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

Chapter 213: My Heartache Begins And Ends With You

[FROLO]

[FLASHBACK, Two years ago, Aslava Hospital, private wing]

"I see you got guts. Checking the time right in front of me? Darling, you know that hurts," Yaroslav mocked when Katya looked to his side, and he watched his omega stiffen. Oh, how he wanted to hold him close and never let go.

"No..." Katya whimpered.

"Sir, you’re awake," a nurse walked in, and Yaro noticed the confusion on his omega’s face.

Did Katya not know he was in a hospital? Or why was he brought in?

Or maybe Yaro would just have to check the chart and see for himself? Oh, but being the villain for his beloved was proving to be the cruelest of things he had ever done in his life.

"What happened to me? Why did I sleep for so long?" Katya wondered desperately.

Yaroslav stared in disbelief as his husband ignored him and focused on the nurse. He looked impatient, and yet for some reason, he stayed on the sidelines and watched. Perhaps because his conversation with Katya wasn’t one that he wanted anyone to know of.

"You were sedated, sir. I’ll go call the doctors," the nurse said and before Katya could protest, she was out the door, leaving the husbands alone.

"The way you walked out yesterday, no one would have known you’d end up wasting my money in a private ward. But hey, tell me, honey, how the fuck did you end up here?" Yaroslav asked.

He stressed the ’honey’ like it was to remind Katya that bridges had been burned and there was no point in playing pretend anymore.

Katya looked at Yaroslav.

Really looked at the man he had loved for ten years.

And Yaroslav could swear he saw more than just anger in there.

"Yaro... I..." Katya trailed off weakly, and Yaroslav stared flatly.

"Honestly, I don’t care what you did or how you ended up here. I just need a good explanation for the media because they somehow know you are here. One of Milan’s friends saw your name on a chart and called me.

"Makes me wonder what the heck you got yourself into. Do you not have any shame? Hospital? Really Katya? Of all the damn places you could have ended up.

"Now everyone will start wondering what happened to my precious omega," Yaroslav laughed mockingly as he stared at the state Katya was in.

The IV drips and the beeping monitors that were telling Yaroslav more than Katya wanted to let him know. Everything was out there in the open, and yet Yaroslav had chosen to focus on the one thing that made the slightest bit of sense right now.

His reputation. It was an easy sell for a man like him anyway.

"I fell. I’m sorry," Katya apologized on instinct.

He was lying.

Yaroslav knew it.

Yet even then, Yaroslav casually and slowly closed the distance between him and the omega’s bed.

"Right. People fall all the time, and somehow you decided to waste my resources stuffing yourself in a VIP ward," Yaroslav seethed, a first sight for Katya.

"I didn’t mean to," Katya whimpered softly.

Yaroslav laughed at that.

But his heart...

His heart shattered for his omega.

He had never tried to even lay a hand on Katya. Yet somehow he had managed to get him whimpering on the worst possible day for him, given the Romanov family chaos that was going on around.

"Your father called earlier. Said something about the company going under and your mother being in this hospital. I didn’t tell him I already knew where you were. I was busy with far more important things.

"Anyway, I am here now," Yaroslav said confidently, as if he were here to do his duty or even charity.

Katya stared at him in confusion.

"Wh... What?" Katya forced out, tears brimming in his eyes.

"I know I cheated. It shouldn’t have happened. At least not on our anniversary. But that is in the past now, yeah? I just came to tell you to forget what happened. It’s not worth holding onto.

"I’ll keep Milan away from our house, and you won’t tell anyone I cheated. In return, I’ll pay all the bills and buy you more shares in the Romanov empire so your father’s company doesn’t go down.

"That way, we can go back to being the happy couple we always have been. What do you think, honey?" Yaroslav said, adding the last bit sweetly like he had just offered his husband the best deal of his life.

"Go back to being happy?" Katya breathed like the words were foreign to his ears.

Honestly, happiness, at this point, was foreign.

Yaroslav knew too.

"Of course. You. Me. And our childless marriage," Yaroslav added casually, his words tearing through the room sharply.

His words made him sick, but it was the only way. Because otherwise, he would already be on his knees apologizing and coming clean. He had to endure this. And he was failing at keeping himself together, yet somehow, he had crossed the line already.

Especially with the way Katya looked at him like he didn’t recognize him either.

And honestly Yaroslav didn’t recognize what he was becoming for this dream he was determined to fulfil for Katya.

Maybe he was a monster.

By the was the monster that loved Katya, no?

Would that be enough penance for him?

"Yaro..." Katya trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"No need to be dramatic. Besides, that way your father gets to stay rich, and you’ll be a good little housewife, sorry house husband, staring at the dishes and getting all pretty for the dinners.

"You won’t even have to work," Yaroslav added, staring right into Katya’s teary eyes.

"I don’t..." Katya began.

"If word about me cheating gets out there, on any tabloid, the consequences will be bad for everyone. Including your mother, who needs an expensive heart surgery. No one will want to pay for surgery for the woman whose son is a whore," Yaroslav breathed.

He hadn’t intended to say it.

Not to Katya.

Never to Katya.

But he was deep into his madness, and he had to sell it. It was the only way to protect Katya from any further hurt that would come with all this. Nine months was a long time, and it would be even rougher for Katya if he were left in limbo.

Oh, but Yaro knew it was cruel.

But he had to.

It was the only way, or so he told himself with every cruelty that dripped from him.

"You’re the one... You cheated," Katya forced out, pushing Yaroslav away.

But he was too weak to make him move. Too tired to exert himself for more than five seconds. It was the curse of the sedatives he had been doped up on, not to mention the pain meds.

Yaroslav could see that.

"I know. But the world doesn’t. You’re an omega, honey. A beautiful one with too many problems right now. I’ll just say you cheated on me so you could fund your father’s company.

"That you didn’t trust me enough to let me help you. I’ll go out there and wipe my tears in front of everyone. Show them how much it hurt me to walk in on you being fucked by another person.

"I’ll cry real tears over a fake reality. Everyone will believe me," Yaroslav said as he played with Katya’s hair gently.