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Shehryaar stood rooted in his place: he was completely stunned at what Anissa just did.

He was furious yet He schooled his infamous blank expression.

Anissa stood there with a blank expression as well, observing his reactions.

Her breath was heaving.

His breathing was even.

They both entered a staring contest.

Not one dared to change the silence around them. Only her heavy wheezing could be heard through the thickness of the silence.

She looked at him; he was just staring at her. His grey eyes were unmoved, his jaw clenched, set sharply and his hands clenched at his sides. She had expected him to be angry, furious even. This was her way of hurting him. But he didn't react at all. All he did was stare at her. And she couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

She swallowed hard against her dry mouth.

He looked at her: his eyes roaming around her head; where her once beautiful long thick locks were, in their place was cut off uneven strands that reached above her shoulders.

Slowly, he strode towards her, causing her to stiffen. When he reached her, so close that his breath fanned her face, she didn't dare look away and observed his each and every move.

His hand reached up. She resisted the urge to flinch at his touch: by now she knew that he was about to do something really bad to hurt her and cause her immense pain.

But she wasn't afraid.

After what he had made her go through, cutting her hair was a step towards achieving some sort of victory. She knew him: he may look unaffected but inside, he must be fuming mad.

She knew how much he loved her hair: the way he would always stroke it and touch it with utter tenderness made her believe that he cherished her hair.

But she still wasn't satisfied: he wasn't giving her the reaction she wanted. And that had terror and fear gripping at her heart.

Slowly, his fingers touched the uneven cut ends of the hair on her shoulder. His blank eyes followed from the tips to the top.

That hand that was so gently touching her hair abruptly gripped her throat.

She resisted the urge to scream as sheer terror engulfed her being."So? Did you really think you could defy me like this?" He hissed and pulled her close.

And there she saw it, the rage in his grey eyes. It was so severe that the grey in his eyes had turned dark and clouded. That caused immense joy and triumph to surge through her..

Anissa smiled. "Did it effect you?" She asked when she very well knew how much it did.

"You fucking dared to cut it?" He shouted and backhanded her harshly.

She fell towards the edge of the bed. A dry chuckle left her lips as she lifted her eyes to look at him: she felt so much better now. She had finally managed to faze him. Now she knew she was right in cutting off her hair. Her eyes fell on his bandaged injuries and her joy increased.

Shehryaar's anger knew no bound now. He saw the glint in her eyes.

He fisted her hair in both hands, making her scream in pain and he roughly threw her on the far wall. She had barely caught her balance when he came behind her and roughly pounded her head in the hard concrete. A sharp pain rose on the side of her forehead. She felt warmth ooze out and she knew that her head was bleeding.

She bit her lip to keep her cries in. She refused to let him see her hurt. Even though her body was shaking from weakness, she refused to back down.

She felt him tug her hair roughly as his chest met her back.

"You think you can fucking get away with this?" He gritted near her ear. His other hand roughly took off her bathrob and it pooled down at her feet.

Anissa started to panic when she realised the position she was in and the sound of a foil ripping confirmed her thoughts.

She didn't have any time to protest as Shehryaar pushed her ankles apart, spreading her legs wide and bending her over a little and entered her without warning, eliciting a scream from her. She was already wet from the bath so it wasn't hard for him to slide into her.

"Stop!" She gasped. She didn't have any strength for his rough fucking.

"Oh no baby, this isn't teasing anymore. You've crossed the line and now I'll show you what happens when you step out of line." he grounded out.

She felt so full of his rock hard length as he pounded into her mercilessly. Her walls stretched, the pain giving way to pleasure. She bit her cheeks to keep her mouth closed. Her hands held the wall for dear life.

Her body was pressed against the wall as he leaned into her back. Both of his hands were fisted into her hair as he pulled her head back at an uncomfortable angle. His lips latched onto her neck and bit and sucked hard. She screamed from the pain as his teeth sank into her skin.

"That's it, fucking scream!" Shehryaar grunted into her ear, his cock pounding into her deep and hard. she continued to scream even when her orgasm shattered her and she clenched around his cock. Shehryaar continued to pound into her without regard as his teeth sank into her shoulder.

She didn't know what was greater, the pain or the pleasure.

"Get ready for the consequences now." He gritted as he pumped himself In and out of her.

***********

True to his word, Shehryaar made sure that Anissa suffered greatly for crossing him.

It had been three days since she cut off her hair and he roughly fucked her.

After that, he locked her in the room. The electricity was turned off in that room. The only access she had to some sort of light was through the window at day time. The room was searing hot because the air conditioning was off but she didn't let that get to her.

But that wasn't what her biggest worry was. For three days straight she wasn't given any meals. She was solely surviving on faucet water.

She understood what he was doing.

He was trying to starve her.

Her body was already suffering too much: she hadn't eaten previously and the added days to it made her suffer in hunger. Previously she was on IV fluids so she was mentally satisfied that at least her body had some sort of energy supply.

She knew that she could survive on water but only for a few more days. She had little body fat and if this starvation went on, she might start to have multi organ failure due to malnutrition.

And what was worse, Shehryaar would return every night and fuck her raw.

The little energy she had left would be spent.

She prayed every day for strength. She didn't want to give up. She knew she could fight the hunger.

Every day, she would either sit by the window sill and see the garden outside or she would lie in bed.

Whenever she would try to sleep, her nightmares would jolt her awake. And if it wasn't nightmares, then it was her growing hunger.

Every day was a new struggle.

Every day was a new fight.

Every day, she not only fought her hunger but also the physical pain inflicted on her from Shehryaar's brutal fucking as well as the psychological effects that it was beginning to have on her. The pressure of the physical, emotional as well the psychological was getting too much as time went by.

She was getting punished for challenging Shehryaar. He was punishing her for cutting off her hair and she didn't regret it one bit.

But with the growing hunger and suffering, her resolve was breaking. The only reason she would strengthen her resolve would be in prayer. She knew God wouldn't test her as much as she could take. After all, she was a strong believer that God never tested his people outside of their limits.

And what was this?

Just hunger?

Was hunger her limit?

No it wasn't.

At first, when she figured out that he was going to starve her, she decided to fast. But the heat of the day would make her too dehydrated so that strategy was abandoned after the second day.

Then what was her limit? She knew very well. Her bleeding humanity reminded her of her limits.

Whenever she closed her eyes and tried to sleep, the pleading eyes of the four innocent men would haunt her.

She had no peace of mind or heart. And now her body was suffering from the aftermath of hunger.

Her conscience held her accountable for it. She blamed herself for her suffering.

She didn't look at herself in the mirror. She was too afraid to look at what she might find. Every day, Shehryaar gave her new marks and bruises. Her body hurt all over. Her breasts were especially sore.

He was purposely driving her on edge. But she wasn't going to give up.

She refused to show any weakness when Shehryaar would show up. He wanted to see her miserable suffering self but whenever he came to her, she fought her hunger and stood her ground and would take her raw fucking as bravely as she could.

It was the fifth day, she woke up late in the afternoon. Her stomach was shrinking and screaming., she retreated back to the bedroom.

The sun was setting now. It was almost time for her evening prayers.

As time passed, the evening gave way to night and her dread and Terror set in. She knew the horrible things that awaited her at night.

But she was reaching her limits.

At around midnight, Shehryaar came to her.

She was lying in bed, trying to sleep her misery away yet even sleep evaded her as her hunger would conquer her senses and jolt her awake.

The electricity was turned on.The room cooled down within minutes from the blast of the air conditioner. But it did nothing to ease her suffering.

She had expected him to force himself on her immediately as soon as he arrived as she laid in bed.

Shehryaar smirked down on her. "Learned your lesson yet?" He asked.

Anissa glared at him with all the loathing and hatred she bore for him.

She had no energy or rather, she didn't bother wasting her breath on retorting back because he eyes said all. He shook his head as his lips curled up into a cruel smile. "Too bad." He stated and started to remove his clothes. Anissa braced herself.

When he was done with her, he gripped her hair. She felt too numb to retaliate.

"Fucking beg!" He seethed. Anissa saw the frustration in his eyes. He was getting annoyed with her stubbornness. He was so certain that she would've broken her by now but Anissa was strong.

She knew he was expecting her to beg for forgiveness, admitting her wrong and most of all, for ending her misery. But she was a fighter. She kept reminding herself that she was fighting for her rights. The rights she refused to give up on and he denied.

And she had to be strong now more then ever. "I refuse to beg," she stated in a low whisper as courageous has she could manage. Her mouth and throat were too dry and a bitter taste dominated her mouth.

Throughout their fucking, Shehryaar hadn't even once kissed her and for that she was grateful. She would've definitely bitten his tongue off. Shehryaar knew it as well.

"Then suffer."

With that, he left.

On the seventh day, her hunger was slowly driving her to madness. She screamed and cried, wishing so much that she hadn't turned down the meal that Zameer was trying to give her that day. She never knew that hunger could be so devastating. Now she knew the importance of a good meal, something she always took for granted. And with the added heat of the room, her misery knew no bounds. Her body would dehydrate almost immediately so the only comfort she sought was staying in cold water in the bathtub throughout most of the day when the heat would be the highest.

The only comfort she had was in her memory. She would remember all the good times with her family: her mother, father, Haris and Ramsha.

'Annie!'

Their voices echoed in her mind, causing her to smile.

She felt so loved and cared for even if it was only in memory. Her misery would decrease a bit whenever she would lose herself in her memories.

'Hang in there Ainnie,' she remembered Ramsha's words. Ramsha would always be her rock and encourage her when Anissa was at her lowest.

"I know," Anissa murmured to herself.

'You're strong. I know you can make it through this.'

"I'm trying my hardest Ramsha. But I won't suffer for long. I've made up my mind to leave once this torture is over." She mumbled to herself as she pictured Ramsha behind her closed eyes lids.

You're strong Ainnie. You'll make it through. Her subconciouness encouraged her. Sometimes, Anissa felt like shutting off her emotions. Sometimes she blamed her emotional self for not thinking straight as regret started to seep its way into her mind.

But her right judgement was also set. She knew better.

She thought she deserved this suffering. She had failed humanity. She had become a part of murder.

I deserve to suffer for all that is coming. I deserve this. At least I'm still alive while those men and now their families; they are all dead because of me.

It wasn't right of her to think this way. The logical part of her knew this but the emotional part would always override it.

She was suffering.

And she wanted Shehryaar to suffer as well. He was the one who made her a failure in the first place.

Yes she wanted to make Shehryaar suffer but at the expense of what?

At the expanse of her own suffering and misery?

Her stomach clutched. She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to block out the pain of hunger. Getting up, she staggered to the bathroom.

Till now, she was consuming tissue paper soaked in water. She knew it held no nutritional value but she needed to satisfy her stomach. After gulping down water and swallowing he tissue paper, she leaned against the vanity and tried to catch her breath. Whenever her stomach would clench with hunger, she would feel pangs of nausea hit her hard. But she knew vomiting out the little amount of electrolytes from her body would lead to serious adverse effects so she resisted and controlled herself.

***********

She lost track of time.

She was starving. Her blood pressure had fallen too low as she took her pulse and counted her heart beats.

Now she knew her body was at its limit. Her mind could no longer be in control. Her vision was blurred, her hands took from hypoglycaemia. Her body was shutting down from starvation. She knew her body reserves had run out.

There was nothing in the room that she could consume for nutrition. All her energy reservoirs were depleted.

She made the mistake of looking at herself in the mirror and she was shocked at what she saw.

Her eyes were struck into their sockets, her cheek bones sticking out. Her lips fired and patched. Her skin pale and dry and sticking tightly to her bones. Her hair was a mess. Her ribs and clavicles were showing so prominently now.

There was no sign of life in her eyes. The fighting fire was extinguished.

She had thought that she could fight the physical pain but her emotions were shot. Her hunger caused her mental pain as well and she couldn't fight anymore.

She lost all sense and reason. She no longer cared what she fought for. All she knew was that she needed to end the pain.

For a fleeting moment, she thought to smash the bathroom mirror and slice her wrists.

She wanted her misery to end. It was too much now.

The hunger was too great that it not only hurt, it caused pain.

She was too weak to scream so she walked to the door with her hand clutching her stomach.

"Help!" She tried to scream as her weak fist pounded lightly on the door.

"Help me! Please! Anyone!" She begged, her voice small as her fists pounded on the door.

Oh Allah I will never take anything for granted again. Please save me. She prayed in her head, that was beginning to pound.

She was beginning to have bouts of lightheadedness. She started panting, suddenly feeling her dry throat constrict.

Her heart was too slow: now she was suffering from bradycardia.

She slumped to the floor by the door.

Am I finally free?

Am I dying?

And that thought bothered her.

She wasn't ready to die. She had lived so little and life had so much more to offer.

Now things began to come into perspective.

She had no happiness.

She hadn't found love.

She hadn't even lived her life.

What was her life? A selfless purpose?

She had no qualm with that. That purpose was enough for her and if she were to die now, she would die happy. She made her parents proud, she saved lives and made a mark in the world.

At least with death, she would escape Shehryaar.

With these thoughts, she was content as she closed her eyes and let the darkness consume her.

************

WHEN I SAY DARK ROMANCE, I REALLY MEANT IT.

I KNOW IT'S GETTING TOO MUCH BUT PHASE 1 IS A DARK PHASE AFTER ALL :)

Also, join me on my Instagram BNSH_SHAHEEN for live chats and queries ;)