The Billionaire Mafia’s Slave

CHAPTER 51: WHO IS THIS ELENA?

LILY’S POV:

I got to the kitchen and the food was almost ready, Nikolai’s mom was there too, I was surprised.

‘Don’t rich people leave the cooking for the cook?’, I wondered.

“Good morning mom”, I greeted her and she had her back towards me.

“Oh my dear girl, how did you sleep?”, She turned around with a big smile on her face, I smiled back.

Her smile will always be contagious.

“It was good… and yours?”, I asked back.

“Mine was splendid!”, She replied and pinched both my cheeks making me giggle. Mrs Vladimir was a really kind and sweet soul, She is an embodiment of kindness and compassion. She just has this way of making me feel at ease and unguarded with her warm smile and gentle touch.

“… and why are you up so early? What are you doing here?”, She asked.

“I wanted to help with breakfast”, I replied.

“Oh honey, you don’t have to. Everything is taken care of, we have chefs and maids for all that. I’m just here to supervise”, She explained and I nodded. Now I feel awkward, I just came down here to help with the food forgetting they may have gazillion of helpers for that.

“Okay- Well I-I’m gonna head b-back upstairs”, I said and immediately turned to go.

“You could stay and watch if you want to”, Mrs Vladimir said making halt. I slowly turned around and she smiled at me.

“Sure. I will stay and watch”, I whispered the last back and went back to her, I sat down close to her and she just watched what the chefs and maids were doing, occasionally giving orders.

“Don’t put that much vinegar!”,

“Turn off the gas!”,

“Make that egg half done”,

“Don’t put pickles in there, you know Nikolai don’t eat those!”,

She gave orders up and down.

I really admire her, she was bossy but also maintained her elegance.

“Mom”, I called.

“Hm?”, She replied absentmindedly, still looking at the chefs. I was skeptical of asking her what I had in mind but I wanted to know.

“Has uhm… H-has Nikolai ever be-been in any… serious relationship?”, I murmured but she has me because she finally looked at me.

“Why? Is he treating you badly? because if he is–“.

“No no, he isn’t!”, I quickly corrected.

“Then why are you asking?”, She asked me again.

“I just want to know, you know he isn’t one to talk about his past, so I just want to know if he has had any serious girlfriend before me. Not flings”, I asked.

I wanted to know who the girl he and his brother fought about that day, I have never seen Nikolai been so protective of someone that way. It looked as if he could tear his brother limb by limb if he came close to the girl.

“It isn’t good to go digging up the past dear. I am sure why he didn’t tell you was because he doesn’t want you to feel jealous or ask questions”, Mrs Vladimir said.

‘He didn’t tell me because I’m not his girlfriend and he doesn’t need to tell me’, Of course I couldn’t say that out loud.

“You’re right. Sorry I asked, ju-just forget I asked”, I tried to remedy to the situation.

“It’s okay. You know we ladies always want to know if we are the first love or the most loved, I was like that with my husband hahaha”, She said, I just smiled and listened to her talk about her love life.

Mrs Vladimir was the wrong person to ask about this, I will ask Galina, she should know.

‘Why should you even care if Nikolai had a girl he loved or still loves, not like you’re his real girlfriend’, My inner thoughts scolded, but I was too curious to care. I will ask Galina after breakfast or when we have free time.

***

We were having a peaceful and very quiet breakfast, no one spoke at the table, Anastasia didn’t throw any side talks.

Nikolai occasionally put food in my plate and smiles brightly at me and I smiled awkwardly back. I wasn’t comfortable with what he was doing, but like he said ‘play pretend’. I noticed he didn’t eat that much, just small bites but he just focused on putting food for me.

“So… I spoke with Elena last night”, Anastasia said and it was as if time froze, everyone at the table paused and either looked at Nikolai and me. Nikolai’s hand that was about to put food on my plate for me also froze but he didn’t look up.

“Not now Ana!”, Anastasia’s mom silently warned her. I was the only confused one at the table.

‘Who is this Elena and how was she so effective to the Vladimir’s family?’, I wondered.

“Why mother, it is so quiet at the table so I thought of saying something”, Anastasia said, like she didn’t say anything bad.

Nikolai dropped the spoon on the table with a loud clang making everyone shiver, including me. Nikolai looked at Anastasia like he was thinking on how to cut her tongue off and make her eat it, Anastasia had fear written all over her face.

“W-who’s Elena?”, I stuttered as I asked, I was just too curious for my own good. Mrs Vladimir and Nikolai’s aunty stared at me with worry on their faces, Galina couldn’t say anything, Nikolai had his jaw tightened and Anastasia had a satisfied smirk on.

“S-she is–“, Mrs Vladimir tried saying but Nikolai cutt her off.

“No one. She is no one”, He replied and continued putting food on my plate like nothing happened, everyone quietly went back to eating and I should have dropped it but I was more curious.

Nikolai has never been affected by anything, but I saw his eyes move really quickly and his jaw muscles tighten up a little bit. It was a small change, but I noticed it because I’m used to looking at Nikolai’s face, which usually doesn’t show any emotions.

Even though he didn’t look different on the outside, I could tell that he was feeling something on the inside. It was like the name brought up a memory that he didn’t want to think about. I wondered who this Elena was and what had happened between them.

‘I need to ask Galina’, I made a note to myself. Galina had all the answers I was looking for.

***

After the tense breakfast, Mrs Vladimir and Nikolai’s aunty went to the hospital to check on Mr Vladimir, Roman left with an angry expression, Anastasia locked herself in her room and Nikolai also left the mansion.

I was left with Galina and she was so eager to continue what we left off the previous day.

“You need to see Nikolai’s baby pictures! He had massive cheeks hahaha”, Galina said with excitement. No matter how tempting it was to see the cute side of Nikolai, I had minimum time on the questions I had for Galina.

We got to her room and she locked it.

“Wait here while I grab the photo album. Nikolai almost had all of his baby pictures burned but I hid away a few, oh he will be so maddd when he finds out I still kept some hahahaha”, Galina said.

“Wait Galina…”, I grabbed her hand to stop her from going to get the photo album, “… can I ask you something first?”, I said to her and she furrowed her brows.

“What’s wrong?”, She asked me in concern and I sighed.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“Can we sit first”, She nodded and we sat on her bed, “Please promise to keep this between us… and answer me truthfully, please?”, I made her promise.

“Sure. But what is this about?”.

“Who… w-who is this Elena girl to Nikolai?”, I asked and Galina was surprised.

“I thought Nikolai already explained at the table, sh-she’s nobody. No one”, Galina said, I noticed how she avoided eye contact with me and I knew something was up, she was hiding something.

“Please Galina, I promise I won’t get mad, I won’t confront Nikolai, I won’t say anything. I just need to know”, I held her hands and begged her.

I was also surprised about my curiosity, Nikolai and I were nothing, why was I trying to know about his past?

Galina sighed.

“Okay… Elena’s family and our family have been friends for a long time. What I know is Elena and Nikolai were betrothed since birth and luckily they took liking to each other and started dating officially when Elena turned 18 and Nikolai was 20… They dated for 4 years and something happened between them, I don’t know what it was but they parted ways”, Galina explained.

I didn’t know how to feel or react, it seems Nikolai still feels something for Elena. I remembered him warning his brother to stay away from a girl and not to get close to her, he even looked as if he was capable of hurting his brother just to protect this girl… turns out it was this Elena and he clearly still has feelings for her, I felt a weird feeling in my chest. It wasn’t exactly jealousy, but it was uncomfortable.

Even though Nikolai and I aren’t a couple, I felt a little possessive. I’ve grown used to having him around and feeling safe with him. The thought of him still having feelings for someone else made me feel like I didn’t matter as much.

‘Stop feeling this way Lily!’, I told myself.

I know it doesn’t make sense, but I couldn’t help feeling that way. I tried to brush it off, telling myself it was none of my business, but the feeling stuck with me.