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

Chapter 206: Beautiful And So Deprived Of Oxygen

[FROLO]

The city was on fire. Almost literally.

The fourth day after the Senate was blown, the whispers began as the demand for the culprit who had condemned the city continued.

The citizens were relentless in their pursuit of that which they assumed was the worst trigger in all history since the last one over three decades ago. It was not one that gave anybody a chance.

Because slacking on this would mean that many more would die. That there would be the kind of collateral damage that the history books would never fully write, just because of how insane things could get. It was that bad.

"Who could be so important to the devil of Frolo that he would burn down the Senate like that?" the city asked, and slowly, people started filtering out names.

Others mentioned Anya, his longest-serving aide. The woman who had been beside him since before he even learned to speak his own name.

Others mentioned Volkov, his secretary, the man who was so loyal and never betrayed Sergei.

Others insisted it was Yaroslav, but that was quickly shut down, because where Yaroslav was involved, Sergei never sent warnings. He eliminated without question.

Hell, the massacre that cemented the name he bore today was because of Yaroslav. The city had long learned it and toed the line.

They knew approaching Yaroslav was off limits.

And that only left one person.

One who no one was even sure of.

But where there was smoke...

By lunch hour, barely a day after the Senate was blown to bits, Katya and Sergei were still having lunch at their usual spot in one of the high-end restaurants in the city.

It was almost hilarious how the city feared the man, and he was casually having lunch like the world was just a happy place. Like the city was not burning from the inside out because of the barbarian casually eating and laughing with the omega in the city.

And of course, soon enough, the current shifted.

****

[PODCAST TITLE: A CITY IN RUINS, A DEVIL IN SMILES]

HOST 1: "The devil of Frolo has been spotted hanging out with his former son-in-law at their usual lunch dates."

HOST 2: "A city in ruins, a devil in smiles. That’s the headline currently making rounds online, and the photo attached is of Sergei Moskowsky actually laughing at lunch with Chairman Romanov. He’s even smiling at the man."

GUEST 1: "What are the odds that this fire started because of the Romanov omega?"

GUEST 2: "That would be a far stretch, don’t you think?"

HOST 1: "Mr. Moskowsky was seen at the court building the day his son and Romanov divorced."

GUEST 2: "That was just pure coincidence. The Moskowskys have an office inside the prosecution building, remember?"

HOST 1: "The scandal last month that had people talking about Mr. Moskowsky and the Romanov omega being more than friends..."

GUEST 2: "Speculation that makes no sense."

HOST 2: "There’s surveillance footage of the Romanov omega and Mr. Moskowsky being drunk at odd hours and running around Frolo like undiagnosed mental patients..."

GUEST 2: "They’re just being friends. Friends can be stupid when drunk."

GUEST 1: "Chairman Romanov opened the auction bid with half a billion. An amount that no one in all of history has ever placed forward as a single bid."

GUEST 2: "He was there as a Moskowsky representative..."

HOST 1: "The devil of Frolo had been donating to the city for so many years and has never once attended a charity auction, much less allowed himself to be presented like he did last month..."

GUEST 2: "You’re looking too much into it. He has a girlfriend, remember?"

GUEST 1: "Who he hasn’t been seen with for months now. Irina stopped posting ages ago. It’s like she is not even involved with the devil anymore."

GUEST 2: "People fall apart, and friendships last longer. You know that."

HOST 2: "Mr. Moskowsky has been spotted coming out of Chairman Romanov’s penthouse at odd hours."

GUEST 2: "That’s just a reach. It’s impossible."

HOST 2: "There are videos on the deleted tabloid site. Videos confirming the big bad devil of Frolo coming out of the penthouse at 3 a.m., 1 a.m., and 5 a.m. more than once."

GUEST 2: "That’s insane."

GUEST 1: "Or the Romanov omega is really the reason the city is burning."

GUEST 2: "This is all just coincidences."

HOST 1: "He was spotted planting lilies around the chairman’s new residence... at midnight; more than once."

GUEST 2: "That’s creepy."

HOST 2: "There’s video evidence..."

GUEST 2: "Mr. Moskowsky said they were just coworkers."

GUEST 1: "Coworkers don’t have lunch daily, even on weekends."

GUEST 2: "I still think that’s all just speculation. Especially the midnight habits. That’s an insane profile for a man like Mr. Moskowsky."

HOST 1: "Remember what he was like with Mr. Vitya Moskowsky?"

GUEST 2: "That’s different. This is his son’s ex-husband."

GUEST 1: "Stepson..."

HOST 1: "He burned the city once for that son."

GUEST 1: "And now he’s burning the city for his son’s ex-husband."

GUEST 2: "This is not right. That’s all just..."

HOST 2: "You can see it too, don’t you?"

GUEST 2: "Mr. Romanov has a boyfriend."

GUEST 1: "A senator who was summoned to an impromptu executive shareholder meeting at Moskowsky Holdings by Mr. Moskowsky himself..."

GUEST 2: "Are you saying the senator was saved from the attack?"

GUEST 1: "I’m saying no one ever says no to the devil’s demands. Everyone knows the shareholder rule in Moskowsky Group. The shareholder must attend. Not his representative. The shareholder."

HOST 1: "How many shares does Senator Aleksandr have in Moskowsky?"

GUEST 1: "Seven percent."

HOST 2: "That’s a lot to lose just because of one meeting."

GUEST 1: "Exactly. Which is why I’m thinking the senator was pulled out just in time."

GUEST 2: "That’s a little too specific, don’t you think?"

HOST 1: "The message at the Senate talked about the tears that could drown a city."

GUEST 2: "Doesn’t mean Chairman Romanov’s tears..."

GUEST 1: "Then why did the senator get pulled out of the Senate and into a mandatory attendance shareholder meeting?"

GUEST 2: "Well..."

HOST 2: "The signs have always been there. Besides, Irina should have tried to fight for Mr. Moskowsky more than once. But she just... stepped aside."

GUEST 2: "They’ve known each other for a long time. Maybe they tried, and it didn’t work out, and chose to keep the mutual respect."

GUEST 1: "Insiders said Irina was like family. In fact, Milan mentioned once that Irina was one of Mr. Moskowsky’s oldest friends."

GUEST 2: "They dated..."

GUEST 1: "Probably to hide the barbarian’s interest in Chairman Romanov."

GUEST 2: "That’s a dangerous assumption."

HOST 1: "Yaroslav didn’t even say anything about the breakup. He just accepted the distance. And no tabloid ever asked about that anymore."

GUEST 2: "That’s still a reach."

GUEST 1: "You can deny it as much as you want. Hell, everything could have been an assumption. But the fact that Mr. Moskowsky appeared at the penthouse more than once and at odd hours, the fact that Mr. Moskowsky knows what Chairman Romanov’s favorite dish is... those two are not just friends."

GUEST 2: "That’s a dangerous assumption."

HOST 2: "Or a truth that the city needs to face head on... actually, Irina is giving a press conference right now."

GUEST 2: "She will definitely dismiss what you have been thinking, like the rest of the city."

HOST 1: "Fine. Let’s tune in then. Ten bucks says she confirms the speculation."

HOST 2: "Alright. Let’s see."