Pakhi froze when he looked at her. Only one thought spun in her mind—she had to escape. What had happened at the hotel was still fresh in her mind. That fear whispered a desperate thought: Maybe it was better to take the blame. If she had known the man behind the mask was this lethal, she never would have provoked him at the airport.
When Akash remained a statue of silence, Pakhi spoke, her voice heavy with forced humility. "Look… whatever happened that day… it was just anger." She swallowed hard. "For that… I am sorry."
She waited, her pulse thundering. "Does anyone really pull a gun over such a small thing?" she asked nervously. "Please… just forgive me."
Her eyes darted instinctively toward the door—the only exit from this nightmare.
Akash sat draped in his heavy chair. The gun was lowered, but the silent cruelty in his eyes burned as hot as ever.
The silence felt long and uncomfortable.
Gathering the last of her courage, Pakhi spoke again, "I've already said sorry. Alright… I'm leaving now."
She turned and took two hurried steps toward the door.
BANG!
The explosion of the shot shattered the silence. Pakhi nearly screamed, her heart leaping into her throat. The bullet hit the carpet near her foot, sending up dust.
"If you take even one more step without my permission," Akash's voice echoed, cold and absolute, "the next bullet will go straight through your head."
Pakhi shook as the smell of gunpowder spread through the room. But she refused to drown in the darkness. She clenched her fists, forced a deep breath into her lungs, and slowly turned back.
"I apologized!" she snapped, her voice trembling but sharp. " Is this what makes you feel powerful? Harassing a woman in a locked room? You can hold that gun all you want, but it doesn't make me your slave. You can't force me to obey you. "
At that, Akash burst into laughter—a dark, jagged sound that stabbed at Pakhi's heart.
He stood up and began to stalk toward her. As he closed the distance, Pakhi's world shrank until there was nothing left but him. She backed away, her breath coming in shallow gasps, until her spine collided with the cold, unforgiving wood of the door. Trapped. There was nowhere left to run, nowhere to hide from the storm approaching her.
Akash layed over Pakhi, blocking her way. He didn't just stand in front of her; he invaded her space, his presence heavy and intoxicating.
Slowly, almost tenderly, he raised his hand. But there was no warmth in his touch—only the death-cold bite of the gun barrel as it slid slowly up her cheek. Pakhi shivered as the metal traced the line of her jaw before hooking firmly under her chin. He tilted her face upward so she had to look at him.
He leaned in, his body inches from hers, until she could smell the scent of expensive cologne and cold steel. His lips grazed the shell of her ear as he whispered in a voice like shredded silk and midnight ice:
"You understood yourself perfectly" he breathed, the heat of his words sent a treacherous shiver racing down her spine. "You… are my slave."
He didn't pull away. Instead, he lingered there, his breath ghosting over her neck, claiming her even before she could find the strength to scream.
"From now on, forget taking a step without my permission," he whispered, leaning in so close that his lips brushed the sensitive skin of her ear. His breath ghosted against her neck—a warm, mocking contrast to the ice-cold steel still pressed against her chin. "Without my will, you won't even be able to breathe."
It wasn't a threat; it was a decree.
Pakhi's eyes widened, her pupils dilating as the room seemed to shrink, the shadows of the office closing in like a physical weight. But deep beneath the suffocating fear, a spark of her spirit revolted. No... I cannot be anyone's slave.
Her heart pounded against her ribs, a frantic, rhythmic drumbeat that he could surely feel through the mere inches that separated them. She was caught in his gravity, terrified by the darkness he radiated, yet hyper-aware of the dangerous heat of his body. The air between them was thick, charged with a lethal electricity that made her skin crawl even as her pulse raced like a bullet train.
Pakhi didn't cry. She refused to give him the satisfaction of a single tear. Swallowing the lump of terror in her throat, she gathered every shattered piece of her courage and forged it into a blade.
"You..." her voice was soft—barely a whisper—but it didn't break. It held the steady ring of steel. "You can scare me. You can even kill me. But I will never be your slave.
A cold, dangerous smile spread across Akash's lips, his eyes like intoxicating thrill of the hunt. He didn't look offended; he looked delighted, like a predator who had finally found prey worth chasing.
"That is not for you to decide," he said smoothly, finally lowering the gun.
He stepped back, the oppressive weight of his physical presence lifting just enough for her to draw a jagged breath. He moved to his desk and sank into his heavy leather chair, looking at her with a terrifyingly calm expression.
"You already signed what I wanted you to," he said quietly.
"No... I haven't!" she snapped, her fists clenching at her sides.
"Yes, my girl... you already did." He leaned forward, the shadows of the room dancing in his blue eyes. "See for yourself."
With a flick of his wrist, Akash slid a single sheet of paper across the table. It landed right in front of her.
"See here..." he commanded
Pakhi's fingers trembled as she snatched the paper from the desk. At very first glanced she saw this was the document she had signed earlier—the one she thought was her golden ticket to a new life, a simple internship.
She read the lines silently, her eyes darting over the complex legal jargon until they landed on the terrifying reality hidden in the fine print.
Her voice was a broken whisper. "No this can't be true.....!"
"No… this can't be true…!" Pakhi gasped, her voice thinning into a thread of pure horror.
Akash didn't answer with words. Instead, he smiled—a fierce, predatory curve of his lips that made her blood run cold. As she stared at him, the fog in her mind suddenly cleared, and a jagged flashback pierced through her panic.
She remembered the girl in the lobby. The way the assistant had pushed the pen into her hand.Every time Pakhi had slowed down to squint at the tiny, dense paragraphs of the contract, the girl had intervened.
She finally realized that everything from the moment she entered the building had been planned.
"You planned this," she whispered, her eyes wide with the realization that she had walked into her own cage with a smile on her face. "From the very beginning... you were waiting for me to sign my life away."
Akash leaned forward, his blue eyes fixed on her . "I told you," he murmured, his voice low and steady.. "I decide when the game ends. And for you... it's only just begun."
"No!" she screamed, the sound tearing through the silent office. "I can't be your slave! This is a lie!"
In a blind fit of rage and terror, Pakhi crumpled the paper in her fist and hurled it at him.
"It can't be true! I will never be your slave!" she shouted, her voice raw.
She turned to bolt, her heart hammering against her ribs as she tried to put distance between herself.
But she didn't even make it a single step.
Before she could move, Akash's hand shot out like a viper. He seized her wrist with a grip of iron, his strength overwhelming as he jerked her back toward him. Pakhi gasped as she collided with his chest—a wall of cold, hard muscle that felt as unforgiving as stone.
He didn't let go. He held her there, trapped in his shadow once more, his eyes burning with a dark, triumphant fire..