Chapter 21: I Can’t Help But Want Oceans To Part
[SERGEI]
It wasn’t supposed to be hard.
Sergei had told himself that line every single time he had to keep himself away from Katya. He had struggled to keep his distance, minimize his presence in the lives of his son and Katya.
He had tried.
Gods, he really had.
And while he never stopped watching Katya from a distance, he had made sure to keep everything steady, eliminating the few obstacles that stood in Katya’s way.
The vendor stared at Katya with disdain. Dead from an apparent flu on the evening of the same day.
The woman who looked at him with a cruel eye? Became a victim of a sudden acid attack.
The alpha who growled at Katya on the public bus? Somehow had his throat removed because of throat cancer.
Anything that Sergei deemed unfit for his Solnyshka’s peace, he had made sure to eliminate. It was like he was the cleanup crew for the people who had made it their business to hurt the man he cared for.
Anya had warned him, over and over.
Yet each time, his answer had been the same.
"I am not close to him, Anya. I am just watching from a distance as we agreed."
And Anya...
Oh, she tried to believe him.
Really tried.
Only that where Katya was involved, Sergei Moskowsky only seemed to function with one brain cell. And that too was meant to protect Katya, to keep Katya happy, to make sure Katya was safe.
Of course, they were different acts of service to a man who had no clue that he was being protected.
A man who hadn’t asked for protection. But patterns were threatening to show, and Anya had to step in.
"You are going to alienate the omega if you’re not careful. Keep your distance, Sergei," Anya insisted, and of course, Sergei had always had the same answer to any demands that he stay away.
Because frankly, he didn’t know what else to do.
It had been six months.
Six months had passed since he had stepped inside his own building. Since he had even looked at Knox technologies. He told himself it was the easiest way to keep his distance.
Because if he didn’t go to Knox, he wouldn’t see Katya. And if he didn’t see Katya up close, he wouldn’t have to fight with himself and his sanity to keep control.
It was easy.
Or maybe that was what he told himself each day when he followed Katya on his way home from a distance.
Sergei stayed.
His presence had never been seen.
The dirty work? He had his men do.
But following Katya? Making sure the supermarket that had run out of olives suddenly had an oversupply of olives because Katya had missed one olive?
That was something that Sergei did himself.
He made sure Katya was not inconvenienced, and I was unhealthy.
It was unhealthy.
Yet each time he went home, each time he camped on the balcony of the apartment that faced Katya and Yaroslav’s home, he told himself that this was the only way to keep Katya safe.
That this was only happening because Yaroslav was a cheat.
Until Katya walked into a pharmacy a little too far from his place of work. Far from any Moskowsky or Gamov influence.
Away from eyes that knew him.
Sergei had not expected it truly. He had been following Katya from a distance like a crazed man, making sure everyone was alright for his Solnyshka; when he saw Katya, covered from head to toe, with sunglasses and sandals that showed his pretty feet to the world.
Katya’s citrus scent hung so close.
So very close, and Sergei struggled to keep himself composed. He noticed Katya turning back every three steps, but he made sure to either walk ahead or behind him. So, he wouldn’t come off as suspicious.
But Sergei knew something had changed.
Katya’s citrus scent had grown more potent.
Thicker and more addictive.
It made the Alpha go feral on a normal day with a small whiff, but now, Sergei was sure he would lose it.
Or maybe he had already lost his mind because what kind of businessman spent his days stalking his son’s husband?
What kind of a man made it his mission to assign himself a different job that was a creepy one, which he took so much pride in?
But that was an issue for Sergei, or was it?
"Why would he choose a pharmacy instead of a hospital?" Sergei wondered as he watched Katya walk in.
He couldn’t go in with him.
That would be too many coincidences at the same time, and he risked spooking him.
So, he waited as Katya took whatever he needed from the pharmacy. He was patient, and when Katya stepped out, Sergei made sure to stay back a few feet.
Then Sergei Moskowsky walked into the pharmacy.
"Sergei?" the pharmacist said, his voice trembling and his hands shaking at the sight.
The devil of Frolo was before him, and his reaction was valid. But that was when Sergei had come. And he wouldn’t waste any time here trying to understand shit.
"You know me? Fantastic," Sergei said as the pharmacist stared at him like he was not sure what to say.
Frankly, no one stayed calm around Sergei Moskowsky.
Sergei was a horror to everyone he interacted with, and seeing him come here casually was just something else.
Perhaps because he looked so harmless and casual, like this was just another day, when in reality, Sergei was the monster who didn’t need weapons to fight.
His bare hands were enough.
"The omega who just left. What did he buy?" Sergei asked, not mincing his words.
His tone had the pharmacist wondering what part of all this he had played a part in. But at the same time, there were too many things to consider.
As expected, the pharmacist paled.
"What?" The man tried to buy himself time, but what was it when he was right in front of him, no?
"I will count to five. After which, every thirty seconds you waste is another you will have no fingers. And then I will kill you," Sergei said calmly.
Anyone who was passing by could see just a pharmacist and his client, not a barbarian and a man stuck between protecting confidentiality and saving his own life. That was a tough choice.
However, one look at Sergei’s face got the pharmacist singing like a marionette.
By the time it was done, Sergei was gone.
No growls.
Nothing that could draw attention to him.
Hell, he didn’t even follow Katya home anymore. Didn’t go to the apartment he stayed in to keep watch over Katya, no.
Sergei drove away.
Two hours west of Frolo to a small village that many didn’t even know existed. And when he parked his car, when he stepped out and struggled to walk in a straight line from his car to the entrance of the nearest door, the villagers knew.
Something had happened.
And so, they called the only person who could manage the situation.
"Kavinsky!!" Sergei heard someone call, but his mind was whirring.
His head hurt so badly he was sure he would lose balance soon enough. And maybe that was the cost of driving way over the speed limit and covering a distance of two hours in forty-five minutes.
He couldn’t believe it.
He refused to, yet his body held on, like he was waiting for someone in particular.
"What is going on here?" a woman asked, clearly not impressed with the way things were happening. The crowd instantly dispersed, and an elderly woman stepped forward, her face scrunched from disapproval.
Until she saw him.
Sergei.
Too far from the city.
From his obsession.
Too far from civilization.
And she knew that this had to be serious, especially given that what Sergei was wearing was the casual clothes he wore whenever he followed Katya from afar.
"Anya..." Sergei breathed in defeat as he fought to stay conscious.
He couldn’t keep steady.
He just couldn’t.
"What did you do, Sergei?" the woman asked, like she didn’t already know what this was.
Like she had no suspicions about it.
But perhaps this time she wanted to hear him talk. To hear him say what he needed to say.
"Soln... My... my Solnyshka is pregnant... for him," Sergei breathed before he fell unconscious.
