Shackled by Ashes

Amaya’s voice: I came back to India after years abroad, hoping for a quick visit with my parents, but instead I was blindsided. They had arranged my marriage without ever asking me—an ultimatum wrapped in their toxic control and silent threats. Every word from them stung with betrayal. I wasn’t their obedient daughter anymore. I was angry. Defiant. Determined to break free from their chains, no matter the cost.Then there was Nevan Kapoor—the man they chose for me. A stranger at first, but soon I saw the rage hidden behind his calm, a mirror of my own fury. His past was dark like mine. Sent away to study abroad while his father’s infidelities shattered their home. His disdain for his father’s sins was as deep as my hatred for mine. We were prisoners in our parents’ twisted legacy, forced into a life neither of us wanted. Nevan’s voice: My father pretended the world was perfect, but behind closed doors, he was a man with broken vows and fleeting loyalties. His affairs, lies, and endless betrayals left my mother crushed and me angry and hollow. Sending me abroad was his way to erase me, but I never escaped the ghosts of home. Now, I’m back—trapped again, this time by an arranged marriage with Amaya Malhotra, a woman as fierce and broken as I am.I hated what my father did to us. I hated that my life was dictated by his mistakes. And I hated being forced into a marriage where love was an afterthought. Amaya’s fire matched my own. From our first bitter words, it was a war of wills, pain, and defiance—two souls battered but unwilling to surrender.Together, our story is a volatile dance between hate and a fragile bond forged by shared trauma. It’s about fighting the darkness we inherited and finding, perhaps, a glimmer of light in each other’s anger.