Craved by the Wrong Volkov-Chapter 178: Guilt

Braelyn’s POV

I shared the blank pages, confused about what to say or believe. Lucien said Katerina killed his mother, and Gregor hid the evidence, but this proves Mum was an accomplice.

The concussion that caused Nadia’s death in a coma was due to my mother’s push. It was an accident, and everything was messed up. Nadia was the mistress; Mum was just defending her friend, but a vengeful heart didn’t care about all these things.

I heard rushing footsteps approaching from the creaking sounds of the stairs, which snapped me out of my dazed state immediately. I quickly shut the diary before the door was pushed open.

"Braelyn..." I heard Lucien’s panicked voice. He has beads of sweat coating his forehead. His eyes were frantically darting around the room. I didn’t even have the chance to say anything when he burst inside and pulled me into a hug.

"You scared the living daylights out of me." He said. I could feel his heart racing against his chest. "I heard you scream all the way from the lake." He explained still holding me tight like he wanted to merge my body into his

"I can’t breathe..." I wheezed trying to breathe. The entire time, my heart was beating fast, and I held the diary closer. I was nervous and scared he would notice something was off, worse find out the truth. "You are holding on too tight. " I added. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Lucien finally realised what he was doing and relaxed his hold. "Sorry.." he muttered, his gaze swept across me and a dark look appeared on his face as the room temperature dropped several degrees low

He spotted the cuts on my hand from the fall and the blood marks on the broken glass. "What happened?" He asked, his jaw clenched.

"Because I am certain you aren’t the type to hurt yourself," he asked. I gulped at his question, guilt was eating me up. It was Avelina who was involved in his mother’s death, but I felt guilty.

I didn’t understand why I felt pity for his mother when technically she was the villain, the mistress who ruined a family, but then again children shouldn’t be blamed for their parents’ sins.

"I am fine. I saw a rat then panicked. " I gave a believable excuse. His gaze lingered on me, it felt like he could see through my lies

"Is that all?" Lucien drawled. I nodded slowly. "That is it. I am sorry, I made you panic." I apologised.

"No, it’s fine, it’s my duty to look after you..." he said as his gaze flickered to the old dairies. I tried my best to stay calm.

Seeing his gaze lingering longer than it should, I had to come up with an explanation.

"They are my mother’s. " I explained, something flickered through his eyes. Surprise, then hesitant like he had something to say but decided to change his mind at the last minute.

"Alright." He said, his gaze remained on me. He understood the sentiment, it simply meant it was something private.

"You must really love your mother." He murmured absentmindedly. "You have to get those cleaned up ." He added. Something was off about him, but I really couldn’t point my finger at what it was exactly.

"It’s fine. They are not serious. "I tried to brush off his concern. I glanced up at him then added, "Don’t you have a meeting to attend later. "

Lucien sighed, "I will be leaving soon, but I think you should attend to them." He insisted.

"It’s fine. You don’t have to worry about them. Go prepare for your meeting." I urged him, he wanted to argue, but seeing how adamant I was, he reluctantly agreed.

"Fine then make sure to attend to them or it might get infected," he said in a serious tone

"I will Dr Volkov. " I teased him. In the end, he insisted that I leave the attic, saying it gave him the chills like the space was haunted. I teased him about it disregarding the fact that I literally saw a ghost silhouette in here

I wondered if it was Mum. My heart squeezed at the thought that my mother was trying to communicate with me from the great beyond.

He swept me in his arms down the stairs because of my injured soles, which didn’t hurt as much as he exaggerated. We ran into Agnes downstairs.

"Breakfast is ready.." she informed us with a forced smile. She wasn’t used to seeing me close to Lucien.

"Do you have a first aid kit?" Lucien asked instead, pushing away breakfast talks. Agnes’scgaze swept around us. She finally realised my feet were bloody. Her face went pale as she blurted.

"My old kit is in the kitchen," she informed us, then led us into the kitchen. It was my first time entering the kitchen. It was pretty large for a small villa like this. Some of the appliances were pretty old but well-maintained.

Lucien set me down on the counter and started inspecting my feet. All this while I was still clutching the diaries next to my chest.

"Does it hurt?" He asked me, staring intently at my feet, which had a couple of cuts.

"It isn’t as bad as it looks, " I pursed my lips and he only snorted. Agnes walked towards us, holding a bowl of water with a clean towel.

"That looks awful. How did you get them?" She inquired with genuine worry on her face. Her gaze then flickered to the dairies I was holding. Something flickered in her face but she masked it immediately.

"I accidentally knocked down an old lamp in the attic," I explained.

"I have to clean that." She muttered before walking towards a cabinet to find the kit. My attention was on her back when a sharp jolt of pain struck through me.

I immediately shot a glare at Lucien, who was wiping my feet. "Ouch..." I winced.

He arched a brow at me. "I thought you said it didn’t hurt." He snorted at me, and my face scrunched up into an ugly expression. I pursed my lips.

He cleaned my feet with utmost attention before adding, "You need to see a doctor," he stated after cleaning them, and all the cuts were visible. My jaw dropped.

"Its just a cut. It’s not anything life-threatening." I retorted. Agnes finally found the first aid kit.

"Here it is." She offered. Lucien nodded at her but his attention was still on me. "It’s not because of your injury. I was able to get hold of a specialist concerning your condition," he explained, leaving me stunned. I had already given up on my condition it was touching he was still putting in efforts

A sly thought then crept into my mind what would happen to us if he found out the truth about his mother’s death.