Bound by lies Trapped by Desire novel Chapter 57

Chapter 57

The air between us grow hey, like the room itself was holding its breath. I could still hear my own words echoing

silence, that stupid, careless

Nikolai’s jaw tightened, his eyes darkening as he stated downs at the laptop screen. “I do have many memories,” he said slowly, his voice flat. “But unlike vou, T’d much rather forget the

I swallowed, the lump in my throat thick and heavy. Right. His eldetic memory. He didn’t just remember things. He relived them. Wasn’t that how it worked couldn’t imagine it. Wanting to forget something, but being forced to remember everything Every word. Every detail. Every second

“Nika, Ididn’t mean

it’s fine,” he said, cutting me off. But his eyes were distant now,

stating somewhere over my shoulder like he was looking straight through me

And then, to my utter surprise, he kept talking, “When I was a kid,” he began, his voice low and rough, “my mother used to tell me stories. Mostly when she was drunk. And she was drunk a lot. She’d tell me how she used to be in love once. Real love. With some guy who ran a shady little business.”

my skin.

I stayed quit my pulsa thrumming under m

“Her parents didn’t approve,” he went on, his gaze still fixed on some faraway point. “They wanted her to marry rich. Marry up. They arranged for her to marry my father, Andrey Vetrov. But she didn’t want to. Not at first. She begged the guy she was in love with to do something to take a stand for her. To tell her parents to go to hell and that he’d take care of her.”

Nikolaspurted, his teeth flashing in a bitter, humorless smile. “And you know what he did? He told her to go marry Andrey. Told her to be a good girl

kather parents wanted. Said he wasn’t ready to settle down with a woman who needed so much attention.”

My heart sank, a cold, heavy weight pressing down.

“So she did,” he said, his jaw tightening. “She married Andrey. And a few months later, she got pregnant. Had ine. At first, she tried to be a good mother. For a while, she was. She smiled a lot. Read me bedtime stories. Took me to the park. For the first five years, she was… almost happy. Those were my happiest memories with her. But then, one day, she heard that her first love had found someone. Settled down. Started a family,”

He let out a dry, hollow laugh. “Aher that, she was never the same. She drank more. Yelled more. My father started cheating more. And I… His eyes finally mut mine. “I was the reminder of the man she couldn’t have

A knot twisted in my stomach. My chest ached as watched him, this man who had everything in the eyes of other people, but was still a little boy lost in

memary he couldn’t forget

“I don’t blame my mother,” he said, voice rough “I get it. Back then, women didn’t have much of a choice. Her parents would’ve forced her into that manage either way But that man?” His eyes flashed. “That coward who told her to go marry a monster? The man who let her drown in a life she didn’t wand? Yeah. Him, I blame.”

There was a fine in his eyes now. A dark, ugly, simmering rage. One that burned so hot, I felt its heat from across the table.

“Niko,” I said softly, not even knowing what I was going to say, I wanted to comfort him. Say that it was okay. Even though it truly wasn’t. But he shook his head, the tension supping as he pulled himself back together.

Forget,” he said, closing the laptop with a soft click. “We should get

I get back to work.”

I wasted to say something Anything But what was there to say? What could possibly fix that kind of hurt?

For the next twenty minutes, we worked in silence, I dictated the changes, and Mikolai typed. I tried to focus on the presentation, on the edits, on the graphics. But my mind kept drifting back to that little boy who just wanted to be loved by a mother who was too broken to love him.

By the time we were done, only three minutes remained before class started. Nikolai stood up first, slinging the laptop bag over his shoulder. I rose to my feet, and the silence stretched between us like a taut wire

1/2

Chapter ST

“Nikola “I said, my voice small.

“He” he said, his expression softening

1 swallowed hard, forcing myell to hold the gaze. Your resentment and anger… it’s valid. And you didn’t deserve what happened to you. No child deserves that. But know can’t change the past. What I can do is listen. If you ever need someone to talk to, someone to… just let it all out with… I’m

He just stared at me. for a long agonizing moment. Then, slowly, he smiled. A soft, crooked smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

ou’d let me have a meltdown in front of you?” he said, his tone teasing.

ushed” mean..yeah Of course. If you need it

“Hmph,” he said, looking away as he chuckled, his shoulders relaxing just a little

1. de. “Alright

t then. Good to know.”

Before could process what that meant, he leaned down and pressed a quick, warm kiss to my temple, his lips lingering just a second longer than

“Let’s go,” he said, slipping his arm around my shoulders as he guided me toward the classroom,

The presentation wit…better than I’d expected. Way better. Nikolai didn’t just click through the slides. He actually interacted with me, nodding along. encouraging me, even chiming in at one point when the professor asked a question about the engine design. Something that I had already answered before, so Nikolai just reiterated that.

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