Chapter 34: A Broken Omega’s Plea Promise
[KATYA]
Katya felt the shift before he could name it.
The moment they walked into the building, everything changed.
The lustful stares he had been getting while outside changed to professional stares. Most people bowed while he passed, as if he were some important person.
Anya, who had been holding him tight and dragging him inside, dropped her hand the moment the doors closed behind them.
Instead, she kept a respectful distance, like a subordinate would to their boss, and Katya was confused. He looked behind him, and he could see Yaroslav fighting with the men in black.
He was beating them, but the numbers kept getting higher.
Katya wanted to go and help him, but how was he even supposed to help his cheating husband? What was he supposed to say to make them leave? At the same time, this was not even something he could control.
He didn’t know what was waiting for him and didn’t understand the dynamics of the world he had been forced into.
This was strange, as hell.
A few moments later, Volkov rushed through the doors, and Katya stiffened.
This man didn’t care for his sanity. He could manhandle him any time, and Katya prepared himself.
To be dragged.
To be called names and humiliated a second time, or was it a third time within these premises?
He didn’t know.
He didn’t even have a voice.
And subconsciously, he waited for the grip that had been put on his arm to return. He waited for the laughs and the mockery because he looked like he was here for something else instead of being the chairman.
A position he knew fuck-all to do with.
But the ridicule never came.
Not when Volkov stepped forward and walked ahead of him, like a bodyguard. It was an intense switch from what the man had been doing to him, and Katya refused to lean into it.
He refused to cry or even feel relieved, even if just for seconds.
He refused to give it anything because this place was a gilded cage.
There was never a way out of this cage, he knew it too well.
’Sir, this way please,’ Volkov said, and Katya almost rolled his eyes at the man.
If he wasn’t busy having a silent mental breakdown because of everything that was happening and the husband fighting an unwinnable war outside, he would have.
But he couldn’t.
Not when the private elevator opened, and Volkov stepped in to check if there were any faults. He was assessing the place like it was his duty, his routine, and something that he had to make sure was well.
At that moment, Katya let out a soft sigh.
Because he knew.
He knew they wouldn’t want him dying before paying the humongous debt he had walked himself into. Still, he waited, because what else was he supposed to do when the woman of doom, Anya, was right behind him?
Not beside.
Not ahead like she had been in the past, no.
She was there like she was putting some respectful distance between them, and Katya wondered if this was how people got slaughtered in this office.
Gods, he was fucked.
"All clear," Volkov said, and Anya stepped forward first, getting to the elevator, before holding it so Katya could walk in.
For a moment, Katya wondered if everyone in this building was bipolar.
The woman had threatened his mother.
This woman made him sign contracts.
This woman hadn’t let the chance to remind him that he was just another property of the Moskowskys pass by.
And now...
This woman was here holding the elevator for him like he was some distinguished person?
Oh, everyone was definitely bipolar here.
Horrified at the change, Katya stepped in and went to the corner. He didn’t want to take up space in the elevator. Hell, he didn’t want to take up space anywhere.
He knew where he belonged.
And that was nowhere.
Every breath he took was a mercy from the Moskowsky, or rather, a chance for him to show that he was useful, or he would be thrown, probably off the windows of whatever floor they were headed to in this building.
Fuck, he was never going to survive this.
"Ah," Katya shrieked the moment the elevator started moving. It was fast. Faster than anything Katya had found himself in.
Anya and Volkov turned to look at him with worry in their eyes.
Katya had prepared to defend himself.
To say that he hadn’t meant to.
That the sound had come off on its own.
That it never meant anything, but the pure empathy in their eyes sickened him instead.
They looked at him like they never wanted him hurt.
Like they were not here to skin him alive or whore him around. They looked at him like he was precious, and Katya understood.
Of course, he was precious baggage.
Of course, he had to be delivered to whichever client was waiting in the best shape. After all, back at the hospital, Sergei had mentioned something about his mother getting heart surgery. And his mother had truly gotten a heart.
Maybe that was why he was here.
To give his heart back in exchange.
Maybe that was why they had dressed him in a shirtless blazer. Maybe that was why they had been very careful with him.
Fuck Katya could feel himself shaking again.
He was scared out of his wits.
He couldn’t even breathe properly and slowly; everything began getting dark.
He couldn’t let himself be unconscious in this moving death trap, and like he knew what to do, Katya banged his elbow HARD against the elevator wall.
And Volkov stopped it instantly.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Anya screeched in horror as she stared at Katya, who was slowly drifting in and out of consciousness.
"I’m sorry... I just... it was moving too fast... and... and I was getting sleepy. I’m sorry I ruined your merchandise. I’ll be good.
"I promise I don’t bruise easily, see," Katya said, unbuttoning the blazer, ready to show them that he really knew how to hide his bruises well.
He sounded so tired, like he was about to fall.
But the fear of losing his mother terrified him and kept him awake.
"Sir, you ca... can’t do that here," Volkov said, and this time it was so respectful that Katya felt his head spin.
For some reason, there was a tinge of pure horror in Volkov’s voice, and that scared Katya even more.
What the heck had he walked himself into?
"Get out," Anya suddenly said, and Kaya stumbled towards the door of the elevator.
He was too weak to even move, but he had to obey; after all, they had bought him, and he had to be a good tool.
"I’m sorry... I’ll be better... Please don’t take my mother’s heart. I’ll give you mine. I’m healthy. The miscarriage didn’t... Didn’t make me lose a lot of blood.
"I promise I’ll stay alive long enough for you to have a functioning heart to sell. Just please. Please don’t hurt her," Katya begged as the elevator stopped.
In that moment, the elevator on the opposite side of the hallway opened.
"I’m... I’m really sorry," Katya said before he struggled to step out, only to fall.
But he didn’t hit the ground.
The last thing he felt was three pairs of hands, with two pulling back instantly.
"I’m so sorry," Katya drifted off, giving in to the darkness while held by a particularly strong pair of hands.
