Bound by lies Trapped by Desire novel Chapter 87

Chapter 87

Elena’s POV:

I sat on the edge of the couch, breath shallow, spine ramrod straight as I tried truly tried to pull myself together

My hands curled into fists on my lap, nails biting into my skin.

Then Sergel’s voice cut in like a blade slicing through fog

“You shouldn’t be feeling this way over a man like that.” His tone was light, almost mocking, like he couldn’t believe I was even upset, “I could find at least adornmen–each one ten times more manly and capable that him–for you.”

My head snapped up, a scoff punching out of me before I could hold it back,

Was he serious?

He said it like he was offering me a new coat, Something to wear and throw away when it no longer suited me. He didn’t understand. Couldn’t understand. Nikolai wasn’t just a man I’d happened to fuck, or love, or hate. He was mine. He had cracked open something inside me that would never be stitched back together the same way again. Not even Dmitri’s betrayal had hit this hard for me.

My voice was cold. “No, thanks, I’d rather appreciate it if you got out of my home.”

Before Serge could respond, my mother spoke softly. “Elena. Wait. Let’s at least listen to what this man has to say.

I turned my head to her sharply, eyes wide. Was she serious? Her? The same woman who nearly tore Nikolai apart an hour ago for putting me through hell? Now she wanted to listen to Sergel fucking Morozov?

She didn’t know. Of course she didn’t.

She probably hadn’t even connected the name Morozov to the reason our house had gone into debt. To the sharp–suited loan sharks who showed up like chosts on our doorstep. Maybe she forgot, or maybe she just never realized the man standing here was at the root of that darkness. He looked too polished, too wealthy, too untouchable to be the one who ruined us.

I clenched my jaw and turned my glare back on Sergei

Why did you come here now?” I asked, voice flat. “Why now, after all this time? Why did you send me to an orphanage in the first place?”

He didn’t blink. He didn’t even look remotely surprised by my question. Just tilted his head toward the bodyguard standing stone–faced in the comer and then smoothed his coat lapels with an exhale.

“Truthfully,” he began, voice calm, businesslike, “I was told you died in a miscarriage. Right before birth. I hadn’t even held you. Which was why I didn’t believe Nikolai when he first showed me that picture. I thought it was a scam. A setup. I’ve dealt with dozens like it before,”

My fingers tightened around the fabric of the cushion beside me, heart stuttering.

“Then what made you realize it wasn’t a fake?” my mother asked beside me, voice brittle.

Sergel let out a slow grunt, as if the memory irritated him. “It’s common for people to try and blackmail me with children they claim are mine. But Nikolai…” He paused, jaw tightening slightly. “Hey not the type to waste time with nonsense. So I got curious. Suspicious, really. I went back through the hospital records from that time. Had my people dig deep. And we found something.”

Inarrowed my eyes. “Like what?”

“Someone switched the records of two children.”

My brow furrowed, I leaned forward slightly, blood roaring in my ears. “You’re saying I was switched at birth?”

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Chapter 87

Sergei nodded slowly. “That’s the essence of it, yes.

I stared at hini, stunned.

My voice was rough. “What alsh is thier

18s exhaled. “Nothing. That’s it. That was the reason my wife descended into depression, And soon after…

He trailed off.

could barely feel my legs. My skin fell cold, pulled tight over my bones. My chest ached like something was raving in from i

“Committed suicide?” asked quietly

Sergei went still.

His entire posture changed. His shoulders stiffened, his lipsi

in pressing into a thin, hard line. When he turned to me, his gare es sharp, almost furious

“Who told you that?” he asked, voice low and dangerous.

Achill swept down my spine, slow and creeping. But I didn’t back down.

“sn’t that what happened?” I challenged. “Who even was my mother? How did she actually die?”

He rubbed his forehead like the conversation physically pained him. “Your mother was Anaya Malik. An immigrant from the Middle East.”

My eyes widened. “My mother was Arab?”

“Her origins are…complicated,” he said, finally dropping his hand from his brow. “She was half Pakistani, half Saudi Arabian, Born and raised in Duba Her parents arranged a marriage for her with a local businessman there. A man twice her age.”

My stomach turned.

I didn’t want to ask. But I had to

“Was it forced?”

Sergei met my gaze. “To them? No. To them it was ‘arranged. The daughter didn’t have a choice, and refusing would bring dishonor to the family. Anaya was educated. Independent Smart. She had a modest dowry of her own. So she ran,”

“Ran? Techoed.

He nodded. “She fled the UAE. Took a flight here. Back then, the laws for asylum seekers were more lenient. She filed for temporary residence under a protection clause.”

A part of me wanted to cry for her already.

Lasked the question didn’t want answered. “How old was she?

“Sergei didn’t blink. “When she arrived here? She was sixteen.”

I stared at him, a horror I couldn’t contain rising in my throat.

“You married a child?” I spat, my voice breaking

He looked at me like I’d just insulted his lineage. That was nearly three decades ago, Elena. Besides, I didn’t many her when she was three years later–she was nineteen by the. That’s when I married her

I didn’t believe him, Or maybe I didn’t want to believe him. Everything about this story made my skin crawl.

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Found har

Chapter 87

You found her “Luckhappy. “She was

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