Chapter 6

Shane

Those three words slipped from Zoya’s lips and struck my chest like a high-caliber round.

The world ground to a dead stop inside the dimly lit hotel suite. Every molecule of oxygen in the room seemed to evaporate instantly, leaving my lungs starving for air.

I froze, staring with wide, disbelieving eyes at the elegant woman standing right before me.

How could I not? For years, I had been burning alive.

I had harbored this insane, agonizing obsession entirely in the dark, desperately trying to suffocate my forbidden feelings for my own sister-in-law.

My gaze locked onto Zoya’s tear-filled eyes. In that suffocating second, the bitter memories of five years ago violently ambushed my mind.

The flashback of that dark, torrential night on the steep, winding roads of the Scottish Highlands rewound like a mangled cassette tape.

Rain poured in sheets when the sedan Zoya was driving suffered catastrophic brake failure, careening over the edge and plunging down a shallow ravine.

Without a second thought for my own life, I had scrambled down the treacherous slope through freezing, blood-numbing rain.

I smashed open the crushed driver's side door and dragged Zoya’s bloodied, unconscious body away from the twisted wreckage just as the fuel tank caught fire.

I pulled her limp frame into my arms. Shielding her from the violent tongues of flame that suddenly erupted from the car.

The blast shattered my ribs and slammed my head hard against jagged rock. I spent the next three months in a deep coma at an Edinburgh hospital.

Yet, fate chose to play the most sadistic joke imaginable on my life.

When I finally opened my eyes from that agonizing brush with death, the very first news my father delivered was that Zoya had officially become engaged to Alex. My own flesh and blood.

While I lay helpless between life and death, Alex, that opportunistic parasite, had materialized at the accident scene the moment the ambulance arrived.

He hijacked the narrative. He stepped up before Zoya’s grieving family as the solitary, shining hero who had pulled her from the jaws of death.

Alex manipulated every single detail. He lied straight to Zoya’s face, claiming he was the one who dragged her from the inferno, while dismissing my presence as a "dumb coincidence" where I got myself hurt through sheer recklessness.

Zoya, shattered, vulnerable, and drowning in overwhelming gratitude, handed her entire heart and life to Alex on a silver platter.

She believed, with every fiber of her being, that Alex was her true soulmate who had literally walked through fire for her.

Whose heart wouldn't be pulverized into ash upon discovering a betrayal so sickening?

At first, I fought tooth and nail to let her go. I swallowed the blinding agony burning a hole through my chest every time I watched Zoya smile adoringly in Alex’s arms.

Back then, I convinced myself that whatever it took, as long as Zoya was happy, I could endure a lifetime of numbness and a broken heart.

I chose to retreat to the shadows. I became the cold, cynical brother-in-law, putting up impenetrable walls just to keep my growing feelings from bleeding out.

Then, everything fractured a few months ago.

By pure accident, I stumbled upon a trail of hidden financial records belonging to Alex. I discovered that the bastard was openly sleeping with Zeena, Zoya’s own stepsister, right behind her back.

My blood boiled to a lethal pitch. The parasitic lowlife who had stolen the love of my life was actively destroying the woman I worshipped.

I couldn't stand by and play dead anymore. I pulled every reckless stunt I could think of to rip the blindfold off Zoya’s eyes.

I sent anonymous tips, dropped cryptic clues, and watched her every move from the shadows. I refused to let the woman I loved with every ounce of my soul be used and discarded like trash.

That was when I found out the sickening truth. Alex had only married her to anchor his failing business, hitching his entire empire to Zoya’s rising career.

Right then and there, a vow was forged deep in my bones. I was going to tear Zoya away from Alex.

God help me, though, not like this.

I loved her too damn much. I respected her more than anything on this earth.

I wanted to win her back the right way, with honor and absolute clarity.

I wanted to heal her trauma first, legally expose Alex's web of lies, and make her turn to me of her own free will. Not fueled by a blind, momentary spike of vengeance.

Besides, Zoya was currently sitting at the absolute peak of her career. She was a public icon of success, class, and untouchable poise.

What if someone had planted a hidden camera? What if the public found out and branded her a hypocrite, tearing her apart for sleeping with her husband's brother?

I couldn't bear the thought of watching the career and reputation she had built with literal blood, sweat, and tears turn to dust just because of a reckless mistake made tonight.

"Zoya, no! Snap out of it. This is insane!" I blurted out, moving fast.

I took a sharp step back to fracture the devastating proximity between us. My voice shook as I fought tooth and nail to anchor the last shreds of my fraying sanity.

"I brought you here purely to show you hard proof of my brother's depravity. Not to corrupt you. And definitely not to stoop to the same filthy level as Alex in the next room!"

Zoya didn't retreat. Instead, she stepped forward, closing the gap until the intoxicating, high-end blend of vanilla and rich oud clinging to her skin pierced straight through my senses.

"That's precisely the point, Shane," Zoya countered, her voice dropping to a low, raw, and fiercely demanding register.

A terrifying flash of past agony and pure, unadulterated venom dominated her eyes.

"There is nothing on this earth that will hurt Alex more than hitting him with the exact same poison. That son of a bitch slept with my stepsister behind my back.

So, if he finds out I slept with his own blood brother, he'll finally know what it feels like to burn alive from the inside out, just like I am right now."

Hearing her logic made my chest rumble like a gathering storm. My breath hitched, and my gaze darted wildly across her stunning face, now mere centimeters from my own.

Every single atom of my being, every ounce of the repressed desire I had locked away in a cage for five bloody years, screamed to break free.

I was tempted!

God help me, I was so dangerously close to the edge that my lower abdomen tightened with a fierce, burning ache.

Yet, my last remaining scraps of conscience fought a brutal war, holding my hands back from touching her flawless skin.

Sensing my hesitation tearing me apart, Zoya leveled a look at me so ice-cold I had never seen it before.

"I am a businesswoman, Shane. You know how my mind works," she said coldly, her tone sharp as a scalpel.

She slowly pivoted on her heel, her fingers wrapping around the strap of her bag with absolute finality.

"Fine. If you aren't going to help me, whatever. I can walk out of this hotel right now and find someone else."

She paused, throwing a razor-sharp glance over her shoulder.

"I'm sure there are plenty of men out there who'd be more than happy to have me."