Chapter 30: New Identities, Same Prison Camp
[KATYA]
Katya stilled.
Didn’t get up, didn’t move.
"Are you deaf?" Any asked, and this time she was looking at Katya, again.
Her eyes were still as cold, even with the chaos around them.
The sound of papers being filed and typewriters outside was making it easier for Katya to focus. Hell, the clothing he was wearing had him believing that this time he was truly going to be sold off.
"Are you... Will I... am I going to work in a brothel?" Katya asked, his voice low, meek like he had intended to ask it out loud.
The entire room turned to him.
Hell, even the betas and alphas outside stared at him in confusion.
"Get back to work if I find any of you eavesdropping; six feet under will be the last act of mercy," Vilkov said, and everyone focused.
Hell, it was suddenly like life was easy and so simple.
But was it?
"If that is what it takes to pay your debt faster, I don’t see why not. Will you challenge the positioning?" Anya asked, not mincing her words.
Katya paled.
He wasn’t sure what to do.
He didn’t know how his father-in-law came into his life or even how Yaroslav’s cheating and his miscarrying had led to this. But whatever it was scared the living shit out of Katya.
It horrified him, the possibility really dragging him away. Perhaps that was why he had been dressed like that.
He was meant to charm people and get money.
"What?" Katya breathed.
"Whatever Sergei gave you is useless. No one approved those papers. Here are the real papers. Your family owes us a huge load of debt, and as you may have noticed;
"...that brat isn’t anywhere to be seen after paying off your father’s debts. I collect everything, Katya Romanov. You can either sign this fresh contract and get to pay the debts owed by your family and keep your mother’s heart intact;
"... or I will walk you to the madhouse myself, and trust me, you don’t want a madhouse setting," Anya warned.
But Katya’s reaction was the same.
Blank face, head stiff, like he was trying to wrap his head around the possibility that what he had signed was not real.
He wanted to argue that Sergei wouldn’t play him, that Sergei didn’t go that far just to ruin his life, but then Katya had miscarried the heir to the Gamov-Moskowsky household.
He had managed to lose the baby for a month before the baby grew. Losing a child that early when they had been trying for five years was just incompetence, and given Sergei already knew about it, this had to be payback.
Maybe they learned that Katya couldn’t have babies again.
That could explain why they were here, trying to rush through things, because they wanted to sell him off to the highest bidder.
"Well, at least someone cared enough to help me out... I’ll do whatever you ask of me. Please, where can I sign?" Katya said in earnest, like he was done fighting.
Like a man who knew his fate was fucked and he didn’t have a way out.
The response shocked Anya, who was staring at Katya like the man had lost his mind. Who in their right mind agreed to be sold off to pay debts?
But then again, without Yaroslav to back him, even his father’s money was useless in this fight.
And Katya, he refused to see his father heartbroken again. He hoped his mother would recover well, and if ever they took his mother home to assure them how they were struggling, it wouldn’t end well.
There was definitely a higher chance that his mother would die.
And that was just too risky.
Katya knew it.
"Are you sure about this, Mr. Romanov? Do you want to read the terms of what you are agreeing to?" Anya asked, her voice still cold.
"I don’t have to read it. Whatever terms there are, I agree. If I have to start working at the brothel as soon as now, I don’t mind. Just please... Please don’t let my mama die.
"I know I’m not in a position to ask you anything, but... please," Katya said, pleading so desperately, his tears threatening to show.
He had nothing left.
He had no one to anchor him anymore.
He was unwanted, even by the devil of Frolo, who had roughed up things in his life.
Katya was screwed, and he didn’t even need to see Anya’s face a little longer to know it.
"Fine. I hope you remember eventually that I gave you a choice," Anya said.
Katya just smiled tiredly.
Then he took the pen and signed everywhere that was needed.
The document had the title contract marriage, and Katya didn’t have the energy to ask what this was about again; all he knew was that he had a sick mother who needed urgent care, and the contract came with money.
Money that the Moskowsky’s were paying directly.
Because Katya knew if he said no, his father’s company would go bankrupt and his mother would be gone. Truly.
He just couldn’t let that happen.
"There are three copies for you to sign. One remains here, one I walk with, and you remain with one. The terms are very different, but I see you’re determined to get your way out of this.
"Go on. Sign the damn thing so we can go to the next phase," Anya said, and Katya once again just nodded.
He didn’t trust himself to say a word.
He didn’t know if he needed to cry and beg the universe for help.
Or if he was to go and find Sergei himself, but then again, if the entire city hadn’t seen the man in a week, then there had to be no way that Katya Romanov would be the one to find him.
"I’m done," Katya said, giving the three copies to Anya.
"Great. By signing, you also understand that you are not going to be Yaroslav’s husband anymore. You belong to the Moskowsky family now," Anya said.
"I understand, ma’am."
"Good. Get up, we’re going to your first assignment. You had better not disappoint me. And I hope you remember what is at stake for you," Anya said, and Katya just stared into the blank space.
He didn’t know how to react to that.
Didn’t know what to say.
So again, he just nodded.
When Anya and Volkov stepped out of the office, Katya followed.
He was theirs now.
He belonged to the Moskowskys now, and that was something that he knew he would never recover from.
No matter how long it took.
But then again, he was doing this for family, so it had to be worth it, right?
Katya didn’t know when they had gotten into the elevator, gotten off, and into the SUV from earlier, and driven off.
The only thing he knew at the moment was that he was here.
At the Moskowsky holdings.
And every banner had his face, his name, and a photo of what he was wearing today.
He was no longer Katya Romanov or Gamov.
He was Katya Moskowsky.
And to make things even worse... the title beside his name.
Moskowsky group Chairman...
Mr. Katya Moskowsky.
