Craved by the Wrong Volkov-Chapter 342: She isn’t dead

Raphael’s POV

My life had been going downhill since that night, I thought Lynn cheated and now Amelia got what she wanted. She disappeared in the fire but I was more than certain Lynn was alive.

It was a gut instinct, I couldn’t ignore

The same way that ever since Braelyn disappeared New Horizon had gone quiet in a way I didn’t like. I kept telling myself that these two had nothing to do with each other, but the feeling was there.

A soft knock snapped me out of my thoughts. I have been staring at my laptop screen for what felt like ages spacing out.

"Come in.." I said loud enough for anyone at the door to hear me.

The door creaked open, and Ronan stepped inside. My brows furrowed at his presence. I wasn’t expecting him to come to my office.

.

Dad didn’t say much and just walked over to take a seat across from me. These past weeks or is it months, New Horizon had gotten bold and given him a couple of fine silver hairs. Ronan’s eyes settled on me.

His expression was still as blank as ever. At times I wondered if my father was capable of showing genuine affection. My entire life he had been very controlled

"You seem to be holding up better than I imagined.." he commented and my lips twitched faintly.

"And what will that mean?" I retorted, leaning back on the chair. My tired eyes locked on him.

The corner of his lips tilted up, just subtly. There was this look of amusement in his eyes that rarely appears.

"For one, your beloved wife disappeared in a fire and you have a mistress who is breathing down fire on your neck because you completely ignored her presence.." he replied, his eyes still studying me with that same look of amusement.

"Considering how crazy you were about Braelyn you should have considered jumping off a bridge by now. After all, the bull in the room was that she ran because of Amelia’s pregnancy.." he said it straight to my face with that look of disappointment.

My grip tightened on the pen I was holding. Honestly, I had considered ending it but I couldn’t not when she was out there. Braelyn’s disappearance was so effortless that even the events of that day felt off

We were in the middle of a cold war after she mentioned divorce and out of nowhere she wanted to go out shopping. That wasn’t weird at first because Lynn did have a thing for retail therapy when she was down

What was off was the fact that she went lingerie shopping, even if it was for Lucien it wasn’t Lynn. To add up things the moment she entered the dressing room for an entire hour there was a system fault.

Some cameras started having faults putting Lynn in a blind spot. Everything felt deliberate and planned. Although the fire turned out to be caused by a long-time fault every other fact was a discrepancy..

If things were not fishy enough in the remains of the fire it was discovered there was a hidden corridor that led from the dressing room which was perfect for someone to evade bodyguards..

The investigation had been going on for weeks. I was certain Lynn was alive. That was final. It was her grand escape to leave me and she didn’t do it alone

She had help from professionals, who left no trace and I flipped almost every rock and checked almost every number she contacted.

The last person she contacted frequently before disappearing just had to be Genny. It might have seemed fine on the surface since they were friends

My mind went back to a week after Lynn’s disappearance then everyone believed I had lost my Goddamn mind for insisting Lynn was alive even mum had the guts to request I mend things with Amelia...

I ignored it all, that night the investigator found these clues especially the fact that Genny was the last person she had contacted. Most people would have ignored it but I couldn’t.

I have known Lynn long enough and especially her best friend Genevieve Alvarez. The family which just had to have the connections to help her disappear.

It was raining heavily that night I drove directly to Genny’s place.

"Genny, I know you are in there, open up..." I knocked loud enough for her to hear me while also pressing the doorbell. It was close to 10 pm but I couldn’t sit still.

The doorbell rang again and shortly the door was pushed open. I stood by the doorway looking like a complete mess and Genny didn’t look much better.

Her eyes had huge dark circles under like she hasn’t been sleeping well and she wasn’t pleased to see me at all. "What the hell do you want Raphael? It is late.." she had angrily snapped at me. The familiar irritation was there.

I didn’t go beating around the bush and went straight to the point. "Where is Braelyn?" She froze for a moment, her grip tightened on the door handle and something flickered across her face so fast I almost didn’t notice it..

Genny’s face went ugly and red from rage. "How the fuck am I meant to know?" She barked at me. "Lynn disappeared in that fire and you should stop acting as if you care so much about Braelyn because if you did Amelia would not be pregnant.."

I have expected her to give me this reply. "You and she had been in steady contact. It was easy to have call logs although I couldn’t get the chat logs. " I said plainly. "Lynn didn’t die in that fire and your family can make someone disappear perfectly.."

Her eyes turned sharp. "That is all baseless. We were in steady contact because she was heartbroken. You got someone pregnant and you have no proof to prove anything, just assumptions...." she replied without blinking an eye as she had rehearsed these answers a million times.

"Don’t bother me again, what happened was unfortunate, but you can’t randomly throw allegations.." Before she was done talking the door was slammed in my face.

I just stood there staring at the door. My fist clenched, I couldn’t explain it but my guts told me she was lying; worse, the dark circles under Genny’s eyes put me on alert. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

She was having sleepless nights and felt guilty for hiding something. I didn’t know how long I stood at her door before leaving..

*****

Back in the presence my eyes were locked on my father suspiciously. "Why are you here? We both know you didn’t decide to casually drop by my office.."

Dad’s expression remained unchanged. "I wanted to invite you out for drinks. Your life is falling apart. Some drinks would be a good idea." He suggested and my frown could only