Raphael’s POV
It was a cold night, and the air slled like rain. Braelyn sat quietly beside listening intently. That ant a lot she was giving a listening ear despite it being too late...
Experiencing her subtle tenderness makes it unbearable to rember 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 mory lane.
******
It was an important fundraiser event related to a top client. Important enough to demand my presence, but I could still be at ho if I wanted.
Braelyn had agreed to attend, only for her to change her mind at the last mont. She didn’t give an explanation and simply said she wasn’t in the mood anymore..
I had wanted to argue but the look in her eyes told she didn’t have the patience for an argunt 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 Alia that night, she had arrived herself, but sothing was off...
She was acting too clingy that night it felt unsettled but I couldn’t point it out that night
I could still rember 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 scread 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 co.
That thought gnawed at the mont 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.
Alia had arrived a few minutes after . The mont she spotted , she attached herself as if she belonged there, out of the habit of accompanying 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 as always to introduce to business associates since she was taking over the family business soon
During the introduction, she would laugh at so jokes which were not even funny, like she wanted everyone to know she was standing beside . Her body would bump into at odd tis in a way that felt uncomfortable and crossed the boundaries. Those touches only left my skin itching.
Sothing was off. It felt like she was flirting with , 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. Alia’s image mattered, so did mine, and I had spent my life ignoring the ss 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 Alia luckily it wasn’t... it was Lynn
Either way, Alia 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 handso couple, don’t they?"
"I thought Braelyn would be here..."
The sa rumours questioning Braelyn’s and my marriage. So even went as far as assuming Alia 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 tis, I feel like soone was deliberately making them say those things.
People always mistook my closeness to Alia for sothing else, and Alia, whether deliberately or not, never did anything to stop it.
She crossed lines. I warned her. She laughed it off every ti, 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 scread she was here for trouble as she approached us with a polite smile.
"Do you mind sparing a second for ?" she said then nodded at the investor before turning to Alia, " I hope you don’t mind borrowing your husband."
I froze at her words. It was the first ti soone had blatantly shoved it at my face.. For a second, the room seed to tilt as my hand holding the glass trembled. What did she an by wife? Braelyn wasn’t here. My brain was lagging behind.
But the laughter made realise it wasn’t a joke. Alia 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 assud," she said, giving a smile, but it was like a challenge.
Sothing inside 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..
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