DAMN WHAT HAPPENED TO NIKOLAI'S MOM IS THE SAME THING HE'S DOING TO READER?????
SERGEI ROSTOVSKY AND NIKOLAI'S FAMILY BACKGROUND
TW: 18+ ONLY, GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE, DOMESTIC ABUSE, mentions of non-con, torture,
History does tend to repeat itself...
Here's the deal with Nikolai's father and mother.
Nikolai's mother wasn't Sergei Rostovsky's first marriage. His first wife was a Russian model named Natalya Fedorova—the daughter of a leading weapons manufacturer. The two of them were introduced when they were young at a networking gala and were set into a political marriage briefly after.
Sergei was in love with Natalya, or at least held a modicum of affection for her. Like Nikolai, he didn't grow up with much tenderness in his childhood, so Sergei wasn't entirely sure how to love her. But Natalya, being a hard ass Russian woman, didn't need tenderness from him—she understood him and his world. She made Sergei feel seen.
But when Sergei and Natalya met, Sergei wasn't meant to inherit the Pahkan position. He was the second son—his brother Igor was first and well on his way to inheriting the throne. He'd been groomed his whole life for the position and already had his first son (Mikhail) on the way.
Then Igor was killed in a shoot-out and the role landed on him.
He was suddenly thrust into a role he wasn't prepared to take on. A role far more brutal, stressful and unforgiving than the one he was supposed to inherit. He had to start viewing his life in a strategical manner—everything must be done with purpose and thorough planning. He couldn't have attachments anymore because attachments give enemies a weakness to exploit.
That became very troubling for him, considering he already loved Natalya.
He had to start viewing her as a tool. He needed a son and he needed one fast, but Natalya didn't really want a child. The two of them fought a lot about it and Sergei became angrier and angrier with the growing complexity of his situation.
And eventually he took it out on her.
He forced himself on her and locked her in a wing of the families mansion in St. Petersburg (or Leningrad at the time) for the duration of her pregnancy. Obviously, Natalya wasn't happy about this and grew to resent him—something that broke her emotionally stunted husbands heart. He took out his anger on her because he didn't know what else to do. He became cold to her and made her status as an object well known, put up a mean front because he'd rather die than show vulnerability.
On February 18th, Anastasia Irina Rostovskaya was born, and Sergei was livid.
If Sergei hadn't been made to take leadership of the Bratva he likely would have been fine with having a daughter, but he was under an insurmountable amount of pressure to have a son. His fathers health was declining and he was almost forty. He needed an heir.
And in his anger, he killed Natalya.
He grew to resent Ania because she reminded him of his dead wife. He honestly only kept her around because he knew she could be used as a bargaining chip one day. She was mostly raised by hired Nannies—rarely did she ever see her father. She grew up resenting him, especially when she found out that he deprived her of a mother.
(Ania always had a secret admiration for her dead mother. In the current day she's a famous runway model—fulfilling the work that her mother loved so much. After Sergei's death she dyed her brown hair blonde like her mothers and her public alias is Ana Fedorova.)
Sergei couldn't bring himself to take another wife for some time—for nearly two years he grieved his first love. But he was finally pressured into taking one, and when he met Claire Delapont—a young, rising French actress—he decided she'd be his second bride.
He never really bothered processing why he chose Claire, but in a subconscious way she reminded him of Natalya when the two of them first met—the happiest time of his life. She had the same youthful grace and coy sense of humor. She wasn't as tough as Natalya was, but she would do.
He threatened to off her sick mother if she didn't become his wife. Within a month, the two were married and she was pregnant.
Unlike Natalya, Claire never really resented Sergei—she never had any trust in him for him to betray. She just grieved her past life and career. He clipped her wings and forced her in a dreary cage, of course she stopped singing. She grew deeply depressed and ill. Doctors were uncertain if she'd even survive the pregnancy. But sure enough, nine months later on Christmas Eve, she gave birth to Nikolai.
Sergei was pleased to have a son finally, but doctors warned him that he likely wouldn't develop correctly if he wasn't given time with his mother during his early developmental years. Claire basically raised Nikolai for the first four years of his life. He was her pride and joy and brought back light into her life. She also took on a maternal role for Ania (she loved kids). The two of them adored her.
But Nikolai was quickly brought into his fathers care when he turned five.
He began the brutal training process to become the next leader of the mafia and very quickly hardened. He was starved, beaten, verbally and emotionally abused and made to do and see things no child should have too.
But despite it all the one person he always had love in his heart for was his mother. When his training was done for the day he'd sneak into his mothers bedroom and she'd read to him. It was what kept him going, she was his world.
When Sergei found this out, he wasn't happy.
Nikolai wasn't to be shown kindness. Nikolai couldn't have attachments. Attachments are weaknesses. And he needed to be punished for disobeying.
In his profile I mentioned that Nikolai has five golden teeth. This is why:
His father strapped him to a chair and ripped them out with no anesthesia. A torture method usually reserved for traitors or those who know things they shouldn't. He said he’d keep ripping them out until Nikolai denounced his love for his mother—but Nikolai woudn't do it.
When his mother found out what he was doing she tried to stop him. She cried and pleaded as her son screamed, begged Sergei to take it out on her and not him, it was her fault.
And he eventually did. Sergei beat her to death and made Nikolai watch.
"This is what happens when you love, Nikolai." he hissed, "This was your own fault."
Obviously, Nikolai grew up to hate his father, but that was fine with Sergei. It was always his goal to turn Nikolai into a heartless, crueler version of himself. He didn't want him making the same mistake he did with Natalya. He never had any issue with Nikolai having sex—he could fuck as many women as he wanted—but under no circumstances was he to ever become attached.
Nikolai, ironically, swore he'd never be like him.
One of the main reasons Nikolai fell for Y/N is because she reminded him so heavily of his mother. She treated him with tenderness. She knew he was a bad man but she was still kind to him regardless.
He lost his mother, so he can't lose her. It's unlikely he'll ever be loved again if he does.
