Page 2 of Since You Stole My Heart

She crouched on the floor, tears slipped down her cheeks as she listened to her mother cry on the other side of the door.

‘Not this time. Do you hear me, Karthik? Not this time,’ her mother said with a brittle edge of pain. ‘You can shout, you can threaten, you can make me bleed, but you don’t get to control me anymore. This is where it ends.’

‘What does that mean?’ he demanded impatiently.

‘For years, you’ve taken everything from my family and me. You’ve crossed every limit of what I could forgive, and crushed every last bit of love I kept holding onto. All because I hoped you’d change, but I see now that you’ll never.’

‘Yeah? And what will you do about it?’

A shiver ran up her legs as the chill in his voice crept into her bones. Kashvi clutched the teddy so hard that the plastic eyes dug against her throat.

‘I’m taking my girls, and I’m leaving you,’ her mother declared firmly. ‘You can stay with your mistress and son, since they seem to matter more to you anyway.’

Wow, I have a brother?

Kashvi felt a fleeting sense of joy, but confusion pricked at her mind at the sadness in her mother’s voice.

‘You’ve completely lost your mind, Arohi! Maybe I should call someone and have you checked out because you need help.’

‘You can call whoever you want, but the only person I’ll be reaching out to is a divorce lawyer.’

A sudden thud broke through, followed by another. Kashvi jerked back, covering her ears because she couldn’t bear it.

‘I own you. Do you understand that? You don’t get to walk away from me. I will never let you go,’ her father warned in a cold, flat voice.

‘I’m not afraid of you anymore. I will not let my girls grow up around a monster like you,’ her mother said with a wheezing cough.

Her father’s reply sent a wave of nausea rolling through her small body. ‘If you even try to walk out of this house, you’ll find out exactly what kind of monster I can be, Arohi.’

Just then, Kashvi caught the sound of footsteps coming towards the door, towards her, and her blood ran cold. Panic surged through her and she whirled around so fast that she stumbled as she ran. Her teddy fell onto the floor but she heard the lock turn and didn’t dare to look back.

She took two steps at a time, her legs shaking with the effort, and pushed open her bedroom door. Hurriedly, Kashvi climbed onto the bed and dragged the blanket over herself.

She itched to call her sister, because Siya always knew what to say, what to do.

Her gaze remained fixated on the half-open door and no matter how much she tried to control it, her breath came out in sharp, uneven bursts.

When the silence lingered, she let out a shaky breath of relief. It turned into a strangled choke when the door creaked open all the way and she saw her father.

Karthik stood in the doorway, his tall frame blocking out the light behind him. His long hair and shabby beard made him look like the boogeyman of her nightmares.

He silently walked towards her and held out Mr Buttons for her.

His cold gaze pressed in on her and tears rushed to her eyes as she stammered out, ‘I’m sorry, Papa. I didn’t mean to… I just, I had a bad dream and I got scared and I wanted Maa.’

He let out a long, impatient breath. ‘You know the rule is to be in bed and never wander around the home after eight, don’t you?’

‘I’m really sorry, I won’t do it again, Papa. I promise. Please don’t be angry,’ Kashvi pleaded, desperate and breathless.

‘Fine. Just stop crying,’ he told her. The bed dipped slightly under his weight as he sat down next to her.

‘I’m sorry,’ she repeated, clumsily wiping away her tears.

She waited for him to raise his voice, to scold her the way he always did when she broke a rule, but he didn’t. He just sat there, looking tired.

‘Are you okay, Papa?’ she asked softly, afraid that the question itself might upset him.

He turned to look at her and instead asked, ‘What did you hear downstairs?’