Page 147 of Since You Stole My Heart

Kashvi played with the frayed edge of the bandage. Shame burned hot beneath her skin as she confessed, ‘Because I pushed him away. I had to do it, but that’s no excuse for hurting him like I did. And now, I’m sitting here selfishly hoping he hasn’t given up on me after all that.’

Maithili squeezed her knee. ‘It doesn’t seem like he has. Swayam is still here, isn’t he?’

‘That doesn’t mean he’s forgiven me,’ Kashvi whispered. ‘I called him right before the attack, so maybe he only came because of that.’

‘You know, when you mentioned during our last virtual consultation that you were marrying Swayam, I had my doubts. I understood your father was the reason behind it, but it made me worry this might not last.’

A bitter laugh slipped out of Kashvi. ‘Clearly, I was stupid to think either of us would walk away from this without getting wrecked in the process.’

Maithili said gently, ‘No, you’re focusing on the wrong thing. Tonight, the fear and determination I saw in Swayam erasedevery doubt I had. There was this cold madness in his eyes when he told me the condition he found you in. A man doesn’t look that feral unless someone has hurt the woman he loves.’

Kashvi shuddered as she recalled his heartbeat hammering wildly beneath her cheek while he held her in his arms. He had sat there, pressing soft kisses to her forehead and telling her she was safe. There had been wild panic in his eyes, and she never wanted to see him like that again.

‘I don’t know how we get through this,’ Kashvi admitted in a whisper.

How was she supposed to look him in the eyes and tell him his own cousin had done this to her?

‘I wish I could give you a magical answer that would make this easy. Unfortunately, sometimes you survive one ugly step at a time until you make it through,’ Maithili said softly. ‘But what I can tell you for certain is that you cannot deal with this by yourself.’

The raw helplessness from earlier still clung to Kashvi’s skin, sending a chill down her spine. More than anything, it was the terrifying realisation that no help was coming, because she had left Swayam entirely in the dark. For those long, awful moments, she had known she was utterly on her own.

Now, in hindsight, the decision tasted like poison.

Maithili was right. If Kashvi had told Swayam sooner, if she hadn’t been so stubborn about handling this alone, maybe tonight wouldn’t have happened. She had to rectify her mistake.

Kashvi took a slow breath to calm her nerves. ‘I learned my lesson the hard way tonight, so I won’t make that mistake again. But honestly, I don’t know where to start.’

Maithili watched her quiet struggle. ‘You know, I think you forget sometimes just how brave you are. The first day you came to my clinic, you’d stolen my number from Siya’s phone because you knew she was seeing me. You told me you were scared to sleep because of your nightmares.’

‘I barely remember that appointment,’ she admitted with a heavy sigh.

Back then, Kashvi had stayed awake for three days straight. Energy drinks, coffee, cold showers, anything to stop herself from falling asleep because the nightmares were always waiting for her.

‘I do,’ Maithili said. ‘You looked like you were about to faint.’

Mostly, Kashvi remembered the exhaustion becoming so severe she’d started hallucinating. By the fourth night, she had been sure she was losing her mind.

‘I was desperate.’

Maithili disagreed with a firm shake of her head. ‘You were brave enough to ask for help before it was too late. Now that I’ve known you for nearly a decade, I understand what a difficult step that was for you. You can do it again now.’

It took effort to shed years of resistance and coping mechanisms, but she managed it. ‘I don’t want to do this alone. Especially not without Swayam. And I know I need my family with me, so yeah, I’ll talk to Siya too.’

The concern etched into Maithili’s forehead finally eased. ‘I’m so happy this breakthrough finally happened, though I hate the awful way it did. But for what it’s worth, I genuinely believe that whatever this situation is, the two of you will find your way through it together.’

Hope flickered through Kashvi. The wall between her and Swayam still felt impossible to break, but she wouldn’t rest until she did.

‘You defended yourself well, and all I want now is for you to focus that same energy on taking care of yourself.’

Kashvi nodded. ‘I will.’

Maithili added with a smile, ‘I know you can handle anything, but if you need my help to deal with this mess, you know I’m here for you.’

Kashvi reached out and clasped her hand. ‘I can’t thank you enough for coming today, but I don’t want to drag you into this. It’s not safe for you.’

Maithili nodded reluctantly. ‘Well, regardless, I’m so glad Swayam called me. I’ll admit, though, he scared me with his shouting when I answered the phone.’

She winced. ‘I’m sorry about that. I know he didn’t mean to.’