Craved by the Wrong Volkov-Chapter 290: The villain in my tale

Braelyn’s POV

"Don’t give her the medication. It is harmful to pregnant women. The patient is pregnant. " Those words buzzed in my ears as I held my stomach.

My knees nearly gave out, and if Raphael hadn’t caught me, I would have collapsed right there in the corridor. He was the one who had been slapped, yet somehow I was the one who felt the blow. Amelia was truly pregnant at that moment it felt like it was over and this pit felt too deep.

The world around me seemed to fall into a strange, suffocating silence after the words left my mouth. "Amelia was pregnant."

The sentence echoed in my head over and over as if my mind refused to let it settle into something real. My fingers were still resting against my stomach while Raphael stood beside me looking as though lightning had struck him where he stood.

Natalia’s breathing turned uneven, her chest rising sharply as tears streaked down her face, but the grief in her eyes twisted quickly into rage getting a reply from us.

She stepped forward, her voice shaking with fury that barely stayed contained.

"Do you see this now?" she cried, pointing straight at Raphael. "Do you finally understand what your incompetence has done? You could not even protect your own blood. You stood there blind while that vicious woman plotted to destroy you."

Her finger snapped toward me like a blade. Pure unadulterated hatred gleamed in her eyes like she was looking at a demon. Which was me.

"How could you hurt the child?" she demanded, her voice cracking into something almost animal as her tears rolled. "How could you go after an innocent baby just to win against her?"

Raphael still had not moved. The colour had drained completely from his face, his lips parted slightly as if the truth of Amelia’s pregnancy was something his mind could not absorb fast enough. His eyes stayed fixed on the hospital room window, but I could see the tremor in his hand where it still held mine.

Natalia was not finished. "Because you can’t have children you are determined to destroy my son." She spat. "Why Braelyn? Why must you ruin him?" She accused me. My gaze shifted to Ronan who remained calm despite this turmoil with a subtle frown between his brows

I almost laughed. "I ruined Raphael. " I repeated holding back the words. It felt crazy when I think back to 5 years ago a new university graduate just 21 when I married her son.

Then she was over the moon for us fulfilling Gregory’s wish because she knew my shares were involved. She knew if Raphael married me it would gain Raphael’s support and increase his standing as successor but now she accuses the woman whose literal existence supported her son of ruining him

The pure Irony. I didn’t stop Natalia I just let her rant.

She turned fully toward me now, her gaze sharp enough to cut skin. "You planned it," she spat. "You organised everything. You poisoned her and then forced her to drink alcohol knowing she was pregnant. You wanted to make sure the child would not survive."

Raphael finally snapped out of his frozen state. "Mother, that is enough," he said hoarsely, stepping slightly in front of me. "You cannot just accuse her without...."

"I will accuse whoever I want when my grandchild is dying!" Natalia screamed over him, completely unmoved by his attempt to calm her. "You think I do not know what she has been doing? You think I am blind to the fact that Lucien is her lover? The two of them planned this together."

Natalia accused conveniently forgetting it was an open marriage and claimed Amelia was Raphael’s mistress. I turned silent too lazy to even defend myself. It felt pointless when I had been crowned villain already.

Raphael’s fingers tightened painfully around my hand as panic flashed openly across his face now. "Stop talking," he urged desperately hoping his mother would stop. He noticed my silence and lack of interest in defending myself. "This is a hospital. You are not thinking clearly."

Natalia’s voice only grew harsher. "I am thinking more clearly than ever. That woman has been trying to destroy this family from the moment she entered it."

Strangely, while her words should have filled me with rage or humiliation, I felt neither. A cold, almost detached calm settled over me instead, the kind that came when chaos became so loud that the only way to survive it was to step outside the noise entirely.

I slowly lifted my gaze to meet hers.

"Do you have any evidence?" I asked quietly. "Or is this simply out of spite?"

Natalia let out a bitter scoff, her lips curling in disgust. "Evidence? Do you think I am unaware of what is happening behind my back? Lucien has been circling you like a dog in heat. You think no one sees it? You planned this together, Lynn."

"Mother, please," Raphael said, his voice strained now, almost pleading. "Stop this before you regret it." he hissed at her.

I gently slipped my hand from his grip and stepped forward myself, my voice steady despite the storm raging around us.

"I have had no contact with Amelia," I said clearly. "I did not know she was pregnant. You cannot accuse me of attempted murder based on nothing but your imagination. If you intend to blame me, then bring concrete evidence instead of hysteria."

Natalia’s eyes flashed. "Of course, you hid the evidence. A woman like you would never leave proof behind," he said in disdain. It puzzled me truly, Natalia’s hatred was unfathomable.

Raphael dragged a hand across his face, his expression tightening as though the entire situation was crushing down on him at once. Before he could say another word, the doctor hurried back toward us, his face tense and urgent.

"We do not have much time," the doctor said quickly. "The patient is in critical condition. The toxins have caused severe internal bleeding. She needs emergency surgery immediately or both her life and the baby’s life will be at extreme risk. We do not know how far along the pregnancy is yet, but she is haemorrhaging."

The news came like a blow. Was this karma? Amelia might lose the child but for some strange reason, I felt pity.

I didn’t want the child who might destroy everything dead. I was envious maybe but the child was innocent.