Page 140 of Since You Stole My Heart

Her chest burned as she desperately struggled for air. ‘I...’ she tried, but her throat refused to cooperate.

Viraj lowered his ear closer to her lips. ‘What was that? Say it again.’

His sadistic laugh sliced through the haze, and she slammed her sharp heel onto his foot. The second she felt it pierce the leather, she drove down harder.

Viraj cursed sharply and shoved her away.

Her ankle twisted as the heel snapped beneath her, and she hit the floor hard.

For a moment, all she could focus on was breathing. Her chest rose and fell violently.

Then the searing pain registered in her hand.

A huge shard of glass was embedded deep into her palm, blood already welling rapidly around the wound. Smaller splinters had cut across her arms and legs, and if adrenaline hadn’t been coursing through her, she would have screamed.

Viraj hissed through his teeth, clutching his foot where blood stained his torn shoe. ‘You bitch! Are you out of your mind?’

The room slowly swam back into focus, and she saw Viraj crouched a few feet away.

She didn’t know what was more unsettling: his sneer twisting his mouth or the bruises covering his face.

The left side of his face was swollen purple and black, and his lip was split at the corner. The sight sent a flicker of satisfaction through her.

Kashvi chuckled despite the scalding pain in her hand.

‘My brother did that to you, didn’t he? Maybe you should think twice before picking fights with men stronger than you.’

‘Why do you think I’m here?’ Viraj asked, his eyes darkening with rage. ‘I warned you not to use that little brain of yours and to make sure Swayam came, but you just couldn’t help playing games, could you?’

‘What games? Luv was supposed to drop them off at your place from the mall.’

Viraj strode towards her. He looked down at her with cold, unreadable eyes. ‘You’re lying, and I don’t like being lied to. Where is Swayam?’

Kashvi tried to get up, but her twisted ankle gave out immediately. ‘I don’t know! If you want answers, then talk to your mother or your fiancée. They must know where Swayam is. He was supposed to be there.’

Viraj bent down and gripped her jaw tightly. She tried to push his hand away but whimpered when the movement drove the glass shards deeper into her palm.

The helplessness of the situation crashed over her.

She couldn’t fight him.

‘Tell me, Kashvi, what did you even do to get Swayam to my engagement? Did you even try? Or are you too obsessed with him to let go?’

‘I took him shopping. I suggested we get a divorce. I broke his heart! What more do you think I could’ve done?’

Viraj yanked her hair viciously, pain ripping across her scalp as her head snapped back with an agonised cry.

‘It wasn’t enough. You didn’t do enough,’ he replied coldly.

‘What else was I supposed to do? Rip out his heart and hand it to you?’ she snapped.

‘If that’s what it took, yes,’ Viraj said.

His eyes burned with hatred for Swayam, and somehow that felt more dangerous than his anger. ‘Because he didn’t show up and I lost fifty lakhs because of it.’

Swayam hadn’t gone.

She let out a shaky breath, clinging to that scrap of relief in the middle of this nightmare. Maybe, just maybe, there was still something left to save between them.