Craved by the Wrong Volkov-Chapter 149: His weakness

Braelyn’s POV

I stared at this man, completely dumfounded by his guts. His ego could not be contained by this roof. God he always knew how to mess with my head.

Agnes stood frozen, her hands clenched at her apron, eyes darting between us like she was trying to piece together a shattered picture and process the information Lucien dumped on her.

Lucien didn’t release me. If anything, his arm tightened slightly around my waist, possessively to leave a deliberate message.

.

Like he wanted the message to be unmistakable.

"What are you saying Lucien?," I said too quickly, my voice betraying me as it wavered. I still wanted to deny it despite it being so clear. Was I the only one who still had some shame? "Agnes, he is joking." I gave her a helpless look.

Lucien let out a low chuckle, the sound vibrating against my side. "Am I?" he murmured, tilting his head just enough to look at Agnes properly. His eyes carried this lazy indulgence filled with infatuation, with his cheek lazily leaning against his chin.

"Of course you are." I gritted my teeth, pinching his side hard, a silent warning. He didn’t flinch.

He clicked his tongue. "I guess another kiss will recalibrate your brain." He teased abruptly, leaning too close.

I almost lost my soul. "Fine, he isn’t lying." I gave in immediately. "Please not in front of her," I whispered. He gave me an approving look before whispering.

"Don’t forget this is exactly what we want, to put on a show for the public.." he drawled then glanced back at Agnes

"I apologise for the shock," he continued smoothly, as if he hadn’t just kissed the air out of my lungs seconds ago. "We didn’t intend for an audience."

Agnes swallowed. "B–But... you’re.."

"Yes," Lucien interrupted gently. "It is complicated." His gaze flicked to me, dark and knowing, before returning to her. "Braelyn and I have our reasons but it’s more of my fault she couldn’t resist my face."

I felt my face burn. Every instinct screamed at me to pull away, to deny it, to pretend this was nothing but the way his hand rested at my waist, firm and unapologetic, made lying feel useless. He was after my life.

"Lucien please stop..." I muttered low enough just for us but he only grinned.

Agnes looked at me then. Really looked at me. Searching for the answer but I guess she saw what she wanted. She sighed.

"You act just like him despite looking like her," she murmured again, almost to herself. "Stubborn, too."

I didn’t know whether that was a rebuke or a blessing.

Lucien finally released me, just enough to step half a pace back, but his presence stayed close, looming unforgivingly.

"If you’d like to prepare breakfast," he said calmly, "we are pretty famished."

It wasn’t a request. Agnes hesitated, then nodded stiffly. "Of course." She turned away, her footsteps hurried as she disappeared toward the kitchen. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The moment she was gone, I spun on him. "Are you insane?" I hissed.

Lucien only smiled, his lips curled up into a wicked curve. "You pushed me first."

"That wasn’t an invitation to announce us like...like that."

He leaned closer, voice dropping. "You didn’t stop me either."

My breath caught. Damn him. I glared hard. "I was pinching you to stop."

"Too bad even mosquito bites hurt more." He shrugged. Something snapped in me. I punched his shoulder but he bulge, in a moment of foolish rage I straddled across his waist and I yanked up his T-shirt before I launched an assault on him trying to tickle him at the side

And to my greatest pleasure, he was actually ticklish there. "Stop." He burst out laughing trying to stop me. My eyes only sharpen and I increased the force enjoying having him vulnerable under me for a moment

"Braelyn you are going to kill me." He begged for mercy. I scoffed.

"Now you know how it feels." My smile turned cruel. He couldn’t handle it anymore. He flipped me over, restraining both my hands above my head in his grip.

Lucien loomed over me trying to catch his breath. "Fine, you found my weakness, you win." He surrendered. I scoffed at him still glaring hard.

His lips twitched. My eyes watched the way his chest rose and fell. Then things slowly turned silent between us.

"You know I am powerless before you viper." He admitted his voice was soft in a tone unusual for Lucien. Our eyes met, and for a moment, something flickered in them. Something pure that shouldn’t be in our gaze. I blinked and it disappeared quickly.

"Fine, I will get the reward after you meet Killian." He said, then sat up, giving me space to sit up.

I cleared my throat, trying to get over the awkward situation. "When will I meet him?" I asked, trying to get into business.

He leaned back and rested his head on the couch. "We have a meeting later this evening around 4 if I am not mistaken. After the meeting, you will meet him, although it isn’t what you expect... It was hard getting him, but I am sure you will make the best of it."

My heart beat slowed. "Will he be at the meeting?" I asked him.

Lucien slowly nodded. "I investigated Killian, and as you suspected, he has been targeting Volkov Apex. Since it is a major deal, I am certain he would be there to strike a deal after all, this is his domain." He explained

And I wondered why I didn’t think of that.

"But he normally doesn’t show up in meetings himself." I inquired.

Lucien’s expression turned serious. "As I said this isn’t back home. Killian has more influence here than the Volkov family plus I have sources. Even if he doesn’t show up at the meeting, I know where he will be after that."

His assurance made me relax. Then something popped into my mind.

"Will you be there when I see him?" I asked, all of a sudden I was nervous and getting cold feet at meeting the man who was capable of making Raphael lose it

He gave me a reassuring look. "Of course I will be there to see my favourite viper fully enter her villainess stage..." He chimed and I couldn’t help but smile.

"After all I am your sidekick."