"THE INVITATION"
The night felt wrong.
Cold air brushed against Meera’s skin, yet her palms were damp with sweat. She tightened her grip on her dupatta as she stood in front of the towering black gates.
“Do you even know where you’re going?”
Her friend’s voice echoed in her head.
Yes. She knew.
And that was exactly why she came anyway.
Aarav Rathore wasn’t just a man.
He was a warning.
People said, “You can make a deal with him… but you can never escape him.”
The gates creaked open slowly, as if someone had already been watching her.
“Welcome, Miss Meera.”
The voice came from behind—calm, deep, controlled.
She turned.
Black suit. Sharp features. Eyes that held no warmth—only authority.
Aarav Rathore.
“You’re late,” he said, his tone even, but heavy with unspoken dominance.
Meera met his gaze without hesitation.
“I don’t belong to anyone.”
For a moment, silence stretched between them.
Then Aarav smiled—faint, dangerous.
“Not yet.”
He stepped closer, closing the distance between them. His presence was suffocating, calculated.
“But you will.”
Something about the way he said it made her chest tighten.
This wasn’t a meeting.
It was the beginning of something far worse.
And deep down—
Meera knew she had already stepped into a game she couldn’t walk away from.
