"You did it all for that Ryan, who just wanted to get into your pants!" The darkness within Dakota breaks free as he growls at me inhumanly.

"I have no idea from where you got this story.. But I never in my life conspired anything against you, with or without Ryan." I stand on my ground, protesting against the accusations he is storming upon me.

"Stop fucking lying!" Dakota yells, releasing his fury at me.

"I am not lying!" I assert firmly, against his dark physical presence which is overshadowing the room.

"It's true that I was on the fight ground with my friends, but suddenly police came and it was my dad who caught us and took us to the police headquarters for interrogation."

The memory of that dreadful night rushes back to my skin, cutting me deeper than any blade. That awful night-vicious fight-blood shed-chaos-cops-my father!

"I didn't plan any of it, and just so you know.. Ryan and Daniel were the first names on my father's list!" I meet his gaze squarely, in an attempt to convey the truth in my eyes.

"Then why the fuck you framed me?" Dakota growls inhumanly, his voice like a violent roar of betrayal and hurt, that seems to shake the very walls around us.

"To protect my brother!" I shout back, my words a raw scream of honesty that I can no longer suppress.

"Ethan?" Dakota scrunches his brow in bewilderment.

An intense layer of confusion covers his face, slowly taking over the cloak of anger as he tries to piece together the puzzle I have laid at his feet.

"Yes. Ethan.. He was that stupid bacteria guy!" I finally admit to my sins of shielding my brother from the consequences of his naivety.

"I knew something shady was going on, but I never imagined it would be an illegal drug racket. I suspected Zydus who passed stuffs around, as I had seen him selling some powder to Ethan." I confess, reading out a chapter of my life I had long sealed.

"But my brother was so innocent, he had no idea those substances were drugs. And like a good sister, I wanted to protect him from the drug charges, and from our infuriating dad, who kept pressurizing me to speak out a name."

I look up and find those intense emerald eyes gazing down at me with an unreadable expression. "And your name just slipped out of my lips."

Silence hangs heavy between us. The air gets thicker with unspoken tension as Dakota silently stares at me, absorbing my confession.

Yet, the subtle wind of destruction continues to surround him like a deadly fragrance.

"And it's not even my fault! If you hangout with filthy company, people will naturally assume you are one of them." I snap at him bitterly, leaving no stone uncovered.

"I had seen you with Zydus before, so when my father pressed me for a name, yours was the first that came into my mind, and I said your name to save my brother.. Because Ethan.."

My voice cracks with emotions choking my throat from all sides. "He didn't deserve it. He just took the drug once during the fight against Ryan." Or maybe twice!

"I know my dad would have not showed mercy, even to his own children and I couldn't bear to see my brother's life ruined over something he was not even part of. He is a good guy."

I feel my chest clench painfully as I reveal the reasons for my false statement. Yet, the cord of guilt further tightens around my heart as I see myself as a hypocrite in my own eyes.

Whereas Dakota remains silent with his piercing gaze, and a face as hard as my regrets. His eyes reflect a mixture of pain and betrayal, which I feel down to my bones.

"But I know saying your name was not right, even then!" The words tear from me, and I watch his jaw clench in return.

"And believe me, since that day I have been consumed by regret for what I did to you. My intention was never to target you, hell I didn't even know you were an orphan and had a rough past, or even about your accident!"

Dakota gulps hard, his fists are still clenched as if he is fighting a battle within himself.

"All this time, I have wished I could turn back the clock, and maybe say a made-up name, anything to save you and my brother. Maybe even my own name, because I have been living in this hell of guilt ever since, and I can't live like this anymore."

The room feels heavy with his silence and my cries of regret. In order to save one person, I have destroyed another, and this realization is a burden I know I'll carry forever.

"So you didn't do it to protect Ryan?" Dakota asks, breaking the silence between us.

I look up, my teary eyes spearing at him in disbelief. From everything I had told him, he just picked up that one detail.

"No! I didn't do anything to protect Ryan. And I bet he doesn't need anybody's protection. His family is influential enough to pull him out of any legal shit." I spit out vehemently.

I didn't know I hated him for his perfect life.

"Ryan is a selfish motherfucker! He-he used me and all this time I thought I mattered to him and let him touch me, play with me until one day he just left me without a word. I never left so unimportant in my life, like an object so easily replaced, and discarded like I meant nothing to the person I gave my all to."

My heart pounds painfully against my ribs, every word I speak deepens those thorns into my chest, causing to rip open the wounds I have tried to bandage a thousand times.

"I-I could never bring myself to trust another person, or dare to like them to the level I blindly did for Ryan. I never really moved on from that pain of being used and left out, and couldn't even date anyone without thinking about the trauma he gave me."

More tears pool down, cutting through my cheeks as I hold on to those painful memories. And the most terrible among them are right in front of me.

"And what you are doing to me is far worse. Worst than I ever did to you!" I yell at the man who ruthlessly tore my heart with his bare brutal hands.

Dakota stares at me with his silent furious gaze, yet there is a sense of sadness, a melancholy of left alone by everyone in his life.

I know his pain is way deeper than mine.

I was dumped by my first love, or so I thought. But Dakota, he was abandoned by his parents, left without a home, with no siblings to protect, no one he could rely upon and on top of that.. I..

"I-I am sorry Dakota for spoiling your life. Especially when you genuinely liked me."

I sob, breaking down in front of him, overwhelmed with guilt for the role I played in further ruining his already miserable life.

"I-I never knew you liked me." Or I would have taken all the blame on me!

Uncontrollable tears pour down my eyes as I realize, we are just two broken souls, one broken than another.

"You have no idea how much guilt I have been drowning in these past years for what I did to you. And I know you are never going to forgive me." I hardly breathe against the backdrop of my bleeding heart.

"You will always look at me as the girl who destroyed your life, who got you into jail, and got a fucking criminal record against you. And I know no amount of my sorries is going to change that."

His jaw clenches as he looks away from my teary face, as if he can't bear to look at me.

Hell, I can't even look at myself right now!

"I have already been in trauma for three fucking years because of that one night. The guy I was in love with fucked me and left me without a single word." Each word feels like a dagger in my chest.

"And now, I let another guy fuck me for 7 nights straight."

Green eyes draw back at me, silent and dark. Tears won't stop pooling down my cheeks as fresh memories of abuse rolls all over again.

"If my tears and these seven nights were not enough for you, then go ahead, break my bones and take your revenge." I snap, bursting with emotions, unable to contain them anymore.

"I won't even fucking scream or tell anyone, because I am sooo done.. so fucking done of being treated like a whore." I scream in agony, as the pain literally splits my soul apart.

"It's better you break every single one of my ribs, so we can get fucking even." I say, looking him in the eye.

I would rather endure the physical pain than continue to suffer this emotional torment which makes me want to stab myself for degrading myself to a level where I can't even bear to look at myself in the eye and breathe.

"Sue me. Send me to jail. Do whatever you want. I am done being a fuck toy for you." I declare defeatedly, with my tears streaming down and my heart shattering into a million irreparable pieces.

"I am done." I whisper with a crushed spirit. 

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Here is the tissue🧻 for people who are sensitive like me🤧

Close to five more chapters remaining. Yay! Next update on 43K.

Also, don't forger to shower this book with likes and I'll upload my hot pictures for you ;)

Yes, this is bribing.