Chapter 12: Then The World Went Quiet
[FROLO]
The storm that had spilled outside didn’t stay inside.
If anything, within the room, there was a quiet that had not been expected. The floor that had once been tainted by blood was cleaner than it had been before. The walls were whiter than the sanctity of any good deeds Sergei had ever done.
The nurses had long left, and in that room, with the devil of Frolo, was Mr. Romanov. A man whose question hadn’t been answered properly.
He had asked what had happened.
And Sergei had given him a name.
His son-in-law’s name. The same son-in-law that Sergei had almost killed. The son-in-law who had been shot by his father.
Mr. Romanov hadn’t asked any further questions. Instead, he had sat on the farthest couch from Katya’s bed, watching, waiting, studying the room like he wanted to give an opinion but wasn’t sure how it would work.
Next to the bed sat a now clean Sergei Moskowsky. He had cleaned up twice in the past hour, like he was wiping away any stench of death that was lingering on him. Like he was trying to atone for something no one understood just yet.
He was holding Katya’s hand, staring softly at the omega on the bed like this was all that Sergei could commit his whole life to. He was looking at the sleeping omega like the world could burn, and Sergei would still keep him safe.
Would still protect him.
Would still cherish him in the kind of way that no one would be put to words just yet.
It was haunting, but at the same time, very, very unsettling.
The omega on the bed looked peaceful, and Sergei watched him, softly, lips trembling like he had an apology stuck in his throat, like he had prayed to the moon goddess and was counting on the woman above to even listen to him.
It was a desperate moment for him.
Then Katya opened his eyes.
And Sergei stepped back, like he had been burnt.
Like staying in the room was something that he had not counted on to this extent.
Mr. Romanov noticed.
Of course he did.
It was all he could think of. His son that bed. His in-law so confident beside him like a dedicated stag.
Sergei did not let their eyes meet.
Not with Katya, no.
He simply looked up in the direction of Mr. Romanov, as if he was telling him something. Something he didn’t have the right words for.
Then Sergei got up. Walked away from the bed. Toward the door.
Not once looking back.
And Mr. Romanov just stared. Confused. Unable to understand what the heck was going on. When the door closed behind Sergei Moskowsky, Mr. Romanov let out a breath he had realized he was holding.
It was as if he had finally learned to breathe.
But was that all there was?
"What the hell was that?" Mr. Romanov questioned, but there was no one to answer him.
In that moment, he took a desperate leap of faith. Got up from where he had been sitting for hours and headed to his son. hi precious Omega son. the only child he ever had. The old man wondered what it was that had gotten his son to this point.
No one had given him an explanation.
The nurse who had come for him in the cardiac section had not said a word. Other than the fact that Sergei had demanded his presence. It was a shallow request, but one that Mr. Romanov had known better not to defy.
Because they were in-laws, no.
But because Sergei... was Sergei.
Now alone with his son, staring at the motions beeping, watching as his son tried to turn and see his surroundings, Mr. Romanov has way too many questions.
"P... papa," a defeated voice hit his ears, making the old man refocus on his son. The boy was not even aware that he had been in the hospital. The boy he had been waiting for was on the other side of this hospital.
Oh, but fate was a cruel bitch, but this couldn’t be the first time they were fucked, no?
"Michka," Mr. Romanov breathed when he reached his son.
He sat where Sergei had been sitting before, looking at him so worriedly, like the world had been turned upside down and he had the slightest of clues about what this was.
"My dear child," Mr. Romanov added as their eyes met.
"I’m sorry, Papa. I’m so sorry,’ Katya apologized, his voice hoarse from not being used for a while. He looked confused and had questions too.
But who would go first when the father and son both had questions?
"Michka..." Mr. Romanov trailed off.
"Mama... How’s mama?" Katya asked, the guilt in his eyes something that his father didn’t miss.
"Did... did she get treated? The surg—" Katya spoke, before he broke into a fit of coughs. There was water beside the bed, and Mr. Romanov carefully gave it to his son, after tilting the bed, so Katya was almost sitting.
"Thank you," Katya said, drinking water weakly.
"Your mother is fine, Michka," Mr. Romanov said and later breathed a sigh of relief.
"But... the company..." Katya trailed off.
"About that," Mr. Romanov began.
"Papa..."
"We had an anonymous investor today. Invested thrice the value of the entire empire. I haven’t checked the documents yet. But our value in the stock market skyrocketed by two hundred percent. We can pay the debts, Michka.
"We can pay for everything. But that is not the issue right now," Mr. Romanov said, his voice tightening for a bit.
Katya watched him, pretending to be confused. Like he didn’t know what his father was talking about. Like he didn’t have the slightest clue that some barbarian out there had decided to take care of everything based on a promise to forever stay by his side.
That was madness, but Mr. Romanov didn’t need to know that, no?
"What?" Katya asked if his surprise was too delayed, and his father stared at him, as if he was suspecting something.
Something too dangerous to name.
Something that would either have them in trouble or have the light kind of life no one had expected at all. But maybe some words were better off not spoken, at least not within the confines of a hospital room.
"Mr. Moskowsky was here," Mr. Romanov said, and Katya choked on the water he was drinking. He had been holding onto that glass a little too tightly, like he was terrified of what it would come with.
But maybe this time there was no running.
Maybe he had to face his truth.
However, how was he to tell his father that things had gotten so bad and he had to give himself up to the barbarian just to save all their lives?
"No way," Katya forced out.
His father didn’t believe him.
"The only person who knew about the crisis outside the company was you, Michka," Mr. Romanov said.
Katya stared at the ceiling, as if it were suddenly the most interesting space in the room. And not at his father, who was asking the kind of questions that Katya wasn’t sure what to ask.
"Did... did he do this?" Mr. Romanov asked.
Katya knew he was getting himself into deeper shit. He knew there had to be a way out, but he wasn’t sure he was even in the right state of mind to figure it out fast before his father caught him.
"The hospital won’t tell me what happened to you. Mr. Moskowsky nearly killed your husband. The hospital is on lockdown. Your mother got a new heart from nowhere. The company that was doomed is suddenly on the charts.
"The only family on the continent that could buy out our company for that much is the Moskowsky family," Mr. Romanov stated, as a matter of fact.
Katya stiffened.
He should have thought ahead.
He should have tried to find a new way. But at least everything was alright, like Sergei had promised. His mother got a new heart that was something he had not even known was possible.
Hearts weren’t just donated like people donated blood.
Katya refused to lean into the possibility that the heart his mother was given was probably yanked off a living person because Sergei wanted to make him see that the contract terms were met.
Gods, this was insane.
"Papa... maybe Yaro talked to his father," Katya said, and his old man stared at him as if to ask him how stupid the boy thought he was.
"Michka..."
"But papa..."
"Only a person with something worth atoning for would do what he has done in the hospital since I learned you were here... you can trust me, son. Did Mr. Moskowsky hurt you?"
