Chapter 65 Crown of Thorns
MAGDALENA'S exact words echoed in Lucian's head for the next hours that followed. He didn't get to sleep even a wink and whenever he tried to close his eyes, he'd dream of a beautiful fantasy. A simple life with Magdalena and Angel.
His heart felt cold and suffocated. It was so hard to accept that the woman he loves is letting go of their relationship because she had no other choice.
He knows that his father is threatening Magdalena. He knows his father too much.
The mansion was cold and silent as Lucian decided to talk to his father.
Lucian found his father in his study room, pouring a glass of scotch while staring at it.
"I heard you've been reckless lately," Viktor said as soon as Lucian entered the study room.
He shut the door behind him before he walked towards his father. Viktor was sitting on a single couch like a king, an evil king. The aura surrounding him was dark, like he was close to a dangerous explosion.
Lucian's jaw ticked. He didn't sit. He stared at his father while standing in front of him.
"Cancel the wedding next month," Lucian demanded, voice icy and sharp.
Viktor let out a soft but sarcastic laugh. He sipped on his scotch before he lifted his face to him. "I don't consider requests."
"I'm not requesting." Lucian's fists balled. "I am telling you to cancel the wedding. Stick to your original plan."
"For what?" Viktor pulled himself up, glaring at him with the same intensity of anger in his eyes. "So, you can lure her?"
"Lure her?" Lucian let out a humorless laugh. "You looked down on the woman you claimed to be your future wife? Magdalena is not like that!"
"Is she not?" Viktor smirked. "How did you know? Did you try to seduce her and she resisted?"
Lucian's jaw ticked, his chest rose and fell, his balled fists trembled. "Don't stray far from the topic. I want you to cancel the wedding, or I will do everything to ruin it."
"Tell me why are you so eager to take her away from me?" Viktor took a step forward in an offensive stance. "Did you already fcked my woman?"
"She's not yours, dad!" Lucian's voice thundered, hard and dangerous.
He gets easily worked up when it comes to Magdalena. He just wants to protect her too much that he would risk everything he has.
She doesn't deserve cruelty.
"Of course she is!" Viktor shouted, his voice echoed louder than Lucian's. "She is mine, Lucian. Mine. I saved her from a sure downfall. I gave her freedom-"
Lucian's hard and cold laughter stopped Viktor. Lucian messed his hair up, paced back and forth before he faced his father again with a ridiculed expression on his face. "You think this is freedom? You are forcing her to marry you!"
"She agreed to marry me!" Viktor countered, fingers pointing at the wall like Magdalena was there.
"Because you left her with no choice," Lucian growled, his voice almost cracked in so much frustration and fury. "If she did not agree to marriage, would you have helped her?"
Viktor shook his head. "Everything in this world comes with a price, Lucian. She's under my roof. Eating my food. Raising her child with my resources. I gave her a life. And it's only right to get something in return."
This is what his father is good at. Counting things. Collecting debts. He treats people like investments, and he expects something in return from the people he lent hand to.
It was selfish, but that's what Viktor taught him while he was growing up. Good thing he met some good friends. Or else, he would've grown up like his father. Cold, heartless, manipulative, and evil. Extremely embarrassing.
"This is not an investment." Lucian's chest was rising and falling violently in anger. "Magdalena is not some kind of an investment. You are killing her!"
"And you're saving her? From me?" Viktor let out a sarcastic laugh. "How noble!"
"Yes," Lucian growled. "I'm trying to save her from your golden shackles."
"Shackles?" Viktor laughed. "I crowned her as my queen, Lucian."
"But your crown has thorns, dad," Lucian answered. He was challenging his own father. "She didn't want to be your queen. She doesn't want to sit on a throne. She wants to roam free."
Viktor shook his head. "This conversation is over. I'll pretend you didn't disrespect me tonight."
Viktor sat on the single couch again, but Lucian has no plans to let this slide easily.
"You can't force her to marry you, dad," Lucian said again, sharper this time. "Didn't you see her every time you talk about the damn wedding?"
Viktor's eyes were sharp through his furrowed brows. "She was just like that when she married Danilo Mendoza, Lucian. She will recover and will learn to accept it. And this doesn't even concern you. So, stop acting like a hero. Stop trying to steal my woman, or I will have to forget that you're my son."
"You think I'm scared of that?" Lucian asked, eyes empty and lifeless.
It's useless and hopeless. His father would never let Magdalena go. He would only tighten his grip until Magdalena surrendered from too much suffocation.
"I'm not trying to scare you," Viktor said, eyes dark and cold. "I'm saying you should wisely pick your ally and your enemy. You are my flesh and blood, and I know that in every part of your body, you're longing to touch and claim her. I'm telling you now, Lucian. There's no way you can have her. Try me, and you're not the only one who'd face my wrath."
That caught Lucian. He was shaken by the fact that he won't only ruin him, but also Magdalena and probably Angel's future.
His own father surpassed his expectations again. Negatively.
He came here with the thought of giving up on his own future just to save Magdalena from his father's prison, but he was wrong. It was wrong to try to talk it out with the ruthless Viktor Moretti.
"Your graduation is just around the corner, Lucian," Viktor said when Lucian turned his back angrily. "Don't ruin it." It was a threat. He felt it.