"He didn't know he was still in love. He only knew that her eyes haunted him."
---
RAVIAN SINGHANIA
She stared at me across the boardroom table, cool and untouched.
Every man in that room noticed her.
But I—
I felt her.
Nyra Vora.
Even her name echoed in my mind like a half-remembered curse.
She shouldn't get to me like this.
She shouldn't feel so… familiar.
But every glance from her felt like fingers wrapping around my throat.
---
> "Mr. Singhania?"
I snapped out of it.
My assistant blinked, notebook in hand.
The investors stared. Kai stood beside her, watching me with unreadable eyes.
Nyra's lips tilted.
> "You look pale," she said, voice like silk dipped in sin.
I cleared my throat.
> "I'm fine."
> "You don't look fine," she murmured, eyes narrowing. "You look like you saw a ghost."
A chill crawled up my spine.
I couldn't speak.
I wanted to.
But her presence silenced me.
---
LATER THAT NIGHT – RAVIAN'S BEDROOM
I poured myself another drink.
The fifth.
The shadows of the room stretched long.
And her voice—Meher's voice—kept echoing in my ears.
> "Save him, Ravian. Walk on glass if you must."
I flinched.
No.
That wasn't real.
That was years ago.
She was dead.
Buried.
I saw her body.
I saw the fire.
Didn't I?
I stumbled toward the drawer. Pulled out the old photo album.
Page after page of her.
Meher in a wedding dress.
Meher holding Aarav.
Meher, bruised.
Still smiling.
Then—her last photo.
Her eyes full of hate.
---
FLASHBACK – 4 YEARS AGO
> "Please, Ravian. Just don't touch him."
> "Then walk through the glass, Meher."
> "You promised you loved me."
> "I promised to win the bet."
---
I threw the glass against the wall.
It shattered.
Blood dripped from my palm.
But it wasn't the pain that made me stagger.
It was the photo on the floor.
It wasn't Meher anymore.
It was Nyra.
Her eyes—burning into mine from the broken frame.
---
MEANWHILE – NYRA VORA
I stood in the mirror, painting my lips red.
> "He's breaking," Kai said from behind me. "Tearing apart his house. Screaming into mirrors."
> "Good," I replied. "The mirror remembers what he buried."
Kai walked closer, stood behind me.
He never touched—but tonight his voice was lower.
> "He's going to fall for you again."
> "He already has," I whispered.
"He just doesn't know it's the same woman."
---
RAVIAN
That night, I dreamed of her again.
Not Nyra.
Meher.
She stood in fire. Hair wild. Skin covered in ash. Eyes shining.
> "You killed me," she whispered.
> "Who are you?" I asked.
She smiled.
> "You already know."
Then she turned—
Into Nyra.
Same smile. Same lips.
But this time, she leaned in.
> "And I'm not done with you yet."
---
🩸 End of Chapter 8
---