The silence in the room was deafening.

After the incident in the garden, I had returned to the room with a racing heart. My fingers trembled as I sat on the edge of the bed, trying to piece together what just happened. Every word, every glance from Avyaan replayed in my mind like a haunting memory. His voice still rang in my ears — calm, yet laced with fury.

Who was he really? This man I was now bound to by name, but nothing else.

The door opened with a click.

My head snapped up. Avyaan entered, his expression unreadable, but the tension in his jaw told me everything I needed to know.

He didn’t speak at first. He removed his jacket and placed it neatly on the back of the chair, every movement controlled and deliberate. The silence between us stretched, heavy and suffocating.

“You seemed… comfortable,” he finally said, his voice low, cold.

I swallowed hard. “He was just talking to me. That’s all.”

“Talking?” He turned toward me, his dark eyes sharp and unyielding. “You laughed. You smiled like he meant something to you"

“He was being friendly,” I replied softly, unsure if my words were helping or only making things worse.

Avyaan stepped closer, and for the first time since our wedding, I felt the full weight of his power, his presence. It wasn’t just physical — it was the storm that followed him, the way his silence screamed louder than his words.

“In this house,” he said, voice firm, “friendliness can be mistaken for weakness. And weakness gets people killed.”

My breath hitched.

“I don’t want to see you alone with him again. Or any man,” he added.

His words weren’t a request. They were law.

“You don’t trust me,” I whispered, a part of me aching at the realization.

“I don’t trust anyone,” he said plainly. “Trust gets you betrayed. Remember that.”

The air between us thickened. I wanted to scream, to cry, to run — but I stayed still, trying to read the man in front of me. Beneath the cold, calculated exterior, there was something else. Something broken. But I wasn’t sure if I was brave enough to reach for it.

“Am I… a prisoner here?” I asked, the question barely audible.

Avyaan looked at me, eyes narrowing. Then he walked past me, stopping at the door.

“You’re my wife,” he said without turning back. “Behave like it.”

And then he was gone.

I sat there, frozen, staring at the door long after it had closed. That single sentence felt like a chain around my neck — invisible, but unbreakable.

I was in his world now.

And there were rules.....