Page 159 of One Hellish Love

“I had a feeling he’d pull something like this,” Shekhar sighed, “but I didn’t expect it to be this soon.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to spill. The mere thought of Rudra leaving tore her apart from the inside.

“He can’t do this to me,” she whispered, her voice trembling.

“He’s not just punishing you, Kashish... He’s punishing himself too. If we don’t stop him now, it might be too late,” Shekhar warned, his words laced with urgency.

Kashish’s heart clenched painfully.

“I won’t let him go... I can’t let him go.”

Without waiting another second, she bolted out of Shekhar’s office and raced toward Rudra’s room. She barged in, her heart pounding. He was there, seated at his desk, calmly working as if nothing in the world could disturb him. His eyes briefly flickered up to her, then back to his laptop, dismissing her presence.

“You can’t do this,” she pleaded.

He didn’t respond and continued to type on the laptop as if she hadn’t spoken.

“Don’t do this to me, Rudra... Please, say something. At least look at me,” she begged, her eyes wide with pain.

Rudra slammed the laptop shut and pushed himself to his feet, storming over to her in a flash. His hands gripped her forearms as he pinned her to the wall, his dark eyes burning with fury.

“Ssh,” he hissed. “Stop shouting, Miss Kashish Bedi. This is my office, not your boyfriend’s bedroom.”

Her eyes widened in shock. How could he say that? He noticed her confusion and decided to twist the knife deeper.

“Why are you looking at me like that? You’re the one who demoted me from your ‘boyfriend’ to just your ‘boss.’ Or did you forget that little detail?”

Kashish’s heart dropped. Her gaze fell to the floor, unable to meet his. But Rudra wasn’t done. He grabbed her chin roughly, forcing her to look up at him.

“Don’t try to hide from this, Kashish. You made everything between us crystal clear yesterday. We know exactly where we stand now. So why are you upset? Isn’t this what you wanted? To see me living without you? Now that I’m doing just that, why can’t you handle it?”

“Because I can’t,” she shouted, her voice cracking with raw emotion.

Rudra’s grip on her tightened as his brows furrowed in frustration.

“Then where was this realization when you made that ridiculous promise to Daadi?” he snapped.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she could no longer hold them back.

“Were you lying to me then, Kashish, or are you lying to me now?”

Her sobs turned harder, and though it killed him to see her like this, Rudra couldn’t stop his anger from spilling out.

“I gave you my heart, placed it right at your feet, and you didn’t hesitate to crush it. I never expected this from you. If you couldn’t understand my feelings, fine... but don’t mock them.”

His intercom buzzed. He exhaled sharply, releasing her and picking up the phone.

“What?” he barked into the receiver.

It was Jay. “Sir, Mr. Saxena is waiting for you in the conference room.”

Rudra clenched his jaw.

“I’ll be there.”

He hung up and glanced back at Kashish one last time. She was still sobbing, her face a mess of tears. Without a word, he reached for a tissue and handed it to her.

“There’s no point crying now. These tears won’t undo what’s been done. You brought this on us. Now you have to live with the consequences.”

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