The rain lashed against the glass windows, drowning the silence inside the vast penthouse. The city outside was alive with neon lights and restless movement, but within these walls, time felt frozen. Stagnant. Suffocating.
Noor stood near the window, arms wrapped around herself, her gaze fixed on the blurred skyline. A storm raged outside, but the real storm was the man behind her.
Aarav.
Her husband.
Her captor.
She had never seen a man so unwilling to love, yet so unwilling to let go. He didn't want this marriage, yet he refused to let her escape it. Every time she moved, his presence loomed. Every time she tried to breathe, he reminded her who she belonged to.
"You've been out for too long," Aarav's deep voice cut through the quiet, sending a shiver down her spine.
Noor turned slowly. He was sitting on the couch, his whiskey untouched, his fingers gripping the glass with barely concealed restraint. His dark eyes locked onto hers, unreadable yet burning with something primal. Something dangerously possessive.
"I went to see my friend," she replied, her voice steady but her heart pounding.
His jaw clenched. "Which one?"
She sighed. "Does it matter?"
Aarav rose to his feet, his movements slow and deliberate, like a predator stalking its prey. He was tall, broad, and terrifyingly composed.
"Yes, it does," he murmured, stepping closer, his voice deceptively calm. "You are my wife. I should know where you are. Who you're with."
Noor held her ground. "You don't get to control my life."
Aarav's lips curled into something dark and amused, but his eyes told a different story. "Oh, Noor," he said softly, raising a hand to brush his knuckles against her cheek. "You still don't understand, do you?"
She stiffened, her breath hitching. He wasn't rough. He didn't need to be. His mere presence was enough to unravel her, to make her painfully aware of how utterly trapped she was.
"This marriage is nothing but a deal to you," she whispered. "So why do you act like you own me?"
Aarav's fingers curled around her chin, forcing her to look up at him. His grip wasn't painful, but it was firm—unbreakable.
"Because I do."
The air between them grew heavy, charged with something dark and intoxicating.
Noor's breath hitched, but she refused to look away. "That's not how marriage works."
Aarav leaned in, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Marriage isn't what's keeping you here, Noor. I am."
Her pulse pounded, a mixture of defiance and something dangerously close to fear coursing through her veins.
He wasn't lying. He had never lied about this. He didn't believe in love, yet his obsession with her was suffocating. She was his possession, his claim, his prize—and he would burn the world before he let her go.
Noor swallowed hard. "You can't keep me in a cage forever."
Aarav smirked, his thumb brushing against her bottom lip. "Watch me."
Noor felt the slow, burning rage curl inside her. His control was suffocating, intoxicating. But there was something deeper beneath his possessiveness—an unspoken fear. A man like Aarav, so determined to own, was also terrified of losing.
She took a slow step back, her gaze locked onto his. "You don't own me, Aarav."
His smirk didn't falter, but something in his eyes turned deadly. "Then why do I feel like I do?"
He reached out, wrapping his fingers around her wrist, not painfully, but with just enough pressure to remind her he was stronger. That she couldn't escape him even if she tried.
Noor's heartbeat slammed against her ribs. Not from fear, but from something far more dangerous.
Aarav wasn't just possessive.
He was addicted.
To her.
To the fight she gave him.
To the fire that refused to die, no matter how many times he tried to suffocate it.
And that terrified her more than anything else.
She could still feel the tension in his grip as she pulled away, stepping back into the shadows of their marriage, into the space where neither of them could escape. But the night was far from over.
Aarav had seen them together.
The moment Noor had stepped into the penthouse, he had known. It was in the way she smelled—faint traces of cologne that wasn't his. It was in the way she walked in, cautious, hesitant, like she knew he had been waiting.
"Who is he?" he asked, his voice lower this time, quieter, but no less dangerous.
Noor turned away, but before she could even think about answering, he was behind her. His body caged hers against the glass window, his breath warm against her ear.
"You reek of him," Aarav murmured, his voice dark with something possessive, something almost dangerous. "I saw you today. Laughing. Smiling. Letting him get too close."
Noor's eyes closed, her hands pressing against the cold glass. "He's my colleague," she whispered. "We're working together. That's all."
Aarav let out a low chuckle, one that sent shivers down her spine. "Is that what you tell yourself?"
She turned then, her eyes burning with frustration. "I'm an architect, Aarav. My work requires me to interact with people. I can't stop being who I am just because you refuse to accept what we are!"
His fingers traced down her arm, slow, deliberate. "You think I care about your work, Noor?"
Her breath caught when his grip tightened. Not painful. Just... unrelenting.
"No," he continued, his dark eyes locked onto hers. "What I care about is that you are mine."
Noor inhaled sharply as he tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze.
"I don't love you, Noor," he whispered, his lips a breath away from hers. "But I'll be damned if I let anyone else have you."
Something cracked inside her. It was anger. It was frustration. It was an undeniable, infuriating pull toward the man who wanted to own her but refused to admit why.
Her hands clenched at his shirt, not in resistance, but in challenge. "You don't get to decide who I spend my time with."
Aarav's smirk was lethal. "Oh, sweetheart," he murmured, his thumb grazing over her parted lips, "you still don't understand, do you?"
Then he kissed her.
Hard.
Possessive.
A declaration.
He pulled back just enough to look into her eyes, his breath uneven, dark hunger twisting in his gaze. He had tasted her, ravished her, but it wasn't enough. It would never be enough.
His lips ghosted over her neck, his breath hot against her ear. "Tell me, Noor," he whispered, his tone laced with dark amusement, "did he touch you?"
Noor's breath hitched. "Aarav—"
His teeth grazed the sensitive spot just below her jaw, a silent warning. "I don't like sharing," he murmured. "Especially not when it comes to you."
Noor hated how her body responded to him, how he could ignite something inside her that she wanted to kill. But Aarav... Aarav never let her forget.
He spun her around, pressing her back against the window, his hands caging her in. His gaze burned into hers. "Tell me to stop."
She couldn't.
Because as much as she hated him, as much as she fought him—
She craved him just as much.
Aarav's lips again crashed against hers, this time with more intensity ,claiming, punishing. A battle of dominance and surrender. And Noor... Noor wasn't sure if she was winning or losing anymore.
All she knew was that Aarav was a storm, and she was drowning in him.
Men like Aarav didn't just possess.
They destroyed.
And Noor wasn't sure if, by the end of it, she would still be standing—or if she would let herself burn.
This was war.
And Aarav had no intention of losing.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
DEAR READERS, please give THIS BOOK a try .... this is my first book I will try my best to not disappoint you.
please join the journey of AARAV AND NOOR i know you will love it
THANK YOU!!!!