Chapter 1
The hall glittered like a dream built to trap someone.
Gold chandeliers shimmered above rows of powerful guests. Cameras flashed. Whispers floated like smoke through the air.
“Arohi Oberoi is marrying him…”
“The masked billionaire finally shows his face today…”
“The masked billionaire… Lucian Blackwood…”
But Arohi wasn’t listening.
But no one noticed the trembling hands behind the bridal veil.
Arohi stood at the edge of the aisle.
Red and gold silk clung to her like a promise she never agreed to, Heavy. Beautiful. Unforgiving.
Her reflection in the glass doors showed a bride everyone envied.
And yet… she wasn’t trembling because of the man waiting for her.
She was trembling because of the message still glowing on her phone.
Varun: Don’t do it. Please. Meet me before you decide something you can’t undo.
Her chest tightened.
Varun.
The one person who didn’t feel like a cage.
The one person who made her believe she still had a choice.
Her gaze lifted slowly.
-
At the front of the hall, he stood.
Lucian Blackwood.
Black suit. Black gloves. Black mask.
Always the mask.
He didn’t move. Didn’t shift. Didn’t react like a man about to gain a wife.
That was what scared her most.
He looked like a man who already owned the ending.
Arohi’s breath hitched.
Because the truth hit her all at once:
She didn’t know this man.
She didn’t choose this life.
And if she walked down that aisle…
there would be no going back.
Her phone vibrated again.
Another message from Varun.
“If you don’t come now, I’ll lose you to a life you never wanted.”
Her grip on the bouquet loosened.
A memory flashed—Varun laughing softly, calling her stubborn, telling her she was meant for more than gold cages and silent rooms.
But she didn’t look back.
She couldn’t.
Because if she did…
she might stay.
And so she ran.
The doors slammed open.
Light swallowed her.
And the bride disappeared before the vows were ever spoken.
