Craved by the Wrong Volkov-Chapter 226: She is not my wife

Raphael’s POV

It was a cold night, and the air smelled like rain. Braelyn sat quietly beside me listening intently. That meant a lot she was giving me a listening ear despite it being too late...

Experiencing her subtle tenderness makes it unbearable to remember everything I had done. I had held her neck like I wanted to snap it with my own hands...

I was rotten to the core, there was no doubt about it.

"What happened that night Raphael?" She asked quietly, sensing my silence.

"A mistake.." I said quietly as my mind trailed back to memory lane.

******

It was an important fundraiser event related to a top client. Important enough to demand my presence, but I could still be at home if I wanted.

Braelyn had agreed to attend, only for her to change her mind at the last moment. She didn’t give me an explanation and simply said she wasn’t in the mood anymore..

I had wanted to argue but the look in her eyes told me she didn’t have the patience for an argument so I had gone on my own that night

The event was the regular flashy party you expect. It was called a fundraiser but felt more like an event to flaunt wealth. I hadn’t arrived with Amelia that night, she had arrived herself, but something was off...

She was acting too clingy that night it felt me unsettled but I couldn’t point it out that night

I could still remember that night vividly like a scourge I could not forget.

The night was lively, but honestly, I didn’t want to be here anymore. The venue was drenched in excess that screamed wealth.

Crystal chandeliers bled light over polished marble floors, champagne flowed like water, and everyone wore the kind of smile that cost more than most people’s yearly salaries. They called it a fundraiser, but it was nothing more than the wealthy admiring themselves through glass and gold. Typically of them.

I should have brought Braelyn. I should have convinced her to come.

That thought gnawed at me the moment I stepped inside. This was exactly the kind of night where her presence mattered the most, where people needed to see her at my side so they would stop filling their mouths with their own poisonous assumptions.

Amelia had arrived a few minutes after me. The moment she spotted me, she attached herself as if she belonged there, out of the habit of accompanying me to most events this past year.

I didn’t think much of it, but her hand brushed my arm too often, even when she didn’t need to. She hung around like there weren’t any other interesting people, urging me as always to introduce me to business associates since she was taking over the family business soon

During the introduction, she would laugh at some jokes which were not even funny, like she wanted everyone to know she was standing beside me. Her body would bump into me at odd times in a way that felt uncomfortable and crossed the boundaries. Those touches only left my skin itching.

Something was off. It felt like she was flirting with me, but the thought of that felt absurd.

I couldn’t call her out. Not in there, not in a room full of investors, press, and social climbers eager for a story. Amelia’s image mattered, so did mine, and I had spent my life ignoring the mess we both pretended wasn’t there.

That had always been my weakness. The little weak spot I had was being close to her family

We grew up side by side. She was an only child and honestly, when I first learnt I had a child fiance who was an only child I was scared it would be Amelia luckily it wasn’t... it was Lynn

Either way, Amelia knew of the weak spot I had for her and learned long ago how to lean into that softness when it suited her. I let it happen because I didn’t know the damage it would cause.

The party continued, then as expected, the whispers started. At first, they were subtle low whispers. I could feel the lingering glances our way. The way they smiled when I wasn’t looking. They thought I wasn’t hearing them, or maybe they didn’t care.

"Where’s his wife?"

"They make a handsome couple, don’t they?"

"I thought Braelyn would be here..."

The same rumours questioning Braelyn’s and my marriage. Some even went as far as assuming Amelia was my mistress.

My grip tightened around my glass. This was why I wanted Braelyn here tonight. She was scared about the infertility rumours....not knowing how bad they would get with her leaving the public eye. It was ridiculous how concerned they were when we had been married for just 3 years. At times, I feel like someone was deliberately making them say those things.

People always mistook my closeness to Amelia for something else, and Amelia, whether deliberately or not, never did anything to stop it.

She crossed lines. I warned her. She laughed it off every time, claiming we were practically siblings, that people were ridiculous.

Yet she never stepped away. The night was draining, and I was a few seconds from leaving, and maybe I should have.

I was speaking with an investor when a woman in her mid-forties, whom I recognised as an elite wife. Her sharp eyes and heels already screamed she was here for trouble as she approached us with a polite smile.

"Do you mind sparing a second for me?" she said then nodded at the investor before turning to Amelia, " I hope you don’t mind me borrowing your husband."

I froze at her words. It was the first time someone had blatantly shoved it at my face.. For a second, the room seemed to tilt as my hand holding the glass trembled. What did she mean by wife? Braelyn wasn’t here. My brain was lagging behind.

But the laughter made me realise it wasn’t a joke. Amelia laughed lightly, as if it were a harmless joke, waving it off with a grace that only made it worse.

"Oh, no, no..." she said. "Silly mistake. I am not Mrs Volkova," she brushed off, trying to reach for my arm, but I evaded her touch. She was stunned.

The troublemaker wasn’t done. "Oh my bad..You are always together, and I have never seen him with another lady, so I assumed," she said, giving me a smile, but it was like a challenge.

Something inside me snapped, and the glass shattered in my grip, making her flinch. I stepped forward, and I didn’t bother minding my tone in the slightest way. I barked at her..."She’s not my wife!!"

They all froze at my outburst..