INSATIABLE CRAVINGS
Insatiable Cravings - Episode 129
Subtitle; {Loving You Is A Loosing Game}
TAGS: Age-gap, Mafia, Forbidden Love, Drama, Tragedy and Betrayal.
Settings: United Kingdom, Russia and others.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
~ Genevieve ~
“You were right,” he said—his voice so low it was barely audible. “Viktor isn’t déad.”
But I heard it. I heard every syllable. The words landed like a blow to the chest—solid and breath-snatching.
For a fleeting second, I thought I’d misheard him. That the stillness of the room had distorted his voice. That perhaps he’d said Viktor is dad, and my mind had cruelly twisted it.
But he was looking straight at me. Really looking. With that hollow, haunted gaze of his that always managed to raise the hairs along the back of my neck.
And then it hit me.
Not softly, like some gentle unfurling of truth—but violently. Brútally. Like a mirror shattering inside my chest, jagged and echoing.
I blinked. Once. Twice.
My body reacted before my thoughts could string themselves together. My stomach dropped, cold and sick. My lungs stuttered through a shallow, useless breath. My heart, warm and whole just a heartbeat ago, lurched paiñfully in my chest.
“You…” My voice cracked, rough and paper-thin. “What?”
Viktor. Not déad.
The name alone summoned a flood of emotion. Fear. Rage. A thousand shades of confusion.
“Please,” I whispered, voice fraying at the edges, “tell me this isn’t true. Tell me you’re lying.”
But I knew better. Deep down, I knew. Dominic didn’t lie about things like this. He never said anything unless it was necessary—never brought a truth to light unless it was already burñing a hole in his conscience.
But this... this was seismic.
Shocking—even though I’d suspected it.
I leaned back slightly, as if the sheer weight of his words physically pushed me away. I didn’t go far. Didn’t want to. But my shoulders sagged and my fists clenched against my thighs, grounding myself in something tangible.
The room felt suddenly too dark. Too still.
And Dominic… he looked like he’d been carrying this for far too long. Like the truth had been carved into him, piece by piece, until there was nothing left to do but let it bleéd out.
So I had been right all along?
It hadn’t been paranoia. It hadn’t been overthinking.
“How long have you known?” I asked, my voice barely a breath. Careful. Because if I said it too loud, I might fall apart.
His silence was answer enough.
“Oh my God.” My hand flew to my chest, as though I could steady the storm inside me. “Dominic, you promised. You promised you’d tell me everything—and you didn’t.”
But my voice trembled. My hands trembled. Héll, even my bones trembled. A maddéning mix of fear, fury and disbelief raced through me like lightning.
“Since when?” I pressed. “Since when have you known?”
When he didn’t respond quickly enough, I shifted—tried to rise from his lap—but he stopped me. His grip firm, unrelenting. His amber eyes met mine, clouded with something sharp and heavy.
“I found out… two, maybe three weeks after you left,” he said at last, and I fixed him with a scathing glare.
“And you didn’t think to tell me then?”
“I didn’t want to bother you with it.”
“Bother me?” I echoed, incredulous. “For God’s sake, Dominic, how many times do I have to tell you I want to be bothered by you?”
“You were busy with your case.”
“I can multitask,” I snapped. “I can handle more than one thing at a time.”
“I just thought—” I made to move again, but he held me in place. “Don’t go.”
“I don’t want to do this like this, Dominic.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to. You want to fight? Then we’ll fight like this. You want to talk it through? Then this is how we’ll do it.”
“Dominic, let go of me.”
“No.”
“Let me go.” I struggled, but his hands remained solid at my waist, holding me firmly in place.
“I can’t fight with you like this.”
“That’s probably for the best,” he murmured with a cheeky grin.
I didn’t smile. Not even close. And when he saw that, the grin dropped from his face.
“I’m sorry, alright? I just wanted you to focus on your case—the one you won because you weren’t distracted by all this.”
His logic was sound. Reasonable, even. But my heart wasn’t buying it. He’d made a promise. He broke it. And I was hurtiñg.
“Don’t give me that look,” he pleaded, voice softening as he cupped my face with both hands. “I’m sorry. I did what I had to do to keep you out of it. If anything happened to you, I’d stop existing. You’re my life, Genevieve. I need you safe. Away from everything that involves Viktor.”
“Is that why you increased my security?”
He nodded once.
I blinked. “Why didn’t I put that together?”
“Probably because you were too busy digging into something I told you not to.” His tone wasn’t scolding—but there was a thread of annoyance there.
He knew. Of course he did. Which meant… Echo.
He’d had Echo hack into my laptop.
Sneaky bà stard.
“I wanted to help,” I muttered.
“You can help me by not getting involved in this. Viktor Valdislav is a dangeróus son of a bÃtch. He doesn’t play by any rules.”
“Do you?”
A dark smirk curled his lips. One of those annoyingly sexy ones that made him look like trouble incarnate. “When it suits me.”
“That’s creepy, Dominic.”
And just like that, the smirk vanished, replaced with a more boyish grin. “You’re not upset anymore?”
“I’m still blóody livid.” I answered flatly, and watched his grin fade again. “You made a promise. You didn’t keep it. That’s not alright with me.”
“I won’t do it again.”
I raised an eyebrow, sceptical.
He let out a soft laugh. “I swear. When all this is over, let’s go on a holiday, yeah?”
“Yeah?”
He nodded once. “Yeah. A proper one. Just you and me. For a whole month.”
“A whole month?”
“Yep. Far away from here. From the UK. Just us.”
The air between us had lost its sharpness, mellowing slightly—but the tension hadn’t completely vanished. It still hung there, beneath the surface, buzzing faintly.
And then he said it.
“As soon as I’m done with him… everything will be alright again.”
God, I hoped he was right.
Because Viktor being alive wasn’t just inconvenient. It was catastrophic. If he was truly as dangeróus as Dominic claimed—and Dominic never called someone else dangeroús lightly—then Viktor needed to be dealt with. Permanently.
☆☆☆☆
It had been a full seven hours since that conversation with Dominic. Morning sunlight was bléeding stubbornly through the curtains—persistent, golden rays slipping past the fabric I’d drawn tightly shut so they wouldn’t disturb him.
He was still deep in sleep, caught somewhere in the folds of dreams, while I’d been up for a while. I’d already showered, brushed my teeth, and was now curled up with a mug of strong coffee warming my palms, the rich aroma swirling around me as I pondered the question that had been circling my mind like a restless bird.
Who do I tell first?
Adrianna?
Jules?
Everett?
Mum—who didn’t even know I was seeing Dominic Morozov? Or Dad—who knew everything, every méssy, tangled detail, and had advised me to tread carefully this time?
Or perhaps Grandfather Henry?
With a quiet sigh, I reached for my laptop and clicked on Mum’s contact. She picked up on the very first ring, her expression tight with concern and eyes darting anxiously across the screen.
“Are you alright?” she asked, her voice laced with worry, scanning me for signs of distress.
“I’m fine,” I said softly, offering a small smile. “How are you and Dad?”
She gave a vague shrug. “We’re well. But what’s happened? Why are you—”
She broke off mid-sentence, her eyes narrowing slightly. I’d lifted my hand to tuck a stray lock of hair behind my ear, and in doing so, revealed the thing I hadn’t intended to show quite yet.
“Is that an engagement ring?”
I froze, then let out a breath. “Umm… yeah.” I nodded, suddenly very aware of the weight of the ring on my finger—as if it had only just materialised there. “That’s actually why I called. I’m… engaged.”
A beat of silence, and then—
“You what?” she spluttered, her expression morphing into utter bewilderment. “Don’t you need to date someone before you get engaged?” She paused, piecing things together. “You did date… I just wasn’t informed, was I?”
There were more questions in her eyes than I could possibly answer in one sitting, but she settled on just one.
“Are you happy with him?”
I felt my face crack into the biggest grin. “I am. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me… aside from being a lawyer, of course.”
Mum let out a laugh—a real, proper laugh that crinkled the corners of her eyes and made her look even more beautiful than usual. “Yeah? So, can I finally know the name of this mystery man who’s managed to steal my daughter’s heart?”
“It’s Dominic,” I said.
Her brows rose. “And does this Dominic have a surname?”
“Morozov.”
Her eyes widened. “As in… Dominic Morozov?” The astonishment on her face was almost comical. She leaned closer to the camera as if she could get to me through the screen. “How on earth did you two meet? What’s the connection? When did this all start?”
I let out a small laugh, overwhelmed. “Which one do you want answered first?”
“The first. How did you meet him?”
My mind scrambled, torn between telling the truth and something more… palatable. I chose the latter.
“He came to give a talk at my secondary school once.”
Definitely better than admitting I nearly ran him over after he passed out in front of my car.
“And?”
“We sort of… clicked from there.”
She gave a thoughtful hum, as if mentally stitching together the gaps. Then—“So, you two already knew each other when he came over for dinner?”
I hesitated. “Y-yes.”
“Does your father know?”
Another pause. “Hmm… hmm.”
“Woah.” She scoffed, though it sounded more incredulous than accusatory. “All this going on right under my nose, and I didn’t have the faintest bloódy idea.”
“It’s not like that—”
“Was… was he the reason you left?” she asked carefully. “Should I tell your grandfather to shóot him with his rifle?”
“Erm… no?”
And honestly, I didn’t doubt for a second that Grandfather Henry would. That man was the most stubborn, no-nonsense, formidable person I knew—and fiercely protective, in his own terrifyiñg way.
“When do I get to meet him?”
“He’s in China at the moment, so I’m not entirely sure. But he’s eager to meet you and Dad.” I smiled faintly at the thought. “He might not show it, but he’s actually really nervous about it. So, when you do meet him—because I know you’ll track him down the moment he sets foot in the UK—please, please don’t be hard on him, alright?”
She frowned slightly. “I’ll try.”
“Thank you.”
We chatted a little longer before ending the call.
Adrianna was next. She was shocked—very shocked—and went on about how fast it all seemed, but she was happy for me in the end.
Jules? Same thing. She echoed Adrianna’s concern about the speed of it all, but added that if I was certain, then she was behind me one hundred percent.
Everett… now that was an entirely different experience.
He was furious. Genuinely, theatrically furious. I swear the phrase “How dare he?” left his mouth at least five times in under three minutes. It would’ve been intimidating if it wasn’t so funny.
He finally calmed down towards the end of our ten-minute video call, grinning and congratulating me with a reluctant shake of his head. And just before he hung up, he muttered— “I suppose I’ll have to learn to like the bastard if he’s going to be family. That poor sod better know how bloody lucky he is that you love him.” Then he hung up on me.
I stayed seated where I was, staring at the now-black laptop screen, a thousand thoughts rushing through my mind like a tide. The day had only just begun—but everything had changed. And I had no idea what came next.
TBC📖✍️
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