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

Chapter 177: It’s My Desire That You Feed

[FROLO]

The office was quiet after the senator’s exit, but questions hung in the air, especially with Anya hovering around Sergei’s office.

She was curious to know what she had just witnessed, and who had cracked the lunch code for Sergei, especially on a day when everyone had been sure the man would lose his shit.

So, she called Volkov to the window, like she was horrified that anything about this conversation would make the big bad alpha go back to his isolative state.

"What happened in there? He was eating. Where did it come from?" Anya asked as if she didn’t know the restaurant.

It was one that everyone knew Katya frequented.

Maybe not Sergei, but again, the way the alpha was still obsessed with the omega, to assume that he didn’t would just be impossibly hard on their end. It was right there either way.

"Chairman Romanov," Volkov said carefully, like that was the name that could start a war.

Anya’s breath hitched.

She had been right.

Katya Romanov had sent the lunch.

"Why?" Anya asked.

Volkov stared at her as if to ask her if even she could speculate what the answer there could be.

"Rahim didn’t say why. She just said the chairman ordered two lunches and had one delivered to Mr. Moskosky," Volkov said, making a wonder of this was the one time they needed to maximize on what Katya was doing.

It was dangerous, truly dangerous, given that Katya belonged to the senator now. But Anya was desperate. She was even willing to pay Katya for this because, honestly, Sergei was deteriorating.

The fact that he had pulled out his gun and the silencer in front of a sitting government officer was not just insane. It went to show just how hard and fast Sergei was hitting his patience limits.

"Should we set them up for regular lunches?" Anya wondered genuinely.

Volkov coughed like he had swallowed something he shouldn’t have.

"I’m sorry, what?" Volkov asked, the sincerity in his questioning voice something had Anya sighing.

"I know it’s a terrible idea. But that omega is the only one who can make his mood better," Anya said, and Volkov added quietly;

"Or make it worse. We’ve all seen what Mr. Moskowsky has been doing these past weeks. He is getting worse, but to give him hope that is not there will be worse than the bodies we keep cleaning on the floor streets, miss Anya," Volkov reasoned.

He had experienced Sergei, if that was ever something worth mentioning. They both had, and they both knew how Sergei would react. It wasn’t, but what the fuck was the other option left for them?

What else were they supposed to lean into?

Everything else was just so complicated, and it didn’t help that the alpha was stubborn.

"He agreed to let Katya go to the charity event," Anya sighed exaggeratedly, like she couldn’t even believe the kind of day they had all had. But that was the state of things; at least Sergei didn’t overwork his employees as often lately.

Maybe that was supposed to count as progress, but where was the progress when Anya knew he was still hoarding Katya’s workload to pretend that he wasn’t hurting and did need someone to talk to?

All the therapists who could have handled Sergei were out of commission.

The last one who had advised him on the delivery gig was dead. And that too because Sergei had seen Katya with the senator in a way that he didn’t like. No one was going to take him on, which made him irrational.

"That means he will be there too. The event is this Friday," Volkov said, mentally preparing for the worst. It was always better to expect the worst from Sergei and hope for the best anyway.

"Alright, let me know if Romanov does anything remotely relating to Sergei. He is the trigger that could determine lots of tastes. And if anything changes with Sergei, let me know, too," Anya sighed as she began walking away.

Volkov spoke before she could go far.

"Miss Anya...."

"What is it?"

"What of Yaroslav?" Volkov asked.

It was almost a far stretch, but then yours was the only other person Sergei cared for. Maybe more than Katya or the same in different ways.

There was no surety other than the fact that Sergei would burn the world for Katya and give up his life for Yaroslav.

"Sergei has been ditching their biweekly lunches since that day," Anya said, like she didn’t even need to let the man know what day she was referring to.

They had all been there.

Had all witnessed it all go to shit in the kind of way that they would never be able to truly mentor work through.

"Yes. But... Yaroslav is still his son," Volkov tried to reason.

Anya could see where he was going. But would it work? If Sergei could push Irina away, what were the odds with Yaro? But then again, maybe Volkov was right. Maybe his son would be able to do something about it.

"He will only go to his son if Yaroslav is hurt and the boy isn’t hurt. And we can’t hurt him because Sergei will kill us without blinking," Anya reminded, like it was the most obvious thing that eve the city knew.

Volkov let out laughter at that.

"What now?" Anya groaned.

"I wasn’t talking about hurting Yaroslav to get Mr. Moskowsky to stop... he asked about his son today while I was praying for my life. Maybe Yaroslav can be able to pull him out of his cocoon right now.

"Maybe that is the only thing left to consider since we can’t exactly rely on you know who," Volkov reasoned, making Anya sigh again. It was getting a tad difficult to be a part of this crazed family.

Yet somehow it was the kind of hell they had all known they’d be walking and had still chosen to stay in.

The difference was that before Katya, life was the same, easy.

They’d wake up to Sergei’s murders, clean up the murders, go to the company, watch the man run his company with a fist of iron, while giving the highest rate of employee benefits that made it hard for people to quit.

But then after Katya came into their lives seven years ago, it was like their trajectory had changed. And they never got to be sure of what that meant.

Even to this day, they still didn’t understand what it was really, save for the fact that they had only two choices.

Force those two into the same room...

Or stand aside and watch them slowly destroy themselves.

"Alright, I’ll try to reach out to the boy. You focus on what I told you. Let me know if anything changes because this might be the week we all lose our minds, yeah?" Anya said before she walked away.

Behind her, Volkov stared into the emptiness quietly, wondering what their lives were slowly being turned to.

But perhaps this time would be different. After all, they could only hope that the days would be better, right?

Well, that was a far stretch, especially when Volkov saw a delivery guy with a bouquet of roses heading to the chairman’s office.

This was going to be a long season indeed.