Contract Marriage: Married to My Ex-Husband's Alpha Stepfather [BL]

Chapter 163: And In Your Eyes, You’re Holdin’ Mine

[FROLO]

"... Where does that leave me if not the husband who’s clinging onto shit that will never be his again?" Katya cried, his eyes red and his tears falling fast.

He looked like he was having the hardest of times, when in truth, Katya wasn’t going to relent. He knew Yaroslav was weak for his emotions and tears.

He knew it would sell, and he hoped that it would trigger the man into letting him go.

Because Yaroslavl was a Moskowsky who believed that everything was his.

Everything.

And Katya didn’t even care for that.

All he wanted was his freedom from this shameless Chapter, and if playing pretend hurt was going to get him his answers, then he would do it.

"Honey, no..." Yaroslav said, as he walked towards Katya, desperate to wipe those tears away.

Yaroslav was terrified of losing Katya. Because after what he had seen in his father’s penthouse, he knew Katya was his father’s target.

And without the marriage, Katya would be vulnerable.

He knew Katya would probably be hunted by his father, and he needed to do everything to protect his omega. Yet he couldn’t even tell that to Katya. Because then he would scare the omega even more.

And that was never his intention.

"I came to work every day, even when my fever started. I never missed work because no one would accept my job applications anywhere in Frolo or even beyond. I’m already a prisoner in this company;

"... and you still wonder what keeps me chained to a marriage that gives me nothing but pain? Is this the thanks I get for loving you? Being chained to contracts and marriages that will always have me as a prisoner?" Katya asked defeatedly.

His sincerity had Yaroslav faltering.

It was almost like the beta was trying his very best not to blurt out that he had been keeping the marriage for Katya’s safety.

Yaroslav knew very well their marriage was dead.

He knew that there was no saving it.

But he didn’t care for the marriage.

At least not right now.

All he cared about was Katya.

And now it was like he was losing Katya too.

"Don’t make him hate you, if you want to protect him, Yaro. You can’t protect someone who’s always going to try to run away from you each time. Maybe give him his freedom and watch him choose you.

"After all, we all saw your marriage. He loves you," Nikolai had told Yaro when Yaro went back to tell him of the reports he’d found.

At the time, it hadn’t made any sense, but right now, that shit was starting to sound a little less crazy.

Granted, Yaro wanted to stick to the no-divorce lifeline, but he also knew that Nik was right.

If he trapped Katya, he’d never see him again, even if they were married.

Katya Romanov was born in a wealthy family. And if Katya left Moskowsky to go work in Romanov Steel, Yaroslav would never truly see him. Even with the damn marriage binding them.

Because at Moskowsky, he could come in whenever he liked and see his omega even if through a wall. But at Romanov Steel, his head would probably meet the ground before his feet made the first step into that plant.

The Romanovs wouldn’t care that he was a Moskowsky.

"The only reason that family hasn’t made your life hell is that their son loves you. The day you change that, even daddy’s money and power won’t keep you alive, brother," Nik had wanted a few times over.

Again, Yaroslav knew he was right.

Because Svetlana and Andre were already the kind of mess that didn’t care for their lives if what they did made Katya happy.

People like that would never let the fight get to Katya, and with the Romanov alphas there too, Yaroslav wouldn’t stand a chance. Maybe his father would avenge his life. But he wouldn’t get to live again.

He’d be dead before high noon.

"Is this because of the senator?" Yaroslav asked softly.

Katya lifted his teary eyes to look at the gullible beta.

"I don’t love him," Katya said in earnest.

Somewhere in the office down the hall, a bowl fell to the ground, the sound of its clash reverberating across the executive floor.

Either someone was careless.

Or someone was eavesdropping.

"Damn it!" came Anya’s voice, but inside that office was someone else.

Someone who was doing his very best not to run wild with joy.

But maybe no one would ever know, right?

"You don’t?" Yaroslav asked.

Katya glared at him.

"I only went to him because you chose Milan," Katya sobbed while pouting, like he’d just lost a very significant part of his life and he was trying not to lose what was left.

"Honey..."

"Please, Yaro. I just wanna go home to our house again. I can’t go back if I’m still with the senator or if I’m living in that damn penthouse because the trolls won’t leave me alone," Katya sniffled, his shoulders shaking in defeat.

"Home?"

"D... Do you not want me home anymore?"

"Of course I do. It’s just... You’re asking for a divorce, honey. A divorce. Things like that are permanent," Yaroslav insisted.

Katya stared at him sadly.

"Okay then. You don’t have to sign it. I guess I’ll just go and keep fighting the trolls and the media mockery on my own.

"Or even those people who keep attacking me on my way to the penthouse because they think I ruined your relationship with Milan," Katya pouted before turning his back to Yaroslav.

"Goodbye, husband," Katya said, walking back to his office.

’Quite the act you put out there. I almost got convinced you wanted him back’

Of course, this was the time for Katya’s insufferable subconscious to come back.

"Baby, wait," Yaroslav said, and Katya didn’t stop.

He kept going to his office, only for him to hear Yaro running after him.

"Dammit, honey. I said wait!" Yaroslav said exasperatedly before he held Katya’s shoulder and turned the omega toward him.

Katya was crying now.

And Yaroslav...

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, desperate to make it better. He always hated it when Katya cried anyway.

"I’m sorry... I... I know Moskowskys don’t divorce... I don’t even know what I was thinking. Forget it," Katya cried, wiping his tears away furiously.

But they kept coming.

Of course, they kept coming.

Katya had practiced for this shit for months on end.

"Baby, stop crying, you’ll get sick," Yaroslav cooed, pulling Katya into a hug.

The lavender scent that used to comfort Katya now smelled like garbage.

Yet Katya didn’t do anything about it.

He needed that divorce as soon as today, if his act went well.

Otherwise, he’d just have to figure something out until he separated from the bastard cheater.

He’d get it.

Come hell or high water.

"Maybe this will end if I die. I can’t... I can’t deal with the trolls anymore. I can’t always be looking around me because everyone thinks I’m the obstacle in your love story with Milan.

"I can’t even tell the senator about it because he’d just make it worse with his fame," Katya kept on crying.

Yaroslav gently pulled him back from the hug, wiping his tears desperately.

"You didn’t tell Aleksandr about what you’ve been going through?" Yaro asked, his rage suddenly showing.

"You know you’re the only one I ever talked to about things I couldn’t tell my friends. Why are you asking me that?" Katya sobbed.