Bound by lies Trapped by Desire (Elena and Nikolai) novel Chapter 152

Chapter 152

Chapter 152

Nikolai’s POV:

30%

Hours Earlier-

“Do you really believe this will solve anything?” I said, my voice low and laced with a weariness that went bone–deep. I didn’t bother to lift my gaze from the cuffs binding my hands together. The question was rhetorical, an attempt to puncture the balloon of his self–righteous delusion.

I had been seated in a heavy, leather armchair for what felt like an eternity in my father’s study. Apparently under house arrest after he’d called me over for dinner last night.

He stopped his pacing abruptly, his shadow falling over me. “You have no shame! That woman. That bitch is the reason my son just got sentenced to twenty years in prison!”

I felt a ghost of a smile touch my lips. And yet, here he was. Instead of using his influence and vast resources to go to court for his so–called son, he was playing a childish game of house arrest with me. Trying to punish me for a crime I hadn’t committed.

A crime, in his eyes, of loyalty to a woman he hated. He had locked me in his study, surrounded by rows of leather–bound books and portraits of ancestors I’d never known, as if a change of scenery would somehow remind me of my place. I was a grown man, yet he treated me like a rebellious teenager. How old was I again?

I tilted my head back, my eyes fixed on the chandelier above me. I hadn’t called Elena. I wanted to. With a desperate ache, I wanted to hear her voice, to ask her how she was feeling, like I always did after each trial. The past few months had been a relentless assault on her spirit. I was worried about her. It was clear that the stress had taken its toll.

was sure she hadn’t even told her mother how often she was frequenting the hospital. Not that I was truly in the dark. Sergei’s men had sealed off access, keeping my own men from getting inside for a firsthand look, but that didn’t stop us from accessing her private medical records. She was consistently having appointments with her general practitioner.

The fear that she was hiding something, that the stress was causing more than just emotional exhaustion, gnawed at me. I replayed the reports in my mind, searching for any detail I might have missed, any subtle indication that she was in a deeper kind of trouble than she let

1. on.

My hands clenched into fists.

How much longer would I have to wait? I felt utterly exhausted. The weariness wasn’t just physical, but an ache in my soul. Even then, it wasn’t as if I was going to give up. The thought of letting go of her was an impossibility. Not even if she made me wait a decade… or a lifetime. I couldn’t have anyone else but her anymore. It didn’t matter who came before me, what loyalties I had to break, or what promises! had to unmake. All I wanted was her. Just her.

Now that the trial was finally over, a small hope had taken root inside me. I was hoping I’d at least get to see her face, to meet up with her, since she barely came back to Velhaven in the past months.

She’d also gotten closer to Sergei. I saw the pictures, the reports. The thought stung. To know that she’d rather get help from someone like him. But a part of me, the logical part, understood. It was true that someone in the mafia would be able to get it sorted more swiftly than I would have with my legal and political maneuvering. The system was slow, lumbering, and easily manipulated by men like my father and Dmitri. The mafia, by contrast, operated in the shadows, unburdened by the pretense of legality.

To be honest, I wouldn’t have even used the legal means like they had. My men and I would have been much more direct. As bad as that made me, sometimes necessary evils were just that. Necessary. And getting rid of my so–called brother was a necessary evil I was more than prepared to enact.

The legal system was a temporary fix, a flimsy bandage over a festering wound. I didn’t believe that the twenty–year sentence, for all its pomp 1/3

10:25 Inu, 14 Aug

Chapter 152

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(±2日)

and circumstance, would be enough to hold him back. At the most, he’d maybe stay imprisoned for ten or so years. And that was also hoping for a lot, assuming my father didn’t pull strings to get him out even sooner.

The phone in my pocket buzzed. Hooked down. Using my cuffed hands, I awkwardly pulled the phone out. As soon as I saw the caller ID, my brow furrowed in a deep, uneasy frown. Benjamin? A sudden foreboding feeling came over me.

I picked it up and put it to my ear, but before I could utter a single word, the device was snatched from my hands by my father. He held it up and put it on speaker.

I glared at him but then commanded into the reciever. “Speak.” I met his gaze. Benjamin was smart enough to know when the phone was on speaker. He would never reveal Elena’s whereabouts without making sure it was safe. He was a professional.

“SirNt seems Dmitri has gone missing.”

My blood ran cold. The foreboding feeling I’d just had solidified into a heavy, sinking stone in my gut. “What do you mean gone missing?” I snapped.

“He’d been replaced when the police were on their way to the prison. I called as soon as I noticed. These police officers seemed to be in on it. Sir, it’s been an hour since his whereabouts were last known,” Benjamin said, his voice clipped and strained.

He said the last part in a way that made a chill run up my spine, a deliberate emphasis on the passage of time. An hour.

I snapped my neck up, my eyes now laser–focused, glaring at the man holding my phone. My father didn’t look the least bit surprised. He was in on it. Fuck.

That’s when a new, terrifying realization dawned on me. The house arrest wasn’t some sort of punishment for not helping Dmitri. It was never about that. It was to keep me locked down, out of the way, while they staged his escape. The true reason was… Elena.

A violent rage came over me. “If something happens to Elena,” I gritted out. My eyes, locked with my father’s. “I swear to God you’d be better off just committing suicide.” My message wasn’t just for my father; it was for Benjamin on the other end of the line.

“I have already sent a team of our men. They are taking the fastest route to Maxcester-” My father cut the call then, his thumb pressing down on the screen with a flourish of victory. He looked at me, his smile fading into a mask of righteous indignation.

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