Page 2 of She will Always be Mine

When neither of us budge, she steps forward and rips me away, pulling at my arm roughly. Sensing the tension and not wanting to piss her off more than she already is, Riaan loosens his grip. He does not completely letting me go, as if afraid he might lose me forever.

Everything in his expression and tense body screams the opposite. This isn’t how I imagined tonight to go.

So many questions run through my mind.

When did she come to Pune? Will she ever forgive me? Will she tell my dad, my uncle, and my aunt? Have I lost her trust completely?

If she won’t be on our side, then did Riaan and I ever stand a chance?

“Mom, please let me explain th—” I finally find my voice but she cuts me off.

“Not a single word right now. Go to your room before anyone sees you,” she barks at me angrily. “I’ll come find you after I’m done talking to Riaan.”

She pulls my arm in her rough grip once again, until Riaan has no choice but to comply so as not to hurt me. It didn’t matter, though, the pain inside my heart is already wounding every inch of me.

I have never seen my mom so mad at me. It’s a side of her I never saw in the last eighteen years of my existence. Even when she scolded me, she was never this cold or enraged.

Fear takes root deep in my bones at the coldness in her voice and expression.

I can feel my control slipping through my fingers like sand.

“Just listen to me,” I plead with her again.

I’m afraid to leave her alone with Riaan. What if he tells her everything? She needs to know we have ended things between us, or that I have. She won’t believe me if he gets inside her head.

He will never deny his feelings for me because unlike me, he isn’t afraid or ashamed of anything. If it were up to him, he would have claimed me in front of the whole world without caring about the consequences.

Which is why I have to protect him. I would die if I’m the reason he loses everything he has carefully built.

His reputation. His respect. His business. Everything.

“Did you not hear me, Nyra? Is this what you do with my trust? If I hadn’t come here on time, who knows what would have happened,” my mom accuses. “Just do as I say or I’m going to tell your father,” she threatens, and all the fight leaves me.

Oh God! What have I done? My mind screams while my body trembles in fear. I have already betrayed the one person who has always loved me unconditionally and I know I can’t hurt my dad the same way.

Feeling hopeless, I look over my shoulder at Riaan. His face is completely blank, eyes an inky pool of blackness. I wish I could read his mind. But he looks so far away.

Broken yet cold.

A sudden realization hits me that I’ll never find the comfort that I am desperately craving at this moment from him. It only makes me cry harder.

Still, I try to convey to him with my eyes not to tell my mom—his aunt—everything. I wait but he doesn’t give anything away and my shoulders sag in defeat.

In one single night, I have managed to destroy two of the people I love the most in the world. Even if they forgive me someday, I know I’ll never be able to forgive myself.

Just as I was fixing everything, it all had to fall apart. I already broke us and now I might have done the same to my own family.

With each step that I take, emptiness starts to sink in my heart.

The farther away I go, the more I descend into a void of darkness and hell.

I keep going until I’m only a mere shadow of myself, trapped beneath all the lies and the secrets.

Silent tears that I can’t seem to stop, run down my cheeks as I take the stairs downstairs without making too much noise, so the others in the house don’t wake up or, worse, catch me while I am an utter mess.

There won’t be a plausible excuse to give that will explain why tears are streaming down my face, or why my makeup is smeared makeup, or the fact that my whole body is shaking and sporting an army of goosebumps.

Just as I’m about to turn a corner, I smash right into a wall of muscle in the middle of the dark hallway, and a choked gasp slips from my lips. I feel suffocated and scared that everywhere I seem to turn, a bigger threat is looming to pull me under and grasp me in his deadly clutches.

---