Rael Valtor had always worn control like a second skin. Measured. Cool. Untouchable.
Until Ananya.
She'd crawled under his skin like poison — sweet at first, now unbearable. And yet, he couldn't stop. Couldn't breathe without tasting her name on his tongue.
Something inside him had cracked.
And now, something darker was leaking out.
---
She was avoiding him again.
After that night — tangled limbs, whispered hate — she stopped answering. Stopped replying. Vanished.
Rael waited. Then watched. Then followed.
He saw her walking with Virat again. Saw her smiling, her hand brushing his arm like it meant nothing.
But to Rael, it meant everything.
---
Three nights later, Virat's car tires were slashed. A week later, he was caught in a fake cheating scandal — his name on a plagiarized thesis he'd never seen. No proof. No trail.
Just humiliation.
Ananya suspected.
She called Rael to meet — in public. A café. She came late. He was already there, black coffee in front of him, untouched. Eyes wild. Like a wolf in human skin.
"You're not subtle," she said.
He smiled. Slow. Dangerous. "Neither are you."
"You're ruining lives now?"
He leaned in, voice low. "You were mine. And you gave my name to someone else. Tell me why I shouldn't ruin his."
Her hands clenched under the table. "You're sick."
He tilted his head. "No, darling. I'm in love."
She stared at him. Heart pounding. Rael was unhinged. She knew it now.
"But you don't know what love is," she whispered.
He reached into his coat pocket and placed something on the table.
A photo. Of her. Sleeping. Peaceful. Vulnerable. Taken from inside her apartment.
She went cold.
"Rael… what did you—"
"I never stopped watching you."
"You're insane."
"No." He stood. "I'm just done pretending I'm not."
He leaned down, whispering into her ear:
"If I can't have you, no one will."
Then he walked away.
Leaving behind the scent of obsession. Of danger. Of a man who had finally stopped holding back the monster he really was.
And Ananya?
For the first time — she wasn't angry. She was afraid.