Dear Diary: A Scandalous Scandal

Clara'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.