Bound by lies Trapped by Desire novel Chapter 72

Elena’s POV:

“What is he saying, Nikolai?” I asked, breathless, heart hammering in my ears like a war drum. “What’s going on?”

My voice trembled at the edges, the rising panic cutting through me like icy fingers crawling down my spine. The way Nikolai stood in front of me, tense and silent, was not helping. In fact, it was making everything worse. I could feel something breaking inside me–like the floor beneath my feet was slowly turning to glass, thin and fragile, and I was seconds away from crashing through.

“Nothing,” Nikolai said quickly, jaw set tight. “He’s a madman. Don’t believe anything he says. No–infact, just go. Get out of here.”

His voice wasn’t just urgent now–it was commanding, almost… scared. But that only made the wrongness of the situation burn hotter in my chest.

Madman?

I stared at the stranger. No–this wasn’t just any stranger. His eyes were still trained on Nikolai, green and furious, rimmed with red.

“I’m a MAD man?!” he bellowed, voice cracking through the ballroom like a whip. “How fucking dare you! If I’m a mad man what are you?! How long have you and your mother wished for my downfall? You lying, two–faced cowards-”

“Shut up!” Nikolai roared suddenly, his composure slipping like a snapped rubber band. “You have no right. You don’t get to talk about her! Not when you’re the one who abandoned her! You left her to rot!”

His voice echoed across the walls like a hammer, striking down everything in its path. The guards, already surrounding the man with their weapons trained and safety catches off, frowned at Nikolai’s vehemence.

I froze.

Wait.

That voice. That anger. That story…

He’d told me that his mother had been in love once. Before his father. Before the arranged marriage. He’d told me about the coward who left her. Who told her to marry someone else, to obey her parents, to forget him.

This man… this madman… he couldn’t be…

Was he the one?

My stomach dropped as realization clicked painfully into place, like a jigsaw piece I’d never wanted to find.

The stranger surged forward against the guards‘ hold, and I stepped back instinctively. The fury in his face had twisted into something wilder, but there was grief behind it too–raw and bloody.

“Who even are you?” I shouted, voice cracking with the weight of too many unknowns. “Why are you doing this?!”

His gaze swung to mine. And something inside me stilled.

For the briefest second, I saw it–the flicker of pain, the trembling grief under all the hatred.

His eyes were wet.

Red–rimmed and glassy, like he was on the edge of breaking.

What the hell was happening?

What had he just called me?

Chapter 72

Evelina.

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Who even was that?

And why–why had he said he would recognize his blood?

“I am your father,” he said.

The words hit me like a slap across the face.

I stared at him. My brain blanked, mouth hanging open in shock. Then-

I laughed. Scoffed. Choked on the absurdity of it all.

“Are you insane?” I blurted, voice rising with disbelief. “What the hell are you saying? You? My father? No. No, no, no. You must be out of your mind.”

I could hear my own pulse in my ears, loud and unrelenting.

“My father is dead,” I snapped, my voice rising with emotion I wasn’t ready to unpack. “George Anderson was my father. He loved me. He raised me. And you–what the hell even is your name?!”

Something in me didn’t want to know. And yet, something stronger did.

Because despite the fury bubbling under my skin, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him.

He looked like Lazar.

His eyes looked like…

Like mine.

That realization sank in like poison.

“Sergei Morozov,” he said clearly.

The words detonated inside me.

Sergei Morozov.

Morozov.

A name I had only ever associated with dread.

He was in the Mafia. It was obvious. No normal person would so easily pull out a gun and start shooting in such a crowded area. He looked like he was used to it. To blood and carnage.

And this… this monster…

He claimed to be my

father?

Nikolai grabbed my arm again.. “Elena, stop it. Come on. We’re leaving.”

I dug in my heels.

“Stop,” I said, low but firm. “Let go.”

He kept walking, dragging me with him.

“I said stop, Nikolail” I snapped, yanking my wrist out of his grasp. My voice echoed across the hall.

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TOY F, 25 Ju

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Chapter 72

He turned to me, stunned. The look in his eyes was one of disbelief–like I’d just slapped him.

“Elena,” he said softly, almost pleading, “you don’t understand. That man is dangerous.”

“No,” Sergei’s voice cut in. “The dangerous one is standing in front of you.”

Sergei’s eyes locked onto mine again, and for a second, I saw something terrifying–earnestness.

“Elena,” he said, slowly now, the words tight in his throat. “I would never hurt you.”

“You’re pointing a fucking gun at me!” I screamed, my voice cracking.

He blinked, stunned, and immediately dropped the gun to the floor. The clatter echoed, final and sharp.

“I wasn’t pointing it at you,” he said, trembling now. “I swear on my life. It was for him. The monster standing in front of you. He’s deceiving you.”

Guards pushed Sergei to his knees, handcuffing him roughly. But he didn’t resist. He didn’t take his eyes off me.

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