PROLOGUE

The scent of roses lingered in the air, but Ishita couldn’t breathe.

She stood still, her back straight, her lips painted the color of fresh blood—ironic, considering her heart felt like it had been bled dry long before this day arrived.

This wasn't a wedding.
It was a funeral.
Her fucking funeral.

She stared into the mirror, her reflection looked like a stranger. The heavy red lehenga clung to her body like a weight. The jewelry sparkled, but her eyes were hollow. Behind her, women buzzed—adjusting her dupatta, fixing her hair—but inside, she heard only silence.

That same fucking silence she drowned in every night since him.

She used to dream of love. Of kisses in rain, of laughter echoing through hallways. But now? Now she was being handed off like a business proposal—dressed up and tied with gold.

Downstairs, Rivan Raichand adjusted the cuffs of his custom suit like he was preparing for a board meeting. The man didn't flinch. Didn’t blink.
Didn’t feel a thing.

He hadn't asked her how she felt.
Hadn’t even looked at her twice during the engagement.
To him, this was a deal. A strategy. A merger.

And to her?

It was just... survival.

The only sound she could hear as she walked toward the mandap was her heartbeat—angry, betrayed, screaming. Her father’s grip on her arm tightened protectively, but she didn’t look at him. He was the reason she was here.

The betrayal. The attempt. The pills. The ambulance.
He had seen her once with death—and vowed never again.

Rivan looked up as she approached. Cold. Collected. A statue with eyes.
His jaw clenched, his hands in his pockets. Not a trace of emotion.

Perfectly empty.

The priest chanted words neither of them gave a fuck about.
Seven steps. Seven vows.
No love. No promises. Just fucking obligations.

As he tied the mangalsutra around her neck, their fingers brushed for the first time.

Electric. Cold.

She flinched. He didn’t.

Her throat burned with the scream she buried as sindoor smeared into her hairline, marking her as his. The man who didn’t want her. The man she would never love.

And in that moment, as camera flashes exploded and the crowd cheered…
Two strangers stood next to each other. Married by fate. Bound by pain.

Both haunted.
Both hopeless.
Both ready to burn each other alive.