My Rival, My Temptation - Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Katherine’s POV
“Absolutely not.” I snapped, my voice steady despite the rage bubbling inside me. My eyes burned with frustration as I stood in the middle of the living room, glaring at my parents. The request they’d made had shifted the ground beneath me, and I could barely process what they were asking.
So, this was their version of me saving the business?
“Katherine, please,” my mother said, her voice trembling with frustration as she put her hands together in a pleading gesture. “Calm down and listen. Just hear us out.”
“No!” I snapped, my eyes wide with disbelief. “How can you even ask me to do this? Marry into the Volkov family?” My words felt like they were choking me as I glared at them both, unable to grasp the absurdity of the situation. “How can you expect me to do that?”
My father cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable but resolute. “It’s not just about you, Katherine. It’s about our family’s future. The future of everything we’ve worked for. Your mother’s right, you need to listen.”
“No! I don’t care about—” I began to protest again, but my father’s stern look silenced me.
“We need you to marry into the Volkov family,” my father said, his voice thick with regret but also urgency. “Sergei Volkov and I made an agreement years ago. Our firstborn children would eventually marry, to ensure the continued strength of both our families and businesses. To keep the legacy alive.”
I froze, my brain struggling to process his words. “You—what? You…made a deal? You made a pact with Sergei Volkov? And you never told me about this?” My voice cracked at the end, disbelief and anger mixing together.
My father’s gaze softened for a moment, then hardened. “It was always going to happen, Katherine. We’ve been family friends for years. I know this isn’t ideal, but we need to keep everything intact now more than ever. The business…It’s sinking. Your mother and I…we’ve tried everything, but if we don’t seal this deal, we lose everything.”
I stumbled back a step, my head spinning. “This is insane. I’m not— I won’t—” I couldn’t even finish the sentence.
“Don’t be so hasty,” my mother interrupted, her voice much softer now, as if trying to soothe me. “Nikolai Volkov is…every young woman’s dream. He’s incredibly handsome, incredibly successful. His family is powerful, Katherine. They’re wealthy beyond imagination. You should consider yourself fortunate to be given such an opportunity. Think about it—marrying into a family that has the means to save ours.”
Her words felt like they came from a different world. I blinked, unable to process. “I don’t care about that!” I shot back. “I don’t care if he’s a prince or a billionaire. I despise Nikolai. And he despises me too. You don’t understand. You don’t get it.”
Nikolai and I were like fire and ice. Our hatred for each other ran so deep that if we were ever forced to marry, only one of us would walk away from it alive. The idea of marrying my sworn enemy made me want to fall on the ground and scream.
My father’s face tightened, his patience wearing thin. “Katherine, if we lose everything…You will fall into penury. This family will lose everything. Do you want that for us? Do you want your mother and I to lose everything we’ve built?”
I swallowed, the weight of his words pressing down on my chest. I opened my mouth to argue, but nothing came out. The reality was slowly sinking in. If we lost the business, if we lost everything…we’d have nothing. My mind raced, thinking of the house, the lifestyle we had, the friends, the connections. I couldn’t bear to think of losing it all.
“No,” I whispered, my eyes burning. “But I don’t want to marry Nikolai.”
My father gave me a hard, final look. “You don’t have a choice. It’s the only way, Katherine.”
The silence that followed was suffocating. The tension hung between us like a thick fog, and I knew my parents were right, even if I hated it. This wasn’t about me anymore. This wasn’t about what I wanted. It was about survival.
And that was why, hours later, I found myself in the back of our family’s car, my parents sitting in tense silence beside me as we drove to the Volkov estate. My stomach twisted in knots with every passing mile. The enormity of what I was about to do—what I had to do—was starting to settle on me.
When we pulled up to the gates of the mansion, my body stiffened like a lamb that was being led to the slaughter. I used to come here a lot when I was a kid, but then things had changed and I had never visited again.
Every step echoed beneath my feet as I followed my parents through the hallways.
Was it so terrible for me to wish that something bad had happened to Nikolai so that he wouldn’t be able to attend this dinner?
But as we turned the corner into the main parlor, I saw him.
Nikolai Volkov.
His eyes locked with mine instantly, and for a moment, everything else faded away. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, like my lungs had forgotten how to function. The room around me seemed to disappear. It was just him and me.
I couldn’t stop myself.
“Nikolai,” I said, but my voice came out as a sneer. It always did whenever he was around.
His eyes narrowed as he watched me with a mixture of distaste and something else that I couldn’t place. It had to be hatred, because that’s exactly how I looked back at him. “Covey,” he said, his voice smooth and mocking. “Long time, no see.”