had thrown those cold, careless words at her in a reckless moment.

A wave of disgust rose thick and suffocating in his throat, and he had to fight the urge clawing up his spine to punish himself.

There was venom in her voice when she said, ‘You could have been my brother then, and you threw it away. Now you’re sitting here telling me to open up to you. Do you think I’m stupid?’

No. I am.

He had promised himself he would be there for them when it mattered, and he had failed.

The irony scraped against him, raw and relentless.

‘You’re right. I messed up, and I don’t have an excuse for it. But I’m here now. I’m listening, and I want to help you. Just… talk to me.’

Kashvi glared at him. ‘You made sure I understood I wasn’t worth your time. So back off and don’t play games with me now. It’s too late.’

The finality in her tone hit him like a ton of bricks, but every instinct in him refused to accept it. ‘It can’t be. I know I can’t take back my words, but I can try to make up for my stupidity.’

The fire in her eyes dimmed, replaced by something closer to regret. ‘You can’t.’