Page 100 of BounBound By Scars

“He, uh…” My throat was suddenly bone-dry. “He called me brother.”

Her eyes narrowed, suspicious. Waiting for the rest.

I stared at her and let the words tumble out. “I just… added ‘in-law.’”

Her mouth parted slightly. I could see her processing it slowly, her lashes fluttering as her brows pulled together. She looked almost dazed—like the weight of it was sinking in molecule by molecule.

God, was that too much?

Too fast?

Too real?

Maybe I should’ve waited. A few more weeks. Months. Hell, maybe years. Maybe I should’ve kept it in my chest where all the other terrifying feelings lived.

But her silence was killing me.

I waited. I would wait—for as long as it took.

Just don’t walk away, Lia. Please don’t laugh it off. Don’t freeze. Don’t tell me I made a mistake. Because I meant it.

I mean it.

She blinked rapidly and cleared her throat, the tension in her brow easing just a bit.

Still no words.

My heart was thudding in my ears. Each second she stayed silent chipped away at the fragile thing I’d handed her.

“Lia,” I said quietly, already hating myself for pushing. “I shouldn’t have—”

“I’m sorry but…” she interrupted—and then went completely blank.

My stomach dropped.

Fuck.

That pause. That hesitation. ThatI’m sorry but—it was a knife twisting slowly.

Goddammit, Kabir.

I had ruined it.

Her sigh was long. Her shoulders slumped. And just as I prepared for the heartbreak, she looked up at me with that insane, lethal glint in her eyes.

“Take your cock out,” she said flatly. “Fuck me limp, and then we can discuss rings.”

I stared.

Iblinked.

Did she just—?

What?

Did she actually—?

My brain was buffering like a dying system update. I didn’t move a muscle, too afraid this was some test I was about to fail spectacularly. I was trying to compute whether I was hallucinating from how hard I’d fallen for her.

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