Craved by the Wrong Volkov-Chapter 296: The manipulator

Raphael’s POV

I couldn’t stop her, even though all I did was watch her walk away. It felt like she took a piece of me with her.

It was my fault, I reminded myself, but I honestly couldn’t stop being bitter about it.

Lucien glanced at me with disdain in his eyes. "What are you going to do, golden boy? She might leave for real this time," he taunted, but I didn’t reply.

He handed me the white lilies. "Pass my greeting to your mistress," he chimed, staring at me for a second longer before walking away. His footsteps faded down the hall.

*********

It was pretty late. Almost everyone had left, and Amelia had been moved to a ward to recuperate. I didn’t leave yet. I needed to have a word with her.

I didn’t know the exact time, but the air was cold and heavy with a feeling I couldn’t quite place.

I pushed the door open and stepped inside the room. No surprise, the lights clicked on as soon as I walked in, and Amelia was lying on the bed, staring at me.

Her gaze was locked. It was as if she knew I would come, and she was right.

"It took you long enough," she sneered. I didn’t say anything and placed the bouquet of white lilies on her bed. Her face went blank at the sight of the flowers.

I didn’t bother to explain where they were from. The information felt pointless. Her lips pressed into a thin line, and her tone was tinged with sarcasm.

"Let me guess. You want me dead," she sneered. I stood quietly, staring at her. I didn’t say anything at first and just watched the girl I could barely recognise.

The one person who ruined my life.

"Will you die if I tell you to?" I asked. Her lips curled up, and she laughed.

"Stop acting tough, Raphael. Even if you want me dead, you can’t lay a finger on me," she said, rubbing her hand over her stomach. That baby was her trump card. She was under my parents’ protection. I couldn’t touch her.

I smiled, then walked toward her. She held her breath as I took a strand of her hair, swirling it in my hand.

"What are you doing?" she asked, fear running across her eyes as she stared at me like I was deranged. Amelia knew me, at least a part that only a few knew.

Everyone called Lucien the menace and psychopath, but they overlooked one fact: a true psychopath knew how to play the long game. Lucien was not the only crazy one in this family.

My hand shot up and grabbed her neck. She froze for a moment as my grip tightened. Her eyes went wide as she struggled to breathe, and her hands shot out to pry my hold off.

Cold sweat formed on her forehead, and she desperately started clawing at my hand. "Let go," she rasped, squirming and struggling. I watched all of this without blinking.

The more she struggled, the tighter my grip became.

"Raph..." she gasped, almost blacking out. Her face was changing colour. That’s when I finally let go. She fell back on the bed, hungrily gasping for air while clawing at her throat.

I smiled, watching her stare. "You really think you are untouchable," I sneered. She wanted to glare at me but was too weak to.

"You wouldn’t kill me," she said, sounding extremely confident in herself.

I scoffed. "Death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you." The words felt heavy, but she understood. I sighed.

She smirked at me like I hadn’t just choked her. "Pouring your anger on me wouldn’t change the fact that I am pregnant, and there are CCTV cameras here."

Her words were challenging. As much as I wanted to shoot her down, I couldn’t throw my life away because of her.

"Were you even poisoned today?" I couldn’t help asking, finding everything about the situation out of place. She didn’t even bat an eye.

"What are you trying to say? That I poisoned myself and risked the life of my best trump card? I am not that crazy," Amelia argued.

Her words made sense. She would never risk this baby. But then, who poisoned her knowing Braelyn would take the hit? She might be crazy, but this didn’t feel like Amelia’s handiwork. My gut told me it was someone else taking advantage of the situation.

Someone who wanted Amelia dead.

I found the entire situation crazy, but then my mind returned to one fact I couldn’t understand.

"How are you pregnant, Amelia?" I asked. I doubted this baby was for good reasons. "This child can’t be mine."

I expected shock, but she remained calm. "You are smart, Raphael, but you underestimated me," she said. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Do you think I don’t know the only reason you played this game of being my lover was to protect her and get the evidence?" She arched her brow, and I smiled.

She knew. It stunned me for a moment, but then I was amused. Someone like her couldn’t be easily fooled.

"I know you had no intentions of having children with me despite what Lynn did to you," she stated, then sat up. "I know you were secretly giving me birth control pills. I replaced them all."

A smile grew on her lips. The truth was, I never planned on having any children with Amelia, not even when I hated Braelyn. I needed to get the evidence, but to get it, I needed Amelia to believe me. I couldn’t make her suspicious in any way if I wanted to protect Lynn.

I didn’t use a condom as she requested, and a vasectomy was too risky. I gave Amelia birth control pills, or at least I thought I did. She was never meant to be pregnant.

"You are bluffing. I know this child isn’t mine."

She gave me a smug look, then rubbed her stomach. "Too bad. The only way to be sure is a DNA test, and we both know that with your parents’ protection, you can’t risk the child with a DNA test before birth." She let the words sink in.

"You will have to wait until I give birth, and I doubt Lynn will be around that long," she leaned forward and whispered. "Rumours have it Killian Orlov is really with the Orlov family. Who knows why the Orlov family is attacking the Volkovs?" She hinted.