Mira’s fingers trembled as they tightened around Aarav’s sleeve.
Not because she was scared of him.
But because, for the first time, she was scared for herself.
Aarav Vale stood frozen, his jaw clenched, eyes dark too dark for a man who had spent his life controlling everything.
The wind howled between the buildings, carrying the echo of words he had buried for years.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said finally, his voice low, rough around the edges.
Mira looked up at him, rain mixing with the unshed tears in her eyes.
“And you shouldn’t have walked away like that,” she replied, softer than anger, sharper than pain.
Silence fell again.
But this time, it cracked.
Aarav pulled his arm away gently not in rejection, but restraint.
Like a man standing at the edge of something he knew could destroy him.
“There are things about me you don’t know,” he said, turning his back to her.
“And once you know them, you won’t look at me the same way.”
Mira let out a small, breathless laugh. Not mocking. Broken.
“You think I already don’t?” she asked. “You disappear. You decide things for both of us. You look at me like I’m a mistake you’re afraid to make.”
That hit him.
Hard.
Aarav turned around so fast it startled her.
His eyes met hers, raw and unguarded no billionaire mask, no CEO calm.
Just a man unraveling.
“You’re not a mistake,” he said.
“You’re the risk.”
Mira’s heart skipped.
“I didn’t plan to fall for you,” Aarav continued, every word heavy.
“You weren’t part of my world.
And my world… it ruins people.”
She stepped closer. One step.
Brave.
Foolish.
Honest.
“Then why pull me in?” she whispered.
Aarav swallowed.
His hands curled into fists at his sides.
“Because every time I tried to let you go,” he admitted, voice breaking just enough,
“I couldn’t breathe.”
The confession hung in the air like a blade.
Mira felt it then that pull, that dangerous gravity between them.
Love didn’t feel soft anymore.
It felt sharp.
Like something that could cut deep and still be worth it.
Outside, a car slowed near the building.
Aarav noticed it instantly.
His expression changed.
Not fear but calculation.
“Mira,” he said quickly, stepping closer now, his voice urgent.
“If I tell you to stay away from me… will you listen?”
Her answer came without hesitation.
“No.”
For a second, something like relief flickered across his face.
Then concern drowned it.
“Then promise me this,” he said.
“No matter what you hear about me.
No matter what you see. Don’t trust it blindly.”
Mira searched his face, memorizing him like this—unguarded, intense, human.
“I trust you,” she said quietly.
Aarav closed his eyes for a moment.
That was the moment he knew.
Trust was the most dangerous thing she could give him.
And somewhere in the shadows, unseen eyes were already watching them waiting for the perfect time to tear this fragile connection apart.
The storm hadn’t begun yet.
But it was coming.
And when it did, love would be the first casualty.
Do you trust Aarav after this chapter, or does he scare you a little now?
If you were Mira, would you still stay even after knowing his world is dangerous?
What do you think Aarav is hiding: a past mistake, an enemy, or something darker?
