Chapter 271: No way out

Lucien’s POV

“I see pity and guilt in those eyes, Vipers.” The moment the words left my mouth, her expression shattered.

Fear flashed across Braelyn’s face so fast it almost felt physical, like watching glass crack under pressure. She instinctively pushed her chair back, trying to stand, trying to put distance between us, but I moved before she could escape.

My hand came down against the side of her chair and shoved her firmly into the seat again, holding her there. She wasn’t escaping this.

The waiter, sensing the tension thickening the air, didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed the trolley and slipped away in silence, leaving us alone with the wind, the roses, and the sound of her uneven breathing.

My mind went back to the hospital, to the look of guilt she had then, and now after seeing the plans I made. The look that flashed in her eyes. She had turned soft to Raphael, not forgetting what her bloody friend said to her.

Let her forgive Raphael because I was a risk. I almost laughed when I overheard her. It was completely ridiculous. She looked scared, like a frightened puppy, nothing like the viper I knew. It was like someone had pulled her fangs. Only if she knew the plans I had for the Volkov family were far worse.

“Lucien…” she whispered, her voice thin with warning. She could barely say my name. I ignored her.

Instead, I leaned forward slightly, studying her face, watching every flicker of guilt she tried and failed to hide.

“Tell me something,” I said quietly. “Do you pity Raphael?” I asked, despite already knowing the answer.

Her heart answered before her mouth could. I saw it in the way her chest tightened, how her fingers curled against the tablecloth. That tiny hesitation was enough. A laugh slipped out of me, low and sharp.

“And you feel guilty too, don’t you?” I added softly. “God, Braelyn… you really are an open book.” I almost laughed. She wasn’t even trying to hide her thoughts, which were boldly written on her face.

Her lips parted, but no defense came. She tried to shrink back into the chair, but there was no place to run.

I tilted my head, watching her squirm under the truth. “Were you actually thinking of stopping?” I asked, almost conversationally. “Thinking maybe this went too far. Maybe you should walk away.” I smirked, and she shuddered.

The guilt in her eyes ignited something ugly in my chest, something hot and very ugly. Jealousy, it seemed, but I forced my voice to stay calm and controlled, almost amused. It was ridiculous how she still had a soft spot for that bastard.

So what if he was tricked? It didn’t change the fact he was a jerk and didn’t value what he had. She struggled to look at me or even speak. In the end, all she could manage was, “You… are… are scaring me,” she finally stuttered, like it was the only honest thing she could say. The sound cracked me out of myself.

“I make you scared?” I repeated. “Dear Viper, you should be scared.” I drawled, staring straight into her green eyes.

“Because if you think you can just walk away after everything, you have to be more than scared.” I snickered before leaning toward her ear. “News flash, Mrs Volkov, we’re already in this. There’s no clean exit.” Her pale face turned ashen.

My finger tapped slowly against the tablet on the table.

“If you think you can just walk away, you’d better think twice,” I continued coolly, rubbing my fingers on her red lips, enjoying how she shuddered at my touch.

She had no idea what that pathetic look was doing to me down there. “I have more than enough evidence here to make it look like you were the mastermind behind everything. Every leak, every move, every stolen file.”

Her face drained completely.

“You know Raphael’s been hunting for the middleman stealing company secrets,” I went on, watching the terror bloom in her eyes. “I wonder how he’d react when the trail leads straight to you.”

Silence crushed the space between us. “And the role would fit perfectly on the discarded wife,” I added quietly. “With the perfect motive for revenge.”

That did it. Her expression changed completely. Not just fear now, pure, shaking terror.

“You want to frame me?” she blurted, physically shaking. “No… you’re blackmailing me,” she breathed.

I smiled slowly, but it didn’t reach my eyes. “Call it whatever you want. You left me no choice.”

Because a second ago, she’d looked like she was actually considering it. Actually thinking about running back to him. Back to the man who broke her. And that… I couldn’t allow.

Her voice came out small, fragile, almost breaking. “Why… why are you so desperate to hold onto me…?”

For a moment, I didn’t answer.

Instead, I glanced slowly around the rooftop, at the endless sea of crimson surrounding us, petals trembling under the cold night wind.

“Do you know how many red roses are here?” I asked quietly.

She shook her head. “Nine hundred and ninety-nine,” I said, the number signifying eternal love and obsession. Her eyes went wide immediately. The wind shifted, carrying their heavy scent between us.

“Do you know what 999 red roses mean?” I looked back at her, my voice dropping lower now, rougher, stripped of its earlier amusement.

“Eternal love,” she blurted out hesitantly. I smiled this time, and it reached my eyes seeing the disbelief in her gaze.

“It means I can’t let go,” I whispered in her ear as I watched her freeze, like she had heard something forbidden.

My hand slid onto the table beside hers, close enough that she could feel the heat, not touching… but trapping her all the same.

“I can’t let go,” I repeated softly, “because somewhere along the way I got addicted to this game.” My jaw tightened.

“I can’t let go because I warned you on the night you took my cock into your tight pussy and ruined every other woman for me.” The words came out bluntly.

“And I can’t let go,” I finished, my voice almost a growl now, “because I bloody fell in love with you, Braelyn… and I’m done playing this damn game.”

I stood back, staring into her wide eyes.

“I want you all to myself,” I whispered. “I knew from the first night I saw you and kissed those addictive lips of yours. I was obsessed from that moment.”

I drew in a deep breath. “From then, I knew even if I had to burn it all down, you would be mine in the end.”

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