Prologue

Prologue: Broken Bangle

She closed the door slowly, the click of the latch sounding like a final gavel.

Clad in a stark white saree, she looked like a ghost of the woman she had been hours before. Broken bangle marks marred the porcelain skin of her wrists—angry, jagged reminders of a joy that had shattered too soon. Her maang was a pale, empty hollow where the vibrant red of sindoor should have been. The scent of the mehndi still lingered, earthy and fresh, mocking her. At the center of her palm, the letter "A" stood out with arrogant boldness, woven into the intricate henna. But the man that initial belonged to had surrendered his body to the earth forever.

At twenty-one, her life had ended before it truly began. The very moment meant to be her threshold into womanhood had become a funeral pyre. She was the widow of the eldest Raizada son, a title that felt like a lead weight in her chest.

A single tear tracked down her cheek, hot enough to burn. She looked from her dark mehndi to the bed—still perfectly made, still untouched. The same flowers that were supposed to perfume her wedding night had been scattered over her husband’s cold frame downstairs. Now, their fragrance didn't signify beauty; it was a cloying, floral poison that choked the air in her lungs.

Her sight blurred, the room dissolving into a grey haze. Where could she go? To whom could she turn? Her father had been gone only seven days, claimed by the cancer that had forced her to flee her college life. Now, the universe had played its cruelest hand yet.

Her strength gave out. She slumped against the door, sliding down until she was a small, broken heap on the floor.

"A woman like you will never know happiness. You're so proud, aren't you? You will remain untouched forever... You won’t just be denied love; you won’t even know the comfort of another's touch."

Khushi closed her eyes as those venomous words echoed in the silence. They belonged to the man she hated most... or perhaps, the man she secretly loved. Arnav Singh Raizada. Her brother-in-law.

He didn't know yet that the world had shifted beneath their feet. His greatest enemy was now the widow of his beloved brother, Ankush.