LOGINClara thought marrying billionaire Victor Draven would save her family and give her peace. But peace doesn't exist inside the Draven mansion— In fact, it has never existed. Only secrets, temptations, and danger wrapped in luxury. And when his son returned home, things took a dark turn. His gaze burned, his words without filters, and his touch felt like sin wrapped in a handsome face. She shouldn't want him. But in a house built on lies, desire might be the deadliest secret of all.
View MoreClara's POV
Dear Diary,
“I don't know why I'm writing this but maybe it's because if I don't, I'll explode. You think you've heard scandal? No, not like mine I was a wife… and this is how I got tangled in a sinful web with my husband's son.”
It started the night after our wedding our first family dinner. My hands wouldn't stop shaking as I sat my fork down. I told myself it was just nerves from being the new wife. But when he walked in… tall, a little older than I expected, the air shifted like I wasn't supposed to breathe it.
The table stretched endlessly, my own reflection clear in the polished wood. I sat, fingers trembling in my lap as I rehearsed smiles and little jokes slipping from my mind.
Tonight was the night tonight, I met Nikolai. My new husband's only son.
Victor squeezed my hand under the table, his voice soft. “Relax, sweetheart. He'll love you.”
“You're sure?” My heart pounded.
“Yeah… and you'll love him too. Although he's just a bit… Protective.”
Protective? Was this like his own way of saying difficult? Still, I smiled. I badly wanted his son's acceptance.
The door opened, followed by footsteps.
I looked up.
Nikolai. Tall, broad shoulders. His face carried the same strong jawline as his father, but sharper, younger and cold. His suit jacket draped carelessly over his arm. He didn't look like who just came from the airport, he looked like he owned the whole place already.
He didn't smile when Victor stood proudly. “Son,” Victor said, lifting his arms. “Welcome home.”
They hugged briefly, Nikolai's eyes already drifting past him… to me.
“This is Clara,” Victor introduced, his voice laced with pride. “My wife.”
Nikolai's gaze traveled over me slowly he stopped at my face. Silence followed for a moment, then:
“Wife?” his mouth curled, but it wasn't a smile. “She looks closer to my age than yours, Dad.”
The air was tense and my chest tightened.
Victor chuckled nervously. “You've always had a sharp tongue.”
I forced a smile, my voice softer than I wanted. “It's nice to finally meet you, Nikolai.”
He sat across from me, pulling his chair back with a drag. “Sure.”
The butler poured wine, steaming plates were placed before us and I reached for my glass to steady my hand.
Victor tried to lighten the air. “Clara's been looking forward to meeting you. She's been asking about you since even before the wedding.”
Nikolai cut his steak, the knife grinding harshly. “Oh, I'm sure she has. Every gold digger wants to know what kind of stepson she's inheriting.”
The words hit me like a slap.
My throat closed. “That's not—”
“Nikolai,” Victor warned lightly, “enough.”
But he kept going, stabbing a piece of meat with his fork. “Tell me, Clara. What was it? His company shares? The penthouse? Or maybe the yatch?”
My fork clattered against the plate. I bent my head, heat burning my cheeks. “I married him because I love him.”
He scoffed. “Right. You fell head over heels for the man who could be your father. That's the kind of fairytale they don't publish.”
Victor sighed, sipping his wine. “Ignore him, Clara. He'll come around.”
But Nikolai's eyes didn't stop, they locked on me, sharp and unyielding. “You'll forgive me if I don't toast to the happy couple. Some of us actually loved my mother.”
The words hit deeper than I expected with my chest squeezing and guilt clawing at my ribs.
Silence fell, forks clicked. Although my appetite was gone, I forced myself to eat each bite turning to ash in my mouth.
Victor changed the subject to business, stocks, politics things I barely understood. Nikolai answered curtly, but every so often, his gaze slid back to me. Watching. Measuring. Judging.
When the plates were cleared, Victor leaned back, satisfied. “See? That wasn't so bad, was it?”
I shook my head but felt Nikolai's stare burning into me, cold and merciless, and I knew this wasn't the end. It was the beginning of a war.
✷✷✷✷✷✷
Hours later, the house had gone quiet and Victor was fast asleep, snoring peacefully. But somehow, I just couldn't fall asleep I felt suffocated. So I decided to go outside, maybe to the pool… I want fresh air.
As I stepped closer, I found him by the pool. Nikolai. Shirt half buttoned, laptop opened, and a glass of whiskey sweating beside him. He didn't look up but from the sudden change of air, I could tell he noticed me.
I shouldn't have said anything. I should've just stayed quiet but I wanted to speak to him I knew he had something against me and I only wanted him to know I meant no harm. Not to him. Not to his father.
I cleared my throat softly. “Nikolai… Can we talk?”
His eyes flicked up, cold and unreadable. “About what? How I hurt your feelings at dinner?”
“I just…” My voice faltered. “I wanted to clear the air. I'm not here for your father's money.”
He gave a wicked laugh as he leaned back in his chair. “Of course you're not. Women like you always marry old men for love.”
“That's not true,” I said firmly. “I care about him.”
He shut his laptop almost immediately, the sound snapping through the night made me flinch. When he stood, the shift in his body felt like a storm rolling in. His height swallowed the space between us as he walked forward.
I stepped back, my spine brushing the old wall of the patio. “Nikolai, I know you don't like me, but—”
“Don't like you?” His laugh was sharp, butter. He leaned closer, his breath warm against my cheek. “You've got some nerve.”
Confusion knotted in my chest. “What do you mean?”
His eyes burned, darker than the pool water glimmering behind him. “Two years. That's how long I wasted on you. Two fucking years. And one day you just disappeared like I never mattered.”
My breath caught this wasn't something I was prepared to talk about. “Nikolai…”
“You left me broken,” he said through clenched teeth. “I searched all over for you and then I came home and found you here in my father's house. Wearing his ring.” His jaw flexed. “Tell me, Clara. Was this your plan all along?”
Tears stung my eyes. “No. It wasn't like that. I swear—”
“Save it,” he hissed. “You ran from me straight into his arms. And now you want my approval? You want me to believe you love him?”
He stepped even closer, pinning me against the wall with nothing but the weight of his presence. My heart pounded, my hands shook at my sides.
“Nikolai, I didn't mean to hurt you…”
His smirk cut me like a blade. “Then prove it.”
“What?”
And just like that, I became my ex-boyfriend’s stepmother and no, this shit didn't end, there's more.
POV: NikolaiThe mansion looked worse in daylight.I stood in the doorway of the breakfast room with my coffee, watching the staff move through the ground floor like a cleanup crew after a natural disaster. Someone was on their hands and knees picking sequins out of the carpet. Another was collecting champagne flutes from the windowsills and the mantelpiece and one particularly concerning location behind the grandfather clock.Victor sat at the head of the breakfast table, still in last night's shirt, snapping at the housekeeper about the flower arrangements being moved without his permission."They were wilting," she said carefully. "I thought—""You're not paid to think about flowers. You're paid to move them when I tell you to move them." He pressed two fingers against his temple and reached for his water glass.I took the seat across from him and poured myself more coffee from the carafe. I looked around the table. "Where's Clara?""Migraine." Victor didn't look up. "She's restin
POV: Clara"Gentleman... Meet my beautiful wife Clara." Victor said, placing his hands on my lower back.I just smiled politely at the men whose eyes never came up to my face. Their gazes were fixed on the low cut of my dress, through which my cleavage was visible.I rolled my eyes and did my job beside my so-called husband, listening to him as he droned on and on about political bullshit and some other stuff with his company.Suddenly, I felt a gaze on me and I turned to see Nikolai standing at the corner of the room, one hand in his pocket and the other holding a glass of champagne.He caught my gaze but his eyes never shifted as he downed the drink in one go and dropped the empty glass on the tray of a waiter who was passing by.Feeling extremely uncomfortable—from the hand of the father on my waist and the gaze of the son—I excused myself from their midst and walked away.I had barely taken two steps before a woman blocked my path. There was a tag on her shirt that read *reporter*
POV: ClaraVictor told me to spend time in the private spa before the gala. “Relax,” he said. “The therapist will be there soon.” I went downstairs and changed into the silk robe they left for me. The fabric felt cool against my skin at first. I pinned my hair up so it stayed off my neck. The therapist was late. I sat on the wooden bench in the steam room and waited. Steam filled the air and made everything damp. My robe stuck to my thighs and the curve of my breasts. Drops of water ran down my neck and between my breasts. The heat pressed into my body and made my breathing slow and deep.The door opened. Nikolai stepped inside. “I need to use the sauna,” he said. He closed the door behind him. His eyes found me right away. He did not move closer at first. He stood there and watched me through the thick steam. His gaze moved over the robe where it clung to my body. He looked at my legs, then higher, then at the skin showing at my neck.“Comfortable?” he asked. His voice sounded rough.
POV: Nikolai Victor took me to the high-end men’s club that evening. We sat in the lounge area. Cigar smoke hung in the air and the other men carried themselves with old money arrogance.Victor ordered two whiskeys and lit his cigar. “Nikolai, it is time we discuss the future.”I took a sip of my drink. “What part of the future?”He leaned back in his chair. “Legacy. Bloodlines. The Draven name has to continue. I expect a grandchild soon. It will solidify everything we have built.”I nearly choked on the whiskey. The liquid caught in my throat and I coughed hard. The thought of Clara being forced to have a child by my father made me very angry. My grip tightened on the glass until my knuckles turned white.Victor watched me. “You all right?”“Yes,” I said after I cleared my throat. “Just went down the wrong way.”He smiled around his cigar. “Think about it. Clara is young. She is healthy. A child would lock the Draven line in place. You two would make strong heirs.”I set my glass do
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