Craved by the Wrong Volkov

It was raining snowing outside. The flakes could been seen from the tall windows. Smoke filled the room. Ronan sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, staring at the window as the rain kept pouring. At one point, while on the phone with Natalia, he threw his cup against the wall and it shattered completely.

A cigarette hung in his hand as glass shards were scattered around him.

He hadn’t felt this way since the day the ghost he can’t forget died.

Ronan never imagined Raphael’s death would hit him this hard. It was funny, really, how he never brought himself to love Natalia, but he loved his children. Now both were taken away from him.

The son he loved and raised to be formidable was dead, and the daughter he pampered was never his.

"Why did Raphael have to suffer for your actions, Natalia? He was your son," he cried. A sob tore out of his throat before he realised it.

"Ronan, don’t.." Natalia spoke again, but he was completely done with it..

"Don’t what? I will get straight to it. The reason you let Amelia ruin Raphael’s marriage wasn’t that you approved of her as your daughter-in-law but because she was blackmailing you.." he revealed. The words left Natalia silent as her brain screamed, trying to figure out how he knew.

"How do you know?" She paused. "That’s the wrong question. How much do you know, and for how long?" The reality of things settled on Natalia.

It was over. If Ronan knew, there was no escaping. "I know enough. Enough to know you killed Nadia. Amelia found out the truth. That’s why she started blackmailing you to do her bidding, and you followed along because you know what the Orlovs are capable of doing..."

The moment the words were said, Natalia’s mind went blank. He really knew. He knew the truth. Natalia was the one who killed Nadia. Avelina had knocked her unconscious, but Natalia wanted her dead for good. She used the opportunity and got someone to poison Nadia while she was unconscious.

It was a secret she wanted to carry to her grave, but everything fell apart the day Amelia accidentally found out. She overheard a conversation between Natalia and the person she had contracted years ago for the job.

The person was blackmailing her for more money. Natalia’s jaw clenched. Her only regret was not killing Amelia then, but she didn’t have the guts to do it.

"How did you know?" She asked the question once more.

Ronan answered, "You should have thought about your disappearing act. Zeno approached me and told me the truth, hoping to milk some money from me after you disappeared. He sold your secret to me. That wasn’t a smart move." Ronan’s eyes darkened, thinking of Zeno. He had already taken care of him.

He sent the same information Zeno sold to him to the Orlovs. Yelena was more than pleased to know, and by now they must have had Zeno.

Fuck! Natalia cursed internally. Zeno was the person she paid for the job. The bastard who had been threatening her for years now. If she could kill him, she would have. She never expected him to sell her out to Ronan.

"So are you going to blame me?" Natalia asked, completely unfazed. She knew she was already a dead woman. There was no way Ronan would know she killed Nadia and let her live.

If the Orlovs didn’t get her, he might get her himself because Nadia Orlov was the ghost he never let go of..

"If you never got involved with Nadia, maybe I would have spared her." She snickered at him..

"Why did you have to kill her? I already let go of her to marry you and honour our engagement." Ronan snapped, clearly losing his temper. "I watched the woman I loved become my father’s mistress, and you still killed her!!" The more Ronan thought of it, the more it hurt.

Back then, he had no idea Nadia was an Orlov. They met on the shore of a small fishing village. That morning, he saw her swept by the tide onto the shore. She had the brightest blue eyes he had ever seen. He still remembered what her golden blonde hair felt like in his hand.

Nadia had survived a shipwreck but lost her memories. She only knew her first name, Nadia, or at least that was what Ronan thought. He had no idea Nadia actually had her memories intact but hid the fact that she was an Orlov because of the danger attached to that name.

Ronan and Nadia fell deeply in love while he helped her recuperate, but good times don’t last.

Ronan let go of her. He thought he was protecting her from Natalia. She was a simple girl, and he knew someone like Natalia wouldn’t let go of the power attached to the Volkov name.

What he hadn’t expected was for Nadia to show up beside his father on his wedding day as his father’s pregnant mistress. It was after he got married that he knew she was an Orlov and never understood why of all men she had to choose his father. Was it her form of revenge?

God, he hated her then, but he was a fool, and Nadia was cruel.

"I killed her because you never stopped loving her, not then and not now either." Natalia laughed. "Since the cat is out of the bag, I would come clean."

Ronan’s eyes narrowed, wondering what else she had to say. "I know by now you are aware Lucien isn’t Gregor’s but your son. As a matter of fact, you probably suspected long ago because you have been secretly helping him. You even encouraged Raphael to look over your bastard." Natalia revealed, and Ronan went silent.

He didn’t know Nadia was pregnant back then. If he knew, God knows he wouldn’t have married Natalia, even if it meant losing everything, but his father hid it from him.

Gregor hid the truth from everyone and made them believe Lucien was his. On his wedding day, he made Nadia appear before him as Gregor’s mistress because he wanted to kill whatever feelings Ronan had for her, and for some unknown reason, or maybe just spite that he left her, Nadia played along.

After Nadia died, he cared for Lucien because he was the son of the woman he loved, but never suspected a thing until Gregor’s will was read. The letter Gregor gave him revealed the truth, but it was already too late.

How could he face the truth? Before Raphael went on stage for the handover, the letter he gave him, claiming it came from Natalia, was actually from Ronan.

He wrote it after finding out what Natalia did. He felt he couldn’t hide the truth anymore. He also sent Lucien another letter and the evidence that Natalia killed Nadia through a courier because he still couldn’t face Lucien.

Natalia’s voice continued through the phone. "Nadia tried to contact you to tell you the truth about the pregnancy but accidentally met me, and of course, I wanted to get rid of her then, but my plan failed because your father found her." Ronan felt his heart stop for a moment.

"Gregor didn’t take in Nadia just because he wanted you to stop loving her. He also knew that I wouldn’t let that bastard Lucien live." She paused. " But we never knew she was an Orlov until it was too late. Nadia didn’t need Gregor to protect her she used him to get close to you. For the past 28 years, I have tried killing Lucien, but Gregor always ruined my plans." Natalia said bitterly. Her one regret in life was not killing Lucien.

Gregor had thought he was protecting his unborn grandson when he rescued Nadia. He had no idea he was playing Nadia’s game. Nadia loved Ronan with desperation and was ready to go to any lengths to make him suffer but she miscalculated and ended up dying.

Now her son was dead, making Nadia’s and Ronan’s bastard son the sole heir. Natalia’s biggest nightmare.