HER POV — RIYA
I locked the door and leaned against it, my chest heaving.
The apartment was silent—but not peaceful. The kind of silence that presses against your skin, making it hard to breathe. Outside, Rishabh's SUV was gone. Alex's car had disappeared too. Yet their presence still lingered in the air, thick and unsettling.
My men are watching him.
Rishabh's words echoed in my mind.
I walked to the window and carefully pulled the curtain aside.
Empty street.
Cold streetlights.
No shadows.
I needed to calm down. I needed to feel normal.
That's when I saw it.
Alex's laptop—lying on the coffee table.
He'd left it here two days ago, smiling as he said,
"Keep it safe for me, baby."
At the time, it felt like trust.
Now, it felt like a trap.
You trust people too easily.
My hands trembled as I sat on the floor and pulled the laptop closer. I knew I shouldn't do this. It was wrong. An invasion.
But the look in Alex's eyes tonight—the coldness—wouldn't leave me alone.
The laptop wasn't password-protected.
Of course it wasn't.
Alex always said he had nothing to hide.
I opened the file explorer. Mostly work files. Legal documents. Numbers. Nothing suspicious.
Then I saw it.
A hidden folder.
Project R.
My heart slammed violently against my ribs.
My name starts with R.
I clicked.
The world tilted.
Photos filled the screen.
Me at the hospital.
Me at the café with Kavya.
Me walking to the bus stop.
Me asleep on my couch—
Taken through this window.
"No…" I whispered, my throat tightening.
My fingers shook as I scrolled.
Another folder.
Archives.
I opened it.
And my blood turned to ice.
Photos from years ago.
Medical school.
Graduation day.
Me as a teenager—sitting on a park bench in my hometown.
Alex hadn't met me two years ago.
He had been watching me long before that.
Every coincidence.
Every accidental meeting.
Every moment that felt
"meant to be."
Manufactured.
I wasn't his girlfriend.
I was his obsession.
A soft click echoed through the apartment.
I froze.
Kavya had left an hour ago.
"Riya?"
Alex's voice.
Smooth. Familiar. Deadly.
I slammed the laptop shut.
"I realized I left my laptop here, baby," he said casually, his footsteps approaching. "Didn't want to wake you."
The shadow of his body stretched across the living room.
"Why are you sitting in the dark?" he asked.
I forced a breath.
"Nothing," I whispered.
"I'll get your laptop," I said quickly and rushed into the bedroom.
By the time I came back—
Alex was inside.
The front door locked behind him.
I held the laptop out with shaking hands.
"Here… your laptop, Alex."
He didn't take it.
Instead, he stepped closer.
Too close.
He leaned closer, his presence swallowing the space around me.
"Love," he whispered again.
Before I could react, his lips pressed against my neck.
Not gentle.
Not loving.
Possessive.
I sucked in a sharp breath, my hands curling into fists at my sides.
"Alex—" I whispered, but my voice failed me.
His mouth moved slowly along my skin, deliberate, as if he wanted me to feel every second. Like he was reminding me of something I'd forgotten.
"You smell the same," he murmured against my neck.
"Just like the first time I saw you."
My stomach twisted.
This wasn't affection.
This was ownership.
I tried to push him away, placing my palms against his chest, but he didn't budge. He was solid. Unmovable.
His lips reached my jaw, then my cheek.
"Stop," I breathed, my voice shaking.
He ignored it.
Instead, he tilted my face toward him and captured my lips in a kiss.
It wasn't sweet.
It wasn't slow.
It was claiming.
His mouth pressed hard against mine, demanding, suffocating—like he was marking territory. There was no warmth in it, only hunger and control.
I froze.
My heart pounded so loudly I was sure he could hear it.
When he finally pulled back, his eyes were dark, shining with something dangerous.
"See?" he said softly.
"You still belong here."
I stood there, breathless, terrified—
And fully aware of one horrifying truth:
This man didn't kiss to love.
He kissed to own. I felt his breath on my skin and forced myself not to scream.
"I... I need some water, Alex. My throat is dry," I managed to say, my voice sounding like broken glass.
He let go, but his eyes followed me like a hawk watching a mouse. I stumbled into the kitchen, my back to him. My phone was on the counter. My fingers were so numb I could barely feel the screen.
I didn't have time to explain. I didn't have time to tell him about the folders, the photos, or the years of stalking.
I opened my messages with Rishabh. My heart hammered against my teeth.
Text to Rishabh: He's here. He knows. Help me.
I hit send.
Delivered.
I shoved the phone into my pocket just as I heard Alex's footsteps stop right behind me. He didn't say a word. He just reached around me, his arm brushing mine, and picked up the glass I hadn't filled yet.
"You're so clumsy tonight, Riya," he whispered, turning the faucet on. The sound of the water felt like a roar in the silence. "Who were you just talking to?"The water overflowed from the glass, spilling over my hand, but I didn't move. I couldn't. Alex's hand remained on the faucet, his fingers inches from mine.
"You didn't answer me, Love," he said, his voice dropping an octave. "Who was so important that you had to reach for your pocket the second my back was turned?"
"No one," I lied, the word catching in my parched throat. "I was... checking the time. I have an early shift at the hospital."
Alex turned off the water. The sudden silence was deafening. He picked up the overflowing glass and handed it to me. His eyes weren't on my face; they were fixed on my pocket.
"The hospital," he repeated slowly. He leaned against the counter, blocking my only exit from the kitchen. "The one where you did your residency in 2022? Or the one where I first 'met' you in the cafeteria? You looked so beautiful in your white coat that day, Riya. Even if you did spill your coffee."
My blood ran cold. That day. I remembered it. I had tripped, and he had been there to catch my tray. I had thought it was a clumsy, sweet meet-cute. Now, I realized he had probably been standing there for hours, waiting for the perfect moment to "intervene."
"How do you know about the coffee?" I whispered, the glass trembling in my hand. "I never told you about that."
Alex stepped closer, forcing me back against the cold granite of the counter. "I remember everything about us, Riya. Even the things you've forgotten."
Suddenly, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
Buzz. Buzz.
The sound was like a gunshot in the small kitchen. My heart stopped. Rishabh. It had to be Rishabh.
Alex's gaze dropped to my thigh where the phone was hidden. A slow, predatory smile spread across his face.
"Sounds like someone is worried about you," he murmured. He reached out, his hand moving toward my pocket. "Let's see who's interrupting our night."
"No!" I blurted out, pulling back, but there was nowhere to go.
He didn't grab the phone. Not yet. Instead, he pinned me there with his weight, his hands landing on the counter on either side of my hips, trapping me in the circle of his arms.
"Is it Rishabh?" Alex asked, his eyes turning obsidian
"N–no," I stammered, the lie scraping my throat raw. "It's… Kavya."
Alex didn't move.
Didn't blink.
For a second, I thought he might actually believe me.
Then he smiled.
Not the smile he wore in public. Not the charming, easy one that had fooled me for years.
This one was slow. Calculated. Like he'd just confirmed something he already knew.
"Kavya," he repeated softly, tasting the name. "Your friend who left an hour ago?"
My grip tightened on the glass until my fingers ached. Water sloshed over the rim, spilling onto the counter, onto my skin. I barely felt it.
Alex leaned in, his face inches from mine, his breath warm against my cheek.
"You forget," he murmured, "I know everyone in your life."
My stomach dropped.
"I know Kavya's ringtone," he continued calmly. "I know she never calls this late. And I know"—his eyes flicked to my pocket again—"she doesn't check on you twice in thirty seconds."
Buzz.
Another vibration.
This time, I couldn't stop the flinch.
Alex's hand shot out—not to grab the phone, but to cup my jaw, forcing my eyes up to his.
"There it is," he whispered. "That fear."
His thumb brushed beneath my lip, almost gentle. Almost affectionate.
"You only look like this when something threatens to take you away from me."
I shook my head weakly. "Alex… you're scaring me."
That finally did it.
The softness vanished.
He straightened, stepping back just enough to give me air—control disguised as kindness.
"Riya," he said quietly, "I've waited too long to lose you now."
He reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone before I could react.
My breath left my body.
The screen lit up between us.
Rishabh Calling.
The silence stretched.
Then Alex chuckled.
Low. Amused.
"So," he said, locking the phone and slipping it into his own pocket, "this is the man my people warned me about."
My knees went weak.
Outside, somewhere far away, I heard the distant growl of an engine.
And for the first time since he walked in—
Alex looked toward the door.
Not afraid.
Interested.
What you think why riya ask help from rishabh she start trust him??? Tell me in comment section