All Chapters of Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake : Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

230 Chapters

The Unholy Alliance

Chapter 171The Volkov estate didn't just scream wealth; it screamed dominance. As the Kirov limousine pulled up the heated drive, the silence inside the car was thick enough to suffocate. My "father," Leonid, was white-knuckled, his eyes darting toward me every few seconds with a mixture of confusion and burgeoning dread."He was laughing on the phone, Rai," Leonid muttered, straightening his silk tie for the tenth time. "Viktor Volkov does not invite families to dinner to be social. What did you do in those woods?""I survived, Father," I said, my voice as cold as the Siberian wind. "Isn't that what you raised me to do?" Deep down, I knew what this pretense dinner will be all about. I just need to enjoy the game while Viktor thinks he holds the reins.The doors were opened by men who looked more like special forces than footmen. We were ushered into a dining hall where the table groaned under the weight of roasted game, vintage wines, and crystal that caught the light like jagged

Mother’s Suspicion

Chapter 172The declaration hung in the air, vibrating against the crystal chandeliers like a physical blow. Leonid looked as though I had reached across the table and personally slit his throat. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Behind him, Nikolai and Dimitri sat like statues, their forks hovering over empty plates, paralyzed by the sudden shift in the family’s tectonic plates.Viktor, however, let out a low, purring sound of satisfaction. He didn't move to touch me, not yet but his energy expanded, filling every corner of the room until the Kirovs looked like small, flickering candles in a gale-force wind."There you have it, Leonid," Viktor said, his voice smooth as silk. "A union born of choice. Your daughter has more vision in her pinky finger than you’ve had in thirty years of leadership.""You... you didn't even consult me," Leonid finally choked out, his eyes burning with a mix of fury and genuine terror. "Rai, you cannot be serious. This is Volkov. You use

The Butcher’s Bed and the Mother’s Grave

Chapter 173 The steam in the master suite’s bathroom was so thick it felt like a shroud. I stood under the spray, the water scalding, yet I couldn't feel the heat. My skin was flushed a violent red, but inside, I was a block of arctic ice. I am marrying the man who wants my children dead, I thought, the realization clawing at my throat. I am sleeping in the bed of the monster who burned my life to ash. I gripped the marble ledge of the shower, my knuckles white. A sob threatened to rip through my chest, but I choked it back. Don’t cry. If you cry, the salt will show on your face. If you cry, Viktor will smell the weakness. I forced myself to breathe. I finished the shower, dried my skin with towels that felt like sandpaper against my raw nerves, and applied cream with robotic precision. I slipped into a silk nightdress, black, like a funeral and felt the weight of the burner phone hidden in my folio. Vibration. My heart nearly stopped. I scrambled for the bag, pulling the device

The Ashes of a Mother

Chapter 174 The world did not end with fire or fury. It ended in the brittle snap of frost beneath my knees as I dragged two small, impossibly still bodies into my arms. The forest held its breath. No birds. No wind. Only the crushing silence that pressed against my ribs until every inhale sliced like broken glass. I rocked them, Leo and Luna the way I had a thousand nights before, when nightmares came and small hands reached for me in the dark. “Leo, baby…” My voice was a ragged whisper, already fracturing. “It’s so cold. Why are you sleeping in the dirt? You know Mommy hates when you ruin your coat.” I pulled the silk handkerchief from my pocket, the one I’d stolen from Volkov’s cursed house, and scrubbed at the mud on his forehead with trembling fingers. Back and forth, back and forth, as if cleanliness could summon breath. “There. All clean. See? Now you can wake up. We’ll go to that little bakery you loved, the one with the warm chocolate croissants that melt on your tongue

The Echo of a Dead Name

Chapter 175The world was not gray. It was a blinding, sterile white that burned the back of my eyelids. I was running, my feet hitting a floor that felt like glass, smooth and unnervingly cold."Leo! Luna!" I screamed, my voice echoing back at me, multi-layered and hollow.They were right there. Standing just twenty paces ahead. Leo was holding Luna’s hand, his small back straight, his shoulders squared in that protective way he always had. They were walking toward a horizon that didn't exist."Stop! Please, stop! Mommy’s here! I’m right behind you!"I lunged forward, my fingers inches from the hem of Luna’s pink jacket. But the harder I pushed, the further the floor stretched. It was an accordion of space and time, mocking me. They didn't turn. They didn't even flinch at the sound of my voice."Leo, please! Look at me!"I tripped, falling onto the glass, and as I reached out one last time, a jagged bolt of lightning, pure, white-hot agony shot through my spine. The white shattere

The Resurrection of a Ghost

Chapter 176The shadow moved closer, the flickering lightbulb casting jagged patterns across a face I had buried under a thousand layers of trauma and new identities.My breath hitching, I felt the phantom weight of old textbooks and the scent of cheap university coffee. The man standing before me wasn't a memory; he was a breathing, lethal contradiction to everything I knew about my past."Jasper Kitonio?" I blurted out, the name tasting like ash and disbelief. I shouted it, my voice echoing off the damp concrete walls, desperate to shatter the nightmare. This was the boy who sat in the back of the lecture hall. The one who struggled with basic macroeconomics. The one we all thought would fade into some middle-management oblivion."Yes, Aurora," he said, his voice smooth as aged bourbon, devoid of the stutter he’d had at twenty. "The one and only.""But..." I shook my head, the movement sending a flare of agony through my neck. "How? Jasper, you... you were...""What?" He stepped f

Sibling Rivalry and Blood Pacts

Chapter 177"That was exactly what I was trying to do, Jasper! Didn’t your precious research show you that?" I thundered the words, my voice cracking under the weight of my rage. I lunged against the leather straps, ignoring the way they bit into my wrists, ignoring the fire spreading from the wound in my back. I wanted to wrap my fingers around his throat and squeeze until his smug expression turned blue.Jasper didn't even flinch. He didn't blink. He just sat there in that velvet chair, crossing one expensive leg over the other, the picture of absolute, terrifying serenity."By playing Rai Kirov?" He tilted his head, his voice a cool splash of water on my burning skin. "Please, Evelyn. You may be many things, a liar, a survivor, a tragic heroine but you aren’t a coward. And only cowards hide behind a mask to attack. Just look at Yamelyan; he spent years playing Caleb Knight, even a chef and a nanny and look where that caution got him. It’s a loser’s game.""I did what I had to do

The Altar of Vengeance

Chapter 178The door hadn't even fully latched behind Jasper before the air between Nikolai and me turned poisonous. My brother, the boy I had played with in the sprawling gardens of a life that felt like a past incarnation stood there looking like a ghost that had learned how to kill."You abandoned us!" I shrieked, the leather straps creaking as I strained toward him. "The Prokofiev legacy, our name, our blood, you let it all be burned to the ground while you played dead!"Nikolai let out a harsh, jagged laugh, pacing the perimeter of my chair like a caged wolf. "Legacy? That’s rich, Evelyn. Or should I call you Rai? I thought you spent your entire life trying to scrub the Prokofiev scent off your skin. Now you’re the guardian of the heritage?""I am the only one left who isn't a lapdog for a Kitonio!""You think this was a choice?" Nikolai roared, spinning on his heel to face me, his eyes bloodshot and haunted. "I watched them die, Evelyn. One by one. Sergei… Mikhail… Yuri… they d

The Phantom Screen

Chapter 179The ceramic basin was cold, but the water Viktor Volkov ran over his knuckles was freezing. He watched the pinkish swirl vanish down the drain, remnants of a man who had dared to lie to him earlier that afternoon. He didn't use a towel; he let the water drip onto the marble floor, a rhythmic tap-tap-tap that filled the silence of the penthouse.He moved to the nightstand, his fingers closing around a bottle of vintage cognac. He didn't bother with a glass. The burn of the alcohol hit the back of his throat, but it couldn't touch the cold irritation settled in his chest."Rai Kirov," he muttered, a dark, jagged smirk pulling at his lips. "Did you really think I was that blind, Evelyn? Did you really think you could play the ghost and I wouldn't recognize the haunt?"He took another long pull from the bottle. He had known the moment she asked, How are you still alive? Rai Kirov wouldn't have cared. Rai Kirov wouldn't have had that specific tremor of terrified hope in her voi

The Architect of Shadows

Chapter 180The hum of the surveillance equipment provided a low, mechanical heartbeat to the room. I stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, my reflection a pale ghost against the backdrop of the city lights. Jasper was reclined in a velvet armchair, sipping tea with an unnerving calmness, while Nikolai paced the perimeter like a restless wolf. On the main monitor, the feed from Volkov’s penthouse played on a loop, his rage, the shattered cognac bottle, the feral look in his eyes as he roared into his intercom."Are you sure this is going to work?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. My hands were shoved deep into the pockets of my silk robe to hide the tremor. "He looks... he looks like he’s ready to tear the world apart.""What do you see on that footage, Aurora?" Jasper asked, not even bothering to look up from his cup."It's Evelyn," I gritted out, the name feeling like a shield I was losing the right to carry."Your marriage certificate says otherwise, Mrs. Kitonio," he countere

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