Ishita had always known the marriage contract would come back to haunt her.
She just hadn't expected it to arrive in an envelope.
Cream-colored. Unmarked. Slid quietly under her bedroom door like a secret that refused to stay buried.
She picked it up slowly, heart pounding, already sensing what it was before she opened it.
Inside were copies.
Legal. Precise. Familiar.
The contract.
Stapled neatly on top was a handwritten note.
Some cages are gilded. Some doors are open only if you dare to walk through them.
— R.K.
Her breath caught.
She didn't know who R.K. was.
But somehow, she knew this wasn't a coincidence.
---
The name surfaced that evening.
Aarav was on a call when she entered the study. He looked up the moment he saw her face.
"What happened?"
She placed the envelope on his desk.
His expression hardened instantly.
"Where did you get this?"
"It was delivered," she replied. "Privately."
Aarav scanned the pages, jaw tightening with every line.
"Raghav Khanna," he said quietly.
The name settled heavily in the room.
"Who is he?" Ishita asked.
Aarav leaned back slowly. "My opposite."
That wasn't reassuring.
"He doesn't want Malhotra Group," Aarav continued. "He never has. He dismantles people. Their stability. Their identities."
Ishita's fingers curled. "And now he wants me?"
Aarav met her gaze. "Yes."
Silence stretched.
"Why?" she whispered.
"Because you're the variable," he said. "The thing I didn't plan for."
---
Raghav Khanna made his move three days later.
Not with threats.
With charm.
Ishita was at the hospital café when a man sat across from her without asking.
Mid-thirties. Calm smile. Eyes that watched instead of looked.
"You shouldn't sit with your back to the door," he said lightly. "Bad habit."
Her pulse spiked. "I didn't invite you."
"No," he agreed pleasantly. "But you're curious."
She stood. "If this is about my husband—"
"It isn't," he interrupted. "Not really."
That stopped her.
"My name is Raghav," he said. "I wanted to meet you before things got ugly."
Her voice was steady. "You already crossed a line."
He smiled faintly. "I crossed paperwork."
"You leaked the contract."
"Yes," he admitted. "Because I wanted to see what you'd do."
Anger flared. "I'm not a test."
"No," he said softly. "You're a choice."
That word again.
Choice.
"You don't look owned," Raghav continued. "You look… restrained."
She stiffened. "You don't know me."
"I know you stayed when you could have left," he said. "I know you softened a man who never bent. And I know you haven't decided yet."
Her breath caught.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
Raghav leaned back. "For you to decide freely."
"And if I don't choose you?"
He shrugged. "Then I walk away."
She laughed sharply. "You expect me to believe that?"
"No," he replied. "I expect you to believe this—Aarav Malhotra will never choose you over power if forced."
She stepped closer, voice low. "You're wrong."
Raghav's gaze sharpened. "Then prove it."
---
Aarav felt the shift before he heard the name.
Security flagged an unauthorized interaction.
Hospital café.
Raghav Khanna.
Aarav was in his car within minutes.
He found Ishita standing near the exit, composed but pale.
"Did he touch you?" Aarav asked immediately.
"No," she said. "He talked."
Rage simmered beneath Aarav's calm. "You shouldn't have been alone."
"I chose to be," she replied.
That stopped him.
Back home, the tension snapped.
"He's manipulating you," Aarav said sharply. "This is how he works."
"And what about you?" Ishita shot back. "Didn't you manipulate me first?"
The words cut deep.
"You don't get to decide for me anymore," she continued. "Not who I speak to. Not what risks I take."
"He wants to take you away from me," Aarav said.
She met his gaze. "He wants me to choose."
The silence was deafening.
Finally, Aarav spoke. "If you leave, he wins."
"And if I stay without choosing," she said softly, "we both lose."
She reached into her bag and pulled out the contract.
The original.
Aarav's chest tightened. "What are you doing?"
"I'm ending it," she said.
His breath hitched. "Ishita—"
"Listen," she said firmly. "This contract was survival. Then it became habit. Then something else."
She placed it on the desk.
"I won't be your wife because of ink and clauses," she said. "I'll be with you only if I'm free to walk away."
Fear flashed openly in Aarav's eyes.
"If I tear this up," she continued, "I become vulnerable. To him. To the world. To you."
She picked up the document.
"But I'd rather be vulnerable than owned."
Slowly, deliberately, she tore it in half.
Then again.
And again.
Paper fell like quiet snowfall between them.
Aarav didn't stop her.
He couldn't.
When it was done, she looked up at him.
"Now choose," she said. "Not as a CEO. Not as a man protecting his territory."
She stepped closer.
"As someone who wants me."
The room seemed to hold its breath.
Aarav reached out, stopped himself, then let his hand fall.
"I choose you," he said hoarsely. "Even if it costs me everything."
Her eyes filled.
"And if Raghav doesn't stop?"
"Then I'll fight him without using you as a shield," Aarav replied. "Or I'll lose."
She nodded. "That's all I needed to hear."
---
Raghav received his answer that night.
Not from her.
From Aarav.
"I won't cage her," Aarav said calmly over the phone. "And I won't trade her."
Raghav chuckled. "You're changing."
"Yes," Aarav replied. "And that's why you won't win."
"Careful," Raghav warned. "She's still free."
Aarav smiled faintly. "Exactly."
---
Later, in the quiet of their room, Ishita stood by the window.
"You could have stopped me," she said.
"I won't stop you anymore," Aarav replied. "If you stay, it will be because you want to."
She turned, studying him.
Then she crossed the space between them and rested her forehead against his chest.
"I'm staying," she whispered. "Not forever. Not blindly."
He closed his eyes.
"But honestly."
That night, there was no contract.
No obligation.
Only two people standing in the aftermath of a choice that changed everything.
And somewhere in the city, Raghav Khanna smiled.
Because the real game—
Had just begun.