The festival air grew heavier the moment Linda raised her voice. While everyone expected her to bow her head at Daniel's commanding tone, she ignored it entirely. Her eyes stayed fixed on the man striking his young wife.
She stepped forward, her voice cutting through the laughter and drums.
"Take your hand off her," Linda demanded, her tone leaving no space for doubt. "A husband's grip is not a shackle. No woman deserves to be treated like this."
The man froze, startled that anyone — let alone a newly wedded woman — dared to confront him. Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Some villagers looked away, as if her words alone might bring them punishment.
Linda didn't falter. She shifted her gaze across the women standing silent in the crowd. "No to domestic violence. No to silencing women. If this is what your rules stand for, then your rules are rotten."
Gasps broke like waves. Some women's eyes brimmed with tears, admiration hidden beneath lowered lashes. But the elders' faces darkened, their anger crackling like firewood ready to burn.
"You dare speak against the rules of this village?" one of the old men thundered, his staff striking the ground.
But Linda didn't flinch. "If rules demand silence in the face of cruelty, then those rules are chains. And chains are meant to be broken."
A hush fell. Some jaws clenched in outrage, others parted in silent awe. Daniel's expression hardened like stone — not because of her words alone, but because she said them while standing beside him. His pride, his power, his carefully crafted image… all cracked in that instant.
The elders roared, voices overlapping in condemnation. But before their rage could ignite further, Daniel's hand clamped around Linda's wrist.
Without a word, he dragged her through the crowd, ignoring the whispers that followed.
The car door slammed shut. The festival lights blurred behind them as silence swallowed the drive. His grip on the steering wheel was so tight the leather groaned.
By the time they reached home, the storm inside him erupted. He shoved the door open, pulling her inside before spinning on her, his voice like a whip.
"Do you even understand what you've done?!" His chest heaved. "You think this village will forgive you for spitting in their faces? For humiliating me in front of everyone?"
But Linda, instead of cowering, raised her chin. The fire in her eyes hadn't dimmed. "I didn't humiliate you, Daniel. I defended someone who couldn't defend herself. That's what you should have done."
His teeth clenched, his body trembling with suppressed rage. He took a step closer, towering over her, pinning her with the full weight of his fury. Yet in the heat of his anger, a flicker of something else gnawed at him — unwanted admiration for her unyielding spirit.
And for Linda, though fear should have taken root, the closeness felt… confusingly intimate. Her heart thudded, not just from fear, but from something she couldn't name.
The tension thickened, the air between them crackling, until Daniel snarled, "You'll burn everything you touch, Linda. And I won't let you burn me."
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♡LINDA AND DANIEL♡