Trepidation and fear threatened to drown Rohan in darkness. He felt his consciousness slip through the control that had slipped through their hands long ago. It was the grim and harrowing sight of his troubled friend that caused him to hold on to the vestiges of tenacious will in him.

"Don't do it, Shi! Don't! If you give in once, he will continue using it against you!"

Vikram towered over Rohan and stared into his petrified ones. "I do not recall asking for your input, Rohan. I asked if she would accept or not!"

Rohan tried to take a step back from the tyrannical man, but Vikram's men restrained him almost instantly. He gulped the lump that formed in his throat and practically suffocated him with horror and panic.

"Shikha! No!"

Shikha whimpered at the sight of her dear friend being intimidated and pushed around. Her resolve and grit had sustained irreversible damage by his threats.

Vikram Singhal was deft in cornering men and women to compel them to do his bidding, and that time was no different. His ruthless yet calculated actions and words had eliminated the prospect of embracing something unwelcome to the man.

She broke out into sobs, unable to announce the death sentence of her freedom and free will.

"Please, Shi! NO!"

The dagger of jealousy twisted its way further in Vikram's heart. The unbridled concern and the unseverable and unsurmountable bond shared between them made him wince with pangs of envy.

Her acceptance came at a cost. It meant that she cared for him and her family more than she despised him after the revelation. His actions had undeniably pushed her heart into contempt for him.

That was the price for striving to conquer her rather than wooing her. While his brain was pleased with the bargain, his heart wondered if it would just be a pyrrhic victory.

And it has been eons since Vikram Singhal listened to the timid voice of his heart.

She wiped the fierce tears rolling down her cheeks and avoid exposing her turmoil to her friend.

"I don't have a choice, Rohan! He will kill you all! He won't stop till he attains what he wants! I can't live with the guilt of choosing myself over your safety!"

She inhaled a deep breath before snatching the last breath of her freedom. "Vikram Singhal, I will marry you!"

Her answer stupefied Rohan, and he stared at her in disbelief. Instead of relief soothing his jittery nerves, the impending sense of doom threatened his sanity. He crashed on his knees and shut his eyes in despondency.

Disbelief momentarily entranced Vikram as well. He did not leave her with much of a choice, but her sentence silenced any protests that his heart had.

His hands reached out behind his neck and unclasped the simple gold chain that he wore beneath his linen shirt. He locked his delirious and delightful eyes with her devastated ones and freed an exquisite ring from the chain.

He took her left hand and pushed the somewhat loose solitaire ring on her ring finger. "It is my mother's ring. She would have loved you to have it."

Shikha wordlessly stared at the resplendently glittering ring, which was in stark contrast of the darkness that had filled her life.

He hooked the chain around her neck when her knees and consciousness gave way.

"SHIKHA!!"

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Hospital,

Vikram paced in front of the hospital room, waiting for any kind of update from the doctor.

"Shekhar, did you inform Shikha's sister and her fiance about Shikha's condition?"

Shekhar had stayed back at the office to control the employees and prevent the news from leaking to the media. The events shook him and Shikha's predicament, but he realized that there was nothing he could say to change his boss' mind.

"Yes, Sir. They must reach to the hospital anytime now."

Vikram pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned against the wall. The intensity of Rohan's glare and the despise and disgust aimed at him seemed to intensify by every passing moment.

He wished he had refused to allow Rohan from accompanying them, but his vehement protests and the heated exchange before Shikha's fainting made him choose otherwise.

"Cancel all my meetings, Shekhar. This is my priority right now."

Vikram disconnected the call without waiting for the reply as he saw the doctor exiting the room. Rohan had jumped on to his feet and rushed to the doctor's side.

"How is Shikha? Is she fine?"

It surprised the doctor to see the concerned side of Vikram Singhal. In the years of service to the man, she had seen his affection and warmer side reserved only for his sister.

"She appears to have suffered some kind of mental trauma, Sir. Nothing incurable. If you don't mind, may I ask how is she related to you?"

Vikram contemplated the answer briefly and went ahead with the answer that his brain preferred.

"She is my wife."

A grief-stricken Sunaina and a tensed Rajeev also marked that propitious moment of revelation. They reached just in time to listen to the prognosis of their dear Shikha and the answer to the question posed to Vikram.

Sunaina's features reflected the transition from worry to fury. "What did you just say, Mr. Singhal? Shikha? Your wife? How?"

Vikram turned to see the owner of the voice and he immediately recognized Rajeev from their previous meet. He gestured to the doctor to leave and give them some privacy.

"Shikha has agreed to marry me and we are as good as married in my eyes as she is wearing my mother's ring."

Sunaina's eyes rounded into saucers with shock as the worst nightmare had come turned into reality. She eyed Rohan and Rajeev, hoping someone would refute the claims, but Rohan's dejected and sorry face confirmed Vikram's words.

"That's not possible. Why would she do that? She does not even like you. Rajeev, did she ever tell you something like that?"

Rajeev's silence disconcerted her further as she spun to Vikram furiously.

"What did you do to my sister, Mr. Singhal? I am sure, you are the reason she is here in hospital right now! What did you do to her?"

Vikram's expressions bared no thoughts or conflicts raging in his mind. "I wanted to marry her, and I did. That's what happened."

"Unfortunately for you, I don't accept this marriage, Mr. Singhal. You might be the most influential person of the state, but I will not let you ruin the life of the only family that I have. I will not let her use for your own reasons. You may kill us for that, but you will not get what you want. Because I am certain, Shikha can never love a man like you."

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